As they’d hoped, the band was just setting up when Tony and River got to Jimmy G’s. They had to wait for a table since it seemed people got there early so they could hang around after eating and listen to the music. Once they were seated, they ordered sandwiches because they assumed they wouldn’t take long to prepare. Tony was watching the time. He knew River needed to get home by seven. He didn’t want to abuse Hannah’s kindness. River was blessed to have her.
They waited until the band was finished setting up. Then Tony got up and walked over to where Andromeda stood.
“Excuse me,” he said. “My name is Tony St. Clair. I’m a private investigator looking into the disappearance of Chris Stover. I think you went to school with him?”
Andromeda peered at him through heavily lined eyes. “Yeah, I knew him, but I have no idea what happened to him.”
“My partner and I are interested in what occurred the last night he was seen. It was four years ago at a concert you played at the amphitheater in Chesterfield. We just want to talk to you about that night. We won’t take much of your time. We realize you’re getting ready to start soon. Maybe just ten minutes? His mother is trying to find his remains, and we really want to help her.”
Andromeda’s expression softened when Tony brought up Chris’s mother. He’d mentioned her for that very purpose. He hated using Amy’s grief that way, but his main goal was to find Chris.
“Okay, I’ll give you your ten minutes,” she said, “but that’s all. This is the only chance I get to eat before we play.”
“I understand,” Tony said. “Ten minutes. You have my word.”
Andromeda said something to the other members of the band and then followed him back to where River waited. Tony introduced them.
“River?” Andromeda said. “Cool name.”
“Thanks.” She smiled. “Andromeda?”
“Yeah, after the galaxy, not the Greek queen.”
“Got it. Thanks for agreeing to talk to us. Can we get you something to eat or drink? Our treat?”
“I appreciate that, but the club owner pays for our food. I told your partner here that I can only give you ten minutes.”
River nodded. “Okay. He told you why we wanted to talk to you?”
“Yeah. It’s about Chris Stover. Nice kid. I liked him. I was a Goth kid stuck in a school with lots of middle-class kids. Most of them didn’t understand me. But Chris and his friend Kyle were always nice. They’d come and sit with me in the lunch room. I was genuinely upset to hear that Chris went missing. Do you have any leads?”
“Not really. We’re looking through pictures from the crowd that was at the concert the night Chris disappeared. I know you were on stage. I’m hoping you saw something? You had a vantage point no one else had. We heard that a kid they were with that night might have ticked off some people in the crowd. That maybe Chris paid the price for what Jason Needham did or said.”
“That could be true. Jason’s a big jerk. He loved to torture kids at school. I was one of them. I couldn’t understand why Kyle and Chris hung out with him. Eventually, they stopped. I guess they’d had enough. I was surprised to see the three of them together that night.”
“Did you see anyone at the concert who might have been upset with Jason—or with any one of the three?” Tony asked.
Andromeda was quiet for a moment, her eyes shifting right as she tried to dredge up long-forgotten images. “You know, there was this one really weird kid. I noticed him, and unfortunately, so did Jason.”
“What was weird about him?” River asked.
“He was talking to himself. Waving his hands around . . . almost like he could see something we couldn’t, you know?”
“I don’t quite understand,” Tony said.
Andromeda hesitated a moment before saying, “It was like he was being attacked by bees and was shooing them away. Except there weren’t any bees. It was really weird.”
Her description caught Tony’s attention. It was exactly how Chloe had described what had to be the same guy.
She shook her head. “Boy, Jason went after him big time. Chris and Kyle tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t let up. Eventually, they got tired of the way Jason was acting and left him behind.” She frowned. “Look, Jason’s an awful human being, but I’m sure he didn’t hurt Chris. I never saw him get violent. And even though he’s a jerk, I think he cared about Chris and Kyle.”
“We don’t suspect him,” River said. “We’re just trying to figure out who might have been angry with one of the boys that night. We’re trying to follow any leads we can so that we can find out what happened to Chris.”
“I’m trying to remember who was there,” Andromeda said. “That was four years ago. I haven’t thought much about it.” She paused for a moment before saying, “There was a girl who went to our school. I don’t know her name. She was a little overweight. Jason harasses any kid who is a little different. And then there was one of our teachers. I . . . I can’t quite remember his name.”
“Mr. Levellie?” River said.
“Yeah, I think that’s it. I didn’t have a class with him, but one of my friends did. She said he was just a little bit too friendly, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I do,” River said. “He’s been dealt with.”
“If you want my opinion, I think the person you’re looking for might be that weird kid, but I don’t think he went to our school. I probably would have noticed someone like him. After Jason started bugging him, he looked angry. I mean really angry. A friend of mine in the audience said he was walking around mumbling to himself.”
“What was he saying?”
Andromeda sighed. “I’m not sure I can remember.” She was quiet for a moment, her eyes drifting to the right again. “Red,” she said slowly. “She told me he was repeating the word red. There was more, but I really can’t remember what it was.”
“And you have no idea how to find this guy?” Tony asked. “Did you ever see him anywhere else?”
“No, I never . . .” She stopped for a second and her eyes grew wide. “Wait a minute. I did see him once, now that I think of it. I was downtown a few months ago, and I saw him going into a building. I only noticed him because he was waving his arms again. You know, like he was in the park that day.”
“What building was he entering?” River asked.
“It’s that . . . mental health place in St. Louis.”
“The mental health services building?”
She nodded. “That’s it. I remembered him from the concert, but it didn’t seem important at the time.”
“If you had to point to anyone at the concert that night who might have wanted to hurt Chris, would it have been that guy?”
Andromeda was quiet for a moment. “I . . . I don’t know. I mean, I wasn’t thinking about anyone hurting Chris. Jason was the one being a jerk.” She stopped abruptly. “You know, now that you mention it, I noticed one of the other teachers from our school staring at Chris. I’d forgotten about it until now. It’s not like he was giving him a dirty look or anything. It was just . . . strange. I mean, like he was worried about him or something. I thought about mentioning it to the police after Chris went missing but decided I was blowing things out of proportion. I hope I didn’t make a mistake.”
“You said he looked worried about Chris?” Tony asked. “Who was that?”
“His name was Hadley. He taught social studies. I heard he died a couple of years ago.”
Tony exchanged a look with River.
“Andromeda, I’m going to ask you a question,” River said, “and I need you to answer me truthfully. But you have my word this isn’t anything that will get you into trouble, do you understand?”
The young woman’s smile slipped. “I . . . I guess so.”
“We’ve heard a rumor that some of the teachers at the high school were . . . or are . . . dealing drugs to the students. Do you know anything about that? Could Mr. Hadley have been involved?”
Andromeda frowned at her. “Are you asking me that because I’m in a band? Do you think that makes me a druggie?”
“Absolutely not,” Tony said, jumping in quickly before they lost her. “We just think you’re the kind of smart, intuitive person who might have known what was going on at your high school.”
“I’m sorry you took it that way,” River said. “I certainly didn’t mean anything like that.”
The girl studied them for a moment. “Okay. Sorry. I don’t take drugs, and I don’t hang out with people who do. The whole band is against them. Ronnie, our bass player, had a sister who OD’d. She went to that school.” She hesitated a moment before lowering her voice and saying, “He suspects that she got the drugs there. Cocaine laced with fentanyl.”
The FBI was well-versed in the effects of fentanyl. Up to one hundred times stronger than morphine and significantly cheaper to make and ship than most other drugs, many people who died from it never even realized they were taking it.
“Does he know which teachers were involved?”
She shook her head. “He couldn’t prove anything, but he had some suspicions about Mr. Hadley. He would come to our concerts and things. You know, like he thought he was like us. One of the kids. It was weird. They said he died of a heart attack, but I’ve always suspected it might have been drug related.”
“Okay,” Tony said. “Is there anything else that sticks out about that night at the concert? Anything we should know?”
“Are you trying to find out what happened to Chris, or are you going after teachers who might be dealing drugs?”
“Locating Chris is our main concern,” River said. “But it could be related. At this point we’re trying to find any path that might lead us to the truth about Chris. He suspected something was going on in the school. That’s why anything you remember might help us.”
She shook her head slowly. “I really can’t think of anything else, but if I do, can I call you?”
“Absolutely.” Tony reached into his pocket and took out one of their cards. He handed it to Andromeda.
“I’ve got to get going. Can you stay and listen to us?”
“Some other night,” River said. “My mother isn’t well, and the woman who is staying with her has to leave at seven.”
“She’s sick?”
River could have said something benign, but instead she met the girl’s eyes. “Alzheimer’s.”
Andromeda’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. She got up and put her arms around River. “My father has it. I hate it with every fiber of my being. I’m so sorry.”
River’s eyes grew wide, and Tony could tell she was fighting to hang on to her emotions. “Thank you,” she said, her voice choked.
Andromeda let River go and straightened up. “I really will think about this. If I can come up with anything that might help, I’ll definitely call you.”
As she walked away, River cleared her throat. She took a drink of her iced tea before saying, “So what do you think?”
Tony leaned back in his chair. “I think our choices are between the ‘weird kid’ and the teachers. I mean, if they really were selling drugs to students and Chris was on to them . . .”
“What if they found out and decided to silence him?” River finished for him.
Tony nodded. “Tomorrow, I’m going downtown to talk to Arnie. If the bass player’s suspicions are right, the police need to start investigating the teachers at Northridge High School right away. His sister already died of an overdose. So did Jason. We can’t let it happen again. We don’t have time to talk to this Miss Kershaw, because we can’t take a chance that someone else could overdose and die. They need to start with Mr. Hadley. Find out if he really died of a heart attack. Maybe it was drug related. We’ll also give Arnie Chris’s information about the teachers.”
“Will he work with us?” River asked. “I’d like to know if they might be guilty of more than selling drugs. Maybe they threw in a little murder to protect themselves.”
“Arnie won’t keep us out, but he’ll do things by the book. Remember he sent Amy to us in the first place because he wants to find the truth about what happened to Chris. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for the police to finish their investigation before giving us the answers we need.”
River sighed. “But you’re right that we can’t wait. The kids’ lives come first. Amy’s waited four years. I hate to say it, but she may just have to wait a few more months.”