She's Not There, стр. 44

TJ tried to put her at ease. “Go ahead, girl. We’re only interested in finding out about Jamie. Her husband is worried sick.”

She looked up at TJ, her forehead wrinkled with worry lines.

“Carly, how about you and me talk alone over there.” TJ walked the girl over to an empty booth in the front of the restaurant.

Carly said, “I just wanted to have some fun, you know?”

“Honey, just tell me about Jamie. If you get any crap from the boss, call me and I’ll talk to him for you.” She handed the girl a business card.

“Thanks. It’s just . . . I really need this job, you know? So, anyway, my friend never showed up. I knew I shouldn’t have stayed. Then this really cute guy asked me to dance. We danced for like a really long time, and then we went out on the deck to talk. It was so cool, you know, the moon shining on the lake.”

“Then what?”

“We talked and, you know, stuff. I saw this woman walk out on the deck. We weren’t real close to her and it was kinda dark, but she stopped in the light when she walked out. I’m pretty sure it was her.” Carly took another look at the photo of Jamie. “Yeah, it was her.” She sighed. “The guy I met turned out to be a real loser. He walked me to my car, then when I wouldn’t go with him to his place, he went back in the bar.” She huffed. “I meet all the losers.”

“Did you notice how long she stayed?” TJ asked, trying to keep the girl on track.

“Right. When she came out she had a glass of wine and she sat down on one of the chairs facing the lake. She looked sad. Well, I couldn’t really see her face—I guess it was just the way she moved. She kept staring at the lake. Then the next time I looked over her way, there was a guy sitting in the chair next to her. He had a drink too, and they were talking.”

“Did you notice whether they left together?”

“When we left they were still sitting there.”

“Did you see what he looked like?”

“Old. Maybe forty? He looked tall, big shoulders. I never got a look at his face. I think he had gray hair.”

“Were they still talking?”

“Yeah. And he was holding her hand.” She closed her eyes and wrinkled up her face as if trying to recollect something, and said, “Oh, yeah, something weird—they had two boxes of takeout sitting on the table next to them. Not opened or anything.”

TJ thought she’d gotten everything she could from the girl, but asked, “How about other people? Anyone else out there closer to them who may have overheard what they were talkin’ about?”

“No. It was late and there wasn’t anyone out there except some little kids running around. They must have been waiting for their parents to get done eating.”

“Any idea who the parents were?”

“No, lots of people come in with kids, and I wasn’t waiting tables that night.”

TJ slid out of the booth. “Thanks for talking to me, Carly. No one’s heard from this woman since that night and we’re afraid someone may have taken her.” TJ leaned over, her mouth inches from the girl’s ear. “So if I were you, little girl, I’d keep in mind there are some scary people out there and be real careful who you walk with into a dark parking lot.”

Nodding assent, Carly gave her a sheepish little half-smile.

After a few more passes through the bar, making certain Willie hadn’t come in, TJ and Shannon went out to their cars. TJ briefed Shannon on her talk with Carly.

Shannon frowned. “It’s going to be hard for Jeff—finding out Jamie was out in a bar alone. And met a guy.”

“Yeah, but not as bad as finding her body.”

Shannon looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “What about Eric’s wife? Are you sure she didn’t hook up with someone?”

“I was. Now I’m wonderin’ again. Maybe we should give her lady friends another go-round tonight.”

“Tonight? Isn’t it a little late?”

“Nah, they’re night creatures. I know where they hang, and it’s not too far from here.”

53             

Secrets, the Brookfield nightclub frequented by Kayla’s friends, was located off the lobby of a Radisson hotel across from the Brookfield shopping center. Snobby was the word that came to mind whenever TJ entered the place. She’d only been there a few times—once on a date with a dentist from the area, a man she met at the bank. There’d been no second date.

The other times were when she’d been trying to get a bead on Kayla—find out who her friends were and what made her tick. When she and Shannon walked into the softly lit bar, a live jazz trio played a mellow version of “The Lady is a Tramp.” Appropriate. Dozens of the area’s richest and most attractive mingled at the bar and in the booths positioned against the wall. The ambiance sported lots of mirrors, plants and a soft aqua decor, blending every shade of turquoise from the palest water to the deepest teal.

TJ hated the place. It was all about who had what and who was the prettiest—women and men. She and Shannon had dressed for the place, but looking like she fit in didn’t make her want to be part of it.

Shannon took a seat at the bar next to a couple splendid in gold, diamonds, and designer clothes. As soon as TJ’s eyes became accustomed to the dim lighting, she spotted Suzette and Diana, Kayla’s running partners. The pair had been out of town the night Kayla Schindler went missing. TJ had questioned them more than once. They hadn’t been helpful but she hadn’t thought they held anything back, either. The friendship between the three had been a shallow one. TJ didn’t think they knew much about each other’s lives other than what they shared when making the rounds of their favorite clubs.

When TJ spotted them, the women appeared to be vying for the attention of a rather elderly man wearing a silver-gray custom-made suit and a matching rug. Two kinds of men frequented these places, the old and rich, and the not-so-old trying to be rich. The wannabes tended to be good-looking, the others looked like this guy.

The women gushed when they recognized her. “TJ!” She suspected their delight at seeing her hid a sense of rivalry. The guy with the rug eyed her and she shot him a look that sent him on a quest for more willing game.

“Hey, you two. Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to you again.”

Suzette, the gray-eyed redhead, pursed her glossy, carmine lips. “What more could there be? You asked us everything imaginable and we weren’t even in town that night.”

Bitch. TJ couldn’t stand these women. Not because of who they were but for what they represented—women with only superficial ideals. Money, looks, and rich men made up their entire purpose in life. Disgusting. “Some new information has come up and I’ve got some questions for you.”

Diana, her hair in a shiny black bob set off by dangling, diamond, hoop earrings, actually looked concerned and told TJ to ask them whatever she needed to ask.

“Is there somewhere other than here Kayla would have gone by herself?” The women looked at each other. Diana’s gaze settled on a woman sitting at the bar. Younger than most of the patrons, long, softly curled blonde hair trailed down her shapely back, exposed by a sleek brown dress cut nearly to her tailbone.

“See the blonde over there?” Diana nodded, her opinion of the woman obvious. “She’s always trying to push her way in.” She scoffed. “None of us like her; she was wasting her time. But if Kayla was out by herself, Amber might have glommed onto her. Maybe she knows something. But other than here, I don’t know where Kayla would have gone by herself.”

“And you’re sure you don’t remember her having a guy hanging around?”

“No. Men liked her, but she was only interested in her husband. She was confused about life, I guess. He was gone a lot. She got depressed about it—and other things.”

Well aware of what the “other things” referred to, TJ said, “Thanks, ladies.” She made her way over to Amber, wedging her way between the blonde and the trio of men surrounding her.