The Familiar Dark(6)

“He’s just a local loser,” Jenny said, nose stuffy. “Jimmy Ray Fulton. You’d know him if you saw him. He’s got the truck with the loud muffler you always complain about.”

“Jimmy Ray’s her ex,” Land said, hooking his thumb at me without bothering to glance my way. “Runs a meth operation her mama’s a part of.”

“Ex-boyfriend, not husband,” Cal supplied, as if that distinction was going to make a damn bit of difference to the Logans.

“Meth?” Zach said, like he’d never heard the word before. “Did he say meth?” His eyes skated around the room looking for an answer.

“Yeah,” I said. “Meth. You know, this part of the world’s little cottage industry. Or at least it used to be. I’ve heard Jimmy Ray’s branching out into heroin these days. Going after the serious money. That what you hear, too, Sheriff?” I swung my gaze to Land. From the corner of my eye I could see Cal staring at me, could imagine the look on his face. Who is this smart-mouth woman? Where has she been hiding all these years? I thought she was gone for good. I, for one, was relieved she’d made a reappearance. The Junie’s-mom version of me wasn’t going to make it through this. But maybe the old, hard-edged Eve Taggert had a shot at surviving.

“I don’t understand,” Jenny said. She looked from me to Land. “You think Junie’s father might have had something to do with this?” I could hear the accusation in her voice, and underneath it the total lack of surprise. No one would want to hurt Izzy, no animal who would cut a girl’s throat was part of the Logans’ neat and tidy lives. So it had to be Junie. She’d brought this on their daughter, not the other way around. The worst part was I thought Jenny was probably right.

“Jimmy Ray’s not her father,” I said, voice hard. “And he wasn’t involved. Even he has standards.” Honestly, I had some doubt about Jimmy Ray’s standards, or lack thereof, but I needed to believe he wasn’t capable of something like this.

For a moment no one spoke, the buzz from the fluorescent lights like a jackhammer inside my head. “What about her actual father, then?” Land said finally. “What’s his story? Could he have been involved?”

“No,” I said, nothing more.

“He live around here?” Land pressed.

I sighed, knew he was doing this for the benefit of the Logans. Land was already well aware of my status as a tried-and-true single mother. “Nope,” I said. “It was one time. He was passing through town. A fuck-and-run, I think they call it.” Zach stiffened up next to me, and I felt a cheap thrill at having shocked him.

“Never saw him again?” Land said.

Memories of that single night flashed through my mind: dark, tousled hair and big-city dreams; equal parts wild and sweet and my back scraped raw on the edge of the diner’s countertop; the hand he’d laid on my cheek before he drove away. I pushed the memories back where they belonged. “I haven’t laid eyes on him since that night.”

Land nodded, looked down at the notebook in front of him, but not before I saw the gleam of satisfaction in his gaze. But if he was hoping to humiliate me, he’d have to do a lot better than that. He already has, my mind whispered, and now it was my turn to look away.

“Can you walk me through this morning?” he said, glancing at Jenny. “What time did the girls leave your house?”

Jenny worried her hands together, took a shaky breath. “Um . . . Junie was planning on going home after lunch. Early afternoon.” She glanced at me. “I made them grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup around one, and then Junie packed up her things. I was going to drive her home, but Izzy begged me to let them walk. They wanted to play in the snow.” She swiped at her wet cheek with one hand. “They were only twelve,” she whispered. “They just wanted to walk in the snow.”

Zach put one arm around her shoulder, and she leaned her head against him. Her voice was slightly muffled as she continued, “Izzy was going to call me as soon as they got to Junie’s, and I would drive over and pick her up. But instead the police showed up at our door.”

“The park’s not on the way to Eve’s apartment,” Cal pointed out.

“No,” Jenny said. “It’s not. I don’t know why they were there.”

Calling it a park was really nothing more than wishful thinking. A couple of swings, a cracked cement tunnel usually filled with dead leaves and cat shit. An old wooden seesaw studded with splinters. The elementary school next door had been torn down before I was born, and all that remained was the neglected playground, surrounded by a rusted chain-link fence. Junie and I went probably once a year, and I always swore to myself we wouldn’t return. It was a sad excuse for a park, one that left you feeling depressed rather than carefree. But if you wanted the chance to push your child on a swing in Barren Springs, it was your only option.

Land pointed one finger at me. “You work a full shift at the diner today?”

I nodded. “Eight thirty to five.”

“What about you, Zach? Were you at work today?”

“Yeah. Left this morning around eight. Spent the whole day at the dealership. I was still there when you all showed up.”

“Take a lunch break or anything?” Land asked, eyes on his notebook.

Zach paused, and his arm jerked next to mine the moment he caught up. “You think one of us might have done this?”