I bit back the answer that would’ve gotten us thrown out and turned to Brittany. “Do you know that Hayley Antonovich is missing?”
Brittany leaned forward and knitted her brow. Her frown showed concern, but there was a vagueness to her expression that made her look as though she were trying to see me through a cloud of smoke. “I-no. I didn’t.” She turned to look at her mother.
Mom broke in. “I did tell you, sweetie. You probably don’t remember.” She turned to us. “She works very hard. She has a lot of lines in her next scenes, so sometimes it’s hard for her to tune in.”
The words were protective, but the tone was condescending and controlling. We hadn’t been here ninety seconds and already I was restraining the urge to smack Mother Caren. I turned back to Brittany, who practically swayed in her seat. It was pretty obvious that Brittany’s condition had nothing to do with hard work.
“What…what happened to Hayley?” she asked.
“She’s missing, Brittany. We’re trying to find her.”
“Oh, no…Hayley…that’s horrible.” Brittany teared up and bit her lip. “I love her. What happened? What can I do?”
“When was the last time you spoke to her?” I asked.
“Uh…no…I don’t remember exactly. Maybe a few months ago?”
Not according to the cell phone record. “Could it have been a few weeks ago?”
Brittany squinted with the effort to remember, but then her gaze drifted off. She was silent for so long, I thought she might not have heard the question, but at the last minute she rallied.
“Um…it could be.” She gave me a wobbly smile. I smiled back, hoping to encourage her.
“Do you remember what you guys talked about?”
“Now, how would she remember that?” Mrs. Caren interrupted. “She’s got way too much on her plate to remember whatever they might’ve gossiped about.”
On second thought, a smack wouldn’t be satisfying enough. I needed the satisfaction of a good solid punch to the midsection. “Why don’t we let Brittany tell us?” I turned back to the daughter. “Brittany?”
Brittany glanced at her mother, then looked over my shoulder at the piano. “N-no. I’m sorry.”
For Brittany, a train of thought was only loosely joined to begin with, so the uncoupling didn’t take much. I tried to come at it from another direction. “Did you and Hayley get together in the past month or so?”
Brittany tilted her head to one side, her expression thoughtful. “We might have…I seem to remember seeing her at some point. I just can’t say exactly when.”
