Prom Night in Purgatory(53)

“Her name’s Maggie.” Chief Bailey prodded him.

“Her name’s Maggie. I don’t have a last name. I know she’s related to the Honeycutts. She was with me last night at the dance. Do you remember her?”

Chief Bailey nodded and brought his linked hands up to rest them on his head. “I remember. Real pretty gal, dressed in red, right? I thought you were going to the dance with Wilkey’s daughter, so I was a little surprised to see you leave with someone else.”

Johnny didn’t come to gossip like the ladies gathered in front of the church a few blocks down, and he slowly raised one eyebrow at Chief Bailey. The chief smiled a little bit and liked the kid just that much more for his unwillingness to kiss and tell.

“All right, then. Keep going. You left the dance together. Then what?”

“We ended up at the reservoir. We danced and talked. The battery died in my car, so we couldn’t get help until the morning. We ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, she was gone, but her shoes were still there. I looked for her all morning, and I went back this afternoon. Nobody’s seen her, and I don’t know enough about her to know where else to look.”

The chief screwed up his face in concentration, looking off for several moments, his hands still resting on his head.

“Did she leave anything else behind?”

“She had a little silver purse, and it was laying on the seat of my car where she’d left it. I looked inside thinking maybe she’d left some i.d.. It was empty, though. I found a gold cap on the floor that looked like it was from a lipstick,” Johnny added. His stomach tightened even further. Talking about it made it seem all the more bizarre. None of this made any sense. Why would a girl empty out her purse, leave it behind, and leave her shoes behind as well?

“And you didn’t hear anything that woke you up, maybe alerted you that she was gone, huh?”

“No. I woke up because the sun was beating down on me, and I was hot. I couldn’t believe how long and deeply I’d slept. I saw Maggie’s shoes and thought she’d probably taken a walk along the beach, waiting for me to wake up. I could see that she had been in the car because the driver’s side door was ajar.”

“I’ll want to see the shoes and the purse, as well as the lipstick cap.”

“Aw, shit,” Johnny thought to himself and ran aggravated hands through his hair. Why hadn’t he held onto the shoes? He hadn’t been thinking, that’s why. Now he was going to have to explain to Chief Bailey all about the connection to the Honeycutts. And how was he supposed to do that without getting Maggie in a whole heap of trouble?

“Is there anything that happened at the dance or before you got to the reservoir that was out of the ordinary -- that makes you suspicious now?” Chief Bailey’s voice had become softer, and he was zeroed in on Johnny’s face, watching him, as if he knew Johnny was trying to determine what and what not to tell him.

Hell, what hadn’t happened? Johnny thought. “The whole night was out of the ordinary.” Johnny leaned forward, his arms resting on the chief’s messy desk. “Here comes the part where you and I are just gonna talk,” Johnny suggested.

Chief brought his hands down from his head and set his feet on the floor. Then he leaned forward too and leveled his eyes at Johnny.

“She took that car last night, didn’t she?”

Johnny sighed and dropped his head in defeat. Chief Bailey was no dummy. If Johnny was going to help Maggie, he couldn’t lie now.

“She did. She and Lizzie Honeycutt seem to be friendly. Lizzie helped her devise a plan to borrow the housekeeper’s car. They didn’t think Mrs. Smith would even notice it was gone, and Maggie was just going to bring it back when the dance was over.”

“Lizzie Honeycutt? Don’t you mean Irene?” The Chief of Police was a little perplexed.

“No, I mean Lizzie. Lizzie and Maggie both say they are related, but neither of them would tell me more than that. Lizzie seems to think she went home...or, in her words, ‘back where she came from.’ But she doesn’t seem to know where that is.”

“So you’ve talked to Lizzie since Maggie disappeared?”

“I went there earlier today. She hadn’t seen Maggie either, and honestly, she didn’t tell me much. She asked for the shoes -- and Maggie’s dress for that matter. Apparently Lizzie helped Maggie ‘borrow’ a dress from Irene. I handed over the shoes. I didn’t think....I’m sorry.”

Clark Bailey had resumed the position, hands on head, eyes trained on the ceiling, thinking.

“You shouldn’t have helped her leave the dance, you know.” Chief Bailey dropped his eyes and pinned a look on Johnny. “Technically, I could charge you as an accessory to a crime.”

Johnny sighed and folded his arms, a little of the hoodlum resurfacing to smirk at the chief’s bluff. “You’re not gonna do that, Chief. The car is back in the garage, no harm done, and I didn’t take it. Plus, if you’re ever gonna have a chance with my mother, you’d better not throw me in jail on a two-bit charge like that.”

Chief Bailey actually blushed a little and started moving papers around on his desk. Johnny laughed out loud.

“Chief, take it from me, it’s gonna take a catastrophic event to make my momma wake up and come to her senses. She’s a good lady, and Lord knows she’s a pretty one, but she is downright stupid when it comes to men, and you’re not her type. I actually wish you were ‘cause I think Maggie was right. I think you’re one of the good guys, and my momma could definitely use one of those.”