was.
Still. “Do you remember anything about what this man looked like? Anything at all?”
Maggie caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I wish I did, but he wore a baseball cap on his head and I never did get a good look at his face. He was tall, though, at least six feet, and plenty scrawny. I remember thinking no one had cooked him a good meal in a long time.”
My fingers curled under the edges of the chair. These details definitely didn’t match up with Holland. And they weren’t much to go on.
“Do you by chance remember either of the detectives’ names?” Lucas asked. “I’d love to know if they ever found that guy.”
She pursed her lips and frowned. “No, I can’t say that I do. But I would imagine you could find all the information in the police reports. As a family member, I’m sure they’d be happy to make you a copy, down at the local station.”
I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be happy at all, but I just nodded.
Maggie sighed. “I wish that I could see your cousin again. I still miss her. She’d come by on the weekends and keep me company. Made this house feel alive again. Sometimes she’d even bring friends.”
“She’d bring friends with her? Really?”
“Well, mostly just one. Chloe Nivens. She and Sarah were practically attached at the hip. They did everything together.”
Lucas leaned forward, seemingly excited by this new lead.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t move. The instant Maggie uttered that name, my memory sparked.
A girl with long brown hair, laughing and falling back into the snow, still stuck to her snowboard.
Chloe.
When I’d had the memory back at the cabin, I hadn’t realized that other girl had been my—I mean, Sarah’s—best friend.
“Did you know her at all?” Maggie’s question drew me back into the moment. She watched me quizzically from behind her bifocals.
I formed my expression into a false smile.
“No. But Sarah always talked about her. You wouldn’t happen to have her number, by chance?” Now that the initial shock had dissipated, some of Lucas’s excitement trickled into me. A lead was a lead.
“Chloe’s number? Why?”
I searched my mind for a good reason to contact Sarah’s friend if I didn’t even know her.
But Lucas was quick on his feet again. “She might have some opinions on the schools Mona’s looking at. Since she’s from this area and everything.”
“Not a bad idea. Chloe is very smart. Has a good head on her shoulders,” Maggie said before going off on a tangent. “I do think I have her mother’s number—Daphne Nivens. Daphne’s mom, Opal—that would be Chloe’s grandma, god rest her soul—and I used to play gin rummy together. Daphne still checks in on me every now and then, the dear. I hear all about Chloe and her soccer team—she’s goalie, you know—their family vacations to go skiing or whatever that newfangled thing is, you know, the skateboard on snow. Seems crazy to me, in the winter, why go somewhere even colder? Arizona, now that’s a winter vacation. Anyway, what we were talking about? Oh, right. Daphne’s phone number. You want me to find that for you?”
“Yes, that would be great,” I said, trying not to let on that her rambling had set off a flood of strange feelings inside me. A powerful emotional connection.
Some deep, hidden part of me remembered what it was like to be her friend.
When Maggie returned from the other room, she held out a pink Post-it note, along with a small business card. “Idecided I should check my file folder in the kitchen, where I stash names and numbers. I confess, I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to paper—you never know when you might need to call someone. Though I’m nothing like those families on TV. Have you seen that show? Isn’t it something else? Those poor people! And that one lady with all those dogs! Now, where was I? Oh, right. So, I got to thinking that I probably wouldn’t have thrown away a detective’s card, and sure enough, there
Still. “Do you remember anything about what this man looked like? Anything at all?”
Maggie caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I wish I did, but he wore a baseball cap on his head and I never did get a good look at his face. He was tall, though, at least six feet, and plenty scrawny. I remember thinking no one had cooked him a good meal in a long time.”
My fingers curled under the edges of the chair. These details definitely didn’t match up with Holland. And they weren’t much to go on.
“Do you by chance remember either of the detectives’ names?” Lucas asked. “I’d love to know if they ever found that guy.”
She pursed her lips and frowned. “No, I can’t say that I do. But I would imagine you could find all the information in the police reports. As a family member, I’m sure they’d be happy to make you a copy, down at the local station.”
I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be happy at all, but I just nodded.
Maggie sighed. “I wish that I could see your cousin again. I still miss her. She’d come by on the weekends and keep me company. Made this house feel alive again. Sometimes she’d even bring friends.”
“She’d bring friends with her? Really?”
“Well, mostly just one. Chloe Nivens. She and Sarah were practically attached at the hip. They did everything together.”
Lucas leaned forward, seemingly excited by this new lead.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t move. The instant Maggie uttered that name, my memory sparked.
A girl with long brown hair, laughing and falling back into the snow, still stuck to her snowboard.
Chloe.
When I’d had the memory back at the cabin, I hadn’t realized that other girl had been my—I mean, Sarah’s—best friend.
“Did you know her at all?” Maggie’s question drew me back into the moment. She watched me quizzically from behind her bifocals.
I formed my expression into a false smile.
“No. But Sarah always talked about her. You wouldn’t happen to have her number, by chance?” Now that the initial shock had dissipated, some of Lucas’s excitement trickled into me. A lead was a lead.
“Chloe’s number? Why?”
I searched my mind for a good reason to contact Sarah’s friend if I didn’t even know her.
But Lucas was quick on his feet again. “She might have some opinions on the schools Mona’s looking at. Since she’s from this area and everything.”
“Not a bad idea. Chloe is very smart. Has a good head on her shoulders,” Maggie said before going off on a tangent. “I do think I have her mother’s number—Daphne Nivens. Daphne’s mom, Opal—that would be Chloe’s grandma, god rest her soul—and I used to play gin rummy together. Daphne still checks in on me every now and then, the dear. I hear all about Chloe and her soccer team—she’s goalie, you know—their family vacations to go skiing or whatever that newfangled thing is, you know, the skateboard on snow. Seems crazy to me, in the winter, why go somewhere even colder? Arizona, now that’s a winter vacation. Anyway, what we were talking about? Oh, right. Daphne’s phone number. You want me to find that for you?”
“Yes, that would be great,” I said, trying not to let on that her rambling had set off a flood of strange feelings inside me. A powerful emotional connection.
Some deep, hidden part of me remembered what it was like to be her friend.
When Maggie returned from the other room, she held out a pink Post-it note, along with a small business card. “Idecided I should check my file folder in the kitchen, where I stash names and numbers. I confess, I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to paper—you never know when you might need to call someone. Though I’m nothing like those families on TV. Have you seen that show? Isn’t it something else? Those poor people! And that one lady with all those dogs! Now, where was I? Oh, right. So, I got to thinking that I probably wouldn’t have thrown away a detective’s card, and sure enough, there
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