Lovely Girls(67)

“Sure that’s the way you want to go?” Detective Reddick asked. “Because usually people who have nothing to hide are happy to help out the police.”

“Goodbye, Detective.” I turned and headed up the walkway toward my house.

Detective Reddick called out to me. “People always think they can hide what they’ve done. But the truth comes out eventually.”

I went inside and shut the door firmly behind me.





CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE




* * *





KATE

Alex was waiting for me in the kitchen. She was leaning against the counter, her arms crossed in front of her. Her eyes were large, and she looked spooked.

It was almost a relief that she finally seemed aware of the danger she was in.

“Why weren’t you in school today?” I asked.

Alex hesitated, twisting the end of her braid around her fingers. “I was in the courtyard, waiting for class to start, and everyone was staring at me. And whispering. I know that sounds paranoid, but they really were. They were looking at me like I was a bomb that was about to go off. And I just had to get away from everyone. So I left. I walked out the front doors and just kept walking.”

And, somehow, despite my anger that she had disappeared once again, this time I at least understood why. The stress of the last few days had been unbearable. I would love to be able to walk away from it for a few hours. Of course this had all been overwhelming for Alex too. She’d just been hiding it better than I had.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“Nowhere really. I sat in a Starbucks for a while. How did you find out? Did the school call you?”

“The police told me. I think they went there looking for you.”

Alex stared at me, her eyes wide with fright. “I hate this place,” she said quietly. “I wish we’d never moved here.”

“I know. It didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.”

Alex nodded, and for a moment, I thought we were connecting again. That we could somehow go back to before the awful day of the car accident that killed her father and find the relationship we used to have. But then, her eyes shuttered, and she looked away.

“I’m going to go to my room,” she said.

“Wait. What do you want to do about school?”

“What about it?”

“Do you want to transfer? Maybe to another one of the public high schools, or maybe we could look at private school options.”

“Changing schools isn’t going to fix this,” she said flatly.

“It could give you a fresh start,” I said, and then immediately regretted my choice of words. I’d told her repeatedly that moving to Shoreham was our fresh start, and look how that had turned out.

“Even if I transfer, the story is going to follow me. I’m not ever going to be able to escape from this.”

“You can’t just skip school. Maybe we should talk to your guidance counselor and see if you can switch to the virtual school?”

“Maybe. I doubt they’ll let me in the middle of the semester. Anyway, I need a laptop to do that.”

I was about to offer up mine, and then I remembered that the police had taken both my laptop and my iPad. They’d come in and upended our lives, and on what basis?

Because Alex had been gone that night, I reminded myself. That’s why. She was gone for hours, and no one knew where she had been. And until she came up with a more plausible explanation for why she was gone and where she’d been, she was going to remain under suspicion.

“Why don’t you plan on staying home tomorrow. We’ll figure it out from there.” I glanced around the mess in the kitchen. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to cook in here tonight. Let’s order a pizza. What toppings do you want?”

Alex shook her head. “Get whatever you want. I’m not hungry.”



The next morning, I stood in line at the bagel shop, waiting to pick up breakfast. It was early, but the store was already buzzing, crowded with commuters stopping to pick up breakfast on their way to work. While I waited, I grabbed a copy of the local newspaper since I couldn’t read it online. The headline was again about Callie’s death:

IN WAKE OF TEENAGER’S DEATH, PARENTS FEAR KILLER COULD STRIKE AGAIN

The body of Callie Nord, 17, was found at Isle Beach early on the morning of October 14. Calusa County Sheriff Alan Miller issued a statement that his office is treating the case as a potential homicide while they wait for the determination on cause of death from the medical examiner. The sheriff’s office has not named anyone as a person of interest in connection to the case. But this has not allayed the fears of local parents.

“Everyone knows who was involved,” said one mother of a student at Shoreham High School, who asked to remain anonymous. “It’s common knowledge the girl in question is troubled. She was involved in another death before she moved here. We’re all terrified she’ll target another one of our children before the police take action.”

Shoreham High School has elected to cancel the homecoming dance planned for this Saturday.

“It didn’t seem right to have a party while we’re mourning one of our own,” Principal Thelma Hopkins said.

The Shoreham High School homecoming football game against the Calusa County Knights will go ahead as scheduled on Friday night.