“No,” she said truthfully. She didn’t know for sure and she saw no reason to volunteer more information. She could feel the weight of Trevor’s stare. “Are they going to be OK? How badly are they hurt?”
“I don’t have that information. Do you know if Ms. Bowman was involved in any suspicious activities? I have to ask. This was a coordinated attack. Someone knocked out the lights by her apartment, either before or after they were assaulted.”
“She’s an honors student and a track star,” Trevor said. “She’s a total girl scout.”
“Can you give me the names of whoever else was at this party?”
Kamala, Jane thought. As soon as she hears, she’ll tell all. Her or Vasquez being able to talk is a ticking time bomb for me. Liv Danger strikes again. Where was Perri when this happened? Or my mom? Or Cal? Or Adam?
“Would it be better if I write them down or text them to you?” Trevor said.
“Paper. Sure.”
Trevor began to jot down names.
“Sir?” Jane asked. “Can you tell us when this happened?”
“Around ten thirty. Her mother, whom she had called to meet her, found them at ten forty.”
Maybe Amari had said to her mother, This is all about Jane Norton. But Foles didn’t seem to react to her name.
“Were they robbed?” Trevor asked.
“I can’t say,” Foles answered. “You can’t think of anyone having a motive to attack her?”
“Maybe this was random,” said Trevor.
The detective took the list from Trevor.
“Which hospital is she at? Do you know?” Trevor asked.
“Breckinridge.” It was the downtown county hospital.
“But they’re not dead, right?” Jane asked. She couldn’t help herself.
“They’re not dead, last I heard,” Foles said.
“You should call her mom, Trevor,” Jane said. A wave of nausea passed through her.
Trevor gave her a hard look. “I think that’s everyone,” he said.
“Thank you for the information. Can I reach you here at the house again?”
“Sure. Jane is staying here temporarily,” he said. Jane said nothing.
Foles left. Jane folded herself on the couch.
“Jane…”
“I didn’t do this. You looked at me like you thought—”
“I know you wouldn’t. You couldn’t.”
“But they’ll think maybe it’s me. A crowbar, Trevor. And soon.” She stood. “You should call Mrs. Bowman and go to the hospital.”
“Come with me. Show everyone.”
“I can’t. I have to find this hacker drive that Adam gave my dad before he died. And I need to find out where the Halls were tonight. I can’t just accuse them. It would point everything back at me.” My mom. Where was my mom?
“Where will you go?” he asked.
“Home, first.”
“Here. Take my truck.”
“I’ll drop you off at the hospital.”
“I left Kamala off the list to buy you some time,” Trevor said. “I’ll say I forgot she was here, since I was in shock and it was so late at night.”
“Thank you.”
“Who is doing this? Who?” he asked.
“I don’t know for sure. I thought it was Perri Hall. But I’m not sure I can see her taking a crowbar to people.”
“She attacked you.”
“Still.”
“What about Mr. Hall?”
“No. I don’t see him either…but…Perri wouldn’t want Matteo writing about this if it made her look bad. She would care more.”
“Could she get someone to do this for her?”
It was a smart thought; Perri Hall was the type to keep her hands clean. She thought of Shiloh Rooke, just because he seemed the type to swing a crowbar, but he had no motive; he too had been attacked. “I need to see if I can get Perri Hall to talk.”
“Why would she talk to you?”
“I’ll give her a reason.”
47
JANE TIPTOED PAST her sleeping mother, put the unloaded gun back in the safe, and shut it softly. Then she went and sat on the side of the bed.
“Mom, wake up.”
“Um. Yes.” Laurel awoke with a start. She blinked at Jane. “How was your party, sweetheart?”
It was great. I found out I was once pregnant and you never told me. She wanted to scream that into her mother’s face, hit her with the pillow, demand an explanation. Instead she took a deep breath—forming the words was so hard—and she said, “Where were you tonight?”
“Tonight? Oh. I went to a movie at the art house up at the Arboretum. Then I drove around, listening to Beethoven.”
“You drove around, listening to Beethoven,” Jane repeated in disbelief.
“It clears my head. I have to get out of this house sometimes. Why?”
It occurred to her how lonely her mother might be. She thought of the too-many wine bottles in the refrigerator she’d found when she first came home. “So no one saw you.”
“No one I knew. Why are you asking?”
“I just don’t know where you spend your time. Where did Dad’s computer stuff go after he died?”
“Two questions, goodness. What do you mean?”
“His computer gear. His laptop, his flash drives. That kind of stuff.”
“That’s what you woke me up for?”
“No, I woke you for something else, too, but I want you to tell me where Dad’s computer stuff is.”
“I…I don’t remember at the moment. Um, his laptop. I wiped it and donated it to Goodwill, I think. I gave his spare gear—backup drives, flash drives, all that to David. You know how Perri complained he was always losing his backup flash drives at school.”
“I don’t, but OK,” Jane said. David. If David had come into possession of the hacker-kit drive, what did he do with it?
“Why would that matter in the middle of the night?”
“It doesn’t. I just wanted to know.” She took a deep breath. “Amari Bowman and Matteo Vasquez were attacked tonight. They’re in the hospital.”
There was a long pause. Laurel blinked and seemed to process the news. “Goodness. I’m sorry to hear that.” But the unchanged smirk said, Karma, such a bitch.
“Where were you tonight, Mom? I want to see the movie ticket.”
“I threw it away when I left. I don’t care for your tone, Jane.”
“They were attacked with a crowbar. How long do you think it will be until the police find out Matteo’s writing about me, and these other people who have been harmed, and that a crowbar features in both stories? With this video of Perri attacking me going viral, this is just fuel on the fire. Some reporter will tie it all together.”
“Go back to bed, darling. I think your imagination is out of hand.”
“Mom. Five people now. Five people hurt by someone who is mad about the car crash.”
Laurel stared at her. “Are you accusing me? I’m your mother. I run a charity. I am a good person.”
“I know you are. But you just seem to be taking real pleasure in Perri’s misfortune.”
“She attacked you and now she’s getting what she deserves. She showed us who she is on that video. The police should question her.”
“You think Perri Hall took a crowbar to two people.”
“You don’t remember what she could be like. I think that Matteo maybe was going to write about her now. Her, not us. I heard from Gloria…”—Gloria was an across-the-circle neighbor—“that reporter was talking to Perri and some young guy out on the porch last night. She texted me while I was at the movie. She recognized the reporter from the times he came around here when you were so sick.”
Sick. Like the amnesia was a past malady she had recuperated from.