Tony looked left and right. “You guys have fun.” He started walking away, stopped at Claire’s side. “Try not to hurt anyone.”
He walked away.
Sean blew out a breath. “I hate that guy.”
“Who is he?” Jax asked.
“He graduated from Auburn last year,” Elsie explained.
“You’re kidding? What was he, on his fifth senior year and someone finally gave him a free pass?” Ally spoke up.
Claire and Jax looked at each other.
“Guy’s a douche.”
“I can’t disagree, but why do you think that?” Claire asked.
Sean shrugged. “I used to score some pot from my dad’s stash. Sold him some last year, then he kept asking if I could get other stuff. Pushy. And Ally’s right, the guy doesn’t act like us. Rubs me wrong.”
Ally moved closer to Sean. “Cool how you stuck up for Claire.”
Sean put an arm over Ally’s shoulder and the other around Claire’s. “I’m the only guy here, I gotta watch out for you girls.”
Hours later, after Elsie and Ally had one too many, and Claire and Jax couldn’t find Russell or Brandon . . . or any of the players from the first party, it was time to go.
Sean had buddied up with a couple of his friends and waved them off.
Claire drove Ally home, aware that Eastman had stayed the course and was still following behind.
She dropped Ally off at the street, and waited for her to sneak back in.
Once she texted from the inside, Claire pulled away.
At the condo, Claire gave her bed to Elsie, who was half-asleep in the car. As soon as her head hit the pillow, the girl was out.
Claire went through the motions of finding a waste bin in case Elsie woke up sick. She put a bottle of water by the bedside with two painkillers next to it.
She and Jax moved into the living room, closing the door behind them.
“Okay, guys. Talk to us.”
“Eastman waited for the garage door to close and left. Appears he’s headed home,” Cooper reported.
“Any sign of the party throwers?” Jax asked.
“None.”
“That’s odd, isn’t it?”
“We have a lot of plates to run. Need to put them next to the school rosters. We have to assume most of the cars are in parent names.”
“Get some sleep,” she heard Neil tell them. “We’ll have more tomorrow.”
Claire put two thumbs up in the air and stared at the camera hidden on a shelf.
She and Jax both pulled their earpieces out.
“This party felt completely different from the other one,” Jax said.
Claire looked down the hall. “A lot of drunk girls.”
“And only a few drunk guys.”
“Lots of grinding on the dance floor, sex in the dark corners. Unsupervised high school party?” Claire asked in a whisper.
“Half high school, half twentysomethings.”
Claire agreed with a yawn. “Take Sasha’s bed. I’ll take the couch.”
“It’s a big bed, I won’t cuddle,” Jax teased.
“One of us should be out here in case Elsie thinks she should sneak out.”
Jax nodded and unfolded from the sofa. “’Night, Loki.”
After taking turns in the bathroom, Claire curled up with a pillow and a blanket.
Cooper had sent a text.
Sean has a crush on you.
She laid her head down. I like older men, she texted back.
Get some sleep. You look exhausted.
She stared at the camera. Are you still watching me?
Does that make me a voyeur?
Only if I were naked.
The three dots scowled on the screen for several seconds.
If I ever have the pleasure of seeing you naked, I want to be at your side, not miles away.
Claire felt heat in her cheeks and a smile on her lips. She started to type when he sent another quick text.
I love that smile.
She waved a finger at the camera.
Night relief walked in. I’m headed home so don’t make kissy lips at the camera.
Claire giggled quietly. Good night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Monday rolled around, and both Jax and Claire skipped school and spent the time at headquarters combing through pictures and names. The party had bumped up Tony’s name on their board and dragged Sean’s closer to the bottom.
The location of the weekend blowout was owned by an out-of-state corporation, who, when called, stated they had no idea that their empty building had been used for a party.
The DJ owned the utility van that had been parked behind the building, and from what the team had surmised, his presence at the party was nothing more than paid entertainment. And since they didn’t find any recent checks added to the DJ’s bank account, they assumed he’d been paid in cash.
Claire found herself staring at Marie’s mug shot and her class schedule before she disappeared. The investigation of her family indicated they’d moved from the apartment shortly after the girl went missing.
“There’s always a possibility that the party was exactly what it looked like. A rave set up by rich kids to celebrate life,” Jax pointed out when they’d come to a lot of dead ends.
“Yet the rich kids didn’t show up. Or if they were there, they were hidden in the shadows. That doesn’t ring true,” Claire said.
“I’m going to meet this Jim Cromer tomorrow. Hang out in the stands during track practice.”
“He’s the only lead we really got.”
“Better than nothing,” Jax said.
They were the only two in the situation room at headquarters. They left notes for the rest of the team and on the direction they were going as they rolled into the next week.
The next time the entire team would be rallied was Saturday. If Jax was needed off campus, she could bail. Claire, on the other hand, wouldn’t be able to run at the invitational if she missed any more school.
On Tuesday, Claire walked into her “lunch date” with Bennett. The same one she’d had every school day since he moved her into his class. He would sit at his desk, eating. She sat at hers doing the homework she didn’t bother with the night before.
She pulled a book from the shelf, plopped it on her desk, and wandered over to the pictures of previous track and cross-country teams that were tacked on the walls.
“How did you feel after your workout with the distance team?” was how Coach Bennett greeted her.
“Not bad, actually. You should try it sometime.” She found the picture that had Marie Nickerson in it.
“Are you always a smart-ass?”
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I save it for you and Mr. Eastman.”
He full-on laughed. “So you’re giving Mrs. Wallace a breather.”
She groaned. “That woman should move to Stratford-upon-Avon and call it done.” She searched out Brianna and then looked for the previous year to see if she recognized her. The image of what Marie looked like in her mug shot kept flashing in her mind. The woman looked thirty now and not nineteen.
“Are you going to open that book?”
“Hmm, yeah, sure,” she said, distracted. “Hey, Coach. Do you remember all of the kids in these pictures?”
“Most,” he said.