Page 73 of Poison Wood

“Would be a good reason for her to run off, though,” Erin says.

I nod. “Yes, it would.”

Erin makes a note in her notebook and looks back up. “Walk me through what happened the night Heather disappeared.”

I quickly scroll through phrases and pick one that I feel will give her enough but not too much. “Heather snuck out a lot. That night was no different. We figured she was going to meet a boy.”

“We?”

Shit. I’m too distracted. Too uncomfortable on this side of a recorder. And Erin is being too nice. Pay attention, Rita.

“My classmates and I.”

“And their names are?”

I answer even though I think she already knows them. “Katrina Donovan and Summer Chamberlain.”

“Okay. Did you, Katrina, and Summer see Heather leave the building?”

She jots something in her notebook, but she’s moving on quickly. If she’s aware of the importance of their last names, she’s not showing it. She’s not from around here. Erin’s from Canada. She doesn’t know the roots and tendrils of last names in Louisiana and how easily they can tangle up with one another.

“Should I repeat the question?” Erin says.

I shake my head. “We didn’t see Heather leave the dorm. I saw her later. Running toward the woods.”

“Did you all follow her?”

“No.”

“Were you alone when you saw her?”

I think about the picnic table and looking around for my friends. “Yes.”

“I want to switch gears a little. If that’s okay?”

Asking me takes away her element of surprise. She is doing this all wrong, but I nod and say, “Sure.”

“What did you know about Johnny Adair?” she says.

“Now or then?”

“Then.”

“Not much. I knew he was a hunter. I knew he fixed things when they broke, and stuff on that old building broke all the time. Lights needed changing, windows needed repairing, ceilings leaked, toilets overflowed. Every day it seemed like something else broke.”

“How did you know Johnny was a hunter?”

“The turkey beards he framed in his cottage.”

“Turkey beards?”

“Yeah. Apparently it’s a thing. Hunters cut off the beards and frame the large ones. It’s like having a good deer rack or something.”

“Interesting.” She makes a quick note, then adds, “So when were you in Johnny’s cottage?”

How did she somehow get the upper hand here?

“I wasn’t ever in his cottage, but I did look in it occasionally.”