The Bone House Part 7

Troy grunted and pushed himself off the wall. He put down his empty bottle of root beer and left the room without a word. Tresa's eyes followed him, and Cab thought his first impression about the two of them was correct. Tresa didn't like her sister's boyfriend.

Cab sat down at the interview table opposite Tresa and gave the girl a rea.s.suring smile. At nineteen, Tresa still had a naive way about her that made her look younger than she was. She was extremely skinny for her height, which made Cab wonder if she had an eating disorder. She played with her straight red hair between her fingers and stared vacantly at the wooden table. Her pretty blue eyes were rimmed in red, and her face was marked with streaks of tears. Talking with her earlier, Cab had found her to be painfully shy, a loner without a support network of friends. He'd offered to ask some of the other dancers from River Falls to stay behind with her, but Tresa hadn't given him a single name of someone who was close to her. It was also obvious in her answers about her family that her sister Glory got most of the attention from their mother. Tresa, who was clearly artistic and smart, had been left to live in her own world.

'I know it's been a long day,' he told her. 'I appreciate you being patient with us. It probably seems like we cover the same stuff over and over, and you know what? We do. But that's usually how we find the details that help us figure out what really happened.'

'Do you have any idea who did this to Glory?' Tresa asked. Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

'I wish I could say yes, but we don't, not yet,' Cab admitted. 'I'd like to make sure that we haven't missed anything important. OK?'

Tresa nodded without enthusiasm. 'OK.'

'You came down on a university bus from River Falls with the rest of your team last Monday and Tuesday, is that right? And Troy and Glory drove down from Door County on Tuesday and Wednesday?'

'Yes, they took turns and drove straight through,' Tresa answered. 'They got here around ten o'clock Wednesday morning.'

'Did anyone else from Door County come down at the same time?'

'No.'

'Did Glory and Troy bunk with you in your room?'

'Uh huh.' She added quickly, as if her mother were already listening, 'Glory and I shared the bed, and Troy took the couch.'

Cab noticed the girl fidgeting. She was hiding things, and she wasn't good at it. 'Tresa, I need to know who your sister was, even if there's stuff that wasn't so good. Understand?'

Her eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean, teenagers do things that their parents don't always know about. I don't care about that. I just need to know if Glory was involved in anything that might have gotten her into trouble. See?' 'Yeah, I get it.'

'So it doesn't matter to me who slept in what bed, but I would like to know if Glory and Troy were having s.e.x while they were here.'

Tresa hesitated. 'What difference does that make?'

'Maybe none at all,' Cab admitted, 'but I need to get the whole picture.'

'OK, yes.'

'You know that for a fact?'

'Yeah, I came back from practice once, and they were in bed together.' Her tone was pinched and unhappy.

'You sound like you didn't approve,' Cab said.

'It wasn't any of my business.'

'Did you not like the idea of your little sister having s.e.x, or did you not like the idea of her having s.e.x with Troy?'

Tresa shrugged. Her grief couldn't overcome years of sibling rivalry. 'Glory's been having s.e.x since she was thirteen.'

'With Troy?'

'No, Troy's just the latest.'

'What about drugs?' Cab asked.

'Yeah, Glory liked to do gra.s.s. That was her, not me. I'm not into it; 'OK. How about this week? Did Glory use any drugs while she was here?'

Tresa nodded. 'She and Troy scored some on the way down. I told her not to use it in the room, because I didn't want to get in trouble. But I smelled it. I told Troy to get rid of it, but I don't know if he did.'

'You don't like him, do you?'

'Who, Troy? He's OK, just dumb. He's a stupid puppy dog, and Glory liked to yank his chain.'

'Was it serious between them?'

'He thought it was, but I don't think she did.'

'Did you see Glory with anyone else while she was at the hotel? Did she hook up with any other boys?'

'Not while I was around, but I wouldn't put it past her either.' Tresa lowered her eyes and looked guilty. 'I shouldn't talk like that. I'm sorry. You must think I'm a s.h.i.+tty sister.'

'No, I don't. I asked you to be honest with me.'

Tresa nodded. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

'Would Troy get jealous if he saw Glory flirting with someone else?' Cab went on.

'You mean, would he hurt her? I don't think so. Troy's a big kid, but he's a wuss. Everybody treats him like dirt.'

Cab thought that was an interesting comment. In his experience, when you poked the bear long enough, eventually it poked back. 'When you woke up early this morning and Glory wasn't in bed, was Troy in the room?'

'Yeah, he was zonked out on the couch, snoring away.'

'Was he there all night?'

'As far as I know.'

'Could he have left and come back without waking you up?'

'I don't know. I guess. I don't think he did, but I can't be sure.'

'Let's start at Sat.u.r.day night and move backward, OK? I know we've covered some of this before, but bear with me. Was Glory in your room when you went to sleep?'

Tresa sighed. 'No. Last time I saw her on Sat.u.r.day, she was swimming in the hotel pool. That was around nine o'clock. I went back to the room to read. Troy came back about half an hour later by himself, because he wanted to watch a movie on HBO. I crashed around eleven thirty, and Glory wasn't back yet. Troy had already fallen asleep in front of the TV.'

'Were you worried that Glory hadn't come back?'

'No. Glory stays out late a lot.'

'Was she hanging out with anyone else at the pool?'

'Not while I was there. There were a few girls from the various teams in the water. Some guys, too. Glory didn't know any of them, but I don't know what happened after I left.'

Cab nodded. They were still trying to identify the other teenagers who'd been in the pool on Sat.u.r.day night, but so far, they'd had no luck. 'You told me earlier that Glory was acting strangely on Sat.u.r.day.'

'I guess so. Yeah.'

'Describe it again for me, OK?'

Tresa rubbed her eyes with both hands, fighting off exhaustion. She looked upset. Kind of angry, too. She snapped at Troy a lot during the day. I wasn't really paying attention. I was upset, too, because I choked during my performance on Friday, so I kept to myself that day. I just figured Glory was p.i.s.sed off because we had to go home, you know? No more sunny Florida, back to dreary cold Wisconsin.'

'Did she say anything to you about what was bothering her?'

'Glory wouldn't do that.'

'What about on Friday? How did she seem to you then?'

'During the day, fine.'

'And at night?'

Tresa shook her head. 'I don't know. I didn't see her in the evening. I mean, I saw her right after I blew it in the compet.i.tion, but I didn't want to talk. She gave me a hug, but I needed to get out of there. I don't know what she did after I split. I went off on the beach by myself, and I didn't get back to the room until real late. She was already in bed.'

'Was Troy with Glory at your performance on Friday night?'

'Troy? At a girl's dance show? No way.'

'Where was he?'

'In the room, I guess.'

'I talked to a hotel employee who saw Glory at the event center on Friday night,' Cab told her. 'He said she ran past him, and she was crying, and she looked scared. Do you have any idea why?'

'I already told you, no no,' Tresa insisted. She twisted the loose fabric of her T-s.h.i.+rt into a knot, and her eyes grew teary again. 'Don't you think I'd tell you if I knew what happened? When I left her, she was fine. I was the one who was upset.'

Cab eased back in the chair, his long legs stretching out, his arms behind his head. He watched the girl in front of him, and he thought about all of the messes, insecurities, fears, jealousy, pettiness, and traumas of being young. There were so many nicks and cuts that felt deep even when they were shallow and left scars that you could pick at years later. To him, Tresa looked like a typical teenage girl, screwed up in all the ordinary ways, but looks could be deceiving.

He brought his arms back on to the table and leaned forward. 'Tell me about Mark Bradley,' he said.

Tresa recoiled in surprise. 'What about him? How do you know about him?'

'It doesn't matter.'

'Troy told you, didn't he? That stupid jerk.'

'I know Mark Bradley and his wife were here at the hotel this week. I know you and he have some history together.'

Tresa pushed her chair back, physically adding distance between them. 'That was all a misunderstanding.'

'He was a teacher accused of having an affair with a seventeen- year-old student.'

'It didn't happen like that!' Tresa retorted. 'G.o.d, all of you are so stupid. No one listened to me. No one believed me.'

'He lost his job.'

'Yes, and it was my fault!'

'Are you in love with him?'

Tresa's face flushed. She tugged at her dirty red hair. 'That's none of your business.'

'Mark Bradley was at your performance on Friday night, wasn't he? Is that why you didn't do well? Did it make you nervous having him there?'

'I choked. The pressure got to me. That's all.'

'What was Mr Bradley's relations.h.i.+p with Glory?' Cab asked.

'None. There was no relations.h.i.+p.'

'Did Glory believe that you and Mark Bradley were having an affair?'

'No! That was my mother. That was all her stupid idea.'

'Did you or Glory have any contact with Bradley this week? Or with his wife?'

Tresa shook her head fiercely. 'No. I didn't even know he was there until I saw him on Friday. We didn't talk to each other.'

'Are you protecting him?' Cab asked.

'From what? He didn't do anything.' She hooded her eyes and stared at her lap. 'Are we done? I need to find my mom.'

'Sure. I understand. You can go.'

Cab watched her as she gathered up used tissues from the table in her fist and left the room. Her face was a pouty mask. He realized that he'd reached a roadblock with Tresa anyway. The girl was shutting him out. What frustrated him was that he still didn't know a thing about Mark Bradley, and he didn't have any evidence about the man, only rumors.

He was an enigma. Was he an angry predator with a predilection for teenage girls or an innocent victim?

Maybe Glory Fischer, drunk, s.e.xually promiscuous, had met Mark Bradley on the beach on Sat.u.r.day night. Maybe it was an accident or a deliberate rendezvous.

Maybe.

If Glory did meet him, what happened next?

Chapter Nine.