Vanishing Act by Barbara Block Page B

write. How she was behind in psych. You know, like that. She was going to come over here after she got back from seeing her mom at the hospital.” He furrowed his brow.
    I pushed a lock of my hair off my face and tucked it behind my ear. “What did you do when she didn’t show up?”
    He fidgeted. “Actually I wasn’t here,” he admitted sheepishly.

Chapter 12
    I raised an eyebrow.
    Tommy explained. “I’d gone from class straight to the mall. When I realized what time it was, I called the house and told John O. to tell Missy I’d be a little late. I told him to tell her to ring me on my beeper when she got to my room, but she never called.”
    I ran my thumb over my lip. “Did you tell Marks this?”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œYou didn’t come back to wait?”
    Tommy looked defensive. “It’s only ten minutes from Carousel to here. It wasn’t like we had a date. She was going to drop by. I figured something else had come up.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe she’d gotten involved in a discussion with her brother and she didn’t want to tell him she was meeting me. Maybe she was at the library and had lost track of time. Maybe she was hanging with Beth and her suitemates. It could have been anything.”
    My calf muscles were beginning to cramp. This didn’t sound like someone who was planning to elope, I thought as I stretched out my legs and massaged them. “What were you doing at the mall?”
    â€œI was buying my mom a birthday present.”
    â€œWhat did you get her?”
    â€œA scarf from People’s Pottery. A hand-printed silk job. With big flowers. It’s real nice.”
    â€œI assume you can prove this?”
    â€œThe police have my credit card slips.”
    â€œDid you buy anything else?”
    â€œSocks, a new pair of sneakers, some sweats, a couple of CDs.” He named some groups I hadn’t heard of. “Then I had a bite to eat and caught a movie.”
    â€œSo you got back here ...”
    â€œA little after ten.”
    â€œWhen did you realize Melissa was gone?”
    â€œNot until Beth and Bryan came by to check. He just went off, man.” Tommy shook his head at the memory. “Me and John O. had to throw him out of the house. He kept yelling that it was all my fault. Truth is, I think he had a guilty conscience.”
    â€œHow so?”
    Tommy hunched forward. “They were always fighting.” “I heard you and Melissa did too.”
    â€œBut our fights didn’t mean anything,” Tommy protested. “The fights she got into with Bryan did.”
    â€œWhat were they about?”
    â€œMe, among other things.”
    â€œWhy does Bryan dislike you so much?”
    Tommy twisted his mouth into a wry smile. “I think he’d dislike any guy who got too close to his sister. He thinks she’s too good for everyone. He didn’t even want her to live in the dorms. He wanted her to stay home and take care of the house.”
    â€œBut she didn’t want to?”
    â€œOf course not. She loved him, but she wanted her own life. The guy’s a nutter.”
    I moved my leg back and forth. The cramp began to go away. “Maybe he doesn’t like you because he found out you were planning on marrying his sister and he thought she should finish school.”
    The color on Tommy West’s face rose again. It made his eyes look bluer. “Who told you that?”
    â€œHer roommate.”
    â€œI told Missy not to tell anyone.”
    â€œShe was excited.”
    Somewhere nearby someone had turned a stereo on. The sound of the Grateful Dead flooded the room.
    Tommy frowned and bowed his head. Burma began crawling up his neck, past his ear, and onto the top of his head. “That’s not exactly true.”
    â€œYou mean you’re not.”
    Tommy raised his head. “We were going to, but