Forgotten Girls, The (8 page)

“This is freaking lala planet,”
Mack hissed as he drove to Kim’s house. Kim was the third friend on Jamie’s
list.

“I feel like someone deposited me somewhere,”
he snickered.

Bella didn’t think it was funny. She
was disturbed by these women’s lack of genuine grief.

“I’m used to whack jobs,” Bella replied.
“It’s all in a day’s work. But man, their best friend is killed last night and
they’re acting like nothing happened. I mean, what the hell?”

“Sure don’t seem too bent out of
shape,” Mack agreed.

Kim was not home, and her nanny
did not know where she was or when she would be back. With no other names on
the list they decided to drive about half a mile out of town to the only real diner
in the area that wasn’t organic, overpriced, or fancy. It was on the main drag
leading into Greenvale, near the border. It was nearly empty when they sat down
with the box of files and called Billy, who informed them Ridley was still
nowhere to be found. Soon, a middle-aged, redheaded waitress approached, Rosie
according to her name- tag.

“You guys who I think you are?”
asked Rosie. “Don’t mean to pry or nothing. I saw your car out the window, your
badge.” She pointed at Mack’s waist. “I just kind of guessed.”

She poured coffee, introduced
herself, and told them Joslyn had become a regular at the diner this year, and that
she had gotten to know her by name.

“Really?” Bella asked when she
heard this, not bothering to conceal her astonishment. She tried to picture
Jamie, Doug, Jenna, or Stephanie eating at this place. It was kind of hard.

“Yeah. She came in all the time
with her friend. They always sat at the table by the window over there,” she
said, pointing to the corner. “Such a friendly, nice woman.”

“Do you happen to remember the
friend’s name?” Bella asked.

“Of course I do. Erika. Erika
Gadoff. She’s a doll. Been coming here for years. A lot longer than Joslyn.”

Bella wondered why Jamie hadn’t
put her name on his list. They found Erika’s number and address quickly enough
and decided to head over.

Her garden apartment complex was only
half a mile down the road and, when they turned into its parking lot, Bella wondered
if there was a mistake, so incongruous was it from the homes on the other side
of town. From the little they had seen of Joslyn’s life, this apartment complex,
and the overweight woman who answered the door, simply did not fit the profile.

Erika looked like she had been
crying—crumpled tissues filled her hand and her eyes were red. She welcomed
them in and brought them into her cramped, but neat living room, where Bella
and Mack sat on a well-worn couch. Erika spoke about herself with a heavy
heart.

She told Bella and Mack that she was
a single mother who bought her apartment with her divorce settlement when her
daughter was young. She chose Greenvale for its school’s reputation and had met
Jos when she moved to town fifteen years ago.

“We heard she had a specific crew
of friends,” Bella commented, not mentioning they had met two of them.

Erika made a sour expression.

“Not to your liking?” Bella asked.

Erika shook her head.

“Why not?” asked Mack.

“I see you haven’t met them yet,”
Erika said as she shook her head. Mack and Bella didn’t bother to correct her.

“So what’s so bad about these
girls?” Mack smiled.

Erika took a minute before
answering.

“They are the worst—as phony as
the day is long. All about themselves. I don’t know why it took Jos so long to
see it—maybe because she had that midwestern purity—but it all came to a head
this year. She finally realized who they were.”

Bella pictured Jos’s terrified
expression under the tarp.

“What happened this year?” Bella
asked.

“College applications,” Erika said
in a matter-of-fact way. “Jenna was crazy over Carly’s getting into Vanderbilt
when her own daughter, Jessie, got deferred. She attributed it Jos and Jamie
giving large donations to the school.”

Bella and Mack looked at one
another. Erika continued:

“Things changed after the early
decision acceptance. Jenna was nastier than ever.”

Erika was a bit rough around the
edges, but she was direct.

“Jos left the tennis team and
stopped going to spin class with the girls,” Erika said. “I asked why and she told
me she was trying to get distance. She needed a change. She couldn’t stand any
of them anymore.”

“We heard she hurt her ankle,”
Mack said.

“No, she blamed it on her ankle,
but her ankle was fine.”

 So all was not lala on planet
lala after all.

“Then last month it all kind of
came to a head. We were at the library fund-raiser and Jenna went on a tear
about Vanderbilt right to Jos’s face. She came this close to accusing her of
paying for Carly to get in.” Erika pinched her fingers together. “Jos was
saying that’s not true, Carly worked hard, Jesse got into so many good schools,
you should be happy—yada yada yada…placating her like a child. Stephanie and
Kim stood there like Switzerland, refusing to speak up.”

Erika paused and looked disappointed.
“They believe in remaining neutral.”

 The three of them sat there quietly.

 “I opened my mouth, of course,”
Erika added.

“What did you say?” Bella was
intrigued.

“I told Jenna to stop begrudging
Carly her acceptance and to leave Jos alone,” Erika said plainly. “I’m not
about to stand by and let a friend be treated like that.”

“What did she do?” Mack asked.

“She sneered at me, rolled her
eyes and told me to stay out of it—that it was none of my business.”

Erika seemed like she couldn’t
care less.

“And?” Mack pressed.

“And nothing. I walked away, but
not before telling Jenna to go F herself.”

She snickered and Bella and Mack
joined her.

“I’ve never been able to stand
that woman, but everyone seems to love her. I don’t get it.”

A silence descended in the room.
Then Erika broke it.

“Jos made a comment a few weeks ago.
She said life had shown her people are not who they seem.”

“That’s a pretty telling comment. To
whom was she referring?” Bella asked.

“I don’t know. She was very gloomy
so I didn’t pry too much.”

“Do you know Jamie well?” Bella
asked.

“I’ve known Jamie for years. We
all met when the girls were little. He was warm and gracious then, wasn’t uber-successful
yet… He forgets those days,” she said, shaking her head, then continued, “You
want to know the truth? He’s got an ego the size of Alaska, like most finance
guys. Other people matter, but he matters more.”

Mack and Bella nodded, and Erika said,
“He’s a bigwig because he’s made a lot of money, a LOT of money, so people want
to be around him—they actually enjoy sucking up to him. It’s crazy. If you dare
say anything bad about Jamie Freed and you are not rich, then people think you
are jealous.”

“Money hides a lot of shit,” Mack
jumped in, as though he knew this personally.

“Sure does. After living here this
long I am not enamored. I might have been once, I admit—but no more. It has
gotten so that I stay away from the super-rich deliberately because I know too
much I don’t like. Their money rules them and ruins them.”

Erika looked resigned.

“Do you know if Joslyn was happy in
her marriage?” Bella asked.

“I really don’t know,” Erika
replied. “She never said she wasn’t. But this year she always seemed sad.”

“Did you ever see them together?”
Bella asked.

“Not for a long time. Jamie didn’t
mind my being friends with his wife in the early days, when he was no one
special. But as soon as he made it big, they socialized only with those on
their level financially. I can’t rent a yacht in St. Barth’s for Christmas or
fly private, but plenty of others can, so that’s who they narrowed their circle
to.”

Bella squinted her eyes and Mack
whistled.

“Look, I am a divorced woman
raising a kid in a small apartment on the wrong side of town. He didn’t exactly
want her slumming with me, ya know?” she asked. “Funny thing is if most of the
women in town knew how close Jos and I were, they would pursue me to no end.
Anything to get their husbands access to Jamie, ya know?” She seemed disgusted.

Bella did know. Mack rubbed his
chin.

“When Jos and I got together every
week, we did it alone,” she said sadly.

“This bullshit didn’t bother you?
Man, it would eat my insides up,” Mack blurted out.

Bella looked over at him,
surprised that he would care.

“Look, they were part of a social
set whose entrance fee was money and status,” Erika continued. “I wasn’t part
of their world, obviously. What the hell was I going to offer—a warm spot on my
couch and a hug? But for Joslyn—well, that’s exactly what she needed.”

“Why did Jos go along with all of
this?” Bella was perplexed.

“It’s not that she wasn’t a good
soul,” Erika replied. “She was a very good friend. Just last year I had a bad
case of flu for a couple of weeks and she sent me dinner a few times. She lent
me money a few years back when I needed some help,” she continued. “She was a
good listener. She was super bright. Her mind worked at warp speed.”

She got a faraway look in her eyes.
“But being Jamie’s wife catapulted her into a world she was not accustomed to,
and despite herself she got caught up in all the trappings of wealth and just kind
of lost who she was.”

Bella was impressed with her
insight.

“They don’t call it trappings for
nothing,” Mack remarked.

Erika caught her breath and put
her hands over her mouth. Bella watched as Erika fought desperately to hold
back a sob.

“This article she wanted to write
for the
Gazette
—this was a big deal for her,” Erika cried. “She needed to
do something that mattered outside of her girls. She was convinced Adderall was
being sold at the high school and, well, it was like she was on a mission to
stop it. She even visited Dr. Weber a few weeks ago, although that didn’t turn
out so well.”

“Who is Dr. Weber?” Bella asked.

“The psychiatrist in town who
treats everybody’s kids. Carly is one of her patients. Jos confronted her about
some high-dose pills she found in Carly’s room,” Erika whispered.

“Did she get any answers?” Bella
asked.

“Weber threw her out of her
office.” Erika snickered halfheartedly.

Bella and Mack looked at one
another. Before they could respond Erika spoke.

“Something was up, though, that
much I know. A few weeks ago she didn’t show up at a school event. When I asked
where she had been, she said she had a meeting related to her article. She
winked and said she would fill me in later.”

“And?” Mack asked.

Erika’s eyes welled up with tears.

“She never got the chance.”

Ridley squatted down behind the grille
until the police car passed. He was in southern Jersey now, far from the eye of
the storm, but didn’t want to take any chances. He had come too far.

He knew the police would be looking
for him. He knew by now they probably knew about his argument with the Freed
woman last week. It was all but certain. He couldn’t believe his damn luck. How
could this be happening again?

He considered unhappily whether
his mother was behind this. She was capable, that much he knew. Could it have
been Mugger B? Maybe it had nothing to do with him at all. Maybe this was just
bad luck. Damn bad luck. Maybe it was just coincidence. His gut told him no,
though. He believed in coincidence, but this would be too much coincidence even
for him. Maybe the same guy who told Freed about Ridley took care of her too? Was
that possible? Ridley had no way of knowing or finding out.

Or did he?

He had an idea, but he would need
Jay’s help.

Jay.

His best buddy since the
beginning. Both were only children, and they were more than friends; they were
brothers. From the day Jay moved next door to Ridley, at age five, until middle
school…ahh, middle school. Painful memories flooded his mind. That was when
life changed as he knew it. Jay’s strength and height catapulted him into the
world of sports while Ridley, not athletically inclined, was left behind. They fell
in with different groups and that was that. The four long years of high school
passed with barely a word between them.

The last time they spoke they
stood in the same spot in Jay’s driveway where they had met the day Jay moved
in. Jay was loading his car for college, heading to the University of Texas. Ridley
gathered his courage and walked over to say goodbye.

Jay had seemed genuinely touched. They
shook hands. Jay actually waved to him as he drove away.

If it weren’t for the letter
Ridley received from Jay while in prison, he never would have dared come here.
Even now, he wondered whether this move was crazy or smart. Jay hadn’t exactly proclaimed
Ridley’s innocence, but he did write that he believed there was more to Margaret’s
murder than what people claimed. And, well, he did insinuate he knew Ridley’s
mother and what she was capable of. That was the phrase that had stuck: “I know
what she is capable of.” How had he known? What did he mean? Those few little
words had provided fuel during some of Ridley’s hardest moments in prison. They
were the reason he was approaching Jay’s doorstep now. He prayed Jay would help
him. Somehow. He had nowhere else to turn.

He crept, slowly, around the
corner of Hillside Avenue, looking for number 99. Jay was about to get the
surprise of his life. Ridley took a deep breath, looked up at the sky, and did
something he had never done before: he crossed himself and asked God for a
favor.

“Please. Don’t let him turn me
away.”