Sour Grapes

twitched.
    Savannah looked from one to the other. “Well? Was she, or not?”
    Mrs. Matthews shot her husband a “shut up!” look, and he did so, staring down at his hands that were clenched together on the tabletop.
    “Barbie had been seeing this punk kid from the east end,” she admitted. “You know... the east end...?” Savannah nodded. Yes, she caught the woman’s drift. The east end was the poorer part of town, the “other side of the tracks.”
    “But I told her in no uncertain terms to break it off with him. And I have no doubt that she did exactly as I told her.”
    From the corner of her eye Savannah saw the sister, who she had been told was named Louise, turn her head away from her mother and suppress a little grin. “Is that true, Louise? Did your sister stop seeing the boy, like your mother told her to do?”
    The moment she asked the question, Savannah realized she had gotten the teenager in trouble. Mom poked her in the ribs with her elbow. “She did, didn’t she?” Mrs. Matthews asked. But it was more of a statement than an inquiry. Obviously, it was beyond the woman’s mental grasp—the concept that she had been disobeyed.
    The girl shrugged, and mumbled, “Yeah, sure.”
    “And what’s the name of this boy...,” Savannah asked, “the one she had stopped seeing on your orders.”
    “His name is Trent Gorton,” the father supplied. “He’s not really a bad kid, he just—”
    “He wasn’t right for Barbie,” Mom snapped. “That’s all that needs to be said. They just weren’t right for each other, and I made that clear to my daughter.” Savannah scribbled for moment and thought. “Do you know how he took it... when she told him it was off?”
    “No, I don’t. We didn’t discuss it.” Mrs. Matthews glanced down at her wedding ring and noticed a fingerprint smudge on the surface of the impressive diamond. With the lace end of her sleeve she wiped it away. “Is that all?” she asked. “If it is, I want to start looking around for my daughter.” “ Just two more questions.” Savannah glanced down in her notepad. “When was the last time you had any sort of contract with your daughter?”
    “It was during dinner last night,” Mr. Matthews said. “We were here at the welcoming ceremony, but Barbie didn’t come down for dinner. Mother called her on her cell phone, but she said she wasn’t feeling good, that she was going to stay in her room for the rest of evening.” That was about what time?”
    “Between seven and seven-thirty.”
    “Okay, there’s one more question I have to ask you,” Savannah said. “Has Barbie ever run away before?”
    “Absolutely not!” Mrs. Matthews’s jaw was starting to lock again. “My girls are better trained than that. They know very well that if they did something stupid like that, they’d come running home a lot faster than they left, with me right behind them.”
    Again, Savannah saw the younger sister glance away, a smirk on her face and an unpleasant glimmer in her eye.
    “Okay... thank you very much.” Savannah rose from the table, signifying the end of the interview. “I can understand your desire to help in the search,” she said. “But you might consider returning home...just in case Barbie should try to contact you there.”
    “No! We’re staying right here until our daughter has been found.” Mrs. Matthews replied, jumping up from the bench.
    But her husband rose and again placed his large, rough hand on her shoulder. “I think Ms. Reid is right,
    Mother. Barb might even be home when we get there. You never know what she’s going to do.”
    To Savannah’s surprise Mrs. Matthews nodded and took her husband’s arm. “All right. We’ll go on home, but you’ll call us the moment you hear anything,” she said.
    It was a command not a question, but Savannah decided to furnish a gracious answer anyway. “Of course we will. And try not to worry.”
    The parents walked away, Mrs. Matthews still clinging to her husband’s arm. But the younger sister lagged behind several yards.
    Taking her cue, Savannah stepped up to her. “Yes?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
    “My sister’s a brat,” Louise whispered. “A stupid, spoiled brat. She sleeps with everybody and runs away all the time. I think something bad’s happened to her. And she probably deserved it.”
    Mrs. Matthews glanced over her shoulder and gave her younger daughter a warning look. Savannah dropped back and allowed the teenager to