AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Starting the engine, and pulling the drive gear down, I drove off before Gary could finish his sentence. I hated this shitty town, and how on earth were there rumors already? I thought back over the past few weeks. I had gone to the Jackson’s for dinner. I had stood close enough to whisper in Rae’s ear that night I followed her home. I might have been seen pinning her up against the side of the clothing store. I suppose his warning might have some merit, considering the town would want to protect poor Rae against the likes of me, regardless that she was in her own right as mean as a snake.
I didn’t care. The fact that I was in fact getting gas again meant I had been coming to town more often than I normally did, but aside from Rae taking up every inch of space in my head, Gavin had texted, asking if I found anything out about that girl. So, I decided it would be a good idea to venture in today to see if I could find anything.
If I happened to see Rae somewhere, then oh well.
Didn’t mean anything.
The first place I wanted to check was the library. I had no idea if it was merely because that’s where the scene of the crime took place, or if it was because I knew she had frequented the space often. Regardless, I’d have to take care with what I asked, because I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea, and shit spread faster than wildfire in this town.
Entering the library gave me a familiar sensation of shame, tearing at my insides and reminding me that while I had no idea that girl would be there that night, from the look on her face, I had destroyed her. I was an asshole in most situations, but I’d never be cruel to anyone, not on purpose. Why had I waited so long to check in on her, though? Fuck, what if somethinghadhappened, and I waited four long years to even check?
I’d never forgive myself.
“Mr. Brenton!” Mabel, the librarian, called out to me, adjusting her reading glasses. Mabel called everyone in town by their first name, so her calling me by my last was her way of snubbing me. I knew people didn’t like me, and I didn’t like them either, so it didn't bug me.
“Mabel, uh…hello there.” Fuck, how did one start small talk?
Her overgrown eyebrows folded together in the center of her forehead, “Well, I…”
“I just have a quick question, actually,” I said, quickly cutting her off.
Mabel’s eyebrows relaxed as her face twisted into something more akin to a resting bitch face. I didn’t wait for her to respond.
“I’m trying to find someone. She would have been…” I searched my brain for how old she had to have been that day in the library. The summer prior, she’d said she was seventeen… “Eighteen or so. This was four years ago.” Even as I said it, I began to connect a few dots, slowly but surely. Maybe Rae would have known her?
“A girl who came around here, or?” One of Mabel’s eyebrows lifted in question.
“Yeah, she would have been in a lot, she seemed like a bit of a bookworm, always seemed to carry a book bag, had dark, short hair, and braces…” I didn’t want to comment on the acne; it seemed rude to point out.
Mabel seemed to consider it while shuffling a few folders. “Let’s see…now, I transferred to the Clark County library for about a year around that time. You probably don’t remember, but I was working in three different locations for a while there.”
Why would I remember that? I assumed Mabel had worked here forever.
“So you have any ideas on who it could be?”
She clicked her tongue. “You probably don’t remember that time Miss Frenza’s dog got loose and ran past you in the parking lot, and we all begged you to stop it, but you ignored us and let it go, do you?”
Nope, didn’t remember that at all.
“Or that time Shelly Harding asked if a few homeschool groups could come to your farm and warehouse for a field trip for their kids, and you rudely turned her down?”
What the fuck was she on about? Oh yeah…
I put my finger up, like a light bulb had just flared to life in my head. “I remember that one,”
She stared at me, expressionless. Her watery blue eyes were lined with dark blue eyeliner, not a great look against her pasty skin tone.
“You know…honestly, even if I did know who this girl was, I wouldn’t tell you, and really, I shouldn’t help you at all.”
“But, what about that time I installed those wall sconces for free? And let’s not forget that I donate a shit ton of money to this place.” Sure, I was a dick, but a generous one.
Her face flushed, but with a huff she said, “I honestly don’t know, but the high school yearbook would be a good place to start. If she was eighteen four years ago, she was likely in the senior graduating class. Start there.”
The school yearbook! Genius. I hated when people were smarter than me.
“Aren’t you going to say thank you?” Mabel called after me.
I pushed my shoulder into the glass door and yelled back, “For what? You didn’t have anything for me.” Not true, but technically, she didn’t give me a name, so I wouldn’t be giving her any credit.
