Tori said, “When we were still going it was like…every month and a half, two months.”
“When did you guys stop?”
“After like three times,” said Bethany. “We all have full-time jobs, need to chill at the end of the day, and that wasnotchilling.”
I said, “Hard work.”
Tori said, “You come home after a full day’s work andthenyou have to get dressed up, put on full makeup, drive over there, stand in line, and give them your name to prove you’re on the list. Then once you’re inside you can’t eat because you could get a stain on your dress. You could drink but not too much because you’re there to look hot and not lose control.”
“Props,” said Bethany, shaking her head. “First time it was kind of fun. Chanel on Rodeo. We saw George Clooney and his wife. Then it got boring and took up too much chill-time.”
I said, “Marissa kept enjoying it.”
“Not the thing itself,” said Tori. “She enjoyed thinking she might meet someone who could help her.”
More tears.
When they subsided, I said, “What else can you tell us about Marissa?”
“She grew up pretty religious. Was pretty but her mother dressed her really plain. When her mother was living, they went to church.”
I said, “When did her mother pass?”
“Like…five years ago. Right after graduation. She was a nice lady, Mrs. French. Audra. She worked as a hostess at a restaurant, that’s what Marissa grew up eating. What her mother brought home.”
“Her dad—”
“He died when she was a baby, she said she had no memory of him.”
Milo said, “We need to contact her family. We’ve been told about an aunt.”
Tori said, “That’s the only person we know. She’s in…I think Stockton. Wherever that is. Don’t know her name, just that she’s one of you.”
“A police officer?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Anyone else?”
“Uh-uh.”
I said, “Marissa didn’t know her dad.”
“Nope,” said Bethany. “Maybe that’s why she really didn’t like guys. Said she didn’t trust them. That’s why it’s crazy. Trustinghim.”
“Bet you she was shining him on,” said Tori. “Wanting to see if he could help her and if she found out he couldn’t, she would’ve walked. If he hadn’t O.D.’d her, she could’ve totally controlled the situation. So what’s going to happen to him?”
Milo said, “It won’t be a happy ending.”
“Well, that’s good,” said Bethany McGonigal. “Bad thingsshouldhappen to bad people.”
—
We walked them down the stairs and out to the street, watched as they hurried to the visitors lot.
“Nice kids,” he said. “Too bad I didn’t learn anything from them.”
I said, “The part about an absent father could’ve made her vulnerable to O’Brien. Same for what they told us about Marissa distancing herself from real relationships.”
