“He was hanging with the guys, avoiding me in public so he wouldn’t have a scene with Jenna when he got back. She was friends with the stats guy, would ask who Steve had been with on road trips, checking up on him. The guys were laughing about the leash she had him on. We talked some at his room Friday night, but I didn’t stay over with him if that’s what you want to ask next.”
“When did you get back to campus?”
“Sunday afternoon? I like to shop. I heard all the hubbub Monday night when I was leaving class—one of those tuition-money theft requirements you have to take to graduate, postmodern interpretation of the English classics or some such stupidity. Still burns me the name was the most interesting thing about the class.”
“What do you think happened to Jenna?”
“How should I know? She probably charmed some other guy, and he got tired of being played. With Steve out of town, Jenna was doing whatever she wanted to do that weekend, probably ran herself into trouble.”
“You ever see her at a bar drinking? Doing drugs?”
“That I can’t say she ever did. She was straitlaced, that one, made a face at people having a good time. Nagged Steve off even a beer, poor man.”
Evie closed her notebook. “I appreciate your time.”
“That’s all you want to ask?”
“Did you cause her harm or know who did?”
Candy made a face. “Wasn’t me. And I’d thank whoever did rather than tell you their name.”
“I can see why cops on the original case liked to talk with you, Candy. Why don’t you give me the names of your friends from back then, someone who might remember you were at that away game, shopping that weekend?”
“I hung out with Nancy and Iris, sometimes with Lisa.” She dug a phone out of her pocket and read off full names and numbers. Ann jotted them down. “They’ll tell you the same as I did.”
“I expect so,” Evie agreed. “Thanks again for your time.”
Evie scanned the photos on the walls as they walked out, finding Candy in casual shots with a range of different guys. Candy had the looks that would have made guys come calling, but none appeared to have stuck. Losing a boyfriend to someone else had become a sharp sting that didn’t get forgotten. A sad fact for Candy, and a useful one for Evie. It had kept those memories alive.
“That was enlightening,” Ann remarked as they got back into the car. “So which picture is more accurate, the one drawn by those who liked Jenna or by someone who didn’t?”
Evie thought Ann’s question was right on point. “Candy was watching Jenna in a way no one else was. Didn’t like her, but paid super close attention to her. Others who didn’t like her mostly ignored her. The guys we’ve interviewed mostly look at her picture, shrug and say, ‘Yeah, I saw her around. I saw a lot of girls around. Nothing particularly special about Jenna. Until you said her name, I wouldn’t have remembered it.’ Doesn’t mean one of them wasn’t the one who did Jenna harm, but across the board she wasn’t a fixation. They weren’t eyes-locked-onto-the-photo when I showed it, remembering an obsession with her. They mostly didn’t know her. Candy Trefford—she knew Jenna, in her own warped-interpretation way.”
“So what do you do with it?”
Evie was wondering the same thing. “For starters, how about we look for more people like Candy who didn’t like Jenna? To begin with, others with the same major. Let’s find out what was going on with the TAs—if there was some inside favoritism. Or this is simply a bright student with a shared focus on an obscure subject, already making friends among the grad students she hoped to work alongside one day.”
They called the interviews done at four p.m. Ann had a standing Friday-night date with husband Paul. Evie turned in and parked beside Ann’s car. “Thanks for the help, friend.”
“It made for an interesting Friday. Paul will enjoy the highlights,” Ann said with a smile and handed over the notebook filled with her own observations. “I remember now why I often went home with a headache . . . interviews with people who have something to hide or who are being hostile just for the sake of giving cops a bad day.”
“We caught our fair share of both today,” Evie agreed. “I did think Joe Mueller was going to run when he saw the badge. For an instant I hoped we’d caught a lucky break and stumbled onto the right guy.”
Ann smiled. “I saw that too. He was the only one who looked relieved when he heard we were there to ask about Jenna Greenhill.”
“Yeah,” Evie said with a chuckle. “I’d care about what he’s got going that makes him nervous around cops, but that would take more energy than I have left. Did we learn anything today that felt substantive to you?”