Page 56 of Someone We Know

‘Adam,’ she says. She follows him into the kitchen. ‘We need to talk.’ He opens the fridge door and then looks over his shoulder at her warily. She swallows. ‘Your father is down at the police station.’ He goes still as a stone. ‘He’s being questioned about Amanda Pierce.’

A look of dread comes over her son’s face. There’s a drawn-out silence. ‘They’re questioning everybody, though, right?’ Adam says.

‘Yes.’

‘They’ll let him go,’ Adam says. ‘Like Raleigh’s dad. They let him go.’

‘I don’t know,’ she says, her voice tight. ‘I don’t know what’s going on at the station. But the police took your father’s computer away.’

Adam stands completely still for a moment longer, his face pale. Then he turns away from her abruptly and leaves to go upstairs. ‘Wait, Adam, I need to talk to you.’

But he’s taking the stairs two at a time.

Raleigh is a wreck. He’s the one who saw Keith Newell’s emails. Because of him, his dad went to the police. Because of him, Keith Newell is sitting in the police station, probably suspected of murder. Raleigh just got a frantic text from Adam.

Raleigh finally got his cell phone back from his parents after he told them the truth about the break-ins and swore he was done with hacking. But now he almost wishes they hadn’t given it back to him. He stares at the text again. Well, what did he expect? He knew that as soon as he told the truth about Adam’s dad, his parents might go to the police. He didn’t feel like he had a choice, with his own dad still under suspicion of murder. Raleigh knows that Keith Newell is an asshole, but could he actually be a murderer? It’s less outrageous than the possibility of his own father being a murderer.

He looks again at Adam’s text, then tosses the phone aside.

He won’t be able to contain it. It will all come out now, that he broke into the Newells’ house and their computer, too. If Adam’s dad goes on trial, Raleigh will have to testify about those emails. Everyone will know. Raleigh could be in big trouble. But if Keith Newell killed Amanda Pierce, at least his own father will be free.

Webb enters the interview room again, late that afternoon, Moen behind him. Keith Newell now has his lawyer beside him.

They resume the interview. Newell stubbornly shakes his head back and forth. ‘I didn’t kill her. When I left her there Friday evening she was fine. When I came back on Saturday, at around ten thirty in the morning, she was already gone. Everything was cleaned up. I thought she’d changed her mind. I had no idea what had happened to her.’ He stifles a sob, the exhaustion and the strain getting to him. ‘I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw her car was gone. I tried to open the door but it was locked. I got the—’ He stops suddenly.

Webb feels Moen snapping to attention beside him. ‘It was locked,’ Webb repeats into the silence.

‘No,’ Newell says quickly, shaking his head. ‘I’m sorry, I’m tired. It wasn’t locked. I walked right in and saw that the place was empty.’

‘You said it was locked. I got the – you were going to say you got the key, is that right?’ Webb says.

‘It was definitely not locked,’ Newell repeats. ‘I went right in and the key was on the counter.’ He looks at his lawyer, seems to signal something to him with his eyes.

‘No more questions,’ the lawyer says. ‘My client is tired. That’s it for now.’ The lawyer stands up. ‘Are you going to detain him?’

‘Yes,’ Webb says. ‘We certainly are.’

Olivia arrives at Glenda’s door. It’s late, after ten o’clock. The street is dark, and it’s cold out. She pulls her coat closer. She’s tried calling, but Glenda isn’t picking up the phone. Olivia knows she’s home; Raleigh told her that Adam has been texting him because he’s worried about his mom, and asking him to send his mother over to help. So she’s not exactly imposing; she’s been invited over. But she’s nervous because she’s pretty sure Glenda won’t want to see her.

Glenda doesn’t answer the door. Olivia rings the bell again. Finally she hears the sound of footsteps. The door opens, but it’s not Glenda there, it’s Adam. He looks distraught. And maybe not completely sober. She can smell liquor on his sixteen-year-old breath. It makes her heart sink. She steps inside, into darkness. ‘Where’s your mother?’

He nods with his head toward the living room. She steps further into the house, not stopping to take off her jacket. She sees Glenda sitting in the darkened living room. Olivia automatically reaches for the light switch. The light floods the room and Glenda blinks, as if she’s become unused to light. She might have been sitting here for hours.

‘Glenda, are you all right?’ Olivia asks anxiously. She’s never seen Glenda look like this. Her face is haggard. Usually she’s pretty resilient, even in times of crisis; she’s the one who holds the family together. Olivia glances at Adam, who is staring at his mother. He seems to be swaying slightly on his feet. Olivia feels the weight of it all pressing on her chest. How has everything come to this? She steps forward until she’s closer. ‘Glenda,’ she says. ‘I’m here.’ Her voice breaks. Glenda is her closest friend. How can this be happening to her, to her family? To all of them? ‘I’m so sorry.’

Glenda finally looks up at her and says, ‘It’s not your fault.’

Adam stands watching, swaying. ‘Why don’t you go back upstairs, Adam,’ his mother says. Adam flees, obviously relieved.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ Olivia says, and sits down on the sofa next to her. She doesn’t believe it, but she doesn’t know what else to say. She remembers Glenda sitting beside her in the police station that day, when their positions were reversed. She wants to comfort her. ‘They’ve been questioning everybody, you know that. They’ll talk to Keith and then they’ll let him go, just like Larry, like Paul. He didn’t kill Amanda. You know that.’ But she’s thinking, It’s someone we know. And truthfully, she thinks it might be Keith.

For a moment Glenda doesn’t answer. Then she says, ‘He’s been there a long time.’

‘They kept Paul for a long time, and then they let him go.’

Glenda whispers, ‘I’m so worried about Adam.’

Olivia nods. She’s almost afraid to ask, but she must. She must know. ‘Did you find out who Keith was seeing?’

‘That’s it, isn’t it?’ Glenda says. ‘We all want to know if Keith was seeing her.’

Olivia waits for the answer. When Glenda falls silent, Olivia says, her voice a whisper, ‘Was he?’

Glenda lowers her voice to a whisper, too. ‘Keith told me, before the police came. He admitted he was seeing her. He said he deleted everything from the computer, but they’ll be able to recover it, won’t they? And then the police will know. They must know already; he must have admitted it. It’s been hours.’

Olivia feels the blood pounding in her ears, terrified of what she might hear next.

Glenda leans toward Olivia and says, ‘Keith says he didn’t kill her. But I don’t know if I believe him.’

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