Page 63 of Missing White Woman

I thought about Janelle’s Instagram. The pics of the dogs. “I might know someone who will.”

Luckily, I’d saved Ms. Morgane’s number.

NINETEEN

Ms. Morgane hadn’t gone the revamp route with her row house. Number 106 was still all dark woods and walls, but I liked that it looked like a house meant for people and memories—not something created solely for pretty pictures.

She’d sounded happy to hear from me when I called, immediately inviting us over. The only caveat was to come in through the back. She didn’t have to tell me why. I’d seen the people and the teddy bears and the candles. It would be a while before Little Street was able to morph back from a memorial to a neighborhood.

Adore and I came through the kitchen, each stopping to grab a small bottle of Poland Spring before continuing into the dining room and finally the main living area—Ms. Morgane’s small dog, Chelsea, leading the way like we were on some expedition. The place was clean but cluttered, a heaping pile of half-opened mail in permanent residence on the coffee table. No one spoke until we’d all downed at least two sips of water and then Ms. Morgane kicked things off.

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”

“Well, it’s been a lot.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

She could’ve been referencing anything—finding Janelle’s body, learning Ty had died, having my entire existence upended. I didn’t ask her to elaborate.

“Me too,” I said instead. “I apologize for not contacting you earlier. I know you and Janelle were close.”

She nodded. “I’ll definitely miss seeing her on my morning walk.” She glanced toward the front door. “Whenever I can get back to it. What exactly happened that night?”

I inhaled. “I don’t know.” Then took a long sip. “I was asleep. I just know I came downstairs. Ty was gone and she was there—”

The hair. The hands. The jeans. The blood covering it all.

I looked down but still saw Janelle in front of me.

Adore jumped in. “Bree would like to share condolences with anyone else who was close to Janelle. Like her family?”

Ms. Morgane didn’t answer at first. I could sense her staring but was afraid to look up. Like she’d know I hadn’t done enough. That I’d been more concerned with Ty than with Janelle. Finally, she spoke. “Her parents passed away. One sister, but I only found out about her through the news.”

“What about friends?” Adore said.

“A few. I got the sense a lot of her high school friends had moved away and she was one of the few who’d stuck around. She mentioned a Brenda occasionally, but they hadn’t spoken a lot since Brenda’d had a baby.”

“Exes?” Adore said.

Ms. Morgane shook her head.

Adore kept trucking. “There had to be someone.”

“She never mentioned anyone. Not even Ty.” That made me look up, only to find her still staring right at me. She didn’t look away, not ashamed at all to be caught. It was only then she spoke. “I didn’t know they were seeing each other.”

“Me neither.” I said. A comedian.

No one laughed. Adore just kept on with the cross-examination. “She seemed to spend a lot of time online. Maybe someone there.”

Ms. Morgane finally tore her eyes away from me to look at Adore. “What’s going on? You clearly have an agenda.” She glanced back at me. “If you tell me what it is, maybe I can help.”

I finally was ready to rejoin the convo, my voice tentative yet pleading. “I’m not saying Ty didn’t do it. One thing I realized is that three months is not a long time to get to know someone. I obviously couldn’t tell when he was lying to me. But I also just want to make sure we’re not so focused on him that we’re ignoring other possibilities. That we’re not so quick to condemn, we don’t notice the more dangerous person sneaking out the back door.”

“I will say there hasn’t been much investigating going on, at least not here,” Ms. Morgane said.

“They haven’t spoken to any of the neighbors?” Adore said.

“They chatted with Drew, Krista, Rod and Lori, Jeff and Carl. Basically the folks who live on either side and across the street. Guess that was good enough for them because they didn’t even make it this far down, and I’m only two houses away.”

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