Free The Forgotten Girl by David Bell Page B

understand. But don’t let every little thing spook you.”
    “You jumped when I came out,” she said. “You were spooked.”
    Jason pulled the girl a little closer, then let her go. “I have to go get a bag or something and go next door.”
    *   *   *
    After making his unpleasant delivery to the neighbors’ house, Jason returned home. He started to read, trying to distract himself from the image of Pogo’s dead body and the look on poor Mr. Nelson’s face when he saw what was in the grocery bag, and then his phone chimed. He assumed the text was from Nora, but when he looked, he saw it was Colton, asking to come by thehouse briefly. Jason couldn’t imagine what business Colton would want to discuss in person at seven thirty, but he welcomed the distraction. He told Colton to come by. When the car pulled up, Jason stepped out onto the porch. The light was draining from the day, the air cooling. Jason took a deep breath and saw a few stars appearing in the rising purple darkness at the horizon. A few doors down, some kids threw a football, their high-pitched shouts the only noise. Colton drove a Cadillac, and he emerged from the driver’s side wearing a polo shirt, white shorts, and some kind of woven leather sandals. His feet looked tiny, and he waved as he approached the porch.
    “I’m sorry to barge in on you like this. But I was nearby and wanted to see if you were home.”
    “It’s no problem. Do you want to come in? I have beer or coffee.”
    Colton used his thumb to point in the direction of the car, which Jason noticed was still idling, the headlights glowing. “I can’t stay. My girls are in the back.”
    Colton had two daughters, Jason knew. Grade-schoolers. On more than one occasion, Jason had been forced to look at pictures of the girls. Awkward school portraits. Dance recitals. Soccer games. Jason always smiled at the photos and complimented Colton on how fine the kids looked despite his lack of interest.
    Jason turned his head a little, back toward the house, where the guest room window was cracked open and a light glowed from behind its curtains.
    “What’s on your mind, then?” Jason asked. “Do you have more questions about Logan?”
    “Logan?” Colton almost said the name as though he’d never heard it before. “No, not that. Did you think of something?”
    “No,” Jason said. “Nothing.”
    Colton laughed, but it was a low, unnatural sound. He stuffedhis hands into the pockets of his shorts and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I guess it seems a little strange, me coming over like this. I feel like a gossipy old lady.”
    “What is it, Colton?” Jason asked. “Is something wrong?”
    “Jason,” he said, “is your sister living here in town again?”
    Jason felt his head move ever so slightly to the left, as though the invisible hand of the universe had given him a slight tap on the cheek. “Did you see her?” he asked, trying to sound calm.
    “I did,” Colton said. “And here’s why I wanted to tell you in person and not over the phone. You see, I took the kids down to Center Park tonight. There was a little children’s concert down there, and to be honest, Gloria just wanted us out of the house for a little while. But when we were down there, getting ready to leave, I saw a car a few spaces down from ours. Kind of a junker, you know? But the passenger window was open, and I saw a familiar face in there. It was Hayden. I thought to myself,
Goddamn, I didn’t know she was still around.
Confidentially, I used to have a huge crush on her when we were all in school.”
    Colton’s cheeks flushed red. Jason looked back at the upstairs window again and said, “Can we move closer to the street to talk about this?”
    They did, Colton’s sandals making little slapping noises against the sidewalk. They stopped near the front of Colton’s car, the low hum of the engine covering the other sounds of the night. Jason looked into the backseat and saw the