Grosso gives a decisive nod. “I’d remember that.”
He didn’t hesitate, didn’t waffle or seem defensive.
“Did anyone else on the investigative team interview Ella Monroe?”
“I don’t remember. But I imagine so. You’ll have to check the file.”
Atticus speaks up. “You mentioned the motive. Did you all ever learn what Vince Whitaker and Katie McKenzie were supposed to be fighting about?” He’s been hung up about discrepancies in the file.
Grosso looks conflicted now. He sighs, like he’s deciding there’s no harm in saying it. “There was one thing, which we left out of the official reports. The press was in a frenzy and we didn’t want it to leak.”
Keller and Atticus stare at Grosso, eager for him to explain.
“The girl—”
“Katie McKenzie,” Atticus says.
“Yeah,” Grosso says. “We thought the perp had gotten her pregnant, so we thought it might be about that.”
“The autopsy report didn’t—” Atticus begins.
“No, I mean she’d already gotten it taken care of. So maybe the fight had something to do with that. The family had been through enough, and they were super-religious types. And her mother was old friends with someone from our office…”
“Who was that?” Keller asks.
Grosso shakes his head. “He wasn’t on the task force. I don’t remember his name. But he was tight with the mother. Said it would devastate the family if it came out. So we kept it quiet. I figured it might need to come out if Whitaker was ever caught and went to trial.” Grosso looks up, like he’s trying to conjure the memory. “For the life of me, I can’t remember the fella’s name. He was lucky that he wasn’t officially on the team; probably saved his job. If it’s not in the file, you can ask the victim’s mom.”
Keller nods. Someone from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office had a connection with Katie McKenzie’s family. Maybe this someone knew what the killer had said to Ella Monroe. Or maybe there’s more to it.
CHAPTER 30
ELLA
In the back of the limousine, Jesse’s fascinated by the luxurious interior. She plays with the mood lights. Ella shakes her head to stop. Jesse plugs her phone in its Hello Kitty case into the aux cord and her playlist, loud and angry, comes through the speakers. Ella gestures for her to turn it down. Jesse opens the mini bar and peers inside. Ella gives her a Don’t even think about it look.
When the novelty wears off, they sit quietly, the only sound the hum of tires on asphalt.
Ella tries to contain her emotions. She’s angry. At Phyllis, for being Phyllis. At herself, for letting her mother get under her skin. At Mr. Steadman, for pulling her into this mess. At Jesse, for making Ella lose all sound judgment. She chides herself for getting angry at a victim, a traumatized child, at that.
Jesse turns to her. “You’re giving me great color for my story.”
Traumatized kid or not, Ella is tiring of this game. But she bites: “Like what?”
“Like, you’ve got to have a trust fund, right? So what the hell were you doing working at a video store? What were you trying to prove to your mom? To yourself? And why the hell do you live in a low-end apartment complex in Linden?”
How does this girl know where she lives—actually, where she used to live, since Brad has thrown her out?
Jesse continues: “And what’s with the beat-up Nissan?” She looks out the window at Ella’s car as the limo pulls to the curb in front of Corky’s Tavern.
The privacy window hisses down. Charles twists around. “I’m sorry, Eloise. But I need to drop you here. The car won’t be able to maneuver out of the lot—it’s too narrow.”
Ella’s car is the only vehicle parked at Corky’s. Right where she left it last night, before her intoxicated Uber ride to the Target. There’s some type of construction work at the far end of the lot. Orange cones surround a hole in the asphalt covered with a slab of steel.
It takes her back to the Blockbuster parking lot. Stevie standing in the empty space on a Sunday before the store opened. He’d put out cones and was shaking his head as Katie ran them over, trying to parallel park. Stevie may have acted exasperated but he had a soft spot for all the girls. Katie finally had gotten her permit and her driver’s test was coming up.
Stepping out of the limo, Ella suppresses a sob. Katie passed the test the day before she was killed.
* * *
As she drives to Jesse’s house, Ella rehearses in her head what she’ll say to the foster mother. How to explain? Keep it simple, she supposes. There was a misunderstanding at the Target and Jesse called her. It was late, so they went to Ella’s mother’s house and stayed over.