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I couldn’t admit how close we truly were. That we were in love. If Zara and Ali heard that, they might suspect that Amerie had told me something about her situation, and then I’d have even less of a chance to find her and save her.
“Yeah, sort of,” I said, shrugging nonchalantly. “We hang out and study together most days, and I always give her rides to school because I’m right next door. We work on the school paper together too.”
“When was the last time you saw or heard from her?”
I rubbed my chin, pretending to think about it. “Hm… probably yesterday, when we studied for our English exam. Oh, and then I saw her through Piper’s window last night, when all that stuff happened.”
“Stuff?” The officer raised a brow, pen poised above the pad. “What stuff?”
Zara waved a hand and cut in. “Oh, it was silly. Piper had a nightmare and woke up half the neighborhood with all her screaming and carrying on.”
Piper’s eyes dropped to the floor. “It was a really bad dream.”
“I think that’s actually why Amerie decided to take off,” Zara said. “We were all exhausted after having such a horribly eventful night, and she took full advantage of that. She knew we’d sleep right through it while she packed up her things and rifled through my jewelry box.”
“Wow. That really sucks,” I said, keeping my voice light so no one would realize how devastated I felt. “I never pegged her as a thief, but I guess you can never truly know someone, right?”
“Exactly,” Ali said. He shook his head and let another heavy sigh. “It’s just awful. The jewelry can be replaced, but the lost trust… that’s not so easy.”
I gritted my teeth. Lying, sanctimonious asshole.
“So that was the last time you saw Amerie?” the officer said, looking at me again. “Through the window last night?”
“Yeah. It was probably around midnight. Maybe a little after.” My lips thinned, and I shook my head. “I can’t believe she just left like that. It’s crazy.”
“She didn’t confide in you about her plans at all?”
“No. But we didn’t really talk about personal stuff. Just school stuff, mostly.”
“I don’t even know if she planned it,” Zara cut in. “Like I said before, it was probably a spur of the moment decision she made when she realized how tired we were last night.”
“Also, the lock on her bedroom door stopped working after she broke it to help Piper,” Ali said. “I’m sure that factored into her decision too. She probably thought she wouldn’t get another opportunity to leave while we were sleeping.”
The officer raised his brows again. “She was locked in?”
“I know how that sounds, but we’ve had quite a few problems with Amerie lately,” Zara said in a prim tone.
“With drugs,” Ali added. “I’m sure you’ll see the previous incident when you look her up in your system.”
Zara nodded. “We tried to control her by giving her a strict curfew and locking her door at night, just to stop her from sneaking out. But like my husband said, she broke the lock last night when she heard Piper screaming. We didn’t mind at the time because there was so much happening. But I can see that was a mistake now.”
“I see.” The officer nodded slowly. Then he turned back to me and gave me a tight smile. “We might need you to come and make a statement at some point, but we don’t need anything else from you right now.”
“Okay.” I glanced at Piper. “Do you want a ride to school, seeing as I’m here?”
She nodded. “Sure. Thanks.”
Zara started sniffling again. “Thank you, Jensen,” she said, voice thick with emotion. “You’re so helpful.”
“Anytime,” I said, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. The second my fingertips came into contact with her silky blouse, I instantly wanted to recoil, but I remained stoic and gave her a faint smile instead.
Piper darted out of the room, presumably to grab her bag and put her shoes on. I pulled my hand away from Zara’s shoulder and arranged my face into a deeply sympathetic expression. “I’m really sorry, Mrs. Prescott. I hope Amerie comes back soon.”
“I hope she does too,” she said, wiping her tear-stained face. “I’m sure it’s just one of those hormonal teenage things, and she’ll come back as soon as she calms down. But I’m so scared of what might happen to her while she’s out there, all alone in the world.”
She was a fucking good actress; I’d give her that much.
“Yeah, I can imagine,” I muttered. “Anyway, Piper and I should probably head off before we’re late for school.”
