Q Is for Quarry

at me sharply and then she looked away. She was quiet for a long time, but I decided to wait her out. Finally, she said, "Not at first."
    "And then what?"
    "Do we really have to talk about this? That was eighteen years ago."
    "I hear you were at the Tuley-Belle and walked in on them."
    "Thank you, George Baum. If you knew the answer, why'd you ask?"
    "Because I wanted to hear it from you. Come on. Just tell me what happened. Like you said, it was years ago so what difference does it make?"
    "Oh, for heaven's sake," she said, with disgust. "A bunch of us had gone out there. We used to do these big scavenger hunts and play stupid games. That Friday night, it was Hide-and-Seek. Cornell and Charisse were in a room on the second floor. I stumbled in, looking for a place to hide, and there they were. I was horrified and so was he."
    She stopped. I thought that was the end of it, but she picked up again. "I guess I was naive, but I genuinely liked Charisse. I didn't know she was using me to get to him."
    "What'd she say to you?"
    "What could she say? I'd caught them in the act. Not that she was ever one to apologize for what she did. I told her she was a shit, but she shrugged it off. She didn't care for my opinion or anyone else's. Afterward, I begged her to stay away from him, but she was obsessed. I hated her for that. She nearly ruined his life."
    "How?"
    Silence again. "Ask him. It's really his business, not mine."
    "Let me guess," I said. "She told him she was pregnant."
    Again, she was quiet.
    "Am I right?"
    "Yes. She was determined to marry him. She told me about it before she told him."
    "Why?"
    "Because she thought I'd help. I told her to blow it out her butt, but she threatened to tell Mom and Dad unless I talked him into it."
    "Did anyone else know?"
    "No. She was sure he'd marry her to avoid the embarrassment. Once he did that, it'd be too late for anyone else to interfere – meaning Justine, of course."
    "And he was willing to go along with this?"
    "He didn't have any choice. You know how straightlaced my parents are, especially Mom. If they found out, they'd have forced him to marry her anyway."
    "So what was the plan?"
    "There wasn't a plan. She had it all figured out. They were going to run off together. She knew a place where they could get a marriage license even if they were underage."
    "He must have been in a sweat."
    "He was really scared. I told him he was being dumb. How could he even be sure the kid was his? All he had to do was get five or six of his buddies to swear they'd screwed her too and he'd be off the hook."
    "Nice move, Adrianne. Did you come up with that yourself?"
    "Well, what was I supposed to do? I couldn't let her wreck my brother's life! Besides, it was true. Why should he pay? He only did what every other guy was doing. Why's that so wrong?"
    "Oh sure. I can see your point. There's only one tiny problem."
    "What."
    "She wasn't pregnant."
    "Yes, she was."
    I shook my head. "I read the autopsy report."
    She stared at me, a hand lifting to her mouth as though pulled by strings. "Oh, shit. She made it up?"
    "Apparently. So when she disappeared, what'd you think? That she'd gone off on her own to spare him the disgrace?"
    "I didn't know she was lying. I thought she might have decided to I have an abortion."
    "If she'd been pregnant in the first place."
    There was another long silence and I stepped in again. "When you heard Medora'd filed a missing-persons report, weren't you worried they'd find her?"
    "I hoped they wouldn't, but it did worry me."
    "But there might have been a way to head them off."
    "Head who off?"
    "The cops who were looking for her."
    "I don't know what you're getting at."
    "The phone call."
    She looked at me blankly, but I didn't know her well enough to know if she was faking.
    I said, "Someone called the Sheriffs Department, claiming to be Charisse's mother, saying she was home again, alive and well. The Lompoc Sheriffs Department and the one down here were on the verge of linking the two-the missing girl and Jane Doe. Then the call came in and that was the end of that."
    "Well, it wasn't me. I swear. I didn't call anyone."
    "I'm not the one you have to persuade." I got up and brushed off the back of my pants. "I'll talk to you later."
    "I sincerely hope not."
    I went into the kitchen, feeling hyped up and tense. I was treading dangerous ground, but I couldn't help myself. These people had been sitting on their secrets far too long. It was time to kick in a few