Flowering Judas by Jane Haddam

class, you know, so that would be all right.”
    â€œShe won’t miss classes at all,” Desiree said. “She comes in when she hasn’t had any sleep or she’s just worked twenty hours straight or any of it. She’s crazy.”
    â€œI don’t miss classes much, either,” Kenny said. He was lying. He missed classes as much as he could. He’d just try not to miss this one anymore. She was really very pretty. “Do you live by yourselves out there, at the trailer park?”
    â€œI live with my mother,” Haydee said. “And Desiree—”
    â€œI live with my mother, too,” Desiree said. “You forgot to tell him about your stepfather.”
    â€œHe’s not my stepfather,” Haydee said. “He’s just—around.”
    â€œHe’s around and he’s trying to find her money,” Desiree said. “He’s a real prick, believe me. She had twelve hundred dollars saved up the last time and he found it and took it and spent it on beer or whatever. And he knows she’s got money now and he’s looking for it. She won’t even tell me where it is.”
    â€œMy money is safe this time, it really is,” Haydee said. Now she wasn’t on the verge of tears. She was just there. Kenny could see the glisten just under her lower eyelids
    â€œI’ll drive you home,” Kenny said. “I will. I can do it after every class. At least you won’t have to go back in the dark.”
    Haydee seemed to collect herself. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you. That would be very nice. I’d appreciate it.”
    â€œListen to this bitch,” Desiree said. “She’s changing the whole way she talks. She’s trying to sound like Dr. Penelope London. She thinks she’s going to go get herself one of those PhDs when she’s done here. I mean, as if.”
    â€œThere’s no reason she shouldn’t get a PhD if that’s what she wants,” Kenny said. “I mean, people do, don’t they? All the time. And she’s smart. I’ve heard her talk in class.”
    â€œThank you,” Haydee said.
    Kenny didn’t say that he probably would have told her she looked like Jessica Simpson if he thought that that was what she wanted to hear. She really was very pretty. She got prettier the longer he looked at her. And there was that something else he couldn’t put his finger on.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “Come on. We don’t want to be late after you two walked all this way.”
    Haydee adjusted her pack on her back and started to walk toward the building beside him. Kenny didn’t think she noticed that Desiree was trailing behind.
    2
    Shpetim Kika didn’t know what he thought his life was going to be like after the crew had discovered that backpack and that little tiny skeleton, but he was sure it had nothing to do with sitting on a bench in the waiting area of The Elms, waiting for the hostess to seat him.
    Of course, Shpetim was not alone. Lora was there, looking decked out for a wedding already. She’d even made him buy her a big white orchid to wear on her best blue dress, and another orchid that he was holding in a box, for when Nderi brought Anya in. Lora was fussing, too, the way she fussed when they were going to have a party. Every once in a while, she poked at him and asked him to stand up.
    â€œYou’ll get your suit wrinkled,” she said. “Is that the way you want to meet your future daughter-in-law? With a wrinkled suit?”
    Shpetim got up. It was easier to get up than it was to fight with Lora. “I didn’t know she was my future daughter-in-law yet,” he said. “I thought you wanted to look her over.”
    The hostess was advancing on them. She had too many teeth, and they were all too big. She smiled the way a shark did.
    â€œRight this way,” she said, grabbing a little pile of menus. “We’ll seat