we hail from. As such, I believe we must respect and care and give consideration to the youth everywhere, including the youth in Asia."
From the judges' table I heard Jeffries snort, Ruth Marie stifle a hacking cackle, and Dana do a small groan. Me? I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud.
I watched Arkansas walked off the stage, the bright smile still on her face even as her eyebrows formed a V of confusion. I think she was still trying to figure out the question. I jogged to catch up with her just as she slipped backstage.
"Maxine?" I called
Her blonde head whipped around, her eyes blinking a couple of times before recognition set in. "Oh, Maddie, right? Shoes?" she said
Even while her bulb wasn't the brightest, her smile was somewhat contagious.
"Yes," I said, smiling back at her. "I'm providing the shoes for the pageant. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."
"Sure. What's up?" she asked, twirling a lock of hair in her index finger.
"I had a couple of questions for you about your roommate."
"Whitney?"
"Yes. I was just curious how well you know her?"
"Just the last few days you know? I've heard of her and seen her on the pageant circuit before, but we've never competed in the same categories." Arkansas paused, sucking in her lower lip, causing a void in her pink lipstick. "Truth is, this is my first time competing at a national level pageant." She sent me that bright-eyed smile again.
"Well, I'm sure you'll do very well." I think I was at my white lie quota for the day. "Anyway, I was wondering…the night that Jennifer died, did you hear anything or see anything odd?"
Arkansas shook her head back and forth, her blonde locks whooshing against her cheeks. "No. The police asked me this too. I had no idea Jennifer snuck out. At least not that night."
"Not that night?" I asked jumping on the wording. "Had she snuck out before?"
"No," Arkansas started, then that lip got sucked back into her mouth again.
"Look, I'm not one of the pageant directors," I told her, trying to ease her concern. "You don't need to worry about me telling anyone or getting the other girls in trouble."
"Well," she said, "there was that one night. It was when we first got here. I did hear somebody out in the hall. After curfew. I heard a door opening and then closing. And then footsteps in the hallway. I guess they were leading to the elevator."
"But you didn't see who went out?"
Arkansas shook her head again. "No, sorry. I honestly didn't really think anything of it. I thought maybe one of the girls was having trouble with her room and had to go back down to the front desk or something."
"In that case you would have heard them coming right back, wouldn't you?"
Arkansas nodded. "I guess. But I didn't. For like an hour."
I raised an eyebrow.
"I have kind of insomnia," she admitted. "Sometimes I have a really hard time sleeping. That night the sound of the door opening woke me up. I tried to get back to sleep for about an hour before I finally took a sleeping pill. It was just starting to kick in when I heard a door click shut again. I'm assuming it was the girl coming back."
My turn to chew on my lip. So one of the girls had disappeared for an hour. Had it been Jennifer? And if so, where had she gone? Had she been meeting someone on the beach that night too? The same someone who'd ultimately killed her?
"What about the night that Jennifer died?" I asked. "Did you hear anyone else leaving?"
She shook her head. "No, not that night. I had trouble sleeping that night too, so I took a sleeping pill early. I was out like a light."
"So I guess you wouldn't have known it if, say, your roommate had slept through the night or not?"
"Whitney? Well, I don't know. I mean I guess she…" She trailed off, her eyes suddenly going big. "Oh my gosh, you don't think Whitney could have had anything to do with Jennifer's death, do you?"
"Do you?" I asked
"No way." Arkansas' head swung back and forth again. If she wasn't careful
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