“Sheriff Skylar didn’t mention that he served with your husband,” Maggie said, noticing a second photo of the same three men, only in this one they wore hunting gear, including camouflage clothing. They stood next to a deer that had been strung up from a tree. Skylar and the other man held rifles. Mike Griffin stood in the middle again, holding one of the biggest hunting knives Maggie had ever seen.
“Oh yes.” Mrs. Griffin came up beside Maggie and her index finger brushed the frame of the first photo. Her finger traveled down the length of the third man, a stranger Maggie didn’t recognize. The gesture of affection seemed odd, but Maggie saw true emotion for the first time in Cynthia Griffin’s face.
She glanced up at Maggie but didn’t appear embarrassed or apologetic.
“Mike, Frank, and my first husband, Evan, served in Desert Storm,” she explained. “This was taken right before they came back. Unfortunately Evan didn’t come home with them.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Evan and Griff were engineers. The National Guard was supposed to be just for playing weekend soldier. That’s what Evan told me when he joined.”
“Mom?”
Cynthia Griffin jumped and that was the last uncontrolled emotion Maggie would witness for the day.
“Oh, Mandy. Agent O’Dell wants to talk with you again.”
“If this is about Courtney and Nikki, I don’t know anything.”
“No, I’m not here to ask you about them.”
The girl couldn’t disguise her relief though she tried to, pushing at her hair that, although washed and combed today, still fell conveniently into her eyes. Her skin looked healthier and her eyes weren’t bloodshot, pupils not dilated.
Maggie waited for Mrs. Griffin to instruct her daughter where to sit and reminded her about the coffee being her favorite as she placed a cup on the matching saucer in front of Amanda.
“You haven’t eaten anything all day.” Mrs. Griffin fussed as she slid one of the beautiful pastries closer to her daughter.
“I don’t want to talk about Johnny, either,” Amanda said, but this time to her mother.
“Tell you what,” Maggie said, coming around the glass coffee table to sit across from Amanda, “I promise none of my questions will be about Johnny or Courtney or Nikki. I won’t even ask about Thursday night.”
Amanda peered out from under the strand of hair and this time she tucked it behind her ear.
“Okay,” she agreed. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about Taylor Cole,” Maggie said and watched Amanda’s mouth drop open. “She was a friend of yours, right?”
Maggie didn’t take her eyes off Amanda but she could see Mrs. Griffin half sit, half lean on the arm of a Queen Anne chair behind her.
“Yeah, I guess so.” The girl pretended to shake off her surprise.
“You were with her when she jumped off the bridge?”
“I wasn’t the only one.”
“She didn’t jump,” Mrs. Griffin was quick to add. “It was an accident.”
“I know about the salvia,” Maggie said, letting that sink in along with Mrs. Griffin who now sank into a chair.
“I bet Dawson squealed, right?” Amanda said with a disgusted smirk.
“Taylor was your best friend until she graduated last spring.” Maggie was careful not to say what she really believed, that Amanda felt like Taylor was leaving her behind, just like Johnny would do next year when he left to play football for a college possibly as far off as Florida or California.
Amanda shoved her plate away and Maggie knew her window of opportunity had just closed.
“Taylor didn’t slip and fall off the bridge, did she? You were all flying high on salvia and someone dared her to jump.”
“This is quite enough,” Mrs. Griffin said, standing again though a bit wobbly. She scrambled in front of her daughter as if somehow protecting her. “Amanda, you do not have to talk about this. Agent O’Dell, you must leave.”
Maggie didn’t argue. But as she got up she noticed Amanda’s forearm. The red marks had started to fade into a bluish-purple bruise.
“I’m not sure if your daughter knows who attacked them the other night,” Maggie told Mrs. Griffin while she kept her eyes on Amanda. “I do know she’s not telling you everything she does know. After I leave, you might want to ask her why she bit herself and pretended it was someone else.”
Amanda’s startled look confirmed Maggie’s guess.