AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Reluctant, as if she’d been asked to lift fifty-pound boulders, Alana sighed and looked through her messages. “Last night. She said she was going out on a date. She was all excited about it. Here,” she said, holding the screen in front of Kay’s face, a little too close for comfort. “See for yourself.”
Kay didn’t flinch. “Did she say with whom?”
“No. She doesn’t have a boyfriend.” She scoffed, then looked sideways as if trying to remember. “Not one that I know of. We aren’t all that close. She’s new to our group. And a junior.” She said the word as if it were an insult.
“You don’t like juniors?”
Alana shrugged, and all her jewelry jingled in protest. “All they want from us is our old homework.” Her lip curled in disgust. “As if I’d keep any of that shit.”
“Language, Alana,” her mother quickly intervened.
“Was Kendra close to Jenna?” Kay asked, still looking for things the two girls might’ve had in common other than the obvious.
“No,” Alana said with a sad chuckle. “Jenna… had become, um, easy, if you know what I mean.” Her eyes darted at Kay’s face, then away from it. “Kendra’s a nice girl. I’m willing to bet she’s still a virgin.”
“Alana,” her mother reacted. Her voice was loaded with frustration and embarrassment.
Her daughter turned to face her ostentatiously. “Yes, Mom. What?”
“She hates it when I call her name without saying anything else,” the mother explained, sounding apologetic yet contrived. “We’re both heartbroken about Jenna, you know. My daughter isn’t that good at sharing her real feelings and prefers to act up.” A shrug, followed by an eye roll that was intended to draw Kay’s sympathy. “She’s a teenager,” she added, mouthing the words, as if Alana wasn’t standing right next to her.
“Do you know about Jenna’s website?” Kay asked, staring at Alana intently. The girl’s pupils dilated when she heard the question.
“What website?” Alexandria asked.
Alana looked at her mother then at Kay as if weighing her options.
“Don’t even think of lying,” Elliot said. “My partner charged someone with obstruction of justice for far less than this.”
Alana rolled her eyes and blew air into a chewing gum balloon until it popped.
“What website, missy?” Alexandria asked, getting in Alana’s face.
Alana pushed her mother away with a hand gesture and a quick, fiery glare. “Jenna’s. Leave me alone,” she said, sliding past her mother and leaning against the open door. “She had this call girl website put up, if you have to know. There. Now I won’t hear the end of it as if it were mine or something.”
Alexandria’s hand covered her agape mouth as she gasped. “Goodness… what is wrong with kids today? It’s not enough I’m insane with worry every time she’s late or she doesn’t call, but… adult websites too?” Shaking her head, she wrapped her arms around herself, staring at the floor where the tip of her shoe tapped nervously against the hardwood.
Yet Kay didn’t feel her display of concern and surprise was entirely genuine. She couldn’t put her finger on it. It wasn’t something the woman had said or done; more like a gut feeling telling Kay she didn’t have all the information. Their emotions were all wrong.
“Anything else you two would like to share regarding Jenna or Kendra?”
“Oh, that poor girl, she’s still missing, isn’t she?” Alexandria said, earning herself a quick, sideways glance from Alana. “You think the same man has her?”
Kay didn’t reply. Turning to Alana, she asked, “Anything at all that could help us find Kendra?”
Alana seemed to hesitate for a while, then said, lowering her voice, “Um, not sure if this matters, but Jenna had started seeing an older guy.”
“How much older?” Kay asked, a little surprised Alexandria had no reaction. She must’ve known about that son of a bitch and had done nothing about it.
“Not sure. Just… older. Jenna used to call him DeGraw, but that was a nickname… she’s crazy about Gavin DeGraw and his music. She keeps—kept—playing him on loop. I wonder if this older guy killed her.”
“Since when did Jenna know about the website?” Kay asked, changing direction quickly, a strategy meant to throw people off their lies.
Alana didn’t flinch. “Poor Jenna… she had no idea until Tim broke up with her because of it. She was stunned.”
“Why do you think she didn’t say anything to anyone, if the website wasn’t hers? To Tim, especially?”
Alana’s eyes shifted around as if to figure out what lie to tell. “She said if Tim believed that website could’ve been hers, then he deserved to go.” She thrust her chin forward. “I was proud of her that day.”
