A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(14)

“But everyone in Lachlan knows you solved the last case,” the tall one said.

“Yes.” The blonde wiped her eyes—and didn’t so much as smear her three shades of eyeshadow. “You were brilliant.”

They were nearly afloat in self-pity.

“Come on,” Sara said tiredly as she led the way to the living room. “Tell us why Sheriff Flynn wants to talk to you.”

The girls sat down on the couch, the tall one in the middle. “I’m Madison and this is Ashley and Britney.” She didn’t tell which was which.

The blonde spoke up. “We weren’t very nice to Mrs. Beeson.”

Jack was still standing. “Did you kill her?”

The girls’ eyes widened in horror. “No,” Madison whispered.

“Then there is no problem. Just tell the sheriff that you were rotten little snakes to a lovely old woman, then go home and start being nice to people. Everyone in town will appreciate that.” He half turned, his arm held out toward the door.

The girls didn’t move. They just sat there looking at Kate and Sara with pleading eyes.

“Jack,” Sara said, “could you get them something to—?”

“No.” He sat down. “I don’t want this town to hear that we entertain guests all night long.” He looked in warning at the girls. “Do your parents know where you are?”

They shook their heads.

“Tomorrow I’m going to talk to them about putting iron bars on your bedroom windows.”

“Fire marshal won’t allow it,” Madison said. “My dad already asked.”

Sara gave Jack a look to shut up, then back at the girls. “Tell us what happened.”

“It all started because Mrs. Beeson was...” Madison looked at the other girls.

“Fat and boring.” The dark-haired girl couldn’t take her eyes off Jack.

“And she was always watching us,” the blonde said. “It was creepy.”

“From what I’ve seen of you three, you need watching,” Jack said.

“Whatever.” Madison waved her hand in dismissal. “We didn’t mean for her to hear us.”

“Or see us when we, uh...you know, acted like her,” the blonde added.

Kate had been listening without speaking, but she was the youngest, so she had a better idea of what the girls had done. “So which one of you is the best at mimicking?”

The one who was fascinated by Jack lifted her hand.

“And you are?”

“Britney,” she whispered. Everyone was quiet as they waited for her to speak. “I just pretended I was her, that’s all. She walked funny and she never said much and she...” Britney looked at her hands.

“And poor Janet heard you making fun of her.” Sara didn’t conceal her disgust.

Madison sat up straighter. “We told them all that we were sorry.”

“And we paid for it,” Ashley said. “My dad grounded me for two whole weeks.”

“Are you saying you did this in public?” Jack was aghast.

“What media did you use?” Kate asked.

Madison gave her a haughty look. “We aren’t stupid. We know that using the internet means it goes out to the world. We thought we were alone. Private.”

“So where were you?” Sara asked.

“We were on the stage at school, behind the curtain,” Madison said. “We’d told our parents to pick us up thirty minutes after the show ended so we’d have time to hang out. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten.”

“We didn’t know our parents were there waiting for us,” Ashley said.

“And why didn’t they turn off the video camera after the play ended?” Madison sounded as though everything was someone else’s fault.

The adults were looking at them in openmouthed astonishment. Without a word, Jack got up and poured three gin and tonics. A G&T was the only drink Sara would take. He handed them to Sara and Kate, then sat down with his.

“Could we please have—” Madison began.

“No,” Jack said.

Sara cleared her throat. “So. You made fun of Mrs. Beeson in a hateful way in front of the school’s video system. Is that right?”

The girls nodded.

Kate leaned forward. “Did it play live on the big screens in the auditorium?”

They nodded.

“How many people saw it?” Jack asked.

“About twenty. Or so.”

“And Janet was one of them,” Sara said.

They nodded.

“And all your parents did was ground you for a couple of weeks?” Jack’s tone told what he thought of that.

“With today’s parents,” Sara said, “be glad they weren’t rewarded for being creative.”

Britney’s eyes lit up. “My dad said I was smack on in my impersonation. He wants me to take acting classes. And my mother said—” She broke off at the scowls from the adults.

Jack drained his glass and stood up. “Okay, you’ve told us, but there’s still nothing we can do. So go home.”

“You haven’t heard it all.” Madison was looking at her hands.

“I’ve heard about all I can stand,” Jack said. “If we did have something to do with finding a murderer, I might put the lot of you at the head of my list.”