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“Thanks.”
“So what about the applications?”
Bria hummed an “I don’t know” and turned over so that her back was to the TV. She closed her eyes, and Ladonna stared down at her face. She used to watch her sleep when she was a baby, and now she was halfway grown. But she didn’t look peaceful anymore. The innocence was long gone, and it made Ladonna’s eyes well up with tears. Her daughter wasn’t the same. She may never be the same again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Man,howlongwegon’ be in here? I got shit to do,” announced Bobby Gordon, his knee bouncing rapidly under the conference table. The interview hadn’t even started yet, and he was already acting an ass. Jace would have rather been anywhere else, too, but at least he was polite enough to hide his irritation.
Will rolled his eyes. “Ain’t no telling. Just sit tight and I’ll try to get y’all out as soon as I can.”
“Shit is ridiculous,” Bobby continued. Jace wondered if he had heard a word Will said. “I already had to leave school two periods early. We have a concert and two performances coming up. I can’t afford to be away like this, man.”
“You’re making me nervous, Dad,” Jace said.
Bobby looked at his son for the first time. “Why would you be nervous? You didn’t do anything wrong. Right?”
Jace sighed and stared at the table. “Right.”
“Then tell them that so I can get the hell on.” Bobby looked around the room. “They ain’t got no vending machines or a water cooler? What kind of foolishness is that?”
Will looked around. “Do you want me to go see if I can find you something to eat?” he asked in the same voice you would use with a toddler who needs a nap.
“Don’t worry about it, man.” Bobby blew loudly out of his mouth and threw himself back onto his chair. This only succeeded in making Jace more nervous. His stomach rumbled loudly. He coughed to mask the sound.
At long last, the two detectives, Ebony and Ivory, Jace thought, entered the room. The black one shook Will’s hand and introduced himself to Bobby and Jace, but Jace was barely listening. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, the voices in the room echoing as though they were trapped inside a hollow space. It was actually Jace who felt hollow.
“Gentlemen, I understand you’re busy, and I don’t want to take up too much of your time,” Webb announced. “We can get through this quickly as long as Jace here is willing to tell me what I wanna know.”
Bobby scoffed. “He’s here, ain’t he?”
Webb’s smile didn’t reach the rest of his face. “You’re right. Thank you for coming.”
“You’re welcome,” Bobby said, satisfied to have won the insignificant battle. He wasn’t comfortable if he didn’t have the upper hand.
Jace figured that must be where he had gotten it from. And maybe it was why the Gordons loved music the way they did. No matter how crazy life gets, you can always control what comes out of your instrument. You can’t bend a man or a woman to your will, but you can take a note and play it, bend it, stretch it, and then silence it. You own those notes completely. You dominate them. And it’s the best feeling in the world.
“So let’s get to it, then. Jace, what was your relationship to the victim?” Webb asked.
“We were friends. She was in the Twelve, which is—”
“I’ve heard of it.”
“Okay. We had Twelve meetings together. I saw her every day at marching band practice. And sometimes we would all hang out in a group. But that wasn’t often.”
“Did you and the victim ever hang out alone? Just the two of you?”
Jace thought for a moment. “I can’t think of a time.”
Webb nodded. “Did that bother you?”
“Why would it bother me?”
“Well, we’ve heard from a few people that you had a crush on Nyleah.”
“Oh." He scrubbed a hand down his face. "I wouldn’t call it a crush. I thought she was cute, but I never asked her out or anything.”
“Did you ever express to her that you were attracted to her?”
