Page 65 of My Child is Missing

Deflection, distraction. He was buying time, Josie thought. She said, “Mr. Jenks, please come with us.”

More knuckle-cracking. He looked behind them, out at the parking lot. “I really don’t think—”

“Now,” Josie said.

He stared at her for a beat and then gave a half-shrug. “Sure, okay. But my car is blocked in.”

Noah smiled. “We’ll give you a ride.”

“Uh, sure, okay. Let me get my shoes. Hang on.”

FORTY-TWO

Unlike Henry Thomas, Asher Jenks was not at all relaxed inside the interview room, even after Josie and Noah offered him food and drink. He sat in the same chair that Thomas had occupied less than a week ago, legs spread, elbows resting on his thighs. This time, Josie could actually hear his knuckles cracking. Every few seconds, he shifted, turning the chair and pulling it up to the table, putting his elbows on top of it. Below the tabletop, his heels bobbed up and down.Crack, crack, crackwent his knuckles. Josie sat next to him, Noah across from him. She read him his Miranda rights. When she asked if he understood them as she had read them, he said, “Whoa! Am I under arrest or something?”

“No,” said Noah. “We’re here to talk.”

“Do I need a lawyer though?”

Josie said, “Do you think you need a lawyer?”

“I don’t know. I was just at home chilling and you guys showed up and brought me here. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Would you like a lawyer?” Josie asked pointedly.

Crack, crack.He looked around the room, shifted in his chair, and then met her eyes. “I haven’t done anything wrong, so no.”

Noah said, “Do you understand these rights as we’ve read them to you?”

“Yes,” Asher said.

Noah pushed his phone across the table. A photo of Kayleigh Patchett filled the screen. “When is the last time you saw Kayleigh?” he asked.

Asher gave the photo a brief glance.Crack, crack.“On the news. I saw her on the news. You brought me here to talk about some kid who went missing?”

“She was abducted,” Josie corrected. “Asher, we know that the two of you were seeing each other.”

He narrowed his eyes and laughed. “Seeing each other? Did you guys get drunk at the bar before you came up to my place? Isn’t this kid sixteen years old?”

Josie said, “You know exactly how old she is, Asher. We know that the two of you had some sort of relationship. We found photos of you on her phone.”

He shook his head. Crack, crack, crack.“Nope. Not possible. I never met this kid in person. I’m sorry she’s missing and all, but I don’t know anything about that.”

Josie looked over at Noah. The silent communication took only seconds. They wouldn’t show him the photos. The truth was that there was nothing in any of those photos that could definitively prove that Asher was the person in them. Noah went for their ace. “We’ve got a year’s worth of messages between you and Kayleigh on StoryJot, Asher. Or should we call you Ajax2733?”

He didn’t respond this time.Crack, crack.He pushed the chair away from the table, all the way to the wall, and leaned back in it, lacing his fingers together across his stomach. Josie inched her chair closer to him. “Asher, I understand that you don’t want to admit to having a relationship with a minor, but we already know that you were dating Kayleigh Patchett when she was abducted. You can lie to us as much as you want but right after I leave this room, I’m going to go to my desk and prepare some warrants. We’re going to search your home, your car, your electronic devices—all of it. I think we both know what we’re going to find, so let’s cut the shit. Make this easy on yourself and start telling us the truth.”

Crack, crack.He pushed his rear end back so that he was sitting up straighter. The back of his skull pressed into the wall.

Noah said, “Asher, what do you do for a living?”

Surprise at the change in questioning loosened his posture. He seemed relieved to find Noah looking at him from across the table. “I’m a T.A. at Denton U.”

“A teaching assistant,” Noah said, as if he were impressed. “Really? What’s your major?”

“I’m a double major,” he said. “English and Philosophy.”

Josie said, “That pays the rent?”

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