Page 91 of The Teacher
“So it’s possible,” she presses me.
“I… I don’t know.” I rub my eyes with the balls of my hands. “I’m sorry, Detective. I didn’t sleep well last night, worrying about Eve. It’s hard to think straight at the moment.”
She gives me a sympathetic nod. “All right then. I can give you some space.”
I want to fall down on my knees and thank God that this woman is leaving. My temples are starting to throb, and I need a long, hot shower.
“I’ll come back later,” Sprague adds.
“Oh,” I say weakly. “Yes. Okay.”
“Or would it be better for you to come down to the station instead?”
The idea of walking into the police station makes me physically ill. “I’ll be home all day. You can come by.”
Detective Sprague gives me one last look, and Iknow that look. She is onto me. Her gut is telling her there is more to this situation than I have let on, but unfortunately, she has no proof. And without that, there is absolutely nothing she can do to me.
Chapter Seventy-One
ADDIE
I hatethe way my mother keeps looking at me.
She’s been looking at me that way ever since I got picked up outside Mr. Tuttle’s house. Actually, to be fair, she’s been looking at me like that ever since my father was found in a crumpled pile at the bottom of our stairs. She didn’t understand why I wasn’t more sad that he was dead. And then a few days after the funeral, she said to me,I thought you were planning to study at home that night. Isn’t that what you told me?
It’s like she knew. She knew I was the one who pushed him.
And now she knows I have something to do with Eve Bennett’s disappearance.
Avoiding her eyes, I grab my coat and head outside. It’s supposed to rain tonight, and now it’s just a bit of drizzle. I put up my hood to keep the moisture out of my hair, but the tiny freezing raindrops still smack me in the face. It’s uncomfortable, but it also feels good, if that makes any sense.
There are a couple of online news stories about Mrs. Bennett’s disappearance, although I’ve only taken a few peeks. It’s hard to read what happened. I got a few text messages from some kids who never had any interest in being my friends before, trying to pump me for information. And one more text message from Hudson:
Are you okay?
I don’t respond to any of them.
I wonder if Hudson talked to the police about what he knows. He promised he wouldn’t say a word to anyone, but that was before he knew he could be an accomplice to a serious crime. I wouldn’t blame him, honestly.
As I’m walking a couple of blocks from my house, I notice a black car slowing down beside me. I walk a little faster, ducking down my head, and the car matches my pace. Oh God, what now?
The car pulls up along the sidewalk just ahead of me. The engine cuts out, and for a moment, I wonder if I should make a run for it. And then Detective Sprague climbs out of the car. I’m still thinking maybe I should make a run for it.
“Addie!” she calls out.
I stop, because I think you have to when a police officer tells you to do that. I stand there in the drizzling rain, my hands shoved into my pockets, but I don’t say anything.
Sprague darts around the side of her car so that she’s standing face-to-face with me. I’m not exactly tall, but she has to tilt her head to look up at me. “Addie,” she says. “I’d like to talk to you.”
“My mom says I’m not supposed to talk to you if she’s not there.”
“Right.” The detective nods. “That’s good advice. But I just want to talk to you off the record. This is important, because I’m trying to find Eve Bennett. I’m worried something bad has happened to her.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I keep my mouth shut.
Detective Sprague doesn’t have a hood, so the drizzle is getting in her black hair. She doesn’t seem to notice or care. Her dark brown eyes are laser focused on my face. “I found out that Nathaniel Bennett was your English teacher.”
That seems like a harmless question, so I nod.
