“On my dresser,” she said. “Nick must have put them there and forgot to tell me.”
“Probably.”
Ari counted her keys on the way back to the room, noting they were all there. There was something different, though. A small silver square ornament hung with the rest of the keys. A sinking feeling hit her stomach and she laid the keys on the dresser, opening the box. Her fingers shook as she pulled out the piece of paper. Looking between the keychain and the paper, she realized the characters were the same.
The mystery guy—her mystery guy—had been there. Again.
SIXTEEN
“Ms. Grant, do we really have to do this?”
Ari arranged the chairs in the room for the first night of her group. All of the females at her office had been informed that attendance was mandatory. That didn’t keep Devon and a couple other girls from trying to get out of it. “Yes, you have to come. It’s a three-week class. Tonight is the intro, where we’ll just talk about it, but next week I have some guests coming in. I think you’ll like it.”
“Do we have to learn self-defense or something?” she whined. “I just got my nails done.”
Ari shook her head. “Boo hoo. Grab that stack of chairs and put them out.”
In the lobby, Rebecca had a sign-in sheet for the girls attending. They straggled in one by one, pushing the start time as close as possible. These girls never made anything easy.
Class started at 4:00 p.m. and at 4:05 Ari decided to begin. A couple of girls didn’t show, which wasn’t a surprise. Devon and Shanna were there as well as several girls who were close to graduating from the program. Ari had promised them if they came, she would dock two weeks from their time and suggest early release to her bosses. Two new girls on her caseload sat near the soda machine. Clarice and Nicole. Both experienced runaways. Hope was still unaccounted for, and Apprehension had no leads.
“Alright, girls, let’s get started,” Ari said
, pulling up her own chair. She’d arranged them in a circle so she could see all their faces and encourage discussion. It was a tough group. One of them could give her the finger and walk out at any moment.
“What’s this all about?” asked Shanna.
“As most of you know, we lost a girl last week. Maria Snow I feel like maybe we could have done more to protect her and I don’t want the same to happen to you girls.”
“Whatever,” Devon muttered. “I can take care of myself.”
“I knew her. We were in school together,” Margaret said. “She died?”
“Yes,” Ari nodded.
Devon perked up. “What happened? Sounds like she was doing stupid stuff.”
“We really don’t know what Maria was doing, but the police think she was murdered. No one deserves that.”
“I heard she was working down on Stewart Street,” Clarice offered.
Devon snorted and looked at Shanna. “Told you. Girl was stupid.”
Ari looked at the Clarice. “Where did you hear that?” The girl ducked her head and mumbled something Ari couldn’t hear. “Clarice, I need you to tell me what you know.”
“I saw her down there when I was with my boyfriend.” Ari wanted to ask what she and her boyfriend were doing down there but kept the judgments for another day.
“Well, it’s possible. No one knows for sure what happened. But Maria wasn’t a bad kid. Nor are any of you. I’m worried, though, that someone out there may be taking advantage.”
“Advantage of what?” Devon asked. She looked ready to bolt.
“You. Your body. Your minds.”
“No one has control over me,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I do what I want.”
Ari sighed. Getting through the tough exterior with these girls felt impossible. She noticed Shanna fidgeting in her seat and glancing around the room at the other girls.
“Shanna,” Ari prompted. “Do you have something you want to say?”