What Janie Saw(75)

                Katie spoke. “Amanda told the police that they were all in a car pool together. Nothing else.”

                Janie pulled a chair up so she sat in front of Amanda. She didn’t touch the girl. She wasn’t comfortable doing that. Katie already had the emotional part under control. Amanda still cried, but she’d stopped signing. She glanced at her mother through shimmering tears.

                “I think,” Janie said, “that Amanda doesn’t want to go on if you’re upset, Mrs. Skinley.”

                “Oh, my goodness, Janie. You’ve called me Helen since you met me.” With that, Helen turned to her daughter and signed, Doing right thing.

                Amanda nodded and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her shirt. Katie reached in her pocket and pulled out a tissue. She was going to be an awesome mother.

                And she’d already had plenty of practice with Janie.

                Amanda’s fingers started flying again. One time before we left college town, we stopped at store for drinks. Derek was friends with someone in next car. Tommy and Brittney were inside store. I was in the backseat. Derek maybe forgot I was there. He maybe didn’t know I read lips.

                “I should call Rafe,” Janie said. “He should hear this.”

                Amanda read her lips and wailed. Her mother pulled her close. “I don’t want her to go to the police. Brittney’s probably dead. Her art teacher and Derek are certainly dead. I’m not putting my girl in danger. She’ll tell you everything and you can repeat it to the sheriff. You don’t have to mention where you heard it. Say you read it in an art book or something. That’s how this whole thing started, right?”

                Whatever Amanda was about to share, Rafe would certainly have the smarts to figure out the source. And he’d not settle for secondhand reports or hearsay. But for now, Janie made herself settle back and urged, “Go on.”

                For the next five minutes, as Katie translated the tale Amanda’s fingers spun, Janie studied Amanda’s facial expressions and body movements, noticing she held her stomach a lot.

                “Derek’s friend drove a blue car, four doors. Old. Two people in it. No coats.”

                “When?” Janie asked. “When was this?”

                “A few weeks before Brittney disappeared. I remember Halloween decorations on the window of the store.

                “One got out. Tall. Almost man. Short hair, big, strong. He put his arm around Derek, led Derek away.”

                There was no word for Derek, so Amanda signed each letter.

                “The man told Derek to leave us alone. We cause trouble. The man said someone could get hurt.”

                “Why didn’t you tell Rafe this?”

                This time, Amanda signed right to Janie.

                Man also said Tommy could get hurt.

                Helen Skinley wasn’t crying anymore. “That does it. We’re taking a vacation, moving, something. I’m not sticking around here for my children to get hurt.”

                “Tommy’s no longer a child,” Janie pointed out.

                “He’s not acting like an adult, either.”

                “But Helen,” Katie said, “what if taking away the only person who witnessed this man’s words, saw this man, causes someone else’s child to go missing? Can you live with that?”