by J A Whiting
“I won’t do it,” Cooney said flatly.
Claire’s eyes widened. “Why not?”
“Because you’re capable of doing it yourself.” Cooney moved his gaze over the people who had come into the bar. “Who do you think would be useful to talk to next?”
Taking in a deep breath, Claire said, “The new boyfriend, the old boyfriend, and a new flirt.”
“Okay, good. I see this case as an emotional thing, a crime of passion, so to speak. Someone wigging out because they can’t have what they want.”
Claire leaned forward slightly.
“This mess wasn’t created by a professional and I’d bet money that it wasn’t done randomly or by someone who knew the girl in passing. A lot of emotion was probably involved … and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if her killer was sorry for what he did. Even if his sorrow is only because he’s going to get caught and go to jail.” Cooney’s attention became riveted on movement at the front door of the establishment. “Well, well.”
Claire turned to see a tall, red-haired woman probably in her late forties enter the place. Her form-fitting dress advertised her fitness. She was attractive, and more importantly, alone.
“Looks like this might be my lucky day,” Cooney said slipping off the barstool.
“You mean because I came to talk to you?” Claire asked with a sly smile.
“Keep dreaming, Rollins.” The man squared his shoulders, straightened his tie, and walked to the woman’s table with a warm and friendly smile … which she returned while gesturing to the chair next to her.
“AJ, I need you to be straight with me.” Claire sat with the young man in a small study room in the college library. “You misled me when you told me you walked back to the bonfire with Jade after you and she had been in your apartment. You left out the part about driving around with her.”
“I told you eventually.” AJ’s cheeks colored pink. “And I told you why I left that information out.”
“You were afraid it would make you seem guilty,” Claire said.
“That’s right.” AJ pushed his books and laptop to the side of the table.
“But when you lie, you seem even more guilty.”
The young man ran his hand over his hair. “I know that now. I didn’t know what to say. You caught me off guard.”
“Did you tell the police you drove around with Jade?”
“Yes. The second time they talked to me, not the first time.”
“You went to Hadwen? You stopped at a convenience store there?”
“Yeah. I needed gas and Jade wanted a bottle of water.”
“Did she leave with you?”
AJ hesitated. “No, she told me a friend was coming to pick her up.”
“Why? Why was a friend coming? Why didn’t she go back with you?”
Tiny beads of sweat showed on AJ’s forehead. “We were arguing in the car. I had too much to drink.”
“What were you fighting about?” Claire asked.
“She said I was drunk and she didn’t feel safe driving around with me.” A sullen expression crossed AJ’s face.
“That was the only reason? AJ?”
“Before we got to the convenience store, I pulled to the side of the road. I pulled at her. I kissed her.”
“Obviously, she didn’t want this from you.” Claire’s face hardened.
“She told me again she had to break up with her boyfriend first. We argued about it. I started up the car and stopped at the store. She went inside while I pumped gas.” AJ let out a sigh. “It was stupid. I’ve liked Jade for a long time. I didn’t want to wait anymore. I reacted in a stupid way. She wouldn’t get back in the car with me.”
“What about your drug dealer? Was he there at the store?”
“What? Who? He….” AJ flustered and stammered, and then decided to tell the truth. He shrunk in his seat. “Yeah, he was there. He’s there a lot. I bought from him that night. Jade had walked away from me by then. She was waiting for her friend at the side of the store.”
“What happened then?”
“I drove back to my apartment. That’s it.”
“What kind of a car does Badger drive?”
AJ looked confused and then what Claire was getting at dawned on him. “Badger? No, he wouldn’t….”
“Tell me what he drives,” Claire’s voice was forceful.
“He has a few cars.” AJ’s breathing rate had increased. “When he’s selling, he only uses one of them. A van.”
Claire’s heart dropped. “What color is it?”
“Black.”
“What other cars does he own?”
“A black Honda and a black Corvette.”
“Any other vans?”
“I’ve never seen him in anything but the black van.” AJ looked like he was going to cry. “I left Jade at the store. Someone…. If I had stayed with her….”
Tears fell from his eyes and dropped onto the tabletop.
You lied to me once. Claire stared at him feeling no empathy. Are these real tears or am I watching a performance?
19
Claire and Nicole got in touch with Jade’s friends, Alyssa and Cori, and asked if they could meet with them again. They wanted to speak individually with the young women so that one wouldn’t influence the other so they arranged to meet at the Whittemore campus center an hour apart.
“Is there news?” Cori’s tone was hopeful.
“I’m afraid not.” Claire sipped tea from a take-out cup.
Cori looked crestfallen. “I hoped you had some good news for me.”
“Can you run through again what happened the night of the bonfire? Starting with when you ran into Jade?” Nicole asked.
“Sure.” Cori seemed uneasy, looking from Nicole to Claire as if she wasn’t sure what they were after. She told the story of the night from her viewpoint. “I’ve thought and thought about it. Was I right about seeing Jade walking away with AJ? Was it someone who looked like her?”
“Had you been drinking?” Claire asked.
“I drank a lot.” Cori answered sheepishly. “That’s why I’ve been trying to remember things from that night. That’s why I’ve been playing it all in my head, over and over. I don’t want to make a mistake. I don’t want to be wrong.”
“Do you think you remember the night accurately?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know,” Cori said softly.
“Did Jade call or text you that night?” Nicole asked.
Cori blinked. “I don’t think so. Wait. I think she texted me about going to the bonfire.”
“After Jade left the park, did she text you again?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Did you wonder why she didn’t come back to the park?” Nicole asked.
“Um.” Cori moved her finger to her mouth to bite on her fingernail. “I guess I didn’t. I guess I assumed Jade went home. Alyssa drove her to the bonfire so I figured she probably drove her home. I really didn’t think about it.”
“Did you see Alyssa at the bonfire after Jade left?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know.” Cori bit her lip. “I don’t know for sure.”
Nicole asked the next question. “How did you and Jade get along when you were roommates?”
“Good. We got along good.” Cori smiled. “She was easy to live with.”
“Were you ever jealous of Jade?”
“No.”
“Was Jade jealous of you?”
“No, why would she be? Jade was the smartest, the prettiest, the nicest. All the guys liked her.”
“Did you ever argue?” Claire questioned.
Cori shrugged a shoulder. “Sometimes. I guess. No one gets along all the time.”
“How did you feel when Jade couldn’t room with you this year?”
“I felt bad at first, but then I thought maybe I could get a single room. It’s more expensive, but I like living on my own. It’s easier.”
“Jade texted Alyssa from the convenience store asking her
to come pick her up,” Claire said.
“But Alyssa didn’t see the text until later,” Cori said. “Alyssa texted and called, but she didn’t hear back from Jade.”
“That’s right,” said Nicole. “Did Jade try to reach you?”
“I don’t have a car right now. It’s in the shop. Jade knew that. She wouldn’t ask me for a ride because she knew I didn’t have my car,” Cori explained.
“If Jade couldn’t reach Alyssa and you didn’t have a car, who would Jade call next?”
Cori’s eyes narrowed as she thought about the question. “Probably Kyle.”
“But he was in Boston,” Nicole pointed out. “He’d have to drive up to Hadwen to get Jade and then take her home.”
“It only takes like thirty minutes to get to Hadwen from Boston. It’s no big deal.” Cori rubbed at her eyes. “Anyway, Kyle was visiting friends at Whittemore. He was only one town away from Hadwen. Jade probably called Kyle to come get her.”
“Did you know Kyle was at Whittemore that night?”
“Yeah, Jade told me.”
“Why didn’t Kyle come to the bonfire?” Nicole asked.
“Jade said he wanted to hang out with his friends,” Cori said.
“Did he show up at the bonfire?”
“I didn’t see him. There were a ton of people though. He could have been there.”
“What did you do after the bonfire?” Claire asked.
“I went back to my room. I didn’t feel that good.” Cori shifted her eyes to the tabletop. “I had too much to drink.”
“Do you know Maggie Burns?” Claire asked.
“Sure. She just opened a hair salon in Bayside.”
“You went to school with her?”
“Yeah, through high school. We both grew up in Bayside.”
“Are you friends?”
“Not really. We didn’t have a lot in common.”
“Was Maggie friends with Jade?”
“They were friends.” Cori shook her head. “I don’t know why, really. They didn’t have a ton in common either.”
“Did Kyle Vallins go to school with you? He grew up in your town, too, right?” Nicole asked.
“That’s right. He was three years ahead of us so we didn’t hang out or anything. I knew who he was. I always got the impression he liked Jade, but I don’t think he ever asked her out back then.”
“Can you think of anything else that might be helpful?” Claire asked. “Can you think of anything that might help us find Jade?”
Cori shook her head sadly.
Alyssa, wearing jeans and boots, joined Claire and Nicole at the table in the corner of the student center. She set her backpack on the floor and went to get a coffee.
“I’ve been exhausted since Jade disappeared.” Alyssa removed the lid on her cup and blew on the hot liquid. “I can barely sleep. I have terrible dreams. I have a hard time studying.”
“Can you make an appointment with the college counselor?” Claire asked.
“I did. I’ve seen her twice. It hasn’t helped yet, but I have to give it a chance.” Alyssa yawned, clapped her hand over her mouth, and apologized.
“We’ve been talking to people a second time in case something new comes to mind,” Claire asked. “Have the police talked to you again?”
“They did a few days ago. I couldn’t think of anything new to tell them.” She took a careful sip of her coffee. “I thought you might be here to tell me something good.” Giving a shrug of her shoulder, she said, “One can hope.”
“Someone told us that Jade might have been on the verge of breaking up with Kyle,” Nicole said.
“I didn’t know that.” Alyssa’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think it’s true.”
“Kyle told us they were probably headed for a breakup.”
“He said that? Wow. I didn’t realize. Jade wanted to split up? She didn’t say a word about it,” Alyssa said, shaking her head.
“She probably didn’t want to talk about it until it was decided,” Nicole said.
“I had no idea. Kyle always seemed so happy around Jade. He seemed like he really loved her,” Alyssa said. “This is a real surprise to me.”
“How did Jade seem when she was around Kyle?” Claire asked.
“Jade seemed like she enjoyed his company. If they were planning to break up, it was lost on me. I thought they were a long-term thing.”
“Did you ever see them argue?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t remember seeing them not get along. Maybe they hid it well. Either that or I’m oblivious.”
“When we talked last, you mentioned that you might have seen Blake at the bonfire,” Claire said. “Do you still think he was there?”
Alyssa sighed and leaned an elbow on the table. “I don’t think I did see him. I know I’m a terrible witness, but I drank that night … to excess, so I’m not a reliable witness.”
“You missed Jade’s text to you asking to come and get her at the convenience store,” Claire said.
Alyssa gave a sad nod.
“And when you tried to get in touch with her later, she didn’t answer her phone or reply to your texts.”
“That’s right. I should have been more responsible. I should have seen her text.” Alyssa’s eyes misted over.
“You were enjoying yourself with friends,” Nicole tried to comfort the young woman. “You don’t have a responsibility to be tethered to your phone.”
“My parents say the same thing to me, but I wish I heard it. Things would have worked out so differently if I’d only heard it.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Nicole said kindly. “In hindsight, it’s easy to say what we might have done. We’re allowed to enjoy friends, to go out. We aren’t watchdogs. We can’t control for everything.”
Alyssa nodded, but Nicole could see her words weren’t having much of an impact.
“Do you know AJ Phelps?” Claire questioned.
“I know who he is. We’re not friends or anything. We were in a class together.”
“Did AJ seem interested in Jade?”
“A lot of guys showed an interest in Jade. She was really friendly, so nice. She always seemed happy. People were drawn to her.” Alyssa stopped and her eyes went wide. “I guess she drew someone bad to her, too. Anyway, I never saw AJ with Jade. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t interested in her. Jade and I weren’t together all the time.”
“Do you have a sense of AJ? What kind of person he is?”
Alyssa looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know him well so what I say is only an impression and I could be wrong. AJ seems like the stereotypical rich guy. He has lots of toys. Dresses nice. But he acts unsatisfied. He doesn’t seem to appreciate anything, is always looking for a thrill or something new to buy. He’s loaded. His parents have everything, but he doesn’t seem grateful or thankful for his good fortune. He seems kind of lost, like he has no idea who he is or the kind of person he wants to be. It’s only a superficial view of him. I don’t really know him.”
“If Jade was trying to reach you and she couldn’t, who would she call next for a ride?” Claire asked.
Alyssa paused for a moment. “Probably Cori.”
“Cori said her car was in for service the night of the bonfire. Jade knew that.”
“I think she’d call Kyle then,” Alyssa said. “But you said she was thinking of breaking up with him so maybe she wouldn’t call him. Not everyone she’s friendly with has a car. Maybe she’d call for a cab?”
Nicole and Claire exchanged a look.
It wasn’t a cab. It was a van.
“Do any of Jade’s friends drive a van?” Claire asked.
“A van?” Alyssa smiled. “Nobody I know here at Whittemore drives a van.”
20
Kyle Vallins, Claire, and Nicole sat on the restaurant’s outside patio eating lunch under a sunny sky. The young man was fully booked with clients that day and could only promise to meet for thirty minutes before he had to be back at the clinic.
Claire explained that some questions would be repeats from what she asked earlier and what the police most likely asked when they met with Kyle. “Sometimes a helpful remembrance comes to the surface between interviews.”
“I don’t remember anything else.” Kyle bit into his cheeseburger trying to quickly eat his lunch between questions.
“Could you tell us again what you and your friends did the evening of the bonfire?” Claire asked.
A flash of annoyance showed on Kyle’s face, but was gone in a second. “It hasn’t changed from what I told you the first time.”
“We want to be sure we have the correct details.” Nicole lifted a spoonful of her tomato bisque to her mouth trying to extend an easy-going manner to help Kyle relax.
With a slight sigh, the man sat back. “I drove up to Whittemore. Met my friends. We hung out in the apartment for a while, then we got hungry and walked to the pizza place on Main Street. After we ate, we went back to the apartment and watched television. Then I went back to Boston. That’s it. Nothing exciting. Nothing happened.”
“And Jade texted you earlier in the evening?” Claire asked.
“Right. I didn’t hear from her anymore after around 9pm.” Kyle took long swallows from his water glass.
“Did you run into her at all?” Nicole questioned.
Kyle looked at the woman with a sharp gaze. “I did not run into her.”
“You didn’t want to go to the bonfire?”
“My friends and I planned the night a while ago, before anyone remembered there was going to be a bonfire. We talked about going, but we were all lazy and decided to hang around and watch sports.”
“Did Jade mind that you didn’t go to the bonfire?”
Kyle shook his head. “Of course not. We weren’t the kind of couple that was joined at the hip. We got together with friends, we did sports on our own. I like to golf, Jade doesn’t, so I go with my friends. She went to a concert and I didn’t because we have different tastes in music. We didn’t have to be together every moment of the day.”
“That sounds healthy,” Nicole told him. “What other hobbies do you enjoy?”
For a second, Kyle seemed surprised by the question. “I like to kayak, sail. I ski in the winter. I play basketball.”