Page 101 of Another Girl Lost

“How could you not know?”

“I just don’t. When it’s right, I’ll know.”

“Can I see it?” she asked.

A knot coiled in my gut. “Sure.” I drew back the cloth, careful not to disturb the newly retouched eyes. With Tiffany standing beside me, Della’s image didn’t seem to hold as much sway over me.

She stared at the painting for a long moment.

“Do you recognize her?” I asked.

“Kind of. Maybe.”

I swallowed, refusing to be excited. “Did she come into the diner?”

“Yeah, maybe. Once with Tanner.”

My heart pounded. “You’re sure?”

“I’m not sure about anything. But I feel like I know her,” Tiffany said.

“Her name was Della. She’s the one that lured me into Tanner’s van.”

Tiffany leaned in until she and Della were inches apart. “She was never found.”

I folded my arms over my chest, refusing to allow Tiffany’s half-hearted sighting of Della to matter. “No. Everyone tells me she’s not real.”

“I think she was,” Tiffany said.

My fingers curled into loose fists. “Do you remember the last time you saw Della?”

Tiffany shook her head. “A few months before you came into the diner. Spring, but I’m not exactly sure.”

“How could you remember her? It’s such a busy place.”

“I don’t know.”

“But you always noticed Tanner and who he was with.”

“That’s probably why I kind of remember her.”

Here I was holding on to the maybes of a woman coming off a drug high. “Did the cops ask you about Della?”

“I think so. I don’t remember.”

Ten years ago, the cops’ number one suspect was dead; his house destroyed, taking with it all the forensic evidence; and I’d been rescued. Case closed. Time to move on. “Okay.”

“Maybe you should ask his old girlfriend. She might have seen her.”

“Lynn?”

“Yeah. Tanner and Lynn came in the diner a lot. She seemed tight with Tanner.”

“Why do you remember Lynn?”

“I was jealous of her. I kept wondering how a guy like him wanted to be with a plain woman like her.”

Swallowing anticipation, I asked, “You said they were tight? How so?”

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