Period 8 - By Chris Crutcher Page 0,15
been searching. She insinuates herself between them. “Mr. Logs, can I talk with you? In private?”
“Hey, Hannah. What about?”
“About Mary Wells.”
“Mary Wells is who we’re talking about,” Logs says. “You can talk in front of Officer Rankin.”
“Mrs. Byers said Mary’s been missing two days.”
“That’s right.”
“I saw her last night.”
The officer says, “Where? When?”
“After I left your house, Mr. Logs, just after midnight. I picked her up in the middle of the road.”
Officer Rankin eyes Hannah, then Logs. “She was at your house at midnight? I was under the impression—”
“We were discussing—”
“Oh, for Christ sake!” Hannah says. “I’m eighteen years old. If I want to fuck my teacher—”
Logs interrupts. “And tell the nice man you don’t.”
Hannah breathes deep. “Mary Wells has not been missing for two days. She was asleep in our guest room eight hours ago.”
“Her father said—”
“I don’t care what her father said. Her father’s the reason she’s scared of everything. Everybody knows that.”
Rankin removes his hat and scratches his head. “I’m sure Mr. Wells will be happy with this news. You’re sure it was Mary.”
Hannah looks at him like he’s an idiot. “I picked her up, drove her home, and put her to bed. It was Mary.”
“So where is she now?”
“When I got up this morning she was gone,” Hannah says, and shrugs.
“Did she say where she’d been?” Rankin squints, palms up. “Her dad hasn’t seen her for a while.”
“No, she didn’t,” Hannah says. “She seemed so out of it, I didn’t ask questions. She sure didn’t want me taking her home.”
“Out of it how?”
Hannah gives him the same look. “Out of it like she didn’t want to go home.”
Logs looks at Rankin. “What do you think?”
“I’ll call Mr. Wells.”
“What about the search?”
“Let me talk with Wells,” Rankin says. “I’m not calling anything off until I know more.” He walks toward his patrol car.
“What a dick,” Hannah says. “I just told him she’s not missing. What, he has to hear it from an adult?”
“He’s a cop,” Logs says. “He has to be sure. He doesn’t know you, Hannah, and thanks to you he may have some suspicion that you’re sleeping with your government teacher who is at least old enough to be your grandfather.”
“He’s still a dick,” Hannah says.
Logs smiles. Hannah Murphy is a reasonable young lady most of the time, but when she’s not, she’s not. “Tell me what happened.”
“I was driving home, the back way like I said. I was sleepy so I rolled down the window and was messing with the radio when I looked up and saw this, like, apparition. Mr. Logs, I almost hit her. She had to see me coming, I was the only car on the road and she was like, straddling the yellow line. She just looked up, all . . . vacant.”
“What did she say?”
“I asked if she wanted a ride home, was ready to offer her an alibi if she needed one. I mean, everyone knows her dad. Mary Wells could go out every night with a different guy if they all didn’t worry that the evening would end in their death.”
Logs watches Rankin sitting in his patrol car, one leg in and one out, talking on his police radio. “Maybe a little exaggeration?”
“A little, not much. The only guy I know who’s not afraid of him is Arney. Anyway, she did not want to go home but she didn’t have another idea. I mean, I could barely get her to talk. It was like she was on something. So I took her home with me.” She smiles. “Paying it forward. Who knows when I’ll need a hideout again? Anyway, when I woke up this morning I forgot she was there and decided to catch a little more sleep. Like, what am I going to learn in government?”
“You’re a funny girl.”
“When I remembered, I went into the guest room and it was empty.”
“You said the only guy not afraid of her dad is Stack?”
“Yeah, he says he’s taken Mary for coffee a couple of times. Walks right up to the door and starts a conversation. Mr. Wells treats him different than other boys. At least that’s what Arney says.”
“Arney’s a politician,” Logs says.
“Arney’s fearless,” Hannah says back. “Or crazy.”
As she says it, Arney walks up. “Hey, Hannah, how strange is this?”
“Stranger than you think,” Hannah says. “I was with Mary last night.”
Arney looks bewildered. “Last night? That’s not . . .” He starts to walk away, turns back. “When?”
“Near midnight,” Hannah says. “I almost ran her down. She