Page 34 of Missing White Woman

I hesitated, not sure if Ty would want just anyone in his business. “Let’s hold off. You said I should get my stuff tomorrow. Have you heard anything more? From your friend in the police department?”

“They’re looking for the murder weapon.”

I jolted. As much as I’d thought about the body, I’d figured Janelle was pushed. I hadn’t attached a murder weapon to the tragedy.

“And of course they’re anxious to talk to Ty,” she said.

“He didn’t do anything,” I said.

“Maybe, but he needs to tell them that. The whole thing is just strange. How she got there. Why she was there. Your boyfriend disappearing.”

I couldn’t explain any of it, but still I tried. “Like you said, we woke up to a stranger in our house. Ty would want to protect me. Maybe he chased the killer off. Couldn’t get back inside. What if he’s hurt somewhere? What if he gets hurt?” I flashed on the body. “He wouldn’t kill anyone, Adore. Especially not like that. I know he wouldn’t.”

“Bree, I have to be honest. It sounds like you don’t really know Ty that well at all.”

I didn’t want to say what I was thinking: that she was right. “We both know I haven’t always been the best judge of character,” I said. “But Ty’s not you.”

Again I was stunned at my anger. I would’ve sworn I’d let it go a decade ago. Adore didn’t say anything for so long that I was surprised when she did. “I shouldn’t have said that.” It wasn’t an apology, but Adore had never been good at those. “You’re scared. I’d be scared too if I woke up to a strange person dead downstairs. Want to protect myself first and foremost.”

“I just feel helpless. Like I’m sitting here doing nothing. I should go back. There’s a Black woman who lives on the street. Maybe she saw something. Saw him.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“I don’t have much of a choice.”

“The police are still there,” she said. “You don’t need to be anywhere by there, especially not talking to neighbors. I’ll reach out to Randle. Arrange for us to get your things first thing tomorrow morning. But for now, why don’t we just sit here and eat while you wait for Ty to call back. The press conference should be soon too.”

I’d already forgotten the woman at the front desk had mentioned it. My throat contracted at the mere thought. “Are they going to mention our names?” I finally asked.

She shrugged. “If they wanted to arrest you, they would have at the house. I heard they’re focused on footage from one of the neighbors’ Ring cameras.”

I got excited. “From this morning?”

“Last Monday night around 10 p.m.”

That got me even more excited. Monday at 10 p.m. I was in Baltimore. Ty was at a hotel. “What time does the press conference start?”

ELEVEN

When I got back from the bathroom, Adore was right where I’d left her on the couch. She’d figured out how to turn on the television while I was gone. She had it on mute so a solemn Black male news anchor mimed words as one sentence scrolled below him at the bottom of the screen.

Police scheduled to have press conference about body found in Jersey City.

But she wasn’t looking at the television, instead staring intently at her cell.

I still remembered the excitement when I’d found out we were both going to Morgan State. That I’d know someone—Adore at that. As a sheltered suburban girl, I always had been fascinated with her. This girl who would come to school every day all the way from DC. She seemed so worldly. I was jealous. It was only after I got to know her that I discovered she was jealous of me as well.

She was my first-ever roommate. Our mothers moved us in on the same day, meeting for the first time. I still remember the way my mom’s lip curled when Adore’s mother told her they lived near the Benning Road Metro station in DC. I didn’t fault Adore for never telling anyone else.

Her mother had been as excited for Adore to go to Morgan as my mother had been disappointed. Adore because she was the first in her family to go to college. My mom because I’d chosen a “Black school” even though it was relatively close to home. My mother had hated the very thought—wanting me to go somewhere Ivy League even though my grades made it clear I could never get in. But for the first time, I’d stood up to her.

Adore and I first bonded about not having fathers—mine had passed away when I was ten and Adore had never known hers—but then eventually we found more things in common. She had an adventurous streak that I got secondhand. Adore was always the friendly one. Always the one who got us invited to parties and lunch tables. We shared the bond that comes from becoming adults together. Making mistakes. Figuring out how to fix them. I learned more from her than I did from most of my professors, and vice versa.

A lot of my friends changed after my arrest, but if I were being honest, Adore’s reaction hurt the most. I’d never fallen out with a best friend before. And though I had friendships after, there were none like I’d had in college. My arrest and plea bargain had made me keep myself closed off—dare I be judged and once again rejected.

Staring at her now, it shocked me how much I still remembered about someone I hadn’t spoken to in over a decade. She was still making that face, the one I used to joke was putting on her Thinking Hat. It had gotten us out of many a problem in college, like the time we missed the bus back from Classic weekend in Atlanta with an exam at 8 a.m. Monday morning. We’d made it. Passed the test too—Adore with a much higher grade than me. She’d always gotten so serious when the hat was on, and, just like back then, I found myself wanting to lighten the mood. But I didn’t. We weren’t going to fall back into old roles. No matter how much Adore wanted us to.

“What happened?” I said, then didn’t let her answer. “You heard from Ty. He’s okay?”

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