“No,” Lena told her. She was fairly certain Allison drove a red Dodge Daytona. “Did you talk to your niece much on the phone?”
“Once a month. We got closer after her mama passed.” A look crossed her face. “I guess it really is just me now.” She swallowed hard. “I got a son in Holman stamping out license plates. About the only thing he’s ever done right in his life.”
She meant Holman State Prison in Alabama. “What’s he in for?”
“Being stupid.” Her anger was so palpable that Lena resisted the urge to lean back in her chair. “He tried to rob a liquor store with a water pistol. That boy’s been in prison more days than he’s been out.”
“Is he affiliated with a gang?”
“Well, who the hell knows?” she demanded. “Not me, that’s for sure. I ain’t talked to him since they sent him up. Washed my hands of it all.”
“Was he close to Allison?”
“Last time they were together was when she was thirteen, fourteen. They were out swimming and he held her head under the water until she threw up. Little shit ain’t no better than his daddy.” She started rummaging around in her purse, but then seemed to remember she couldn’t smoke. She pulled out a pack of gum and shoved two pieces into her mouth.
“What about Allison’s father?”
“He’s living in California somewhere. He wouldn’t know her if she passed him on the street.”
“Was she seeing a counselor here at school?”
Sheila gave her a sharp look. “How did you know about that? Was it the counselor did it?”
“We don’t know who did it,” Lena reminded her. “We’re looking into all angles. Do you know her counselor’s name?”
“Some Jew. A woman.”
“Jill Rosenburg?” Lena knew the psychiatrist from another case.
“That sounds like it. Do you think she could’a done it?”
“It’s not likely, but we’ll talk to her. Why was Allison seeing Dr. Rosenburg?”
“She said the school made her.”
Lena knew freshmen were required to see a counselor once a semester, but after that, attendance was left to them. Most students found better ways to spend their time. “Was Allison depressed? Was she ever suicidal?”
Sheila looked down at her torn fingernails. Lena recognized the shame in her face.
“Mrs. McGhee, it’s all right to talk about it in here. All of us want to find out who did this to Allison. Even the smallest bit of information might help.”
She took a deep breath before confirming, “She cut her wrists eight years ago when her mama died.”
“Was she hospitalized?”
“They kept her for a few days, gave her some outpatient therapy. We were supposed to keep it up, but there ain’t no money for doctors when you can barely put food on the table.”
“Did Allison seem better?”
“She was good off and on. Like me. Probably like you. There are good days and bad days, and as long as there aren’t too many of either, you get along with your life fine.”
Lena thought that was one of the most depressing ways to live your life that she had ever heard. “Was she taking medication?”
“She said the doctor gave her something new to try. Far as I could see, it wasn’t helping much.”
“Did she complain about school? Work?”
“Never. Like I said, she put on a good face. Life is hard, but you can’t get down about every shitty thing that happens to you.”
“I found a picture of you in Allison’s wallet. She was with you and Jason. It looked like you were all sitting on a bench in front of the student center.”
“She kept that in her wallet?” For the first time, Sheila’s features relaxed into something close to a smile. She searched her purse again and found a photograph that was a match for the one in her niece’s wallet. She stared at the image a long while before showing it to Lena. “I didn’t know she kept a copy for herself.”
“When was it taken?”
“Two months ago.”
“September?”
She nodded, smacking her gum. “The twenty-third. I had a couple of days off and thought I’d drive over and surprise her.”
“What was Jason like?”
“Quiet. Arrogant. Too touchy. He kept holding her hand. Stroking her hair. Would’ve drove me up the wall having some boy pawing me like that, but Allison didn’t care. She was in love.” She put enough sarcasm in her voice to make the word sound obscene.
Lena asked, “How much time did you spend around Jason?”
“Ten, fifteen minutes? He said he had a class, but I think he was nervous around me.”
Lena could understand why. Sheila didn’t seem to have a high opinion of men. “What made you think Jason was arrogant?”
“He just had this look on his face like his shit don’t stink. You know what I’m saying?”
Lena had a hard time reconciling the chubby grad student she had seen on Jason’s student ID with the arrogant prick Sheila was painting. “Did he say anything specifically?”
“He’d just bought her this ring. It was cheaper than dirt, and not good for her color, but he was all puffed out like a peacock about it. Said it was a promise ring to buy her a nicer one by Thanksgiving.”
“Not by Christmas?”
She shook her head.
Lena sat back in the chair, thinking about what the woman had said. You didn’t give people Thanksgiving Day gifts. “Did either of them say anything about expecting some money to come in?”
“Ain’t no money coming in for either one of ’em. They were poor as church mice.” Sheila snapped her fingers. “What about that old colored man at the diner?”
Lena had thought Frank Wallace was the only person who still used that word. “We’ve talked to Mr. Harris. He’s not involved in this.”
“He was hard on her, but I told her it was good she was learning how to work with the colored. You look around big corporations now and they’re filled with black people.”
“That’s true,” Lena said, wondering if the woman thought her brown skin was the product of a bad home-tanning experiment. “Did Allison have other friends that she talked about?”
“No. There was just Jason all the time. Her whole world was wrapped up in him, even though I kept telling her not to put all her eggs in one basket.”
“Did Allison date anyone in high school?”
“Nobody. She was always about her grades. All she cared about was getting into college. She thought it would save her from …” She shook her head.
“Save her from what?”
A tear finally fell from her eye. “From ending up exactly the way she did.” Her lip started to tremble. “I knew I shouldn’t let myself hope for her. I knew something bad would happen.”
Lena reached over and took the woman’s bony hand. “I’m so sorry about this.”
Sheila straightened her spine, making it clear she didn’t need comforting. “Can I see her?”
“It’d be better if you waited until tomorrow. The people who are with her now are taking care of her for you.”