Killer Ambition - [10]

Bailey badged our way into the principal’s office-which was casually yet tastefully decorated like no public school principal’s office I’d ever seen-and explained in as little detail as possible that we were there on official business that didn’t involve any student misconduct. The principal looked confused, but he was cowed enough not to ask questions. He gave us the run of the school grounds. Bailey and I moved outside the building, where we wouldn’t be overheard, and I called Mackenzie on her cell.

Raising my voice by at least an octave, I said, “Hey! Where’ve you been? I been lookin’ for ya!”

“At the track,” Mackenzie huffed, out of breath. “I gotta make up-uh, is that you, Jess?”

Bingo. I’d managed to sound like her buddy Jess. Whoever that was.

“What?” I asked. “You’re breaking up…” I pretended we got cut off and ended the call. “You see the track?” I asked Bailey.

“Dead ahead.”

Bailey led the way as we trotted quickly toward the track, which was just behind the principal’s office on a big, well-tended field. Luckily, there was only one girl running laps with a cell phone in her hand. She was average height, about five feet five, but her long, gangly frame made her seem taller. And it was clear that running was not her “thing.” Her legs flailed out at the knees and her hands flopped as she bounced down the track, and even from the distance of one hundred feet, I could see she was red-faced and winded. Of course, in this heat even a strong runner would be boiling. When she neared us, I flagged her down. “Mackenzie!”

She didn’t respond at first, and I noticed she had earbuds on, so I waved my arms and called to her again. She glanced at me but didn’t immediately stop her slow, ungainly jog until Bailey held up her badge. That got her attention. She came to a dead halt, eyes bulging, as she pulled out her earbuds. Though Mackenzie was sweating, she blanched and almost stumbled as she moved toward us.

“Come on, sit over here.” I gestured to a shady section of the bleachers. Mackenzie watched us warily, but she followed us without a word and sat down. “We need to talk to you about Hayley. We’re looking for her.”

An expression of alarm crossed Mackenzie’s face. “What happened?”

“That’s what we need you to tell us, Mackenzie,” Bailey said, in her stern “just the facts, ma’am” voice.

“I-I already told the officer last night. I don’t know anything-”

I positioned my body so the sun wouldn’t blind me and looked at her steadily. “But you two were together on Thursday. You went to Teddy’s with her. And we know you were staying with her at Russell’s house in the hills.”

At the mention of their night at Teddy’s, Mackenzie swallowed so hard I could practically hear the gulp. The fact that I already had that much information hinted that I knew a great deal more, and as I’d intended, it rocked Mackenzie’s bearings. Now was the time to offer reassurance and gain some trust. I shook my head. “We’re not here to bust you for clubbing. We just need to know when you last saw Hayley and whether anything…unusual happened.”

Mackenzie worked her jaw silently for a moment, absorbing this. “I…you’re right, we went to Teddy’s on Thursday. But I went home on Friday morning. I haven’t seen her since then.”

“Will anyone at home verify that? Your mom-”

“My mom’s dead.” She tried to make it sound flat, casual, but the strain in her voice undermined the effort.

Thus Maria’s observation that she was the “sad one.” “I’m so sorry, Mackenzie,” I said gently. She didn’t look up, so I moved past it quickly to give her an escape. “Your dad. If I call him, he’ll say you came home on Friday?”

“Yeah.” Her unstudied monotone told me it was true. “I had to go home. I had a job interview at a plant nursery called Pretty Maids on Melrose. You can check if you don’t believe me.”

“I believe you, Mackenzie. Did you two hang out with anyone new at Teddy’s?” I asked.

Mackenzie frowned, then shook her head as she tucked a hank of her long, straight brown hair behind her right ear.

“Did your boyfriends go to Teddy’s with you?” I knew better than to think that any boyfriends were along for that ride; bouncers are a lot more reluctant to let fake IDs pass for guys than for girls. But I was fishing for information about any guys who might’ve had access to Hayley.

“I don’t have a boyfriend…”

I took a shot in the dark. “But Hayley does. Was he there?”

“No.”

Though I didn’t want to scare her off by getting too pushy, I was starting to lose my patience with this choppy exchange. “Listen, Mackenzie, you must’ve figured out that something serious is up. A cop showed up at your house last night and now we’re talking to you. Obviously Hayley’s not in school and no one seems to know where she is. As far as we can figure, other than her dad, you’re the only one who’s seen her since Thursday. So it’s very important that you tell us whatever you know, whatever you saw, that might help us find her. Understand?”

Mackenzie stared over my shoulder. She looked frightened but, oddly, not shocked. She knew something she wasn’t telling, that much I was sure of.