The Thrashers(38)

“Would you say you’re close?” Buechler looked up from his notes to watch her response. Miranda hesitated.

“Yes, we’re very close.”

“Do you now or have you ever had a sexual relationship with Zackary Thr—?”

“No comment.”

Buechler stared her down, ignoring Miranda, and waiting for Jodi to react. She pushed her thumb into her pressure point and counted to five.

“No comment,” Jodi said, with as even an expression as she could muster.

Buechler barreled on. “You say you’re very close. Would you say that Zackary Thrasher shares everything with you?”

“No comment,” Miranda said.

He turned a page, and Yang did the same.

“When did you meet Julian Hollister?”

Jodi blinked. “Uh, freshman year.”

“Would you say you’re close—?”

“No,” Jodi said immediately. “We’re not.”

Buechler stared at her over his designer glasses before sliding them up the bridge of his nose. He hummed. “You were at the Sacramento drive-in with Julian Hollister on Friday, August twenty-third, were you not?”

Jodi felt like her tongue didn’t work. “We were all at the drive-in. The five of us.”

“You were in a car with Julian Hollister,” he stated.

Miranda hesitated.

“I was,” Jodi said.

“He told the ticket booth employee that you were on a date.”

Jodi’s mouth opened and closed. They’d interviewed the guy at the drive-in about them. Why? What did that mean?

“Is there a question?” Miranda prodded.

“Were you on a date—?”

“That was a joke. We were not on a date.” Jodi’s voice was climbing octaves.

Miranda placed a subtle hand on her knee, and she took a deep breath, remembering herself.

Buechler placed his pen down and steepled his fingers on the table. “We have phone records indicating that Julian Hollister texted Emily Mills on the day that she died. Do you know what that text message said?”

A cold trickling sensation pricked down her spine. She could barely hear Miranda’s “No comment” response.

Why had Julian texted Emily? She thought back to the notes in the counselor’s office, the page she’d stolen.

Julian H. said he’d order a corsage for her to match the girls.

Was that part true? Had Julian purposefully tricked Emily into thinking she was going, only to text her before prom that it had been a game?

Jodi realized that three sets of eyes were on her. Buechler, Yang, and Harding were watching her closely, as if waiting for her to magically reveal her thoughts.

Buechler pressed his lips together and said, “Were you aware that Julian texted Emily that day?”

“No comment.”

Jodi almost wanted to answer that one, to make sure they knew she was clean. But Miranda was smart to jump on it.

“You don’t know what the text messages said?” Yang asked.

Jodi narrowed her eyes as Miranda did her thing. This was why she had been brought in. Three questions about this.

“Why don’t you know what the text messages said?” asked Jodi, looking between all three of them. “What does Emily’s phone show?”

Harding and Buechler returned her stare without moving a muscle. But Yang dropped his eyes and scratched a note.

Jodi ignored Miranda’s squeeze to her knee. “You don’t have her phone, do you?” she asked, waiting with her breath held.

For some reason, Buechler nodded. “It hasn’t been recovered, no.”

Her fingertips were buzzing as her mind spun. What would Emily have done with her phone?

There was a conversation … almost six months ago … something about hiding places.

Emily had claimed to have a joint stashed at home. She’d been trying to connect with Lucy as Lucy took a hit from Julian’s pipe.

I haven’t smoked it yet. I can’t do it at home or my dad would totally kill me. But he’ll never find it where I’ve hidden it.

She’d smiled at Jodi. Jodi had sent her a weak grin.

Mr. Mills was a stickler. Probably too harsh on a teenage girl who had no bad behavior to speak of. Emily had said he would search her and her sister’s rooms—turning over mattresses, opening vents, ripping up loose floorboards.

Emily had to keep even makeup hidden. It wasn’t allowed. She’d told Jodi she had the perfect place to hide it all …

Emily and Hannah’s shared bathroom. In a secret spot.

Buechler cleared his throat, and Jodi jumped.

“Do you know where Emily’s phone might be?”

He sounded almost hopeful.

Jodi had to find out what was in those texts before she cooperated. She lifted her chin. “Can’t you recover things?”

“One text message has been recovered. The other was a link to something,” Buechler said. “Do you know what kind of link Julian Hollister would have sent her?”

“No comment,” Jodi said. She had no idea.

Buechler sighed and sat back. He tilted his chin at Detective Harding, and Jodi watched her lean forward on her elbows.

“Miss Dillon, where does the name the Thrashers come from?” Harding asked.