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“May we sit with you?” a girl’s voice interrupted her moment of meaningful apple appreciation. Three of them were standing by the table with their loaded trays in their hands, waiting.
Alana glared at the girl who’d spoken, a redhead with a nose piercing missing its ring, but she didn’t notice. She was looking straight at Nick, her head tilted, biting her lower lip, shamelessly flirting. And he was falling for it, smiling and probably feeling flattered by the attention, inviting them to join their table with a hand gesture.
Looking around, Alana noticed the cafeteria was full. Some kids were sitting on the stairs, eating with their trays in their laps. She would’ve gladly told those girls to get lost, but it wasn’t the right thing to do. She wasn’t going to become possessive, desperate, and mean. She was much better than that.
Her glare morphed into an inviting glance. She grabbed her backpack from the chair next to her. “Sure, you guys, join us.”
Two of the girls took the available chairs, while the third went looking for a spare. She didn’t return; moments later, Alana saw her seated on the stairs next to a guy in a team jersey.
Nick chatted with the two girls casually, while eating his sandwich. They were talking about movies; what they had watched recently, and if they’d liked it. Any recommendations they would make, anything they’d want to see. It seemed as if he’d completely forgotten about her.
Feeling the threat of tears in her throat, she drank some water and pushed the tray aside, leaving half the nuggets to keep the corn on the cob company on the way to the trash can. She hated how vulnerable Nick made her feel, how she saw a threat in every girl who walked by. But most of all, she hated the attention Nick gave them, when she was right there, by his side, ignored and miserable.
It wasn’t the first time that had happened. Probably it would happen again and again. Nick was handsome and intelligent, charming, a veritable chick magnet. His Grecian features were close to what his ancient people had seen in Adonis. Tall and dark-haired, with black eyes that drilled into a woman’s soul and a smile that lit her blood on fire, Nick was simply irresistible. Adding the red convertible he drove and his elegant manners, she understood why competition for her boyfriend would always be fierce.
But she was ready, defending the walls of her castle the best way she could. At least she told herself that, counting the minutes until she had to return to class, minutes wasted by Nick on the chatty sophomores.
She was about to walk away from the table when Nick leaned closer to her and whispered, “What do you say we watchIron Mantonight?”
His breath touched her skin, sending waves of desire throughout her body. “Uh-huh,” she replied, smiling and leaning closer to him.
“My place?”
She pulled away a little and glanced at him quickly. She knew exactly what that meant. “Uh-huh,” she repeated. His eyes lingered on her full lips.
“My folks are in San Fran for the weekend,” he added, drawing closer, still keeping his voice low. “Wanna have a party instead?”
For a quick moment, she envisioned hordes of scantily clad girls wiggling their butts for his enjoyment, and shuddered at the thought. “We’ll dance some other time,” she replied, her lips close to his ear, almost touching it. “Let’s make tonight about you and me.”
TWENTY-SIX
DIARY
“You agree?” Surprised, Elliot stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. Under the brim of his hat, his eyes searched Kay’s, expecting answers.
Kay stood and grabbed her keys. “Let’s go. I’ll fill you in on the way.”
“Where are we going?”
“Jenna’s,” she replied, leading the way out of the office. In the parking lot, she hesitated between the two Interceptors, but Elliot pressed his remote and unlocked his. She climbed onto the passenger seat. The sun had heated the inside of the black vehicle to almost unbearable levels.
Elliot started the engine and turned the AC knob to the maximum, a flow of icy air coming out of the vents as he pulled out of the parking lot. He seemed preoccupied with something. She waited for him to bring it up.
“You have so much more experience than I do,” he eventually said, “especially when it comes to murder cases of the twisted, psycho kind.” He turned onto the highway leading to the interstate, then continued. “But shouldn’t we focus on Kendra first? Until we know otherwise, she’s still alive. She’s only been missing for fifteen hours or less.”
Kay shifted in her seat to look at Elliot without turning her head too much. “That’s exactly what we’re doing. If you believe these cases are related, you’ll understand that we might find more evidence in Jenna’s universe than Kendra’s.”
“Why is that? Kendra’s disappearance is fresh, new, and we might find more about her state of mind from interviewing her friends and searching her social media.”
“That’s one way to go about it,” she replied. “Just like traveling from here to New York City has dozens of possible route options, based on choices made at each juncture, an investigation can follow a number of paths. If conducted properly, they’ll all lead to the same conclusion.”
“Only one of these routes is the fastest,” he replied. “To New York, I mean, and to Kendra’s whereabouts too. I don’t—”
“Don’t you think I’m painfully aware of every single minute that passes while we don’t know where Kendra is?” She’d raised her voice, the stress of the past few hours taking its toll. “Whenever we make a decision whether to interview one witness or another, we gamble with people’s lives. That’s the invisible burden of a cop’s life, to have to do that, do your very best, and always second-guessing yourself. To blame yourself if the outcome is less than ideal.” She breathed, willing herself to lower her voice. Elliot wasn’t responsible for anything that was wrong in her life. “But we can’t afford to hesitate; that’s worse than anything. We make these decisions based on our skills, experience, and instinct.” She paused for a beat, absently looking at the landscape dashing by. The rich hues of summer green grasses met the deeper shades of teal and viridian borne by distant evergreens, tall and proud, reaching for the perfectly azure sky. She turned her attention to Elliot. “My gut tells me there’s more to learn from Jenna’s world than Kendra’s.”
The brim of Elliot’s hat moved down then up in an almost imperceptible nod. “Why?”
“Mostly because Jenna’s recent life had been filled with unusual events. Whatever happened to her last April, we still don’t know, and it might’ve set events in motion. The man she was seeing, the older guy from San Fra—”
