“So nothing about the marriage,” Naomi said, drawing her back to the matter at hand.
“I’m hardly the person to evaluate that.” Jenna tried to sound light and joking, but she could still feel a small measure of shame over the failure of her own marriage. Conversations with her mother or chats with other, happily married couples could still sting. “Mine flamed out pretty spectacularly.”
“You’re not alone in that category,” Naomi said.
“I haven’t spoken to Ian since Celia disappeared.”
“Really? Still?”
“I told you we were never that close. I was friends with Celia, not really with Ian.”
“Sometimes events bring people closer.”
Jenna thought she detected something, an ever-so-slight emphasis on the word “closer” as Naomi completed her sentence. Or was she imagining things? If the emphasis had been there and not simply in Jenna’s head, what did it mean? If the people who knew Celia and Jenna and Ian the best, the friends they’d had since high school, remembered everything accurately and told the truth about the past, then the police would know that it was Jenna whom Ian first showed interest in when they were all fifteen years old, that it was Jenna who first caught Ian’s eye when they all ended up in the same chemistry class during their sophomore year at Hawks Mill High School.
Celia knew it, although the two friends never ever talked about it. But Jenna remembered how high Celia turned up the volume on her thousand-watt smile as soon as she saw Ian’s interest in Jenna. Once Celia set her sights on Ian, Jenna knew she didn’t have a chance. Celia was prettier, more polished. Celia came from a better family, one almost equal in stature to Ian’s in Hawks Mill. Like a fighter who knew when she’d met her match, Jenna bowed out gracefully and let things progress the way they were supposed to.
Despite Celia’s easy victory, or maybe because of it, a barrier always existed between Jenna and Ian, an invisible force field that seemed to repel them away from each other in even the most mundane situations. They rarely shared a joke or made much more than small talk. As the years went by, Ian worked more, spent more and more time invested in his career. The truth was, Jenna and Celia’s friendship existed independently of Ian and almost never involved him.
“That hasn’t been the case with us,” Jenna said, hoping the line of questioning would end. She was late for work, and if Naomi expected to hear something new from her about Celia’s marriage, she would be waiting a long time. “You’ve talked to Ian more recently than I have.”
“I guess so, then.”
“How is he doing?” Jenna asked.
“He’s holding up as well as he can.”
“He was treated pretty poorly when Celia disappeared,” Jenna said. “People assumed . . .”
“We didn’t.”
“But you questioned him. For a long time. Repeatedly.”
“Wasn’t I supposed to do my job?” Naomi asked, her voice acquiring a little edge. “Wasn’t I supposed to do that for Celia?”
“Of course.” Jenna felt bad for implying that the detective had been too hard on Ian. He was the missing woman’s spouse. Everyone knew the odds. And Ian could take care of himself. “I can only tell you what I know from Celia about their marriage, and that’s that they were doing as well as they always were.”
Naomi didn’t speak, but she held her gaze on Jenna’s face for a longer period of time than seemed normal. Something flickered in the woman’s eyes, a poker player’s glint that said she might just know something Jenna didn’t. But again, just like the emphasis on the word “closer,” was it something Jenna was simply imagining in her own off-kilter state?
“Well, I’ll let you get to work,” Naomi said.
They stood and shook hands, and Naomi promised to be in touch if she needed anything else.
“Can you do me a favor, Detective?” Jenna asked.
“Sure.”
“Can you tell Holly Crenshaw’s family I’m thinking of them? I know what this is like. I hate to think of other people going through it as well.”
“I’ll pass it along.”
“And you’ll let me know—”
“If we learn anything from Ludlow, anything I can share, I’ll call.”
As Jenna walked across the lobby, heading toward the entrance to Family Medicine, the sense came over her that Naomi was watching her walk away. Jenna didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to know the truth, but couldn’t help herself. She craned her neck around and looked, but Naomi was gone.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jenna fell into the easy rhythms of the workday. She tried not to think about Ian. Or Celia. Or Benny Ludlow. She never thought she’d be thinking about Benny Ludlow again.
But how did he end up with Celia’s earring?
Were Celia and Holly Crenshaw hurt by the same person?
Was it Benny Ludlow?