He backed away, obviously angry. I saw him talking to Rachel again, both of them now glaring at me, and then, a little more than half an hour later, I noticed they were both gone.
“The prince left,” Eddie told me.
“Not the princess,” I replied. “I can’t let my fans down.”
He laughed. We danced for a little while, and then he leaned toward me and said, “Wanna cut out? I know a cool place where they play jazz and no one cards you.”
“Sure. I’m not that crazy about jazz, but I am crazy about not being carded.”
He laughed, took my hand, and led me to a side door. With all the commotion around us, it was easy to slip out. We went up the steps and across the side of the house to his car. I felt like I was floating, and it felt better than anything. He gave me another pill when we got into his car, and we drove off.
We never made it to his cool jazz club. On the way, we turned off the main road and parked on a dirt lot where someone was preparing to start construction on a house. He told me it was where his father was working. I really didn’t listen that much to what he said. I was laughing a lot and didn’t put up much resistance when he started to make love. It seemed like the perfect way to end a great night.
Both of us fell asleep after that. I was the first to wake up, and I punched him when I realized that it was four in the morning. He groaned and took forever to wake up, but he finally did. He thought it was funny.
“I’m going to get into a lot of trouble,” I said. “I’m more than four hours late now!” The reality of what was happening sobered me quickly. “Get me home. Fast,” I ordered.
I tried to straighten myself up enough to look okay as we drove to my house.
“Don’t your parents care that you’re out this late?” I asked him.
“My parents? Hell, no. My mother’s probably not even home yet herself, and my father lives somewhere else.”
“Great,” I said.
My heart stopped and started when we approached my house. There was a police patrol car in the driveway and a familiar black car beside it.
“Oh, shit,” Eddie said. “I have some stuff in the trunk.”
“Just pull in and pull out quickly after I get out,” I said.
The moment he pulled into the driveway, however, two policemen stepped out of their car and walked toward us.
“Don’t say anything,” Eddie ordered.
In the back of my mind, I thought that someone named Ryan Lockhart might have already done the damage.
I got out of the car. Eddie started to back out, but the first officer put up his hand and moved quickly to get alongside the car. I heard him tell Eddie to step out.
The front door opened, and Daddy appeared. Even though I’d suspected whom
the black car belonged to, I was shocked to see Lieutenant Cowan beside him.
They must have learned something about Kaylee, I thought. Why else would he be here? I had often rehearsed my reaction to bad news. I was ready to hear it.
Daddy didn’t move from the front entrance to let me in when I approached. He stood there with his arms folded across his chest and glared at me. He looked different and not like someone who had just been given tragic news about his daughter. He looked angry, and I had never seen anger planted so deeply in his face. If he’s gotten bad news, that only intensified his disappointment in my staying out so late and not calling, I thought. What else? Get ready for tears.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” I began. “I lost track of time and . . .”
“You had me in quite a panic, Haylee. I called Ryan at one thirty. His parents weren’t too happy,” he said. “He told me you wouldn’t let him take you home when he told you it was closing in on midnight.”
“I was having so much fun! I couldn’t remember when I had fun last. Nobody had to go home so early. It wasn’t fair,” I whined.
Lieutenant Cowan stood staring at me in a peculiar way.
“Eventually, I called Amanda Sanders’s home. The party was long over. She told me no one saw you leave, but you weren’t still there.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I glanced back and saw that the second policeman was at Eddie’s car, and Eddie was standing to the side with his hands behind him. The other policeman was searching his car, and he opened the trunk.