Page 75 of State of Alert

“No! I told you. We had his house to ourselves. We didn’t leave there. We were… you know… taking advantage of the chance to be alone for once.” She looked at Dunning and then back to Sam. “You don’t have to tell my dad that, do you?”

“I can’t promise he won’t find out.”

She shrugged. “He’s not the one who’d flip out over it and act like I’m the only kid in the world having sex.”

“Your mom would’ve done that?”

Zoe rolled her eyes to high heaven. “Oh God. I can’t even think about her finding out about us having sex. She’d have lost her mind.”

“Is it possible she knew?”

“No way. She would’ve locked me in my room and thrown away the key.”

“That’s an interesting saying.” And it predated Zoe by decades. “Where did you hear it?”

“My mother threatened me with that daily. It was her favorite thing to say when she couldn’t bend me to her will.”

“Did your family seek out any therapy or counseling to help with the conflict you were experiencing?”

“We went to this woman my mom sees for a few months, but it didn’t really help. Mom was unwilling to allow me to grow up and do all the things kids my age get to do as they get older. I’ve had my license for almost two years. She’s let me take the car three times by myself. She wouldn’t even let me get a job so I could make my own money.”

“Did she say why?”

“She wanted me to focus on school.”

“You couldn’t have a job on the weekends?”

“That’s what I said, but she wouldn’t hear of it.”

“Do you know why she was like that?”

“Her sister was murdered years ago, when they were teenagers. My dad told me it really messed my mom up and made her insanely overprotective.”

Sam made a note to look into the aunt’s murder. “Do you know anything more about what happened to her sister?”

“Just that she was walking home from her friend’s house,and someone snatched her. They found her body a couple of weeks later.”

“Where did this happen?”

“She’s from Manassas, so out there somewhere.”

“Was the killer ever found?”

“I don’t know. She never talked about it with us. I only heard about it because my dad told me. He wanted me to understand why she was over-the-top protective of us.”

“Did it help to hear about that?”

“I mean… kind of? I felt bad about her sister, but what did that have to do with me? It’s not like the same thing was going to happen to me or anything. I was just trying to live my life.”

Sam felt incredibly sorry for Elaine Myerson and what she’d endured losing her sister to murder. “Can you see how a trauma like that would’ve made her extra worried about something happening to you?”

“I guess, but she took it way too far. Even my dad said so.” She leaned in a bit. “To you, I sound like a seventeen-year-old brat who didn’t appreciate what she had, but that’s not true at all. I know how lucky I was to have a nice home, plenty to eat, the best of everything and parents that love me. I really do know that. But having a parent who refuses to allow you to grow up and spread your wings makes for a very difficult existence.”

Sam was taken aback by the girl’s sincerity.

“Did you love your mother?”

“I did—and I do. I always will. She was a great person who did so much for so many. She was always volunteering or fundraising for someone in need or taking an elderly friend to the doctor or whatever anyone needed. People knew they could call on her. Even as busy as she was with her work and our family, she’d help if she could. I admired her, but I didn’t agree with the way she treated me as I got old enough to be more independent. I really love Zeke, but she said that wasridiculous. It hurt me, you know? Like, how could she possibly know how I feel?”

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