Page 89 of Another Girl Lost

Tiffany’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”

He deliberately softened his tone. “You went to high school with her. She was a year behind you. She also worked at Mike’s.”

She shook her head. “High school was a million years ago.”

He pulled up a picture of Sandra on his phone. “This is from the yearbook.”

Tiffany studied the picture. “Yeah. She wanted to be a cheerleader.”

“Doesn’t say that in the yearbook.” How many other dreams had Sandy had that died with her?

“She told me that when we were in between shifts. She had big dreams, or some shit like that. And I don’t know what happened to her,” Tiffany said. “Why do you care?”

“I think she was Tanner Reed’s first victim,” Dawson said. “I think he killed her.”

Tiffany’s face paled as she shook her head. “I don’t know about that.”

“If you hung out with her during your breaks at Mike’s, you must have liked her,” Margo said.

“That was a long time ago.”

“Did she think Tanner was cute?” Margo asked.

“We all did.”

“Didn’t he have a girlfriend?” Margo asked.

“Yeah. Sour-faced bitch.” Tiffany’s eyes blinked very slowly, and Dawson knew whatever she’d taken was kicking in. He reached for his cuffs.

“What are you doing?” Tiffany asked.

He clasped a cuff on one wrist. “You’re intoxicated. And we are in public.” He read her the Miranda rights.

“I’m not high!”

“I disagree.”

“You’re a cop, not a social worker.” Tiffany tried to pull free.

He held her arm, amazed that she had a strong pull. “In this moment, I feel more like a social worker. When you sober up, we’ll talk again.”

“Is this a shakedown? What do I have to do to get out of this?”

“Nothing.”

“You want to know more about Scarlett?” she challenged. “She’s been my new best friend for the last couple of years.”

“How did something like that happen?” Margo asked.

“She feels bad. And I let her. She used to give me money—now she just gives me food.”

He walked Tiffany toward his car and opened the back seat door. “You been playing her?”

“Sure. We all need an angle.”

“When she showed up here two weeks ago, what did she want?”

“Got on my ass about getting high.”

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