I smiled at the detective, who sat behind Dean Marcus's wide desk. Then I flashed the same grin at Chief Sheridan, who hovered in the corner near one of the sky-?high bookshelves. Behind me, in a cushy chair, was my advisor, Ms. Naylor. Apparently she was there to act as a student advocate, which meant, I supposed, that if they tried to beat me with a telephone book, she was required to ask them politely to stop.
Whether or not she would actually do that was another story. I never got the impression that Ms. Naylor relished my presence at Easton that much or her involvement in my life.
“So, we understand you and Mr. Pearson have been dating,” the detective said, glancing at a piece of paper in front of him.
'Yes." I sat up a little straighter, trying to see what the paper had to say.
“For how long?” the detective asked. He pulled the page closer to him. The chief shifted, bringing one arm across his stomach and resting his other elbow on it, hand under chin.
“Since the third week of school,” I said, endeavoring to swallow. “So not long at all.”
“I see,” the detective said. “Is it serious?”
I cleared my throat. “Depends on your definition of serious.”
The detective smiled indulgently. “How well do you know him?”
“Pretty well, I guess,” I said. “But then, everybody has secrets, right?”
His eyebrows popped up. “Do they?”
96
Oh, God. Why did I say that? Why, why, why?
“Did Thomas share any secrets with you, Miss Brennan?” he asked. “Where he might be going, for example?”
Yes. Yes, he did. He did, did, did.
“No,” I said. “No, he didn't.”
The detective eyed me as if he was trying to see inside my brain. It made me feel all hot and prickly. He looked down again.
“Is it true that last week the two of you fought outside the cafeteria?”
My face heated up like a black slate in the sun. “How did you--”
“Several witnesses have mentioned it,” the detective said.
Nice. Real nice. Had everyone in school come in here and pointed their fingers directly at me?
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'Yes, we fought," I said.
“About what?”
About the fact that he's a drug dealer and he supplies the whole school.
“Uh ... I'd rather not say,” I replied.
Both the chief and Detective Hauer blinked in the exact same incredulous way. So they'd never heard of an evasive teenager before?
“We'd rather you did, Miss Brennan,” the chief said, speaking for the first time. “All we're trying to do here is find out where Thomas might have gone. Sometimes people miss the significance of small things. We're just trying to discern whether you happen to know something that might help us. That's all.”
97
“Oh. Okay. Well, I... I found out he was lying to me,” I said.