“The cops asked me that. I was at the police station for hours answering questions. I knew probably half the people in the stairwell. I’d just gotten out of my communications class and was heading to the student union to grab something to eat. I saw you—”
“Tell me the names of the students in your class?”
“I’m not sure I can remember all of them. Some never talk.”
From her art class, Janie knew that Max was a talker, but he usually chose the wrong thing to say and then spent five minutes saying it. It took him an hour to go through the twenty students in his class. In the end, he remembered all their names and their quirks. Janie only recognized one name: Amanda Skinley. But apparently she’d been absent that day.
Well, Rafe would certainly be interested in that if he hadn’t already discovered it.
“How close are you and Amanda?” Janie asked.
“My mom and her mom are friends. I’m supposed to watch out for Amanda while she’s here because she’s only seventeen.”
“She needs watching out for?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you yesterday!” Max suddenly became animated. “I haven’t seen or heard from her since the Wednesday night two weeks ago when the cops came and she left the classroom crying. She hasn’t been coming to school at all. She’s not answering her cell phone or returning my text messages, and no one answers at her parents’ house, either. Even my mom tried calling.”
Janie closed her eyes. Fatigue took a brief hold. Unbelievable. She could fall asleep right here, right now, with Max fidgeting in the hospital room’s doorway. Forcing her eyes open, she stared at the young man. She couldn’t tell him about Amanda’s visit to the zoo and the drawing they’d made. She couldn’t tell him that Amanda’s mother had said she would take both her children on a vacation just to get them away from Scorpion Ridge and Adobe Hill.
Janie knew so much and yet so little. She suddenly wished she’d pressured Rafe about what he’d gleaned from his interviews with her Wednesday night students.
He’d not been willing to tell her. So, she’d have to ask her own questions.
“I usually hear from Amanda about ten to twenty times a day,” Max continued.
“Did you know Brittney?”
He sobered. “I did. Last semester she was in two classes with Amanda and me. We took a basic math class and then a college success class.”
“So, the three of you hung around?”
“No, not really. Brittney’s really pretty and kinda cool. Since Brittney and Amanda are from the same high school, Brittney’s mom would drive them to the college. Mrs. Skinley or Amanda’s brother would pick them up. Once Brittney got to school, she pretty much ditched Amanda. I think she was trying to hide the fact that she was still in high school. She ignored me.”
“Why?”
Max made a face. “I can’t believe you’re asking that.”
“I can’t believe you’re not giving me an answer.”
“Brittney was blonde, gorgeous and guys were all over her from day one. Amanda and I cramped her style.”
“Did she know Derek? Was Derek in any of those classes with you?”