The Thrashers(50)

“I think … I think my dad will want the money back. I’m sorry, I really like you and everything,” Jodi finished weakly, like she was breaking up with Miranda.

“Of course.” Miranda raised her hands in friendly surrender. “I know finances are tight. I’ll alert your dad.” She made a note in her file. “If you ever need to talk something out, I can offer a ten-minute call, free of charge. If you do need a lawyer at the interviews, we would just start up again.”

When she left Miranda’s office (after an awkward hug Jodi had instigated), it wasn’t until she was on the bus, reviewing the letter, that she remembered the Millses’ card in her back pocket.

She ripped open the bent envelope with her name scrawled across the front in Maureen’s handwriting. A sunflower decorated the front of the card, and inside was filled with tidy lettering.

Dear Jodi,

My heart has been breaking for you as this portion of the case has dragged on. We were advised to reach out to no one. Now that we’re convinced the district attorney won’t press charges against you, I can finally offer you an invitation to come by whenever you’d like. I’d love to talk more about Emily with you, and formally apologize for any stress this investigation has caused you. You are guilty of nothing in our hearts.

Any time you’d like to stop by, please do.



Maureen, Robert, and Hannah

Jodi gripped the card between her sweating fingertips. The one thing she could do—that no one else could—was recover Emily’s cell phone. If it was where she’d claimed her “special hiding place” was, then Jodi could get there.

She got off at the next stop and transferred to the bus headed to 35th Street.



* * *



Jodi walked up to the small, two-story house that was shoved between other small, two-story houses. A Subaru took up the narrow driveway, and the welcome mat read Here Lives a Happy Family. The last time Jodi was here, there were ambulances parked on the lawn.

She swallowed and rang the bell. In the heartbeats that followed, Jodi imagined Emily greeting her with wide and eager blue eyes. When Mrs. Mills pulled open the door with a kind “Jodi, how good to see you,” she realized she had no plan.

“Hi, Mrs. Mills. Hannah gave me your card.”

Maureen smiled graciously, inviting her in with a wave. Jodi seated herself on the couch. The living room was an explosion of floral. Floral upholstery, framed flower needlepoint. Where there weren’t flowers, there were crosses and framed Christian platitudes.

“Is Mr. Mills home, too? I’d like to thank him,” she said.

“Robert is on his way home from Bible study.”

She didn’t know Robert Mills aside from passing greetings. She knew he worked for a software company.

“Please tell him I said hello then.” Jodi was doing her best impersonation of Zack. “How is Hannah liking New Helvetia? I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like.”

“Oh, you’re sweet. Hannah is always talking about you—how you go out of your way to be kind to her.”

Jodi’s arms felt weighted with lead. Hannah had told Ms. George, the wellness counselor, the same thing. She tried to smile. “She’s a nice girl,” she said, croaking. “Is she doing homework?” Jodi turned her eyes upstairs to where Hannah’s bedroom was.

“Oh, she’s still at school. A study group.” Maureen waved her hand dismissively.

Jodi sat frozen. Hannah had been on the bus home with her an hour and a half ago. She forced a smile.

“I hope it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition, but … I was wondering if Emily’s bedroom is still as it was? I would love to have a moment to pay my respects to her in her own space.”

It was dumb. It was presumptuous. It wouldn’t work.

Jodi’s breath was caught in her throat as Maureen stared at her. Did she know what Jodi was up to?

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Jodi,” Maureen said. Her voice was soft, but her eyes still unreadable. “Yes, let me take you.”

Maureen Mills stood from the couch. Jodi followed her up the stairs, still unsure if this was going to work. At the landing, Jodi faced down the slightly ajar bathroom door—the room Emily had died in. The room where her cell phone was hidden. Maureen turned right, and Jodi followed.

Emily’s bedroom was at the front of the house. An oak tree extended toward her window, with a branch the perfect height for someone to sneak out on. The only reason Jodi knew it was because Zack had invited Emily to get drunk and high with them in the park one night, and Emily had to sneak out after midnight. Jodi, Julian, Lucy, and Paige had watched begrudgingly as Emily Mills slipped out of her window with Zack’s careful guidance. She wasn’t a very athletic girl, but if Zack Thrasher asked her to do anything, she was suddenly an Olympian.

A sign on the door with EMILY in puffy lettering greeted them. Maureen pushed the door open, and Jodi found Emily’s bedroom exactly as it had been when she’d first seen it. She’d been suckered into two or three study sessions at the Millses’ house that had quickly devolved into Emily asking about Zack.

Maureen hovered at the doorframe, and Jodi’s mind had just started running through the ways she could ask to be alone when Maureen said, “I’ll let you have some time.”