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She sat on the worn sofa she’d sat on a thousand times with Cam, but now the seat felt a little warmer than it ever had before.
‘Yeah, your mum didn’t sound too thrilled for me to speak to you when I called yesterday.’ Lily hadn’t even mentioned it to Sky, which confirmed her parents had been in avoidance-mode. ‘Can I get you a cup of tea?’
Sky cleared her throat. ‘Uh, no thanks.’
Officer Vega sat in the armchair facing her, elbows braced on her knees. ‘If you’d like to have someone to sit with you while we talk, that’s absolutely fine. Would you like me to call someone to come over?’
‘Not unless I’m under arrest.’
Officer Vega didn’t laugh, but she allowed Sky a small smile. ‘You’re not in any kind of trouble, Skylar. I’d just like to know where you’ve been.’ Sky opened her mouth, closed it again. ‘I need to close the investigation, and for that, I need a few answers.’
‘I’ll tell you what I can,’ Sky said, expecting Officer Vega to begin questioning her. But the police officer just sat back and waited for her to begin. ‘Oh … um. Okay. The way I remember it, I had a party with a few friends, it sucked, then I went to bed.’
A long silence followed, Sky looking at Officer Vega expectantly while the older woman stared back with equal interest.
‘This was on the night of your birthday, August the twentieth?’ Sky nodded. ‘And what about after that?’
‘After I went to bed? Nothing. Well, I had a freaky dream where I fell from the pier, but that never actually happened . I didn’t go sleepwalking, I didn’t wake up in the ocean. I woke up in my own bed and life went on just like before.’
‘Do you ever sleepwalk, Skylar?’
‘Well, no … but I dreamed I ran down to the pier.’
A faint line formed between Officer Vega’s brows.
‘Why did you run down to the pier?’ She saw that Sky was about to protest and held up her hand. ‘In your dream, I mean.’
Sky squirmed in her seat, her eyes darting of their own accord to the closed door across the hallway, behind which Sean no doubt lay sleeping. Possibly shirtless.
‘Uh, I had a silly argument with a friend.’ Where I kissed said friend and freaked him out and ruined everything like a total idiot. ‘I was upset and went to the pier to calm down. I go there when I need to think.’
‘Sounds like a pretty intense dream.’ Sky hitched one shoulder, said nothing. ‘And what happened after you woke up?’
Sky took a deep breath, wishing she’d taken Officer Vega up on her offer of tea. Her mouth was suddenly very dry. ‘Like I said, nothing. I had breakfast; picked up some groceries for my mum.’
‘So you saw your mum after your party?’
Sky blinked. ‘Of course. I’ve seen her and my dad every day since then, too. I’ve also seen you a bunch of times in the last three months.’
Officer Vega had been making an odd movement with her thumb, like she was clicking a pen on and off, but stopped mid-click. ‘When have you seen me, Skylar?’
‘I saw you that day when Cam forgot her gym shorts and you came into registration to give them to her.’ Cam had not actually forgotten the gym shorts, but had intentionally left them at home, hoping to use their absence to avoid the embarrassment of having to play ‘pink ball’ with the boys in gym class. Instead, she had been punished with the added humiliation of having her police officer aunt stride into registration, brandishing the shorts like she was holding a lunch bag. ‘And at the diner, last time I worked a shift with Mum – last Wednesday, I think. And, uh, when Bo’s parents weren’t too sure where she was last Saturday…’
Even Sky didn’t know where her friend had been that night when she was supposedly at Sky’s house for a sleepover. But knowing Bo and her sneakery, there was probably some mystery boy involved. Unfortunately, Bo’s parents also knew Bo, and had called Officer Vega to go to find her and scare the bejeezus out of their