Mackenzie worked her jaw silently for a moment, absorbing this. “I…you’re right, we went to Teddy’s on Thursday. But I went home on Friday morning. I haven’t seen her since then.”
“Will anyone at home verify that? Your mom-”
“My mom’s dead.” She tried to make it sound flat, casual, but the strain in her voice undermined the effort.
Thus Maria’s observation that she was the “sad one.” “I’m so sorry, Mackenzie,” I said gently. She didn’t look up, so I moved past it quickly to give her an escape. “Your dad. If I call him, he’ll say you came home on Friday?”
“Yeah.” Her unstudied monotone told me it was true. “I had to go home. I had a job interview at a plant nursery called Pretty Maids on Melrose. You can check if you don’t believe me.”
“I believe you, Mackenzie. Did you two hang out with anyone new at Teddy’s?” I asked.
Mackenzie frowned, then shook her head as she tucked a hank of her long, straight brown hair behind her right ear.
“Did your boyfriends go to Teddy’s with you?” I knew better than to think that any boyfriends were along for that ride; bouncers are a lot more reluctant to let fake IDs pass for guys than for girls. But I was fishing for information about any guys who might’ve had access to Hayley.
“I don’t have a boyfriend…”
I took a shot in the dark. “But Hayley does. Was he there?”
“No.”
Though I didn’t want to scare her off by getting too pushy, I was starting to lose my patience with this choppy exchange. “Listen, Mackenzie, you must’ve figured out that something serious is up. A cop showed up at your house last night and now we’re talking to you. Obviously Hayley’s not in school and no one seems to know where she is. As far as we can figure, other than her dad, you’re the only one who’s seen her since Thursday. So it’s very important that you tell us whatever you know, whatever you saw, that might help us find her. Understand?”
Mackenzie stared over my shoulder. She looked frightened but, oddly, not shocked. She knew something she wasn’t telling, that much I was sure of.
“Was Hayley unhappy? Did she run away?”
Mackenzie bit her lip and blinked rapidly. “I-don’t think so. She never said so. I mean, she’s had her stuff with her mom and dad, but who doesn’t?”
No argument there. “And you have no idea where she might’ve gone? Maybe a friend’s house?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think so.” Mackenzie clasped her hands together in her lap and stared down at them. “I-I wouldn’t make her mom suffer like that if I knew where she was. Raynie’s so nice…”
