Black Orchid Girls (Detective Amanda Steele)

TWENTY-TWO

Amanda and Trent hadn’t told Jayne Russell and Lauren Bennett that they’d be coming around to look at Chloe’s bedroom. It was best these things be done impromptu, in case the girls had something to hide. The downside to that was no one was home. They checked in with the uniformed officer sitting vigil in his cruiser, and he told them he hadn’t seen anyone go in or out of the townhouse but Lauren and Jayne. Officers on previous shifts had passed on the same to him.

“We’ll wait for a bit.” Amanda was back in the department car with Trent and watched the minute change on the dash clock. She desperately wanted to be home on time to be with Zoe tonight. It was Pizza Tuesday—a weekly ritual they’d initiated. Mondays were hard for everyone, whether it was returning to school or going to work. But by Tuesday evening, you’d survived two days of the week. Doing something “fun” made it easier to face the three that remained.

There was a rap on the driver’s window, and Amanda jumped. It was Jayne, and Amanda had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t even seen her approach.

“All right there?” Trent smirked at Amanda and then lowered the window.

“Detectives? What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to take a look in Chloe’s room,” Trent told her.

“You’re fine with that?” Amanda said. Such authorization wouldn’t have been necessary if Chloe had lived alone, but to get to her room, they would need to go through other areas in the home that were inhabited by her roommates.

“I’m fine with it.”

They got out of the car.

“Do you know when Lauren will be home?” Amanda asked.

“Nope. Don’t really care either.”

Apparently, the homefront is bliss…“I’ll need to get permission from her as well. Do you have a phone number for her?”

Jayne rattled it off from memory as Amanda tapped the digits into her phone.

Lauren answered on the second ring and gave Amanda the approval she needed. She pocketed the phone and said to Jayne, “Ready when you are.”

“All right.” Jayne led the way into the townhouse. Immaculate. It had Amanda thinking about Chloe’s crime scene and how clean it had been.

“Someone’s good at cleaning house,” Amanda tossed out casually.

“That’s Lauren.” Jayne rolled her eyes. “She’s a freaking neat freak.”

Jayne took Amanda and Trent to the second story and cracked open the second door on the left. “This was Chloe’s.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. If you need me, I’ll be downstairs.”

The two of them stepped into Chloe’s room and snapped on gloves. The space was about fifteen feet square with one decent-sized window that let in sunlight, but it was on the north-facing side of the building, so the room was dim. Amanda flicked the switch next to the door, and the ceiling light came on, deepening the shadows.

The room was tidy, but not immaculate like the rest of the house. The bed was made but in a rushed fashion, the act of simply pulling up the sheets and comforter. Though the last time Chloe had left here, it had been in the early hours. She probably hadn’t even been that awake yet.

There was a simple student desk with no drawers, a wheeled chair, a small bookcase, and a nightstand by the bed.

Amanda opened the closet’s bifold doors. Clothes on hangers were crammed together with no apparent thought as to organization. On the floor, there was a rack for shoes, and Chloe had plenty.

“More clothes here than at her parents’ house.” Amanda looked at some articles of clothing. No fancy labels or anything flashy. Down-to-earth.

She returned to the desk. No laptop or desktop computer. Strange for a student not to have one. But there was that backpack she’d had with her when she arrived at the park. It hadn’t been found. It may have had her phone and other electronics in it.

She went over to the nightstand and opened the drawer. Foiled condoms and a tissue box. Nothing else.

“Look at this.” Trent was pointing to a frame on the wall.

Amanda walked over. A certificate noting Chloe Somner as a top financial contributor. “Planet Rebirth.”

Trent said, “She didn’t just participate in their events, she donated money to the cause.”

“An angel,” she said softly.

“What was that?”

She blinked Trent into focus. She hadn’t realized she’d said that out loud. “It’s just such a shame she was killed. Like her parents said, the girl would have changed the world for the better.”

“She certainly had the passion.”

Amanda snapped her gloves off, tucked them into her coat pocket, and headed downstairs. Trent followed.

Jayne was at the kitchen counter leaning over a laptop; a binder was next to it along with a couple of textbooks. She was bobbing her head, and Amanda imagined she had earbuds in, listening to music. Amanda treaded slowly so as not to startle her.

“Oh.” Jayne yanked a bud from an ear.

“We’re finished up there, but we have some questions. Has anyone been in her room since Monday?”

“Nope.”

“Not even her parents?” Amanda was just verifying what the officer had told them.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Is it possible they came when you weren’t home?”

“Don’t think so, and Lauren hasn’t mentioned it.”