Over Her Head

by Shelley Bates

  “Of course he won’t.” Laurie sat on the edge of the bed and tried to hug her daughter’s folded-up body. “He talked to some people who said they saw you by the bridge that night, and he wants the straight story. You may as well come clean. I know tonight’s not the first time you’ve snuck out on us. Did you go out that night, too?”

  “No.”

  Disappointment crashed through Laurie’s chest at this new lie. Why did she persist in doing it? Was it some kind of mental break brought on by trauma?

  Most serious of all, how were they going to get her to stop lying and convince her it was safe to tell the truth?

  “Anna. We know you did. Give it to me straight, okay?”

  “It was an accident.”

  A cold shadow moved across Laurie’s heart, and fresh panic fluttered under her breastbone. “What was?”

  “We weren’t even supposed to go to the stupid bridge. I’m never going there again. Ever.”

  Wait a minute. “We? Who?” Kelci? Kate? Rose?

  Mumble.

  “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

  “Me and my boyfriend.”

  The mental tumblers spun in Laurie’s brain and clicked into place. “You’re sneaking out to see Kyle Edgar.”

  Anna threw back the covers and pushed herself upright. “You said I couldn’t date until I was fifteen.”

  “Obviously with good reason,” Laurie said with an admirable impression of calm.

  “But we never get to see each other except at school, and hardly ever there because Rose is always hanging all over him, but he doesn’t care about her. She’s always with Kate, and Kate’s going out with Brendan, and Brendan and Kyle are tight, and—”

  “And you’re left out. So you see each other at night. Anna, did it ever occur to you that you could just invite him over here like a normal person? And do homework and sit around and watch TV?”

  She looked at her a little doubtfully. “You’d let him do that?”

  “Why on earth not?” Did she think Colin was going to stand on the doorstep with a rifle and use Kyle for target practice? “That’s not a date. That’s having your friend over.”

  “But . . . you and his mom hate each other.”

  Laurie’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

  “That’s what Brendan said his mom told him. She said that you thought Mrs. Edgar was a social climber, and you were all bent out of shape because at fund-raisers and stuff, the TV people wanted to talk to her when you were in the back doing all the work.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Brendan O’Day needs to button his lip. Kyle’s mom and I are in the same Bible study group. We had lunch together just today.”

  Had it only been today? It felt like it had happened in another life. Before the doubts set in, chewing at her and jeopardizing her ability to trust her own child. Before the guilt followed like sticky tar on her conscience, darkening her perceptions and spoiling what she believed in.

  “But put all that aside for a second. I want you to back up and tell me what you meant when you said it was an accident.”

  The animation drained out of Anna’s face. “I meant we met them by accident. Kate and them. Kyle and I were just walking on the river path, and we bumped into them by the store.”

  Was that really what she’d meant? “And then?”

  “And then we sort of got sucked into their group. It makes me so mad. Like they don’t spend all their time at school doing that.”

  Laurie took a breath to tell her to quit stalling, when she heard the front door open.

  “Laurie?” Colin called. “Anna, are you okay?”

  She pulled the quilt away and tugged on Anna’s hand. “Come on. You should tell your story to Nick.”

  Once again that strange, bottomless look was back. “Do I have to?”

  “He just needs information, that’s all. It’ll be okay.”

  But even as she spoke, she wondered if the words were really true.

  Anna’s resistance was as heavy as an anchor dragging the ocean floor as she followed Laurie down the stairs and into the living room. Whatever she might have expected from her dad, it wasn’t being pulled into his arms for a breath-squeezing hug.

  “Please, baby, don’t ever do that again. You scared ten years off me.”

  “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she said against his chest.

  Was Laurie the only one who noticed the absence of what should have come next: “I’ll never do it again”? Is this what she had to look forward to? Weighing and testing every single word Anna said from now until who knew when?

  Anna curled into the corner of the couch farthest from everyone, and pulled one of the cushions into her lap.

  “So, Anna,” Nick began in his gentlest tone. “I take it that we’ve established you were at the bridge on the night Randi Peizer died. Right?”

  “Right,” she said in a small voice. “I was afraid.”

  There was that word again. Laurie frowned. Afraid of what? Of the consequences of lying? Of Nick arresting her? Or was there something else?

  “Never be afraid to tell the truth,” Nick said gently. “Especially not to me.” When she didn’t reply, he went on. “I understand that you were in the park by the Stop-N-Go when she actually fell. Did you see who pushed her?”

  “Nobody pushed her.”

  “Are you sure about that? Because the evidence the coroner’s investigator found suggests otherwise.”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see.”

  “What were you doing on the lawn?” Laurie wanted to know. If everyone else was up on the bridge, what was Anna doing off by herself?

  “I was with Kyle. Talking. Under the trees.”

  “Kate Parsons said you were talking to Randi there. You and another girl. Who was that?”

  Anna shrugged. “She’s making that up. I was with Kyle. We were walking on the river path, and when Kate and the others came we all went to the Stop-N-Go to get a soda. Then Kyle and I took off. They all went up on the bridge and we stayed on the grass.”

  “Talking. By yourselves.”

  “Yes.” She looked at Nick a little defiantly, as if daring him to contradict her.

  “So while you were down on the grass, something happened up on the bridge. Can you tell me about that?”

  “There was a big splash.”

  “And then what?”

  Anna frowned. “I don’t know.”

  “Let me help you out,” Nick said. “According to my information, you came running down the grass at top speed and went under the bridge. What did you do under there?”

  “No, I didn’t.” She looked honestly confused.

  “I have a witness who says you did. Could you see Randi in the water?”

  Anna shook her head, as if to dislodge something in her ear. “I didn’t.”

  “Anna, sweetie, this is no time to play dumb,” Colin said. “It’s important to Nick’s investigation that you just tell him the truth.”

  “I am telling the truth.” She looked from her father to her cousin. “I don’t remember being under the bridge at all.”

  “You must remember,” Laurie said. “Come on. Think.”

  Her daughter’s lower lip began to tremble. “I don’t know. Randi came up to us at the Stop-N-Go and tried to be all nice like she was a member of the group—which she wasn’t—and Kate said, ‘Sure, how about you buy me a latte and we can talk,’ and they all walked up on the bridge. Kyle and me, well, we wanted to be alone so we walked down under the trees, and then after a while I heard somebody scream and there was a splash, and after that I was so scared I ran away and came home.”

  “Anna—”

  “I’m not playing dumb, Mom.” Tears filled her eyes. “You have to believe me.”

  Laurie looked into her husband’s eyes, where the distress and confusion probably mirrored her own.

  “Anna,” Nick said very gently. “I have a witness who says you ran under that bridge, not away from it. She saw you. Now please think
carefully and tell me again what happened.”

  The tears trickled down Anna’s cheeks. “You want to take me to jail,” she accused him. “You want me to say I did something bad.”

  “That’s not true. I just need to have all the facts on the table, and the reason you went under there is very important.”

  “I didn’t!” Anna’s voice began to escalate. “I didn’t!” Tears streaked her cheeks and she grabbed another cushion, clutching it the way she’d held Laurie when she was a small child.

  She’s not reaching out for me now. The loss of yet another piece of Anna’s childhood, of her innocence, slid under Laurie’s heart like a blade between the ribs.

  Colin rubbed a hand over his face. “Nick, maybe you should come back tomorrow.” He glanced at the clock. “Anna’s not in any shape for more questions, and she has to get up and go to school.”

  For the first time in Laurie’s memory, Nick’s face, which was usually lit with sardonic humor, looked lined and pale. “Okay. I’ll come back. Maybe you can emphasize to her how important this is. Nobody’s accusing her of anything. I just need her help in establishing where everyone was and the order of events.”

  Colin nodded and moved to take Anna in his arms. But instead of going to him as she had just a few minutes ago, Anna turned her body into the corner of the couch and curled tightly around the pillows.

  Laurie saw the moment when the hurt struck him, too.

  As she saw Nick to the door, Colin slid his arms under his daughter’s body and carried her upstairs in the direction of her room. When he came down again, his steps were as slow as if he still carried the burden. He sank onto the couch with a sigh.

  “I told her she was grounded,” he said. “No cell phone, no privileges. Like that’s going to help the situation. Still, we have to do something.”

  “Counseling,” Laurie said.

  “It’s not counseling she needs, Laurie. It’s assurance that she isn’t in danger. I don’t know where she gets the idea that Nick’s going to arrest her.”

  “Guilt?”

  The awful word popped out of Laurie’s darkest fears like a bat out of a cave.

  Colin lifted his head, his forehead furrowed. “What?”

  “You have to admit that only the guilty are afraid of the law.”

  After a moment, Colin said, “Please tell me you don’t really think Anna had anything to do with that girl’s death.”

  “Of course not. But for heaven’s sake, Colin, can we really trust anything she says? She lied about sneaking out at night and lied about having a boyfriend. How do we know she isn’t lying right now? Vanessa Platt saw her run under that bridge.”

  “And you choose to believe Vanessa Platt over our own daughter? Laurie, think about what you’re saying.”

  Elbows on knees, Laurie ran both hands through her hair. “I know. It was dark. Vanessa could have been wrong.”

  “How could you even think she was right?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know. All I see is that crowd tormenting Randi, and my girl off in the trees with her boyfriend.”

  “What—are you saying she should have gone up there and done something?”

  Laurie lifted her gaze to her husband’s face. “Wouldn’t you? Haven’t we taught her to help where she’s needed? To be strong and do the right thing? Maybe she could have helped that poor girl, Colin.”

  “And maybe the mob mentality would have taken over and they’d have pushed her in, too.” His tone turned harsh. “Get a grip, Laurie. The last thing we need is to blame her for what she didn’t do, instead of trying to get her to say what she did do.”

  “I’m not blaming her. I’m torturing myself, trying to figure out why all the things we taught her aren’t working.”

  Colin stood up abruptly. “Well, while you’re torturing yourself, spare some time to figure out what we’re going to do about this before Nick comes back.”

  To: Manga15@csm.net

  From: kedgar254@hotmail.com

  U OK? Heard 5-0 on scanner.

  To: kedgar254@hotmail.com

  From: Manga15@csm.net

  Nick was here again. I was so scared. He says someone saw me run under the bridge. I told them I didn’t but they don’t believe me. What if he comes back? Mom caught me coming in and now I’m grounded forever. No cell, no nothing. She said you could come over for dinner and stuff but that’s down the drain now I guess. She doesn’t hate your mom. Brendan is full of it. I need you.

  Me

  To: Manga15@csm.net

  From: kedgar254@hotmail.com

  Don’t tell. You can’t tell or you know what will happen. Say you have amnesia.

  (((hug))).

  How long is forever?

  KE

  Chapter Ten

  Nick had a lot to be thankful for. He owned his own home, even if its single bedroom and pocket-size kitchen made his brothers roll their eyes. The fact was, it sat on an acre of trees and rhododendrons, and he’d have lived in a chicken coop without complaint as long as he had the land. He had good health and a job he loved on most days. And best of all, he had the occasional day off when the only thing on the agenda was puttering around the house, enjoying the slow process of renovation.

  He had looked forward to today—had even gone to Susquanny Home Supply and bought a bathroom sink and vanity to replace the ancient unit that some previous owner had installed in the forties. He’d planned on sleeping in and then spending the rest of the day happily ripping things apart and putting them back together, with maybe a pizza afterward when the guys on day shift got off work.

  Instead, he’d awakened at 6:00 a.m. with a brain as clear as a summer day, and couldn’t go back to sleep. The sound of Anna’s sobs echoed in his head, like a punishment for making her cry. So he’d cut through his two neighbors’ backyards and slid down the grade to the river trail. Might as well get his two miles in and try to outrun the bad feelings of last night. It was cold enough to require a jacket and a knitted cap, and his breaths came in regular puffs of white condensation as he warmed up and his pace evened out.

  The bridge loomed in the distance, black against a swollen gray sky that promised snow, and he forced himself not to think about it. He’d spent all his mental energy on it for days, and he needed a break. He thanked his lucky stars that the department could afford two detectives. Gil could cover today’s shift and today’s schedule of yet more interviews.

  The river took a bend to the right, and he dragged his focus off the bridge just in time to avoid a sky-blue shape kneeling in the middle of the trail.

  “Oops!” He dodged left, and she—it was a woman—keeled over, landing smack on her rear in the frosty leaves.

  Oh, man. Recognition came with a shock. “Sorry, Ms. Peizer. I didn’t even see you. Here, let me help you.”

  She brushed away his apologies and his hands and climbed to her feet. “Serves me right for blocking the path.” She twisted out of the way of his attempts at help. “Honest, it’s okay. No harm done.”

  He finally got the message and gave her a little space. “How are you?”

  “I’m okay.” A brown beech leaf, reduced by time to nothing more than veins, stuck to her palm and she brushed it away. “Better than the last time you saw me.” Up at his childhood hideaway, when he’d told her what Forrest Christopher and Lisa Nguyen had found.

  “I promise I have no bad news today.”

  “No good news, either, I suppose, or I would have heard.” Her gaze took him in, and he found himself wishing his sweats dated from a little later than his days at the police academy, and that he’d picked a T-shirt without a grease stain down the front.

  “Afraid not. Our other detective, Gil, works the case when I have a day off. Like today. Even with a late night, I woke up at the usual time and couldn’t go back to sleep, so here I am.”

  She nodded. “I know what you mean. Hot date?”

  Was she just making conversation, or did she intend to be that personal? “No.
Work. I can’t remember the last time I had a hot date. Maybe last summer, when the temps hit a hundred and four. Remember that?”

  As a change of subject it was clumsy, but she went along with it. “I wasn’t here then, but I understand it can get pretty warm. I like it, though. In Ohio sometimes you can go for weeks without seeing the sun. Because of the ground fog, you know?”

  Why were they talking about the weather? Then again, maybe it was better to talk about that than personal subjects he’d just as soon avoid.

  “So, what are you doing out here? Early morning runner, like me?”

  “Oh, no.” She huffed a laugh. “Exercise makes me break out in hives. No, I was just . . .” Her voice trailed away as she looked out over the river. “I was, um . . . You’ll think I’m dumb.”

  “Not likely.” That was the last adjective he’d apply to this woman.

  “I was just . . . looking. For anything of Randi’s that might have washed up. You know. In the last week.”

  “Didn’t the coroner give you all her things on Friday? It was all in the property closet, as far as I know.”

  “Oh, no. I mean, yes, he did. It was all nice and neat in a plastic bag. I just thought maybe she might have lost something here where I could see it.”

  “Well, if they didn’t find anything on the sandbar with her, it’s not very likely. The current moves pretty fast. Something like a scarf would get carried away, and a bracelet would just go to the bottom.”

  Her shoulders drooped a little, and he felt like a crumb for puncturing her hopes. “But what do I know? If you feel like company, I’ll walk a little ways with you. I could use the cooldown.”

  For the second time in the few days he’d known her, that tiny, seedlike dimple flashed at the corner of her mouth and disappeared just as quickly. “Okay. At least I won’t have to worry about getting mugged.”

  “Only if you have doughnuts on you.”

  He had hoped she might laugh, but she didn’t. Instead, her gaze fell to the riverbank once more, searching.

  In a quarter mile of meandering along the banks of the Susquanny, they found no trace of anything belonging to Randi. They found a sneaker with no laces, a couple of beer bottles, and a broken rack of ancient whitetail antlers, green with algae. They found they had a common love of summer over winter, of the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Columbus Blue Jackets (“I’m a sucker for the underdog,” she confessed), and of prime rib over any other cut of the cow (“Not that I can afford it very often,” he said, “I’d rather save the bucks to buy a sink”).