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didn’t really need to take notes—she had a memory for details that was at best useful and at worst obsessive—but the little notebook was a good smoke screen during an interview. Too much direct eye contact made people nervous, cagey. This way they didn’t feel overly scrutinized, which loosened up their tongues. Now she glanced up and tapped the tip of her pen on her pad.
    “What can you tell me about Hayley? Anything you can share about her habits, her plans, and her personality might be helpful. I’m going to try to retrace her steps in the next few days, so the more I know about her, the easier that will be.”
    Margie Dewalt rubbed her arms as if to warm them, though the room was actually quite stuffy.
    “She … she’s a sweet girl.” A small, fluttering smile lit her mouth and then was gone. “Friendly. Really social—she makes friends everywhere she goes. She’s always been so easygoing, especially compared with her siblings.” She glanced at Ella with a look that was more sad than accusatory. “Ella won’t go to the mall with me anymore, says only losers do that.” Ella drew in her breath audibly but didn’t otherwise move.
    Veronica jotted
out of touch
in her notebook. “Did she have a lot of friends?”
    “Oh, yes. In high school she did. In college, I think she’shad a harder time.” She pressed her lips together. “I’ve met a few of the so-called friends that she came down here with. Two of them are always hovering around the conference room pretending they’re torn up about Hayley. But they didn’t even realize she was gone until two days after they’d last seen her. If those were the best friends she had …” She shook her head.
    “Do you have their contact info? I’d like to talk to them,” Veronica said.
    She nodded. “I’ll get it for you.”
    “What about a boyfriend? Was she seeing anyone?”
    Margie frowned a little. “I know she was dating—she sort of hinted at it. I don’t think there was anyone serious, though. I mean, she would have told me if she were hearing wedding bells, you know?”
    Would she though?
Veronica looked up from her notepad. “Did you know she was planning to come down for spring break?”
    The woman nodded. “Of course. I wanted her to come back to Billings for the week. I thought it’d be nice—she could see her old friends, spend some time with the family. But she wanted to come down here.” She wiped at her eyes. “Well, I understand. She’s eighteen. I can’t expect her to come home every chance she gets. I sent her a little money. Told her to send me a postcard.” She stared blankly into space for a moment. “I wonder if she did.”
    “Did any of you speak to her last week?”
    “She texted Ella Monday night,” Mrs. Dewalt said, looking quickly at her daughter. “Right, honey?”
    Ella nodded but didn’t look up. “She sent me a picture of her drink. It was one of those tall ones, with an umbrella.”She shrugged awkwardly. “We used to send each other random pictures of our food. It started as a joke, because she hated the food at Berkeley. I kept sending her pictures of Mom’s cooking. She’d send me back pictures of whatever disgusting thing she had to eat.”
    “Did she say anything else?” Veronica asked gently. Ella just shook her head. Veronica cleared her throat awkwardly. “Was it like Hayley to go out a lot? Was she a … heavy partier?”
    “Well, it’s obvious from that picture that she was drinking,” Crane pointed out. “She was probably drunk the whole time she was here.”
    “That’s not Hayley, Crane.” Mrs. Dewalt gave him a pale and wounded look.
    “Oh yeah? You really think Hayley came down to drink Shirley Temples at Chili’s and get to bed by ten p.m.? You’ve seen how the girls act down here. Wasted. Entitled. Stupid,” he said bitterly. His nostrils flared.
    Congratulations, Crane. You’ve just received the one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others award. The prize: a full