Pretty Little Things (2010) by Hoffman Jilliane

Author:Hoffman, Jilliane [Jilliane, Hoffman,]
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-01-14T19:14:44.765000+00:00

43

‘We’ve been looking for you, Liza,’ Bobby said with a smile when he and Detective Bill Dagher opened the door and stepped into the detective’s office at the Coral Springs PD.

The thin, disheveled girl with the long, tangled brown hair squeaked, jumped in her chair and dropped her cell phone, which she’d obviously been busy yapping on. It hit the thin carpet with a thud and ricocheted into three different pieces around the room. ‘I … you … I didn’t hear you open the door. I thought you were my dad,’ she managed as she stooped down to pick up the pieces. She cleared her throat. ‘My step –’

Bobby picked up the battery and handed it to her. ‘Stepdad? No. But that’s who I want to talk to you about, Liza. I’m Special Agent Bobby Dees. I work for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. I’m investigating the disappearance of your little sister, Elaine.’

‘Oh.’ Liza’s eyes darted around the room. She sat on the edge of her seat, like she was getting ready to run.

‘I’ve been trying to talk to you for two weeks now, but you’re not at home, you’re not at school. You’re not working at the bowling alley any more.’ He leaned casually against the edge of the metal desk in front of her. Dagher stood guard by the door. ‘What’s up with that? Are you in trouble, Liza?’

She looked down at her lap, where she was shredding a tissue. ‘No. No trouble. I just don’t want to be home right now, that’s all.’

‘Why?’ Dagher asked.

She shrugged.

‘When was the last time you saw Lainey?’ Bobby asked.

She shrugged again. ‘Dunno. The day before she didn’t come home, I think. At breakfast.’

‘What’re your thoughts on your sister’s disappearance? Any reason she might not want to go home, either?’

Liza said nothing for a long while. She continued to shred the tissue into little white shards of fluff. ‘I saw the news at my friend’s house. I saw that there’s a guy killing teens, you know? Painting weird pictures of them dead and all. And that Lainey …’ Her voice broke. ‘Oh God, that Lainey might be with him, you know? Then my mom told me the police were at the house, taking things like the computer and stuff, and that they were interrogating Todd at the police station.’

Bobby nodded. ‘Well, I’m not at liberty to discuss everything with you, but we have a couple of investigations going, that’s true. And your stepfather has definitely been questioned about some things – some things I want to talk to you about.’

She turned red and looked back down at her lap. ‘There was no way I was going home after that, you know? With him still there.’

‘Todd?’

She nodded.

‘Tell me why.’

She shook her head and sucked in a sniffle. When she finally spoke her small voice was just above a whisper. ‘She’s a good kid, Lainey. A good sister. I didn’t tell her that. I thought she just left for a few days to get away from him, and all, you know? To get him to stop trying to come into her room.

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