“Could I come in, Mr. Bennett?” she asks.
I stifle a yawn. Yesterday, I asked her to call me Nate, but I don’t have the energy to correct her a second time. “Yes, please do.”
I step back to allow her to enter the living room. I wonder if I should suggest sitting on the couch, but I don’t want her to become too comfortable here.
“Any word on Eve?” I ask.
Sprague shakes her head slowly. “I’m afraid not. But I did speak with Debra Higgins this morning.”
Good. I’m sure that conversation has solidified Addie as one of her key suspects. “Oh?”
The detective cocks her head to the side, an unreadable expression on her face. “How come you never told me Adeline Severson was in your English class?”
My fingers freeze in the middle of scratching at the stubble on my jaw. “Excuse me?”
“You said Adeline was one of Eve’s students,” she reminds me. “But you never mentioned that she was one of your students as well.”
“Does it matter? Eve is the one she had a grudge against.”
“Yes, but you acted like you hardly knew her. Not only was she in your class, but she also wrote for the poetry magazine that you’re the staff supervisor for.”
I don’t like the edge of suspicion that has crept into her voice. I have to nip this in the bud quickly. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. I do know Addie. She’s always done adequately in my class.”
“Just adequate?”
I lift a shoulder. “She was fine. I had no issues with her.”
Detective Sprague is studying my face so intently that it takes all my self-restraint not to squirm. “Mr. Bennett,” she says, “have you or your wife ever had an extramarital affair?”
“No,” I say—too quickly. “Absolutely not. I mean, I certainly haven’t.”
“But you’re not sure about her?”
“I…uh…” I tug at the collar of my robe. “I don’t think so, but you never know.”
Was Eve having an affair? Did she tell him about my own infidelity, and now he is seeking retribution on her behalf?
“So it’s possible,” she presses me.
“I… I don’t know.” I rub my eyes with the balls of my hands. “I’m sorry, Detective. I didn’t sleep well last night, worrying about Eve. It’s hard to think straight at the moment.”
She gives me a sympathetic nod. “All right then. I can give you some space.”
I want to fall down on my knees and thank God that this woman is leaving. My temples are starting to throb, and I need a long, hot shower.
“I’ll come back later,” Sprague adds.
“Oh,” I say weakly. “Yes. Okay.”
“Or would it be better for you to come down to the station instead?”
The idea of walking into the police station makes me physically ill. “I’ll be home all day. You can come by.”
Detective Sprague gives me one last look, and I know that look. She is onto me. Her gut is telling her there is more to this situation than I have let on, but unfortunately, she has no proof. And without that, there is absolutely nothing she can do to me.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Seventy-One
ADDIE
I HATE the way my mother keeps looking at me.
She’s been looking at me that way ever since I got picked up outside Mr. Tuttle’s house. Actually, to be fair, she’s been looking at me like that ever since my father was found in a crumpled pile at the bottom of our stairs. She didn’t understand why I wasn’t more sad that he was dead. And then a few days after the funeral, she said to me, I thought you were planning to study at home that night. Isn’t that what you told me?
It’s like she knew. She knew I was the one who pushed him.
And now she knows I have something to do with Eve Bennett’s disappearance.
Avoiding her eyes, I grab my coat and head outside. It’s supposed to rain tonight, and now it’s just a bit of drizzle. I put up my hood to keep the moisture out of my hair, but the tiny freezing raindrops still smack me in the face. It’s uncomfortable, but it also feels good, if that makes any sense.
There are a couple of online news stories about Mrs. Bennett’s disappearance, although I’ve only taken a few peeks. It’s hard to read what happened. I got a few text messages from some kids who never had any interest in being my friends before, trying to pump me for information. And one more text message from Hudson:
Are you okay?
I don’t respond to any of them.
I wonder if Hudson talked to the police about what he knows. He promised he wouldn’t say a word to anyone, but that was before he knew he could be an accomplice to a serious crime. I wouldn’t blame him, honestly.
As I’m walking a couple of blocks from my house, I notice a black car slowing down beside me. I walk a little faster, ducking down my head, and the car matches my pace. Oh God, what now?
The car pulls up along the sidewalk just ahead of me. The engine cuts out, and for a moment, I wonder if I should make a run for it. And then Detective Sprague climbs out of the car. I’m still thinking maybe I should make a run for it.
“Addie!” she calls out.
I stop, because I think you have to when a police officer tells you to do that. I stand there in the drizzling rain, my hands shoved into my pockets, but I don’t say anything.
Sprague darts around the side of her car so that she’s standing face-to-face with me. I’m not exactly tall, but she has to tilt her head to look up at me. “Addie,” she says. “I’d like to talk to you.”
“My mom says I’m not supposed to talk to you if she’s not there.”
“Right.” The detective nods. “That’s good advice. But I just want to talk to you off the record. This is important, because I’m trying to find Eve Bennett. I’m worried something bad has happened to her.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I keep my mouth shut.
Detective Sprague doesn’t have a hood, so the drizzle is getting in her black hair. She doesn’t seem to notice or care. Her dark brown eyes are laser focused on my face. “I found out that Nathaniel Bennett was your English teacher.”
That seems like a harmless question, so I nod.
“And you were in the poetry magazine he runs too, right?”
Again, I nod.
“So this is off the record, Addie, like I said.” She blinks up at me, her eyelashes heavy with water droplets. “Was anything going on between you and Nathaniel Bennett?”
Deny everything. Even if Nathaniel has betrayed me, which I still don’t believe he would do, I recognize this information is better kept secret for both our sakes. “No.”
“I’m sure if there was,” she continues as if I hadn’t spoken, “he told you to keep it a secret at all costs. I understand why he would tell you that, but you have to understand that it’s not in your best interest. It’s in your best interest to be honest with me, and I know it might be uncomfortable to tell me something like that in front of your mother, which is why I wanted to talk to you alone.”
“Nothing is going on between me and Mr. Bennett,” I say quietly.
“But if it were,” she says, “you need to realize that it wouldn’t be your fault. He is the adult—your teacher—and starting up any kind of sexual relationship would be extremely unprofessional on his part. You would not be at fault, I promise.”
She doesn’t understand. She could never comprehend the connection Nathaniel and I have. We are soulmates. He wasn’t taking advantage of me—I wanted it as bad as he did or maybe even more. He told me no other adult would get it, and he was right.
“Nothing is going on between me and Mr. Bennett,” I say through my teeth. “And like I said, you’re not supposed to be talking to me without my mother around.”