Chapter 13
Sadie Holt lived in a stucco house on a quiet cul-de-sac lined with identical mailboxes and trimmed hedges.
When I pulled to a stop in front of the house, the garage door was open, and a little pink sedan was parked inside.
I hoped the car was Sadie’s and that the lack of other vehicles meant the seventeen-year-old was home alone and that I had her all to myself.
I parked in the driveway, got out of the car, and walked to the door, ringing the bell. A shuffle of feet sounded inside, followed by the click of a lock. The door cracked open an inch, and one pale-blue eye blinked out at me.
“If you’re looking for my parents, they aren’t home,” she said.
“Are you Sadie?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not here to talk to your parents. I’m here to talk to you.”
“Why?”
She pulled the door open all the way and leaned against the frame.
Her long blond hair hung in two loose braids over her shoulders, and she wore sweats and an oversized sweater that swallowed her tiny frame.
As we stood there, staring at each other, her expression shifted a few times, going from curiosity to irritation to boredom.
“I’m Georgiana Germaine,” I said.
“I don’t care who you are.”
“Rosemary Ashford hired me to investigate her daughter’s murder.”
“Ahh, you’re the private investigator,” she said. “The one everyone in town has been talking about.”
“I am, and I’d like to ask you a few questions about Audrey.”
She groaned as if I’d asked her to scrub the floor with a toothbrush. “Why? I’m not involved with what happened to her, and besides, I don’t feel like answering your questions.”
“If you don’t want to talk to me now, fine. But you should know I’ll keep coming around until you do.”
She rolled her eyes as if she found me annoying.
“Fiiiiine, come in,” she said. “But I have somewhere to be in an hour, so make it quick.”
She stepped aside, and I entered a living room filled with mismatched furniture, a wall of crystal animals in various shapes and sizes, and a faint cinnamon smell in the air.
Sadie flopped onto a beanbag and curled her legs beneath her.
“You can sit or whatever,” she said.
I sat across from her. “If it would make you feel more comfortable, you can let your parents know I’m here.”
“They don’t need to know,” she said with a shrug. “Why are you here?”
“I’d like to know about your friendship with Audrey.”
Her jaw tightened. “We used to be close. Then we weren’t. That’s the story. Are we done?”
“Not yet. I’m going to need a little more than that.”
Sadie let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. We were friends. Then she stole from me. End of story.”
“You’re referring to the night of the party.”
“Yeah, the one where everyone assumed I’d had too much to drink and forced me to leave the party while they all stayed. Real fun night.”
“You left your purse behind.”
Sadie crossed her arms and leaned back, grabbing a blanket that was puddled on the floor and threw it over her legs. “If you know the story already, why are we talking about it?”
“I’d like to hear it from your perspective.”
She huffed a frustrated sigh. “I left my purse, Audrey found it, and she took it home. When I picked it up the next morning, 200 bucks was missing. That was my allowance for the whole week.”
One week?
Spoiled much?
“Audrey told you she didn’t take the money, didn’t she?” I asked.
“I mean, yeah, but come on. Who else would have done it?”
“Anyone else at the party. Did you have proof that she took it?”
“I didn’t need proof.” Her voice rose, brittle and defensive, then softened just as fast. “The next week, she showed up at school with a new backpack, one she’d been eyeing for a while.
I asked her where she got the money for it, and she said she’d opened a store online and was selling some bracelets she’d made. I wasn’t buying it.”
“Had she opened a store?”
Sadie shrugged. “I dunno. All I know is, we weren’t the same after that. She was offended when I accused her, and she said she couldn’t trust me anymore. Funny thing. Trust goes both ways.”
“Did you ever consider the possibility that someone else took the money?”
She glared at me. “You sound like Talia.”
“In what way?”
“She wanted me to believe Audrey didn’t care about money. Please. Everyone cares about money.”
Her tone swung again, confident at first, then becoming a little more vulnerable.
“What happened when you accused Audrey of taking the money?” I asked.
“She cried. Like big, dramatic tears. She was hurt that I’d called her a thief.”
“Did the two of you ever resolve things before she died?”
“No.” She paused. “And now I kinda wish we had. I’ve thought about the day we argued about the money, and you know, even if she took it, I’ll admit she’d always been a good friend to me before that, and I’d allowed it all to be thrown away over a bit of cash.”
The confession surprised me almost as much as it seemed to surprise her.
She glanced away, fingers picking at a loose thread on her sweater.
“When was the last time you saw Audrey?” I asked.
“A few days before she died at a fast-food joint in town. She looked stressed, and she kept checking her phone, but I don’t know why. We saw each other, but we didn’t talk. It’s weird, you know. Her dying in the one place she loved most.”
“In the woods, you mean?”
“Yeah. She grew up playing in those woods. She told me that was the place she went to feel calm. What she found there the night she died was anything but that.”
Her voice wavered, then she cleared her throat.
“Even though you two weren’t speaking much before she died, I hope you try to remember all the good times you had,” I said.
“I do. You … ahh, you’re not here because you think I killed her, right?”
“I’m just here to ask questions and to see where the answers lead. And to get to the truth, to the heart of what happened to her and why.”
“You sound like my therapist,” she muttered.
“You have a therapist?”
“Don’t know why you’re so shocked. Half the kids in our school need one. Maybe even a little more than half.”
I switched topics. “Where were you on the day Audrey died?”
“At home.”
“Were your parents around?”
“No, they were out.”
First Colton and his vague recollection about being at the arcade on the day Audrey died, and now it seemed Sadie didn’t have an alibi either.
“Did you ever see Audrey arguing with anyone at school, or did she have any issues with any of her classmates, aside from what happened with you, I mean?”
“Audrey was a gentle soul, the kind of person who might tear up if you looked at her the wrong way. She preferred peace over confrontation.”
“What can you tell me about her relationship with Logan?”
“They were two peas in a pod, soulmates who were meant to be together. He’d had a crush on her ever since they were kids. We all knew it.”
“Logan has been missing for several days. Did you know that?”
She raised a brow, her expression one of concern. “I didn’t. Aww, man, I can’t imagine what he’s going through. It’s so sad. He’d finally worked up the nerve to tell her how he felt, and then, she … you know …”
Had the life snuffed out of her.
“Any idea where I could find him?” I asked.
“We’re friends, but not that good of friends. I’d ask Willow Robinson. She knows him a lot better.”
Willow and McKenna were the other two classmates who’d planned to go on the weekend trip with Talia and Audrey—a trip cut short by Audrey’s murder. I planned to speak with them both.
“I’ve just been to see Colton Jagger,” I said. “He admitted he’s dating Talia. Did you know?”
“She’s never come right out and said it, but I suspected as much. Before Audrey died, I saw them together a lot.”
“I’m sure it must have been awkward for Audrey. I heard she wasn’t too happy about them hanging out.”
Sadie wiggled around, adjusting herself in the beanbag chair. “After I accused Audrey of stealing the money from my bag, we didn’t talk much, so I have no idea what she thought about Colton and Talia. I think he’s weird.”
“Colton?”
She nodded.
“In what way?” I asked.
“He always seems to show up everywhere. I go to the store, he’s there. Stop at the gas station, he’s there. It’s creepy. Gives me stalker vibes.”
“We live in a small town. I see the same people all the time. It doesn’t mean they’re stalking me.”
“Small towns are that way. Everyone getting all up in everyone else’s business.”
She had a point.
“Was Colton ever aggressive toward Audrey?” I asked.
“Not that I saw. But he stared at her a lot. When he first moved here, he made a point to let everyone know he liked her.”
“He told me Audrey made it clear she wasn’t interested. He backed off after that.”
She shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he did. I don’t know. I just thought it was weird that when he failed to get Audrey, he started talking to Talia. It’s so cringe.”
I didn’t speak fluent teen, but every once in a while, I managed to understand their lingo. Cringe was their word for something that made a person feel embarrassed, uncomfortable, or awkward.
“Do you know anyone who would have wanted to harm Audrey?” I asked.
She tapped her fingers on her knee, thinking.
“I know I didn’t treat her the way I should have right before she died, but I can say she was one of the most caring friends I’ve ever had.”
“I’m hearing that a lot.”
“That’s why none of this makes any sense. I can’t think of any reason why someone would kill her.”
I took a moment to decide how much I wanted to say. “Did you have a classmate named Anne?”
“Anne? No, I don’t think so. Why?”
Admitting what I’d seen in Logan’s notebook would mean admitting I’d gone into his room without permission. I decided it was best to keep that to myself unless I knew I could trust the person.
“Did you ever see Logan or Audrey with a locket?”
I described it to her.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “You’re asking a lot of weird questions.”
“I get how you see it that way. Let’s just say there are some details I can share about the case and others I can’t.”
She leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees. “After all I’ve told you, I feel like I deserve something. Come on. One little detail won’t hurt. You may not have solved her murder yet, but I bet you have some idea why she was killed. Am I right?”
I crossed my arms. “I haven’t been able to prove it yet, but I believe Audrey stumbled upon something she shouldn’t have, and she was killed to keep her quiet.”
Her gaze locked with mine, sharp and bright. “And Logan? Do you think he’s involved?”
“I’m leaning toward yes.”
“Man, that sucks. Hope he comes home.”
I stood. “Well, I think I’ve covered everything I can think to ask for now.”
She grabbed her cell phone and boosted herself off the beanbag chair. I followed her to the door. She opened it, turning back to say, “This is just my opinion, but I don’t think the person you’re looking for is anyone from our school.”
“Why’s that?”
“I dunno, just a vibe I’m getting.”
I stepped onto the porch, the door closing behind me with a soft click.
As I walked to the car, her last words circled in my mind.
She was certain none of their classmates had killed Audrey.
If she was right, then someone outside that tight group had slipped into Audrey’s life, unseen and unchecked, hiding in a place I hadn’t thought to look yet.