Page 28

TWENTY-SEVEN

As I’m leaving the school at the end of the day, I notice a trio of police cars in the parking lot. At first glance, I’m excited. Maybe there’s been a development in the case. However, I soon see they’ve only enlisted extra help for school dismissal. This entire situation has made all the parents paranoid and having a police presence helps ease their nerves.

“It’s a mess, isn’t it?” Tara’s mother is waiting on the sidewalk. Melinda Terry and Lynette Nichols are with her. Like their daughters, the women are nearly inseparable.

“It really is,” Melinda answers, although I’d thought the question had been directed to me.

“Any news about what’s happening?” Lynette asks. This time, there’s no mistake she’s talking to me.

“I’m afraid not,” I say. “Have the girls said anything?”

“They’re shaken up,” Melinda says.

“That’s understandable. I mean, they’re supposed to be safe at school,” Tara’s mother says.

The dig cuts into me, purposefully so. I was the one who was supposed to be watching the girls. These women are probably only happy it wasn’t their own daughters that went missing.

“If the girls are struggling, we have school counselors they can talk to,” I say. “This must be scary for them.”

“We have it under control,” Melinda says.

Just then, I see Detective Fields walking across the parking lot. I use her presence as an excuse to get away from the mothers, but I can still feel their judgmental stares on me as I walk away.

“Detective,” I call out, hustling over to her. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

“It’s been a busy day, as you can imagine. I’ve been screening my calls.”

“This is important. It’s concerning something that happened last night.”

She stops what she’s doing, hands on her hips. Again, there’s that stare, like she’s not looking at me in the present, but seeing the rambunctious teenager of my youth. “What?”

“After the prayer circle, I stopped by Evie’s house and met her mom’s new boyfriend,” I say. “He was furious my friend and I even came. A man with that kind of temper shouldn’t be anywhere near Evie.”

She starts to walk away from me, but I stop her.

“I really think you should look into him more. Last night, Evie’s house was packed with strangers. If that’s what Evie’s going through on a daily basis, there’s no telling who she might have encountered. It could be someone who wishes her harm.”

“We’ve already looked into the family.”

“Josh verbally attacked my friend and I last night. He’s a loose cannon,” I say. “That combined with what Evie told the girls about him, I think it’s a dangerous situation.”

Detective Fields sighs, putting her hands back on her hips.

“I’m not disagreeing with you about the chaos in Evie’s home life,” she says, “but Josh and her mother weren’t involved with Evie’s disappearance.”

My stomach begins to churn. “How can you be sure?”

“They have an alibi.”

“For the entire night?”

“Yes. Evie’s mother worked until around eleven. Josh picked her up after that, and they went to a local bar. They were there all night.”

“That’s a regular occurrence for them. It doesn’t prove anything.”

“There was some drama when they were leaving the bar. Caused a big scene. People remembered seeing them both there all night, and we have them on camera. From around eleven to almost four in the morning. Evie went missing sometime during that time frame.”

“Okay,” I say, my mind scrambling. “Maybe they weren’t the ones to take her themselves. It could have been someone else. They could have paid someone.”

The detective laughs. “They didn’t have enough money to pay their bar tab on Friday night. I don’t think they could afford a kidnapping.”

“So, they’re off the list? Just like that.”

“No one is off the list,” she says. There’s a threat in her stare that unsettles me. “Everyone in Evie’s life is being investigated, but right now, it doesn’t appear her mother had anything to do with what happened to her daughter. Or the boyfriend. We have to send our resources elsewhere.”

She tries to walk away again, but I stop her. “Like where?”

“I can’t tell you anything else,” she says. “All I can say is that if you come across any more important information, reach out.”

“I tried reaching out,” I say under my breath.

I’m not sure if she hears me. Either way, she heads to her vehicle and gets inside. I get into my own car just as quickly, dodging stares from Kelly and Mr. Lake in the process. The last thing I want to do is have another conversation. Right now, everything is spinning in circles. I need to find out what happened to Evie, and fast.

When I return home, Connor is already there. He works from home sporadically during the week. It’s hard for me to keep up with when he’ll be in the office and when he’ll be here. I walk inside, expecting to see a mess in the kitchen. It’s what tends to happen when he’s been left to his own devices all day. Instead, he’s sitting in the living room, hunched over and staring at his phone.

“I think I made a mistake,” he says, when I walk up behind him.

“What?” I try not to be short, but I’m not sure how much more bad news I can stand.

“I talked to the police.”

That response wasn’t one I was expecting.

No one is off the list , Detective Fields’ words slither back to me.

Why would she be talking to Connor? His only connection to Evie is through me. Maybe that’s what she was trying to find out more about.

“Who?” I ask Connor, my thoughts scrambling. “When?”

“That detective lady,” he says. “She came by my office and everything.”

So he didn’t work from home today. Maybe that’s why the house is so clean. I’m wondering what rattled him about their conversation that he decided to come home early.

“What did she want to know?”

“She was mainly asking questions about you and the girls,” he says. “She wanted to know how much time I spend around the team.”

“You’re hardly ever around them,” I say. I can’t figure out why she would be talking to him, unless our past encounters have given her more reason not to trust me.

“That’s what I told her,” he says.

“So, why do you think you messed up?”

He exhales. “She asked me where I was on Friday night. I told her I spent the entire night here.”

“That’s true.”

“Right,” he says. “I didn’t tell her I came by the school.”

It feels like a rock is falling in my stomach. “You lied?”

“I didn’t lie! I was just so nervous. I mean, I’m not used to being interrogated by the police. I was thinking about how I came home that night and spent the entire night alone. I woke up the next morning and went to the gym. It wasn’t until after that I even knew Evie was missing. By the time I remembered I’d come to visit you, we were so far ahead in our conversation, I didn’t know what to say.”

“I told the police you came to visit me,” I say. “They’ll see you on the video.”

“I know.” He seems overly nervous. “Do you think I should call her? Tell her I forgot?”

“I don’t know.”

I certainly don’t want Detective Fields to think that Connor is lying. At the same time, I don’t want him inserting more of himself into the investigation. They can’t really think he’s involved in Evie’s disappearance, could they?