Page 75 of The Amendment

“I’m fine,” she assured me. “If you want to sit as well. I just have a few questions to go over.”

“That sounds…serious.”

She clicked her pen, pulling out a notepad. “When was the last time you saw Chris Henson?”

“Um, I don’t know… It’s been a while. Over a year, probably. As I said, my daughter dropped dance class and that was really the only time we saw him.”

She pursed her lips as she wrote. “Do you ever recall seeing Chris getting into heated arguments with the parents? Were there any incidents or parents that stand out to you as particularly disagreeable?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Everyone loves him. He’s always been great with the girls. Lots of private sessions… He’d take them out for ice cream after practice.”

Something lit up in the detective’s eyes, and I knew Iwas onto something. She pursed her lips, scrawling a note onto the paper in her hands.

“And did your daughter ever mention anything to you about him behaving inappropriately? Maybe something he said or did? Did he ever text your daughter about practice or…anything like that?”

My eyes widened with apparent shock. “No, never. She was sad to stop going, honestly. And she’s only eleven, so she’s just recently gotten a cell phone. She only texts her friends. Why do you ask?”

She jotted down something else, ignoring the question.

“Can you tell me what’s going on? Please? Sh-should I be worried?”

“Right now, I can’t say much. But if you do hear from the coach—”

“Wait, if I hear from him? Can you not find him? Maisy mentioned that he’d left, but I just thought she meant vacation.”

“I’m afraid right now we haven’t been able to locate him or his girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?”

“Joanna St. James. Do you know her?”

“The name doesn’t sound familiar…” I pretended to search my memory.

“Okay, that’s okay. It’s Chris we really need to find. Apparently, no one has seen Chris in about a month, but Joanna was last seen by family and friends two weeks ago.”

“Oh no. Do you think they could be in danger?”

Her jaw tightened. “Right now it’s an open investigation,so we’re exploring all our options. The most important thing is that we’re able to get in touch with Chris as soon as possible regarding a few allegations.”

“Allegations? What do you mean? Is he in trouble?”

She gave me a patronizing grin. “Again, I’m not at liberty to say, but if you do hear from him, could you call me right away? You have my number.” She pointed toward the business card still in my hand.

“Yes. Of course.” I stared at it.

“And if your daughter mentions anything…”

“Yes, we’ll call you right away. Do you need to speak with her?” I winced internally as I offered.

Please say no.

Please say no.

“That won’t be necessary. I think I’ve taken up enough of your time.” She placed the notepad and pen in her jacket pocket and stood. “Thank you for talking with me.”

“Of course. And if there’s anything I could do, just let me know. I’m the manager of a bank downtown, so I know quite a few people around here. I could ask around, see if anyone’s heard from him.”

If it was possible, her expression softened even more. I was a bank manager, not a killer. It was obvious I couldn’t pose a threat to anyone.

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