After Anna(64)

‘Thursday night?’

‘You got it.’ Noah nodded, smiling back.

‘Great!’ Maggie felt they’d cleared one hurdle, but had one more. ‘Anna, there’s something else we wanted to talk to you about. It’s about your friend Jamie Covington at Congreve.’

‘Sure, what?’ Anna cocked her head.

‘I think you told me that she left school, right?’

Anna hesitated. ‘Yes, why?’

‘I don’t know if “left school” means ran away, but if she ran away I’m sure her parents are worried about her, don’t you think? I’m just wondering if you know where she is. Do you?’

‘No.’ Anna’s smile began to fade.

‘Are you sure about that, honey?’ Maggie tried to soften her tone, but Anna reacted almost instantly, with a frown.

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘If you know where she is, then we have to tell her parents. She’s a runaway. Anything could happen to her. It’s dangerous.’

‘I don’t know where she is. I told you we weren’t that good friends.’

‘Are you sure about that?’

‘What are you saying? Where’s this coming from?’ Anna looked bewildered, her gaze shifting to Noah. ‘Is this from you?’

‘No, not him,’ Maggie rushed to answer. ‘I’ll tell you what happened. I was showing your room to Kathy –’

‘Why?’

‘I wanted to show her your bed and everything. We were going to talk about wall colors. She’s my best friend. Kathy, your godmother. Remember I told you about her last night?’

‘Okay,’ Anna said slowly.

‘I picked up one of your textbooks, and this fell out.’ Maggie pulled from her pocket the note about Jamie leaving school and PG and Connie buying her a bus ticket. ‘From the note, it seems like you know where Jamie went, or PG and Connie do, because they bought –’

‘You read that note?’ Anna frowned deeply. ‘That’s my personal property.’

‘I’m sorry. I only found it by accident, but there is an overarching concern here, honey. Jamie’s safety.’

‘Are you saying I’m lying, Mom?’

Maggie felt her gut twist. ‘Anna, if you, PG, or Connie know where Jamie went, then her parents have a right to know that. I wouldn’t feel good withholding that information from them, and you shouldn’t either.’

‘I don’t know where she went.’ Anna’s fair skin mottled with emotion. ‘Jamie said she wasn’t going to tell me because she knew her parents would ask us all and she didn’t want to put me in a bad position. I’m a bad liar. I get nervous when I lie and it always shows.’

Maggie hadn’t considered that as a possibility. ‘You’re saying that Jamie didn’t tell you on purpose? You discussed that with her?’

‘Yes, totally. She didn’t tell anybody because she knew that we would all be asked, not just by her parents, but Ellen, the Housemaster, and the Head of School. She knew it would happen, so she didn’t tell us.’

Noah interjected, ‘Are you sure, Anna?’

‘Yes,’ Anna answered firmly.

Maggie touched Anna’s hand. ‘Honey, I believe you didn’t know, but PG or Connie must know. They bought Jamie the bus ticket.’

‘I don’t know if they did. They told Jamie they were going to, but I don’t know if they did.’

‘Who’s PG and Connie?’

‘Girls at school.’

‘Don’t you think we should ask them, or at least tell Jamie’s parents to ask them?’

‘They already did, and they said they didn’t know.’

‘Well, was that the truth?’ Maggie dialed back her tone. ‘I just think of Jamie’s mother and how she must feel, not knowing how her daughter is.’

‘You don’t know Jamie’s mother.’ Anna scoffed. ‘Jamie’s a total Parker, just like I was. Her parents only come to Parents’ Weekend for show.’

‘Honey, I still don’t feel comfortable withholding that information. Why don’t we call PG or Connie and ask if one of them bought the bus ticket? If so, then she’ll know where Jamie went. If not, that’s the end of it.’

‘I don’t want to.’ Anna pursed her lips. ‘I don’t want to start calling those girls. Please don’t make me. PG and Connie weren’t friendly to me anyway. They’re mean girls, straight up.’ Anna’s eyes started to well up. ‘Mom, I really wish you hadn’t gone in my room. This is my business.’

Noah interjected, ‘Anna, what you’re saying would make sense if this was the only note, but it wasn’t. There were others.’

Maggie stiffened. Noah had just busted her.

Anna’s head swiveled to Maggie. ‘What’s he talking about? How does he know that?’

Maggie felt stricken. ‘I did find some other notes –’

‘What, did you search my room?’ Anna jumped to her feet, wounded. ‘Why would you do that?’

‘No, I didn’t search your room. I looked in your textbooks, concerned about Jamie.’

Noah interjected, ‘Anna, we weren’t born yesterday. You must know where Jamie is. I don’t believe that she kept it from you to give you deniability. So why don’t you just tell us, and we can call her parents.’