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On closer inspection, Josie saw that her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She and Noah offered their credentials. Noah made the introductions. Before he could go any further, Olivia started backing away from the station. “I’ll go get my manager.”
Josie said, “That’s fine, but we’re mainly here to talk to you, Olivia.”
She brought her hands up, curling them together into her chest. Her eyes darted back and forth between them. “Me?” she asked weakly. “Why me?”
Noah said, “I’m sure you’ve seen the news, Olivia. Kayleigh Patchett was abducted on Saturday. Part of our investigation is speaking to the people closest to her.”
Josie said, “Her mom said you two are best friends.”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “Kayleigh and I are best friends. I guess. Don’t you, like, need my parents to be here to talk to me?”
“Olivia, you’re not in any trouble,” said Noah. “So no. Would you feel better if we called them?”
The color drained from her face. “God, no.” She looked down at her feet. “It’s just that I really don’t—I kind of don’t feel well. I—”
Josie glanced over at Noah and said, “Olivia, you know what? We do need to talk to your manager and maybe a couple of other people here who know Kayleigh. This might go a whole lot faster if Lieutenant Fraley and I split up. If you could tell Lieutenant Fraley where to find your manager, he could take care of that interview while you and I chat here.”
“Sure,” she said. She pointed to the left of the host station and gave him instructions. Even with Noah out of view, Olivia’s skin was still pale, her hands still fisted and pressed into her sternum.
Josie said, “When was the last time you saw Kayleigh?”
“In person? School on Friday.”
“When’s the last time you talked with her?”
“Friday night. Her parents had taken her phone to punish her but they let her have it just to call me so she could ask me to cover her shift.”
This matched up with the call history on Kayleigh’s phone. “What did you talk about?”
“She asked me to take her shift today because she had softball practice. She hates softball but her parents make her play.”
Josie smiled. “Yeah, that’s the impression I’ve gotten.”
Olivia still wouldn’t look at Josie but some of the color had returned to her face. She picked up a dry-erase marker from the host station and pulled the cap off.
“Kayleigh’s parents said that she’s restricted from having social media accounts. It seems like it would be pretty hard to survive high school without any social media.”
“I mean, some kids don’t have it.”
“Does Kayleigh really not have social media?” asked Josie.
“She doesn’t. She’s never had her own accounts.”
“You won’t be getting her in trouble, Olivia. You can tell the truth. This is important.”
Olivia glanced toward the front doors, as if wishing someone would come in and put a stop to the questioning. “She really doesn’t. Her parents are super strict about it.”
“But her phone isn’t the only place she can log in to the apps,” Josie pointed out.
Olivia said nothing.
“Did Kayleigh ever use your phone to log in to any of them?”
“No.”
“Olivia.”
“She didn’t use my phone, okay? She doesn’t have social media. Her parents would kill her. They think, like, she’s going to get groomed by some pervert on the internet or whatever. There were always things she pushed back on like not wanting to play sports, but social media wasn’t one of them.”
