“How did Audrey react?”
“She stormed out of the room and left.”
“Do you think Audrey was keeping a secret?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s possible she saw something she shouldn’t have or knew something she shouldn’t have, and someone murdered her because of it.”
A man exited an office, narrowing his eyes at Colton as he said, “What did you do with the wrench?”
“Check the desk. I may have left it there when I went to answer the phone.” The man nodded, and Colton turned toward me. “I need to get back to work.”
“One more question. When was the last time you saw Audrey?”
He blinked, going quiet, and for a moment the two of us stood there in silence.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s something.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I do. I just don’t want to get myself in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Trouble with the law.”
“I’m not the law. I’m a private investigator.”
“Doesn’t mean you won’t snitch.”
“Unless it’s something major, like you confessing to Audrey’s murder or having any part in it, your secret’s safe with me.”
He glanced outside at a man who had just pulled up in a shiny blue truck.
“My boss is here,” he said.
“Then we better make this quick.”
He took a deep breath in and said, “I’m older than I look. I’ve had to repeat a couple of school years more than once.”
It was a confession, but I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.
“And?” I asked.
“I’m twenty-one. If I get caught at parties with my classmates from school, I’d be seen as contributing to the delinquency of minors.”
“Is this your way of saying you were at one of those parties and you witnessed something?”
“Not witnessed. Overheard.”
I leaned in closer. “I’m listening.”
“I was coming around the corner, and I saw Audrey huddled in the corner with Logan. They didn’t see me when I walked by, but when I did, she said something to him about worrying she wasn’t safe. Then she said if she wasn’t safe, he wasn’t safe either.”
Hearing his words, it felt like everything had just tightened around me.
If Audrey was right, and someone ended her life to keep their secret from being exposed, I now understood why Logan had vanished.
