his fingers beneath the metal mailbox affixed to the front of the house. Using duct tape, he had secured an extra house key beneath the mailbox in case of an emergency. But there’s nothing there now. He dips his head and twists his neck to get a better look.
Nothing but a sticky residue left behind by the tape. Thomas doesn’t think that Tess would have moved the key. She never misplaced her set, always putting them in the exact same place. That left Jordyn. She kept her key on a lanyard in her book bag but rarely had to use it because Thomas or Tess was almost always home.
Thomas had carefully gone through Jordyn’s book bag and didn’t remember seeing the key there. Had Jordyn taken the lanyard with her on her overnight at Cora’s? Yes, he had reminded Jordyn to take it with her because he had planned to run into Grayling on Monday morning and wasn’t sure if he’d be home when Jordyn returned from Cora’s house. Had Jordyn used the extra key to let herself in the house early Monday morning? And if so, what happened to her own key?
Thomas knocks on the front door, embarrassed that one of the officers has to let him inside his own home. “I just did laundry. I can get you those clothes,” Thomas says as if this was the plan all along. He tells himself to show no hesitation.
As if inconvenienced, he stomps up the steps trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his knees as the officers trail close behind. He goes into Jordyn’s room to find the dresser drawers are open and her clothing is strewn around in untidy piles.
“In here,” Thomas says, opening the closet. He scans the hangers. “I think these are the ones that she wore the other night.” Thomas removes a hanger from the closet and holds it out to the officers.
“Mr. Petit,” Officer Porter says, “please just point us in the right direction and we’ll take care of it.” He holds up his gloved hands to remind Thomas that his granddaughter’s clothing has become evidence.
“Oh, right,” Thomas says, appropriately contrite. “She wore that T-shirt hanging right there.” He points to a long-sleeved white T-shirt that looks like half a dozen others that Jordyn wears. Deputy Porter pulls it off the hanger and tucks it into a plastic bag. “Now—” Thomas turns toward the half-open drawers with Jordyn’s socks and underwear trailing out of them like entrails “—I have no idea which of those Jordyn wore. I think you’re going to have to take them all.”
Deputy Porter slides his eyes to the sheriff’s deputy who was assigned to assist with the collection. “What about the jacket?” the deputy asks.
“Jacket?” Thomas asks.
“Yes,” Officer Porter says with exaggerated patience. “The jacket she was wearing in the photo. It was light blue...”
“I haven’t seen it,” Thomas says. “Maybe she left it in her book bag.”
“And where might that be?” Thomas senses that Officer Porter is losing patience.
“Jordyn said she dropped it the other night, on her way home from Cora’s house. She was really upset when she realized she didn’t have it. Her social studies book was inside.”
“How does someone lose a book bag?” the deputy asks as two large sweat stains appear beneath his arms. The room that once smelled like his granddaughter now is stuffy and smells of body odor and gun oil. Thomas feels his chest constrict and he longs to open a window. “Wouldn’t she realize she wasn’t carrying it?” the deputy gripes.
“I don’t know,” Thomas says. “Maybe she set it down to tie her shoe and forgot to pick it up.”
“Speaking of shoes,” Deputy Porter says. “Where are the shoes Jordyn was wearing Sunday night?”
“On her feet,” Thomas says shortly. “She only has that one pair of tennis shoes.”
Deputy Porter looks into the closet and sighs. “We better take them all, just in case.”
“In case what?” Thomas snipes, forgetting for a moment that it isn’t wise to antagonize the people who just arrested his granddaughter.
“In case there is blood or other evidence on the bottom of them,” the deputy shoots back as he begins to gather each pair of Jordyn’s shoes and place them in evidence bags.
“So you’re telling us Jordyn’s book bag and fleece jacket are not in this house?” the deputy challenges.
“No, they are not,” Thomas says, matching his tone. “I wish they were because they would tell you everything you need to know. Jordyn had nothing to do with