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“No. She wouldn’t tell me.” Madison drew a breath. “That was when I slapped her.”
Kit had a tiny bit of sympathy for Madison. That would have been a terrible betrayal. But it was only a tiny bit, because she didn’t think that Madison had told anyone this back when it mattered. “What did she do then?”
“Cried. Like she didn’t deserve being slapped. I told her that I’d tell everyone what she did, and her name would be shit around school. That I’d make sure of it.”
“What happened then?”
“She left. It was only lunchtime, but she walked out.”
“And then?” Kit prompted.
“She was gone. The day we fought was Friday and by Sunday, her parents were calling every one of my friends, trying to find her.”
“Did you tell anyone about the scholarship audition at the time?”
A petulant shrug. “I told her parents that she was talking about going out for a role. That she’d probably be back by Monday with her tail between her legs because she was a talentless hack.”
“But she didn’t come back,” Kit said quietly, watching Madison for any spark of empathy, of regret.
“Nope,” Madison said lightly, like it didn’t matter. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t.
I bet Sam Reeves could figure her out.
And... Whoa. Where had that come from? Not only was the thought jarring, it was also wrong. Because I’m figuring her out, all right?
“When was the audition?” Kit asked.
“The paper she had in her backpack said it would be the next day, first thing in the morning.”
But Naomi had left in the wee hours of Saturday morning, hours too early.
Then Kit remembered a detail. Nathan had said that his mother had yelled at Naomi earlier that evening, at around nine p.m. Right before he’d snuck out to play video games and smoke weed with his friend. Naomi had left the house after her mother had told her to never come back if she walked out. Where had she gone between nine p.m. Friday night and two thirty Saturday morning?
“Did Naomi come by your house that night?” Kit asked.
Madison’s mouth fell open. She quickly snapped it shut, but that told Kit what she wanted to know.
“She did, didn’t she?” Kit murmured. “What happened?”
Madison’s chin went up. “She called me after dinner, crying again. Said she wanted to explain. To make it up to me. That my friendship was important to her. So I let her come over, but she wasn’t sorry. So I threw her out. At that point, she was dead to me.”
Kit wanted to sigh but didn’t. It likely wouldn’t have made any difference if Madison had let her stay. Naomi would have still gone with whoever had offered her that audition. But what would Madison do if she knew that Naomi probably was dead?
“Mrs.Larkin told you that I’m a detective. She didn’t mention that I’m a homicide detective.”
Kit watched as emotions flitted across Madison’s face. Shock. Horror. Denial. Then... understanding followed by a cool acceptance.
“What happened?” Madison asked.
“I don’t exactly know yet. Did she happen to mention an older man?”
“Yeah. He was going to give her a ride to Orion the next morning. She offered to let me come, too.”
Kit’s pulse sped up. “Did she describe this man?”
“No. Said he wanted her to keep their relationship on the down-low. Because he was older and they’d get into trouble. She did say that he had a nice car. That we could ride to her audition in style.”
“Did she say what kind of car?”
