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“Who took him?”
“Me and Naomi.”
“What happened to Judd and Ezra?”
She grimaced. “They stayed. Eventually they were arrested.”
I wanted to find those two and wring their necks for putting my daughter in danger. I tapped my pen. I’d barely been aware of her when all this happened. It was odd to think about.
“Tell me about your encounter with Michael.”
“He was in a lot of pain, but was grateful to us for helping him. Naomi and I just made small talk on the way to the hospital to take his mind off his injuries. That’s when I found out he was from New York. He was there to support the highway because if it didn’t run through native lands, he said it would go right through his grandfather’s property, and he’d lose his livelihood.”
Penelope shifted and stared out the window a moment. “So many times, there is no clear winner. After talking to him, I didn’t want them to build the road at all.”
She had a tender heart. And I was so damn proud of her.
If I’d been in her position, would I have helped a bleeding stranger? I honestly didn’t know, and I didn’t like what that said about me.
“We stayed with him at the hospital while they checked him out. Then we took him to get something to eat and dropped him off at his car,” she said. “We were friends by the end of the ordeal. When he found out Naomi and I live in New York, we exchanged numbers and made plans to meet up.”
“Did you follow through with those plans?”
“We did. I texted him to see if he was okay a few times. When we were all back in the city, we went bowling, met for coffee, and had dinner.”
“When you say we—”
“Naomi, Michael, and me. Judd and Ezra came maybe three times.”
“What was the nature of your relationship?”
I growled, and they both looked at me. If it was romantic, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear that.
She leveled me with a look. “Just friends.”
Something in my chest loosened. What was I going to do if she found a boyfriend? Or worse yet was like me? I hadn’t exactly been a saint when I was her age.
“Was he someone you spent a lot of time with?”
“Once every few weeks . . . I guess. I was working a lot at my new firm, so it was a crazy period.”
“How long did this go on?”
“Several months. We were supposed to meet up the night he died. He never showed up to dinner. I tried to call and text. I even went by his apartment because I was worried. That’s when his mom told me he was dead.” Her eyes glassed over.
I hadn’t realized the guy was someone she knew as more than an acquaintance.
“Is that the first time you met his mother?”
“Yeah. He complained about her a lot. Said she was a nag, but he had to live with her while he saved up for his own place.”
Whitley drew lines on his legal pad. How did his notes make sense?
“Who was meeting up that night?”
“Judd, Ezra, and I were going to Naomi’s restaurant. The guys were late and Michael never showed.”
“Were all of you friends?”
