Since She Went Away(42)

“No.” Jenna took the paperback from her. The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. She’d seen it in Jared’s room, seen him toting it around the house on more than one occasion. The thing must have had a thousand pages, and she shifted to tuck it under her arm. “Can I ask you something?”

The girl looked poised to go, but Jenna’s voice stopped her.

“It’s none of my business,” Jenna said, “but was the decision to break up mutual or not?”

Tabitha’s eyes darted around.

“It’s okay,” Jenna said. “I’m not trying to take sides here.”

Tabitha relaxed a little, the rigidness in her shoulders easing. “It was my idea,” she said. “I can’t get involved with anyone now.” She searched for the right words. “My dad, he wants me to go to college, and he says now isn’t the time to get serious with a boy or spend my time doing other things.”

The words came out in a torrent. Something about them sounded practiced, forced, as if Tabitha was just repeating what someone had told her to say.

“Your father’s pretty strict, isn’t he?”

“He wants what’s best for me.” The answer sounded less robotic. “He really does. That’s part of the reason we moved here. The schools are better. He . . . he’s trying to give me a better life.”

The light slipped away, making it more difficult to see the girl’s face. Jenna cocked her head to one side, studying Tabitha. Again she was struck by the familiarity of the girl’s features: the set of her eyes, the shape of her chin. She’d seen this girl somewhere before, or more likely, a relative of hers. She got the same feeling when she saw Ursula, and embedded in the teenager’s face was the ghost of her mother.

“And did you say your father isn’t from Hawks Mill? I knew some other Burkes, not just Tommy. What’s your dad’s name?”

“His name is Ed.”

“Ed Burke,” Jenna said.

The girl nodded. “But he’s not from Hawks Mill. He lived here once, a long time ago, I guess. But we don’t have any other relatives from here.”

“But he has friends here or something?” Jenna asked. “If he’s lived here before.”

“Work friends. He could get a job here.”

“Where does he work?”

“I have to go, Mrs. Barton. I’m late. I shouldn’t even be here. I really shouldn’t. My dad’s not home, and I need to get back.”

“Are you a patient here?” Jenna asked, pressing. “Or is your dad? I’ve seen you somewhere, haven’t I?”

Tabitha started backing away. “If you’ll just give the book to Jared. Tell him I really liked it. I didn’t finish it, but I liked it.”

Jenna moved forward, following the girl. She wanted to reach out, to offer the girl a comforting pat on the arm or a hug. Tabitha didn’t have a mother. She lived with a very strict father, one who might even be—

“Tabitha? Wait.”

“Bye, Mrs. Barton.”

“I can give you a ride. If you’re in some kind of trouble.”

Tabitha turned and broke into a run, hustling across the parking lot toward the far side where there was an opening in the fence.

Jenna broke in the same direction, running as best she could in her heavy coat. But she quickly saw she’d never catch up to the lightning-quick young girl.

“Tabitha?”

But she was gone.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE


Jared was watching TV in the living room when Jenna walked in the door. She carried the book in her purse, its bulk pressing against her body like a cinder block. He looked up when she came in.

“Did you get stuck shooting the shit with someone?” he asked as he muted the TV. Jenna took a quick glance at the screen and saw it was a show about World War II. Grainy footage of airplanes diving and dropping bombs. She never knew what he’d find interesting. “Was it Sally? She always wants to bug you when you’re trying to get out of there.”

She sat on the couch, the bulky purse beside her. She still wore her coat, and Jared’s eyebrows lifted when he saw the way she was acting. He knew something was up, since she usually made a beeline for the bedroom and changed into yoga pants as if her work clothes were on fire.

“I didn’t talk to Sally. No.”

He turned the TV off and sat up in his chair. He tossed the remote aside as if it offended him. “Is it because of this body they found? I’m sorry, it kind of slipped my mind, but I read all about it on Twitter today. Did the cops want to talk to you?”

Holly Crenshaw. That name had slipped out of her mind ever since Tabitha walked up to her in the parking lot. “They did. This morning. I hate that stuff being all over Twitter.”

“People like to talk,” he said.

“Right. Look, honey, Tabitha came and talked to me as I was leaving work.”

Jared’s body jolted as if he’d been stuck with a knife. Every muscle went rigid, and his eyes widened. “Just now?”

“Just now. That’s why I was a little late. I’d stayed late anyway to catch up on some things, but then she found me in the parking lot.”

“What did she want? What did she say? Mom, she hasn’t been in school for days.”