feel her, Ruby. Here.â She placed her palm flat on her chest.
I remembered how Iâd felt the evening prior, reading Bethâs book in its entirety, looking for more clues about Mark. Iâd felt Beth, even heard her voice, as if she was speaking to me not beyond the grave but perhaps just before it.
âThen trust your instincts,â I told Janice.
Bethâs mother clutched her mug like a teddy bear and stared into her tea. She looked so lonely.
âDo you have other children?â I asked.
She shook her head. âItâs just Beth and me. Kenâmy husband, Bethâs fatherâpassed a long time ago. Beth was seven. She was devastated. You know how little girls are with their daddies.â
I did know, and yet I would have said I knew better how little girls were without their daddies. I told Janice then about my own fatherâs unexpected death, and that I too was an only child.
âI never knew we had so much in common,â I said, suddenly reminded of why Iâd come to visit Janice in the first place. Did Beth and I have more in common than family dynamics? I wondered. Had we both been in love with the same man?
âDid Beth keep in touch with many girls from Tarble over the summer?â I asked, playing with the tea bag in my cup. I sensed Janice had met an emotional threshold on the subject of her daughterâs disappearance and would be up to changing the subject, a subject I so desperately wanted to indulge.
âSure. She went there to visit some friends taking summer session.â
I dropped the tea bag. âDo you remember any of these girlsâ names?â
âOne of them works for the college. Heidi. She was in your class.â
Heidi Callahan. Iâd thought my former best friendâthe only Heidi in our classâwas back home in Minneapolis. And yet all summer, sheâd apparently been at Tarble, working for the college after graduation. But Heidi and Beth had never been friends; they were acquaintances, just like Beth and me. Was it possible theyâd become friends after I dropped out?
âHow often did Beth go?â I asked.
âAlmost every weekend.â
âShe went for the day?â
âSometimes she stayed overnight, even though we live so close. It was fun for her, I think, staying in the dorms. Like she never graduated.â Janice set her mug down on the table then with a thud, as if sheâd reached a conclusion. âRuby, I see where youâre going with this. And I think youâre right.â
I stared back at her in confusion. There was no way she knew my ulterior motive. âI am?â
âWe need to tell people at Tarble about Beth.â
âOh. Right. We do.â
âThe detective talked to some students and professors at the med school, but I donât think he has talked to anyone from Tarble. Except you. And there might be someone who knows something.â
Could it be Mark? I wondered. Was he the someone who knew something ? Had Beth really been visiting Heidi Callahan all summer? Or was that just the excuse Beth gave her mother so she could spend weekends with Mark?
âWhen was the last time she went to Tarble?â I asked.
âI think it was the beginning of September. Sheâs been home every weekend since.â
âWhy did she stop going?â
âSchool started. Too busy, I guess. Plus, like I told you, she wasnât feeling her best.â Janice set her mug down again. âYou know, Iâve been meaning to call Sarah to tell her. But I donât have her phone number.â
âYou mean Bethâs roommate? Sarah Iverson?â
Janice nodded.
âShe doesnât know Beth is missing?â
âI wanted to call her, see if sheâd heard from Beth, but the detective told me to wait. Like I said before, wait for what?â
I didnât understand why Detective Pickens was keeping a tight lid on Bethâs disappearance, why he
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