Free Trail of Echoes by Rachel Howzell Hall Page A

I kept begging her to wait, to just hold off. She told me that she and Ontrel wasn’t interested in having sex.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on now. What grown man you know ain’t interested in sex?”
    I cocked an eyebrow. “Ain’t no grown man I know.”
    â€œIf she got pregnant,” Regina said, “I was goin’ straight to the police.” She took a shaky deep breath and pushed it out. “One time, I found condoms in her backpack. If she wasn’t havin’ sex, why she got condoms then? Ontrel better hope y’all don’t find none of his DNA on her.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t hope that, either,” Colin said. Flushed, a vein pulsed in his neck.
    â€œ Excuse me?” Regina tilted her head.
    I tossed my partner a glare, then said, “Let’s—”
    â€œYou don’t know a damned thing about me,” Regina spat at Colin.
    I held up a hand. “Let’s get back to what’s real, right now,” I said, shooting one last glare at Colin. “Back to identifying anyone who could hurt Chanita.”
    Colin gave a “whatever” shrug, then turned away to look at pictures on Chanita’s desk.
    â€œOther than Ontrel,” Regina said with a new edge in her voice, “people think Eighteenth Street had something to do with it. And then there’s the Mexican dude down in apartment one. The cops asked him some questions when Nita first disappeared. His name’s Raul Moriaga.”
    Ontrel Shaw had also mentioned Moriaga.
    â€œYou know if he’s been in trouble before?” I asked, writing in my binder.
    â€œHe been to jail for molesting kids,” Alberta said. “I’d catch him staring at Nita.”
    Colin and I exchanged looks.
    â€œWhat about any men in Chanita’s life that were around?” I asked.
    Regina crossed her arms. “Like what kind of men?”
    â€œLike boyfriends of yours?”
    â€œWhat about them?” Regina spat.
    â€œWere they around a lot, and were they around Chanita at all?”
    She crossed her legs. “I don’t know what you asking. They came over sometimes. They knew who she is.”
    â€œ They? ” Colin asked, pen paused on the pad. “How many—?”
    â€œYour last relationship was when?” I interrupted.
    Regina squinted at me. “I just broke up with somebody, and he moved out a month ago.”
    â€œHe lived here ?” Colin asked. “With your daughter ?”
    Regina scowled. “Why you got a problem with me? Why you talkin’ to me like I’m the one who killed her?”
    I touched Regina’s clenched fist. “I’m gonna need the names of your last ex as well as any other ex-boyfriends who knew Chanita. We want to talk to everyone, because right now we don’t know who could’ve done this.”
    She pulled her glare from Colin to gape at me. “I didn’t…” Her eyes misted with tears as she tugged at the kimono’s belt. “Didn’t have to worry about Nita. Other than hanging around Ontrel, she stayed out of trouble. She was nerdy. That’s why them girls that hang out around here kept jumpin’ her. For being a nerd the first time, and then they jumped her again cuz ShaQuan—the one who lives in this complex—she wants to be with Ontrel. They broke her arm, and some other bones I ain’t never heard of, over a thug.”
    â€œIs Nita’s dad around?” Colin asked.
    â€œHe’s away,” Alberta said.
    â€œAway where ?” I asked.
    Regina shrugged, then looked toward the window.
    â€œYou know how that can be,” Alberta said to me. “They here. They not here. Ain’t nobody’s fault. It just … is.”
    Colin sighed. “Any male relatives—?”
    â€œWhy y’all keep blamin’ the victim?” Alberta shouted.
    â€œWe need to know everything, ” I said. “Feelings be