Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver 2)

He didn’t take long to come up with an answer. “He would talk to the people at the party. Compare notes on them, such as, does what this one guy is saying match up with what this other guy is saying? Because if they don’t match up, that means somebody is lying, and if somebody is lying, then you know that they’re hiding something.”

For the first time in days, Emily felt a lightness in her chest. That made perfect sense. Why hadn’t she thought to talk to anyone? She could get them to confess.

There was just one problem.

She asked, “How does Columbo do it, though? If people are guilty, they’re not going to talk, especially to the police.”

“That’s what my dad says.” Cheese shrugged. “But if you watch TV, guilty people always talk. Sometimes, they make up lies to throw the heat onto somebody else. Or they wanna know if they’re going to get caught, so they ask lots of questions about the investigation. And Columbo, he’s the best at tricking them up. He doesn’t go into it accusing people. He’ll say, ‘Sir, I see you were at the party. If you’ll excuse me for asking, could you tell me if you saw anything suspicious or anyone behaving out of character?’ He never points his finger at the guy and says ‘You did it.’ He lets them talk themselves into trouble.”

Emily had to admit he did a very good Columbo voice. “What else?”

“Well, he writes everything down, which is what you’re supposed to do when you’re a cop. My dad says it’s because you get a lot of information when you interview people, but only some of it is important, so you write it all down, then go back through and pick out the good stuff.”

Emily nodded, because that made a lot of sense, too. She got overwhelmed with details in class sometimes, but then she looked back at her notes and found the sense.

“The best part is at the end of the episode,” Cheese said. “Right before the commercial, Columbo will be talking to a suspect, and he’ll act like he’s finished with the questions, but then he’ll turn around and say, ‘Sir, I’m sorry. There’s just one more thing.’”

“One more thing?”

“Yeah, that’s when you save your biggest question, for the end when their guard is down.” Cheese pinched the end off his cigarette before slipping the butt into his pocket. “You say, ‘That’s great, thanks for answering my questions,’ and act like you’re going to leave. And then you pack up your notebook or whatever, and the suspect is relieved, right, because they think it’s over. And then you go back and say—”

“There’s just one more thing.”

“Correctamundo.” Cheese’s Fonz wasn’t bad, either. “That’s how you get your diamond necklace back.”

“What?”

“The lady—the one that had her necklace stolen.”

“Oh, right.” Emily felt her heart tremble in her chest. She felt anxious now that there seemed to be a way forward. “You’ll make a good cop one day, Cheese.”

“Oh hell no.” He shook out another cigarette. “If I’m still living in this shithole town ten years from now, remind me to put a bullet in my head.”

“That’s awful. Don’t say that.”

He handed over her book bag. They were close to school. Without another word, Cheese quickly walked away from her. A few years ago, Nardo had teased him about having a crush on Emily and he still went to great lengths to disabuse anyone of the notion.

Emily swung her purse at her side. She considered Cheese’s advice. She should look at this as an investigation. The answer might not change anything, but it would at least bring her some peace. No matter what her father and mother said, someone had hurt her. That person had taken advantage of Emily at her most vulnerable. She wasn’t foolish enough to think he would pay a price, but she had to know who’d done it for the sake of her own sanity.

“Whatcha doing?” Ricky bumped her shoulder. “You cut the Cheese?”

Emily rolled her eyes, but she gave Ricky a shoulder bump in response.

“I don’t know why you bother with those broken toys.”

Emily tried not to rise to the bait. The clique could be so vicious to outsiders. What would they do to Emily when they found out?

“Where were you yesterday?” Ricky demanded. “I called your house twice and your mom told me you were asleep both times.”

“I had a stomach bug,” Emily said. “I told you that on Saturday.”

“Oh, right!” Ricky bumped her again. “I thought we were going to talk yesterday.”

“About what?”

“I—oh, shit. There’s Nardo.” Ricky bolted across the quad without looking back.

Emily didn’t follow. Instead, she kept an eye on the clique as they assembled outside the front doors of the gym. Nardo was smoking even though he’d been caught three times already. Blake had his back against the wall and a book in his hands. Only Clay was turned toward Emily. His eyes followed her as she walked up the steps to school. For the first time in her life, she didn’t respond to him. She didn’t raise her hand to wave. She didn’t feel the tractor beam of his gaze pulling her to his side.