Kenhardt - Secrets 18

Joe waited in the school office while Mrs Langley paged the four girls down to her office. Joe would need to speak with them again, one - on - one this time. People act differently in group settings. He hoped that speaking with them individually would perhaps prove more useful. The first to enter the office was Miera Bowman. Her thick, dark hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She hardly wore make - up, but she didn’t need it. ‘You have more questions,’ she said once she was seated. ‘Yes. I’m hoping you can help me.’ ‘I’ll do my best,’ best crossed one leg over of the other. ‘Who were you closest with in your little circle?’ ‘Gabby.’ ‘Not Haddie, Kiera or Anya?’ ‘No. Like I said, the three of them were kind of exclusive. Everyone was friends with one another, but we each had one or two people we were, or are, closer with. Gabby and I are that .’ ‘And who was closest with Haddie?’ Miera thought about this for a moment. ‘Other than Anya and Kiera? Probably Rachel.’ ‘And what about Anya?’ ‘Like I said, she was closest To Haddie and Kiera.’ ‘So the two of you weren’t particularly close?’ ‘Not compared to the others.’ Joe nodded. ‘Did you notice a change of behaviour in any of the girls recently? Say, in the last few months? January or February, perhaps?’ ‘Not really,’ Miera fiddled with her fingers. ‘Beginning of the year is the new semester, so of course there’s always that. I know Haddie hated one of her classes - English, I think it was. Anya and Keira were happy to have Geography together.’ ‘But nothing out of the ordinary happened that you can recall? No break-ups, fights, accidents?’ ‘What do you mean, accidents?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Joe said. ‘I’m just throwing ideas out there.’ ‘No’, Miera said. ‘Nothing happened. Everything was fine.’ Fine for who? Joe thought. Next up was Rachel. Joe had a feeling that she would prove more useful than the others, simply based on the conversation they had previously. Gabriella was sarcastic. Sadie was rebellious. Miera was willing but still held back. But Rachel was honest. She wanted to help with the investigation and she had simply spoken the truth - or what she believed to be the truth, at least. ‘Hello Rachel,’ Joe said once she took a seat. ‘How are you?’ ‘I’m alright,’ she forced a small smile. ‘The funeral is tomorrow.’ ‘I heard. Are you going with your parents?’ Rachel nodded. ‘I’ll meet the girls there.’ It was quiet for a moment. ‘I just wanted to talk to you again,’ Joe said. ‘You seemed eager to help out yesterday and I just thought I could ask you some more questions.’ ‘Of course,’ Rachel said. ‘Anything I can do to help.’ Joe placed the pen to his notepad, hesitated, then said, ‘Did anything happen to the girls earlier this year? In January or February, perhaps? Or even sometime before then?’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Any fights, break-ups, drama, a mid-life crisis?’ ‘Not that I can think of. Why?’ ‘People have mentioned that the girls began acting strange a few months ago,’ Joe said. ‘Oh.’ ‘Were you close with Anya?’ ‘Somewhat, yes. We all hung out together once in a while. Anya and I had two classed together last semester.’ ‘She was a quiet girl, wasn’t she?’ Joe asked. ‘Not with us.’ “Really?’ Rachel nodded. ‘Anya was tamer than most, I will say that. But everyone thinks she’s this quiet, meek girl who doesn’t have a say in anything. That’s not true at all. Anya had a voice. She just chose when to use it and when to remain silent.’ ‘Did she ever get into fights or arguments with the others?’ ‘No. Anya got along with everyone, if there was ever drama with the girls. Anya was never involved. It was usually Haddie or Gabby or Kiera. Or Sadie.’ ‘They butt heads often?’ ‘They all have clashing personalities,’ Rachel said. ‘Dominant. Aggressive. In charge. You can only have so much of one person before it becomes too much.’ Joe nodded his head. ‘Did Anya seem distant to you these past few months? Secluded, maybe?’ Rachel thought again for a moment. ‘I really don’t know.’ ‘Did she ever mention anything to you that would make you think that she was depressed?’ Rachel was hesitant. ‘No.’ ‘What about drugs?’ Rachel was hesitant. ‘No.’ ‘What about drugs?’ Rachel’s face altered. ‘No.’ ‘You flinched when I said drugs,’ Joe said. ‘What do you know?’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘Rachel.’ She was quiet. ‘Please, I’m just trying to do my job. You Won’t get in trouble for saying anything.’ She was quiet again and Joe could tell that she was thinking this through. Finally, she spoke. ‘I don’t know anything about drugs, per se,’ Rachel said. ‘But I’m pretty sure Anya was smoking weed.’ ‘Weed is a drug.’ ‘No it’s not. It’s a HERB.’ ‘Alright.’ ‘And it’s medicinal.’ ‘She was taking it medicinally?’ Rachel shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m just saying. Dagga has been proven to help people.’ ‘So you confirm that Anya was in fact smoking Dagga?’ She didn’t respond. ‘Rachel.’ ‘Yes. Okay. But she made me promise not to tell anyone. She didn’t even tell me, actually. I caught her smoking behind the school one afternoon. She said that she was really stressed and it helped calm her nerves.’ ‘And she didn’t elaborate?’ Rachel shook her head. ‘I just let it be. Whatever helps, you know?’ ‘Why would she be stressed?’ ‘I don’t know - school? Family life?’ ‘And other than that, you never noticed anything suspicious or strange about Anya?’ ‘Maybe she was a bit quieter than usual,’ Rachel said, thinking. ‘I guess she had her own problems that she was dealing with. ‘And weed helped her with that?’ ‘Apparently.’ What would the motive have been? Joe was racking his brain, thinking of reasons why someone would want those three girls dead. If Ollie or the mystery man wanted Haddie dead, that’s one thing - but why kill all three? Were they all just there at a bad time? Collateral damage? Did they seem something they shouldn’t have? Widening the horizons, who else would want to harm the girls. Was it a personal vendetta? Did the girls do something to someone? Get themselves into some sort of trouble? Or were they simply just innocent victims in all of this? He needed to take what information he knew so far to think strategically. Haddie was pregnant, this was a fact. Oliver claimed to have not know and said the baby wasn’t his. Could he have been lying? This was all assuming that Haddie herself knew about the baby. There was still a good possibility that she didn’t have a clue and this pregnancy had zero correlation to her death. And there was still Anya and Kiera . Someone wanted all three of them dead. Why would someone want one girl - or three girls - dead? They must have known something they shouldn’t have. Or perhaps something did happen all those months ago. They saw something. There was a fight. They owed someone money. They did something bad to the wrong person and that someone came back for revenge. This was all speculation. That was the worst part about being a detective - the not KNOWING. The speculating and not having certainties. Because when you’re working a case that involved the mysterious deaths of three sixteen - year - old girls, there are no straight answers. Joe knew what his next step was. He needed to figure out who this mystery man in Haddie Taylor’s life was. Then he needed to uncover what really happened all those months ago that no one was willing to talk about……