Page 38 of In the Bones
“Mrs. Patten gave us a list of Angelica’s friends last year,” Kenneth told Tim. “We interviewed them all, but none had information on where she might be.”
Drawing a breath, Tim said, “We found a woman squatting in the house where Angelica’s body was hidden. We think she may have known Angelica, and now I’m wondering if she might have gone along with her that weekend.”
Claudia’s eyes widened. “What’s her name?”
“Jenny Smith is what she told us, but that may be an alias.”
“An alias! That sounds so … so …” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “This woman, is she the one who did this?”
“We’re still gathering information,” Tim replied, opting not to tell the victim’s mother that Jenny had escaped custody. Instead, he did his best to describe her, agonizingly aware that the characteristics he was using to paint the picture—red hair, brown eyes, around five foot five and one hundred fortypounds—could have described hundreds of other young women in the city.
Claudia looked suddenly lost, as if the surreal nature of the situation had finally seeped into her mind and short-circuited the wires. “I just don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know all of Angelica’s friends. She has photos, though.”
“The collage.” Kenneth’s head had snapped up from the notes he’d been reviewing on his phone. “That was really helpful last summer. Angelica made a collage on her bedroom wall. Is it still there?” he asked Claudia.
“It is. She updated it with new pictures quite often. I can show you.”
“I’d appreciate that, ma’am,” Tim said with a tender smile.
Angelica’s room was at the end of the second-floor hall, the décor consistent with the era of the historic house. On the wall opposite her huge four-poster bed stood a heavy bird’s eye maple dresser, above which the collage bloomed like a multicolored cumulus cloud.
The photos seemed to date back to high school, if not later, but there were plenty that looked more recent too. Up until then Tim had only seen Angelica’s driver’s license photo, which hadn’t come close to capturing the effervescence he saw on the wall. Angelica Patten had been attractive, with a triangular face, well-defined cheekbones, a cute little chin. Based on her evolution from child to adult, she’d been a petite brunette. Narrow shoulders, an impossibly tiny waist. She’d looked young on her college graduation day, and Tim suspected that, even in her mid-twenties, she’d been carded every time she set foot in a bar.
“I should have asked more questions,” Claudia said as Tim scanned the faces of people, as many boys as girls, who’d starred in Angelica’s too-brief life. “I would have, but Bill always said we should let her be. I’ve been having a hard time since he passed, and last summer … I wasn’t as present as I should have been.”
Tim couldn’t fathom how this woman, this mother whose only child had gone missing shortly after she’d lost her husband, had survived the past year. Where had she found the strengthto come into this room day after day and face a visual reminder of her daughter’s absence? Tim’s stomach was doing something he couldn’t make sense of. It felt like the early stages of food poisoning. His gut churned like a bucket of fish.
“She had an interview lined up with a marketing company downtown.” Claudia Patten’s voice wavered. “They seemed really interested. She was so excited. Oh God, why did I leave that weekend? Why didn’t I just stay home with her?”
Tim’s body spasmed and he gritted his teeth against the pain.Why can’t I just stay home with her?he’d said to Shana, again and again.
“This isn’t your fault, Mrs. Patten,” said Kenneth. “She was a grown woman with her own life, like you said. We’re not giving up on finding who did this to her, I can promise you that.”
For the first time since his daughter’s birth, Tim didn’t want to think about the two-year-old he’d left behind—but suddenly he saw Darcy’s face, right there on the wall. She was older; this was his kid two decades from now, but her hair was still red above soft gray eyes and curled candy-apple lips. It was Darcy.
Except it wasn’t. The face was familiar for a different reason. He’d spent an hour staring at it just two days prior, in Mikko Helle’s great room.
Tim was looking at Jenny Smith.
“Her.” He pointed at the photograph. “Do you know this woman, Mrs. Patten?”
She came closer, and froze. “Oh,” she said, her tone darkening. “That’s Molly. She works at Wins. But that can’t be who Angelica went away with.”
Tim turned to face Detective Kenneth Strada, whose mouth had tipped into a frown that deepened the hollow in his chin. “I interviewed all of her coworkers myself,” he said, retrieving his phone once more. “There was a Molly, yeah … Molly Kranz. She told me she’d shared some shifts with Angelica, but that they didn’t hang out much.”
“It can’t be her,” Claudia repeated. “Angelica knew I didn’t like her spending time with Molly.”
“Why was that?” Tim asked.
The woman sighed. “There was a day, early last summer. Angelica and I were watching a movie. It was late, after midnight, and Molly came here, to my door. She’d been drinking, that was obvious. She wanted to stay over, said she’d had a fight with a boy and was scared to go home. Angelica set her up in the guest bedroom, but I didn’t like it. I hadn’t heard a car—how did she even get to our house? She was acting … I don’t know. Shifty. The whole thing felt suspicious. In the morning she was gone again before I even came downstairs, but later, when I went to get my purse, there was money missing from my wallet. Close to a hundred in cash.”
Tim was listening closely. Thinking. He could tell by the look on Kenneth’s face that this was the first he’d heard of the story.She had a big friend group, Claudia had said. Molly was one of many, so it hadn’t come up when the investigation began. “Is there any way your daughter could have taken the money?” Tim asked.
“No. She knew I’d give her money if she asked for it. My purse was hanging right by the front door, in full view of that girl when she was leaving. I asked Angelica about it. She got very upset. She didn’t want to believe her friend would steal from me, but I knew better. After that, I told Angelica I didn’t want her spending time with Molly. I really don’t think she would have gone behind my back on that.”
“There’s something you should know,” Tim said. “The woman we apprehended in that house? We believe she broke into multiple homes in the area too. Every one of those homeowners reported items missing.”
“Oh my God.”
