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JESSICA STOOD AS THEY approached. Given our recent conversation, I wondered if I should remain seated. I thought I might appear rude. I stood, being careful to keep my intimidation and imposing shadow in check.
“I'm Drew, and this is Jessica,” I said.
Four pairs of eyes looked us each over for a beat. They seemed neither intimidated by me nor like they were standing in an imposing shadow. Good for the present situation, but I'd need to practice later to make sure I wasn't going soft.
“I'm Madison. This is Olivia, Savannah, and Haley.”
Madison wore the same Taylor Swift concert shirt as in the picture. Olivia wore a PINK shirt. I wasn't sure if that was the pop singer or Victoria's Secret line of clothing. Savannah and Haley wore shirts from either Old Navy or the Gap. I wasn't sure about that either. All four wore skinny jeans.
“You look older in person,” Savannah said to me.
Ah, the brutal honesty of youth.
“The picture on my website is a few years old,” I said. “But like wine, I get better with age.”
No reaction. Clearly not my crowd.
“Where did you sit for the concert?” Jessica said to Madison as she considered the Taylor Swift shirt.
Yep. That's Jessica. Saving my bacon right out of the gate. I at least deserve some credit for having the foresight to invite her along.
“Like around the fifty-yard line,” said Madison. “Pretty awesome seats.”
The other girls nodded their heads in agreement.
“Best. Show. Ever.” Olivia said.
“And there was that cute guy who was hitting on you,” Savannah said to Olivia.
“He was soooo cute,” Haley said. “He totally wanted you.”
“Sounds like it was a fun evening,” I said. “But we don't want to take up too much of your time.”
The four teens looked at me. Buzzkill.
“Thank you for meeting with us,” Jessica said.
“Whatever,” Madison said. Her attitude cooled now that we were no longer talking about Taylor Swift or cute boys.
“Please, have a seat,” I said.
The girls each took a seat around the table. Jessica and I sat back in our chairs.
“So you're a real private detective?” Savannah said.
Perhaps a thaw was underway.
“Yes,” I said. “We both are. Jessica works for a large investigation firm in Boston. I am self-employed.”
“So you couldn't get a job at Jessica's company?” Haley said.
So much for the thaw. My credentials being questioned by a high school senior.
“Drew could work anywhere,” Jessica commented in defense of her man. “He chooses to work for himself. In fact, he was once an agent with the FBI.”
“Why did you leave the FBI?” Olivia said.
How did this become about me?
“Were you fired?” Madison said.
Now they were tag-teaming me.
“Or did you just wash out?” Savannah said.
Everybody was getting in on the action. It felt like piling on.
“Neither,” I said. “I decided I wanted a change.”
“Mid-life crisis?” Madison said.
“How old do you think I am?” I said. “Never mind. I'm not sure I want the answer.”
“What can you tell us about Tina?” Jessica said to the rescue, again.
Jessica gave me her you're welcome glance. I was at the ready to meet her with my thank you glance.
“What do you want us to tell you about Tina?” Olivia said.
“When was the last time you saw her?” I said.
“We saw her the end of last school year,” Savannah said.
“Before she dropped out,” Haley added.
“She ditched us for her new boyfriend and his friends,” Olivia said.
“Do you have a name for the boyfriend?” I said.
“Aaron,” Savannah said.
So, the boyfriend's name is Aaron. Who knew time at the mall could prove useful? But there you have it, a new piece of information to add to my investigation.
“How about Aaron's last name?” I said.
“Not sure,” Savannah said. The other girls shook their heads.
“He went to a different school than us,” Haley said. “Plus he graduated last year.”
“What’s the name of the school?” I asked. A master detective at work.
The four teens shrugged their shoulders. The universal don't know.
“Any idea where Aaron lives?” Jessica said.
More shrugs from the four teens.
“What about Aaron's friends?” I said. “Any idea who they are?”
“Not really,” Madison said. “Other than their names are Carla and Stewart.”
“Do you have any pictures?” I asked.
“Tina sent us a selfie with Aaron when they first started dating,” Madison said. “Wanted to show him off. We don't have any pictures with Stewart and Carla.”
“Can you send me your picture of Tina and Aaron?” I said.
Madison nodded and then her fingers moved across the screen of her phone. My phone dinged with a new text message. I looked at the attached photo. A selfie of Tina and Aaron on a Swan Boats ride in the Boston Public Garden.
They looked like normal teens. On a normal date. The picture certainly didn't tell the whole story.
Then I noticed the jacket Aaron was wearing in the picture.
“Do you girls recognize Aaron's jacket?” I said as I held up my phone.
The four girls looked at the image on my screen. Madison then glanced back down at her phone. She spread her fingers across the screen to zoom in on the image. She studied it a moment.
“I think it's Hancock Academy,” Madison said.
The other three girls nodded in agreement.
“That, ladies, is what we call a clue,” I said.
Madison, Olivia, Savannah, and Hailey looked at me like I was lame. Secretly, however, I think they were excited to help discover a clue. At least I was sticking with the idea. It made me feel less lame to the teen set.
Perhaps I was gaining traction. “What about Tina's social media?” I said. “Any clues there? I checked Facebook and couldn't find anything.”
Now the girls looked at me like I was an idiot. At best that I was clueless. It’s possible I wasn't exactly on a roll with them.
“Facebook is for old people,” Savannah said. “You know,” she paused a beat, “like you.”
Savannah strikes again. What age did she consider old? Whatever it was, I had passed it.
“Tina was on Instagram and Snapchat,” Madison said. “She doesn't really use her accounts anymore.”
“Could she have new accounts you aren’t aware of?” Jessica said.
“Maybe,” Haley said.
“Anything else you can think of?” I said.
“Aaron likes to take Tina to a club in Boston,” Savannah said. “The Snake something.”
“The Snake Pit?” I said.
“Yeah. That's it,” Savannah said.
She seemed somewhat impressed I came up with the name. Score one for the old guy.
Except the Snake Pit was bad news on many levels.
But I did have new information. The boyfriend's first name is Aaron and he had graduated from Hancock Academy, he had friends named Carla and Stewart, and they liked to frequent the Snake Pit. These were some leads to follow-up on. In detective land that is progress.
“Thank you all,” I said, “you've been a big help.”
“Can you really help Tina?” Madison said. Her voice layered in concern.
“I'm going to do my best,” I said.
I wasn’t confident they thought my best was good enough.
The more I thought about Tina's situation, the more troubled I was with what we had learned. The Snake Pit was no place for a teenage girl to be going. It was no place for any decent human being to be going.
Breaking news that day was a beaten body found in a dumpster in the alley behind the Snake Pit. Not the first time for that particular dumpster. Likely not the last.
The girls showed no awareness of the news, so I didn't bring it up. No need to worry them about Tina anymore than they already were. Perhaps they wouldn't find out. Most teens aren't news wonks.
The girls left and did whatever teenage girls do in a shopping mall. Probably very similar to what Jessica did in a shopping mall. While she got a start at Macy's I called Bonnie with an update.
Unlike our four teens, Bonnie had seen the news. Like any good parent would, she freaked when I mentioned the Snake Pit as part of the narrative. Yes, it was horrible. Yes, the Snake Pit was no place for her daughter to be going. But I did my level best to let Bonnie know it was unlikely the two had anything to do with each other. We agreed to set it aside. At least for the moment.
Bonnie still wanted to confront Tina. Reasonable. Something most parents would do in the same situation. It all made perfect sense to me. Nonetheless, I asked her to hold off.
First, I wasn't convinced Tina would admit to any of it. She already was living with Aaron. It would likely only push her away to the point we couldn't get her back.
After we hung up I let out a sigh. I had been honest with Bonnie about what I learned. I owed her that. What I didn't reveal was my sense of bad mojo emerging with this case.
What I feared was there was more to the story. There almost always was in cases like Tina's. The Snake Pit was an easy place to get into trouble. The kind of trouble Bonnie had been dreading. Maybe even worse.