Free Never Smile at Strangers by Jennifer Minar-Jaynes

you don’t know the gentleman’s name that she might have been seeing?”
    “No sir, I don’t.”
    “No clue who it could be?”
    “No.”
    “You and Tiffany. Were you getting along okay that night?”
    Haley’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah? Why?”
    “No disagreements? Arguments of any kind?”
    “No, none. But why do you ask?”
    He looked into his notebook, tapping his pen against his top lip. “Part of my job.” His eyes met hers again. “So the last time you saw Tiffany, she was leaving through the back door of Provost’s around 9:30. . . 9:45 PM. And you haven’t heard from either her or Charles since. Is that correct?”
    “Yes.”
    “Clarify this for me, if you could. Was she alone?”
    Haley was confused. “What?”
    “When she left through the back door. Was she alone?”
    “No, she was with Charles.”
    “And again, that was the last you saw or heard from her?”
    “Yes.”
    “Okay, good. I think I have enough for now. Unless, of course, there’s anything else you can tell me that would help us find your friend?”
    She grabbed her purse and stood. “I’ve told you everything,” she said, wearily. But as the words left her mouth, she flashed back to something Tiffany had told her that night. Something that hadn’t bothered her when it was said, but disturbed her now. “This probably doesn’t mean anything but. . . one of the last things Tiffany told me on Saturday was that Charles had been acting. . . obsessed. It was the first time she ever told me anything like that about him.”

Chapter 17
    AFTER LEAVING DETECTIVE Guitreaux, Haley fumbled in the parking lot outside the diner for her car keys. Though there were only five keys on the ring, she was having a difficult time finding the right one. Her hands shook and her lungs revolted against the hot, humid air. She coughed and an excruciating pain shot through her head.
    Recounting that night over and over again had drained her, stripping her of the little energy she had left. Although she didn’t think Charles had it in him to do something horrible to Tiffany, why else would he avoid her?
    She heard someone call her name. Squinting in the harsh sunlight, she saw Austin jog toward her. “You’re in no shape to drive. C’mon, let me take you home.”
    “No, I’m okay,” she insisted, dropping the keys, then bending to pick them up again. She grabbed at them, also picking up several pieces of gravel. She straightened and wiped the gravel off her hands. “I am. Really, I’m fine.”
    But when she tried to look up at him, to show him she was okay, the tears surged forward.
    “It’s going to be okay,” he assured her. “Let’s get you home. Chris said he can get your car to you sometime this evening.”
    She trembled as they drove down Main Street. Too many horrible things were happening and she wasn’t sure how much more stress she could take. Before going in to speak with the detective, Chris suggested she take a few more days off. It was a relief because focusing on something as small as placing an order was becoming difficult. Her head was too muddled.
    She spent the previous day holed up in her room, downing double shots of Nyquil and trying to sleep. But sleep didn’t come until late in the night, after she spent hours staring at a crack on her bedroom ceiling. And when it did come, it was in the form of a vivid nightmare: Her riding her bicycle to the grocery store, only to realize that she didn’t know the way back home. As she rode, nothing had looked familiar. It was as if she was in another town. She drove around and around, terrified.
    “Is the AC too cold?” Austin asked, pressing his palm against one of the vents.
    “No, I’m fine,” she sniffed. “You’ll want to turn left at the church.” She glanced at Austin, the boy she’d had a crush on for months. She had made small talk with him on several occasions since she worked at Luke’s, but not as much as she’d like to have since he and Chris spent most of