“Well, there’s more,” Delaney says, raising her eyebrows at me.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Anyway, as I was about to get in my car, Pastor Thomas came running out after me. He asked me a bunch of questions about Jenna.” She pauses and reaches for her coffee, but instead of taking a drink, she just stares down at the cup as she holds it in front of her with both hands.
“Like what?”
“Like . . . did you or I talk to her last night? And when I told him no, he asked when the last time was that either of us spoke with her. He also mentioned how she hasn’t been in church lately and wanted to know if I knew why.”
“Huh. I’m sure he’s just as worried about her as her mom and dad and all of us are.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never gotten the impression that they’re super close. Have you? I mean when they moved here, she never said much about it. Not to me, anyway.”
“Right, but when we were younger, didn’t Thomas babysit for her a lot? Before they all moved away? I mean, I have cousins who I was close with when we were younger, but we’ve just grown up and apart, so now we don’t have much in common. But still, if any of them went missing, I’d be concerned.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But it still seems weird that he ran outside to ask me all those questions instead of asking when I was still inside. I guess that’s what struck me as odd. The way he ran out after me. And why would he ask me when we’d last talked to or seen her? Don’t you think Jenna’s parents probably told all their family members that you and I haven’t hung out with her for a while?”
I ponder Delaney’s questions for a second and consider telling her about how he’d just told me he’s sorry about Jenna, but I don’t want to make more of it than it probably is—just a concerned family member who’s reaching out to Jenna’s best friends—we are as far as he knows anyway. So instead, I’m about to tell her I have no idea, but another voice fills the brief silence.
“Hello, ladies,” Audra Steele says warmly as she reaches out to give both of our upper backs a welcoming rub. She removes her hands and laces her fingers together. She sort of reminds me of the Snow White I met at Disney World when I was six.
“Hi, Audra,” Delaney says.
“Hi,” I say, returning her warm smile. I haven’t figured out yet if I should call her Audra or Mrs. Steele. Delaney only started calling her Audra a few weeks ago when she first babysat for Stella.
Mrs. Steele looks at Delaney. “In case we don’t see you here on Wednesday during youth bible study group, I just wanted to double check that you’re available to watch Stella again on Friday night. I know Thomas was pretty adamant that we not make plans so far in advance, but I really don’t foresee anything preventing us from going to this get-together we’ve been invited to, so . . .”
“Yeah, of course. I actually just set a reminder on my phone. Friday the fourth at six thirty, right?” Delaney looks down at her phone to verify.
“That’s right. Thank you, Delaney. I’ll be sure to give you a call right away if our plans change, but like I said, it’s not likely they will.” With a smile that never seems to leave her lips and a parting wave to both of us, Mrs. Steele excuses herself to visit with other members of the congregation.
“She sure doesn’t seem too concerned about Jenna, does she?” Delaney asks, still staring after her.
“No, but . . . Jenna’s not her cousin,” I shrug, giving Pastor Thomas’s pretty wife the benefit of the doubt. “Plus, she just recently met Jenna, and I highly doubt they’ve gotten to know each other since it was around the time they moved to town that Jenna started acting weird.”
Delaney and I lock eyes.
“Keeley?” my dad says, interrupting the moment. He glances at Delaney. “Hi, Delaney. How are you this morning?”
“Hey, Mr. Simon.”
He looks back at me. “It’s time to get going. I need to get more work done on the rec room. How about if I rescue both of your mothers from gossip overload,” he widens his eyes and raises his eyebrows in my mom’s general direction, “and we’ll meet you two by the door?”
I smile at the silly expression on his face, but Delaney is too fixated on Pastor Thomas to notice. She sighs and scrunches her eyebrows together the way she does whenever something is bothering her. I’m surprised she doesn’t have eleven lines from all the eyebrow scrunching she used to do back when her mom and dad first separated.
“Do you think the way Jenna has been acting has anything to do with Thomas?”
“What do you mean?” I ask in a hushed voice.
She shrugs. But not a ‘who knows?’ kind of shrug. It’s more of a ‘yeah, that’s exactly what I mean’ or ‘anything’s possible’ kind of shrug.
We stare hard at each other. My heart starts beating faster as I wonder if Delaney might be on to something.
“Keeley, sweetie, let’s go.” My mom waves from across the room. Dad is already walking toward the exit.
“Yep, us too, Laney,” Delaney’s mom says as she adjusts her designer handbag on her shoulder.
“Call me when you get home so we can talk more about everything.” I try to be more specific by purposefully glancing at Pastor Thomas. “Or just come over.”
“Should I just ask my mom to drop me off?”
“Yeah, good idea.”
Just before I walk outside into the crisp fall air, I glance back into the room, my eyes landing on Pastor Thomas who’s bouncing a little girl on his knee. On any other day, it would have been sweet to see him holding a little kid like that. Now I don’t know what to think.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Friday, September 8, 2017
Seven Weeks Before Jenna’s Disappearance
Jenna and Dustin had just gotten done eating at a sub sandwich shop, and they were on their way to Jolliet Park. Jenna really wanted to stay in and watch a movie, but Keeley and Delaney had begged her to go. “C’mon. You’re already skipping the football game, so you at least have to go to Jolliet. Everyone is going to be there,” Delaney coaxed her. And then there was Keeley. She wasn’t usually big on pressuring people to do things, but that night she’d done a little coaxing too. “Jenna, you can’t leave me alone with Delaney tonight. She’s all hyped up and talking about how Corbin and Tommy are bringing beer and stuff. I don’t feel like babysitting her alone.” Dustin was fine doing whatever Jenna wanted to do, but he would have preferred staying in too, even if Mrs. Kemp kept an eye on them. Since neither of them really wanted to go, they’d agreed to only stay for one hour. That would give them enough time to still go back to Jenna’s and maybe watch an episode or two of The Office before Dustin’s midnight curfew.
Keeley: When will you be here?
Jenna: On our way. Who’s there?
Keeley: The usual and a few others like the Harvey brothers. Oh, and Hayley Tompkins.
Jenna let out a soft chuckle at the eye roll emoji Keeley had used because she felt the same way about Haley Tompkins.
“What’s funny?” Dustin asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Keeley’s just funny. I guess everyone is there. She said Jamie, Tyson, and Haley are there too.”
Now Dustin laughed. “I guess word got out about the booze Corbin’s brother was buying for him.”
“Are you going to have anything?” Jenna asked.
“Maybe a beer,” Dustin said with a shrug, “but I’m driving, so . . .”
Jenna had sipped beer at parties before but never more than two cans or bottles in one sitting. She liked the numb feeling it gave her, clearing her mind a little and making her feel more carefree, just like the Tylenol PM she’d been taking, But Jenna had a hard time stomaching the flavor of beer.
“Maybe I’ll try something different than beer tonight.”
“Like what?” Dustin asked, a surprised grin appearing on his lips.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe vodka or rum. Isn’t that what Corbin’s brother usually gets for him?”
“Yeah, but you c
an barely handle a few sips of beer. Not sure you should be drinking hard liquor, Jenna. Besides, aren’t you running tomorrow morning?”
Even though Jenna knew Dustin was right, his response irritated her. It almost felt like he was trying to control her. But instead of telling him how she felt, she decided to simply ignore his advice.
It wasn’t a secret to adults or even the Briarwood PD that kids would hang out at Jolliet, so when there were get-togethers, people would carpool so there were as few cars as possible near the park. Then anyone who drove made sure not to park their cars near each other. This is why Dustin looped around the neighborhood surrounding Jolliet a few times before choosing an inconspicuous place to park.
When Jenna and Dustin neared the clearing in the woods where everyone was hanging out, they could hear the faint sound of music, talking, and laughter. When they entered the clearing, they were instantly whisked into a corner of Briarwood’s hidden world of teen rebellion. It was the type of gathering at Jolliet that would encourage copious amounts of nicotine and alcohol consumption.
“Jenna!” Delaney squealed as she threw her arms around her friend. Keeley wasn’t far behind, but she offered a much less obnoxious hug.
Jenna smiled, genuinely happy to see her friends, but her smile instantly faded when she saw Eli huddled around a small fire pit with several other kids. The glare of the flames framing his smile instantly elicited images of Thomas. Disoriented and distressed, she turned and started walking back toward the path she and Dustin had emerged from only moments before.
“Hey, hey, hey . . .” Dustin said, confused. “Where are you going?” He caught up to Jenna and stepped in front of her.
Keeley and Delaney looked on, confusion splayed across their faces as well.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
“Nothing. I just . . . think we should go.”
“But why?” Dustin asked.
But Jenna didn’t get a chance to answer him because Keeley and Delaney were already grabbing her and whisking her away to a group of girls.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Delaney said.
“You said you’d hang out for at least an hour,” Keeley chimed in.
Dustin followed behind the girls until he veered to the right toward the group Eli was standing with. He figured it might have been the heavy scent that hit them when they entered the clearing that had spooked Jenna. Missing out on cross country because she’d been around people smoking pot was something he knew she would be devastated by. So he wanted to make sure to say hi to all of his friends just in case she decided it was time to head out before the hour was up.
Jenna was unsettled by the way Dustin had abandoned her, but what was even more unsettling was the fact that he was now standing shooting the breeze with all his buddies, who apparently were now Eli’s buddies too.
She kept an eye on Dustin and counted down the seconds until it seemed like a good time to grab him and make their exit. And despite pretending to be engaged in the various conversations going on within her circle of friends, all she was really focused on was her own toxic thoughts. She wondered who had invited Eli. She was depressed that she didn’t feel like herself. She was annoyed that Haley Tompkins was standing across from her, chatting away without a care in the world. She was angry that Dustin and Eli were getting along. She wished she had something to numb her anxiety.
“Hey, ladies, anyone want a drink?” Corbin asked, inserting his head in between Keeley’s and Emily’s. Then he wiggled his entire body into the circle and placed his open backpack on the ground. A few girls accepted cans of beer and Tina and Delaney did shots of citrus vodka. “What about you two?” Corbin asked Jenna and Keeley.
“Pfft. Whatever, Corbin.” Keeley laughed off the offer because Corbin knew she and Jenna both ran cross country.
“Sure, why not,” Jenna said, drawing several shocked stares from her friends.
“Really?” Corbin hesitated. But when Jenna held out a hand, he shrugged and poured her the shot.
“Are you joking?” Keeley asked.
Ignoring her, Jenna downed the shot. Then she handed the glass back to Corbin. “I’ll take another one.”
Corbin smiled and obliged.
“Jenna, seriously?” Keeley raised her voice this time, drawing even more attention to Jenna’s uncharacteristic behavior.
“What’s wrong?” Delaney asked.
“She’s having more,” Keeley said, her expression a mixture of disbelief and frustration. “Corbin, don’t . . .” she said as he poured yet a third shot for Jenna, her protest falling on deaf ears.
“Hey, at least she’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight. She might be barfing every few feet when you two run tomorrow morning, though.” Delaney said, earning a few laughs and a rare dirty look from Keeley.
“What’s up, guys?” Dustin asked, arriving to see what the commotion was about.
Jenna looked at him, immediately zeroing in on the beer in his hand. She was about to tell him that he better drink up if he wanted to catch up to her, but then she noticed Eli, which made her clam up.
“Oh, Jenna’s just getting her drink on,” Corbin said with a laugh.
“What are you talking about?” Dustin asked.
“The three shots of vodka she just had,” Keeley said.
Dustin’s face hardened. He grabbed Jenna’s hand and led her a few feet away from the group.
“Three shots? What’s up with you tonight?”
“Nothing’s up with me. And who are you to talk? You’re drinking a beer,” Jenna said as she pointed to his hand.
In response, Dustin poured what appeared to be an entire twelve ounces of beer on the ground. “Not anymore.” He gave her a small grin, hoping to lessen the tension he sensed between them. “Should we get going?”
“It hasn’t been an hour yet.”
“But you wanted to leave right when we got here,” he said, checking his phone. “And it’s been almost thirty minutes. Close enough for me.”
“Well, I want to stay longer now.” Jenna turned her back on Dustin and showed no recognition when he sighed loudly and followed her. “Corbin,” she said loudly when she got back to the group, “can I have a beer?”
Corbin turned to face Jenna, but his gaze fell on Dustin, who was shaking his head behind Jenna. “Uh . . . are you sure you—”
“Can I have one or not?” Jenna snapped, surprising everyone within earshot.
“Fine,” Corbin said, bending down to retrieve a can from the duffel bag. He held it out to Jenna.
“Hey, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Eli grabbed the beer before Jenna could get a grip on it.
This pissed Jenna off, but something else pissed her off even more. Keeley was there next to Eli, and she whispered “thank you” in his ear after he swiped Jenna’s beer.
“What the hell, Eli?” Jenna hissed.
“Now what’s going on?” Delaney asked, just noticing the commotion.
“Apparently Eli thinks he needs to babysit me,” Jenna replied. Then she looked at Eli and demanded, “Give me the beer, Eli.”
Delaney gasped and covered her mouth, and Keeley quickly gripped Jenna’s upper arms as she lunged for the beer. Whispers circulated as the news of Jenna Kemp losing it on her cousin spread throughout the clearing.
“No, Jenna, he’s right. You don’t need any more,” Dustin said, grabbing her hand. “Come on. We’re going. Keeley? Delaney? Need a ride?”
“Yeah, we better go too,” Keeley said as Jenna pulled her hand away from Dustin’s and stormed off. Keeley and Delaney hustled after her.
“Hey, man, thanks,” Dustin said to Eli.
“Yeah, of course. I don’t know what the hell is up with her.”
“Yeah, me either. But, hey, can you do me a favor?”
“Sure.” Eli shrugged.
“Don’t tell your mom or dad about this, okay?”
“No, of course not. I never ratted her out when we were kids. Don’t plan on starting
now.” Eli gave Dustin a nod and left.
September 8, 2017
Dear Diary,
Why does Eli care about my well-being now? It’s not enough that he’s becoming friends with all my friends and I suddenly have to see his face everywhere I go? School. Church. Parties. And it’s only the first week of school!
His face reminds me of one thing. Him. And all those times he was in the room, did he know what he saw? (I’ve never asked because I’m afraid to hear his answer.) Would he tell the truth anyway? Maybe not because he never said anything to Uncle Greg and Aunt Lenore. Why? I’ve wondered this so many times, and all I’ve got is a blurry memory of HIM saying Eli would get a bad report about his behavior if he told them I got to play games in Aunt Lenore’s sewing room and he didn’t. Sometimes instead of HIS eyes above me in my dreams, I see Eli’s eyes staring at me from across the room, peeping through a crack in the door. I don’t know if these memories are real, same with a lot of the others, but I’ve never been able to get them out of my head. Maybe I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t because it’s been so long. If my memories are real, then he had to know something was wrong, even if he was a stupid kid.
And now Eli wants me to be safe. Ha! What a load of shit.
And whose side is Keeley on anyway?
And as for Dustin trying to stop me from drinking a beer? Well, that’s a load of shit too!
The only “friend” I have who wasn’t a total jerk tonight is Delaney.
Okay, so I admit maybe all the vodka wasn’t the best idea because my head is starting to hurt, but at least it numbed me enough that I didn’t feel sad or depressed. If they had all just let me be, they would have seen. After another couple of drinks, I might have even been able to stomach Eli’s presence.
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