“Thank you for talking with us, Angela,” Mattie said, starting out by giving the teen lots of eye contact, making sure she knew that Mattie was talking directly to her and not to her father. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Angela’s eyes filled, and she looked down at her hands for a moment.
“And I want you to know,” Mattie continued, “that we’ll do everything in our power to find out who did this to your friend. Your talking with us is very important, and I believe you might be able to help us understand some things about Grace that could give us leads. We plan to search for her killer until we find who did this.”
Angela had regained control and was now looking directly into Mattie’s eyes. She liked the teen’s serious demeanor and guessed there wouldn’t be much drama from this one.
Mattie glanced at Stella, and the detective gave her a nod.
“Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt Grace, Angela?”
The girl shook her head. “No one. There’s no one who would want to hurt Grace. She’s one of the most popular girls in school.”
Angela seemed to be having trouble speaking of her friend in the past tense. “Is there anyone who might have been jealous of her? Anyone at all?”
Angela seemed to be looking inward, thinking. “Well, maybe. I mean, some of the girls might be jealous, but . . . well, no one ever acted mean to her out in the open. I don’t even know of anyone acting mean behind her back.”
“Did Grace have a boyfriend?”
“No, not a boyfriend really.”
“Someone she likes, someone that likes her but she doesn’t like him back?”
“Well, she’s liked someone for a while now, but I don’t think he likes her back.”
“And who would that be?”
“Mike Chadron.”
This answer took Mattie by surprise. Chadron had to be at least seven years older than Grace. She glanced at Walker, who looked shocked.
“Do they spend time together?” Mattie asked.
Angela looked at her dad, and he encouraged her with a nod. “Well, at first he was helping her train Belle. And then he told her he was too busy to help anymore and that she’d better stop coming over. I thought maybe he wanted some space, like maybe he thought she was being too intense or something. Grace can be that way sometimes when she decides she wants something.”
“So did Grace quit going over to his place?”
“Yeah, but once she got her driver’s license, she’d spy on him sometimes, follow him places. I told her she was, like, stalking him, and it was ridiculous. But she just laughed.”
Stella leaned toward Angela, tense and direct. In a brassy voice, she asked, “Are you sure they weren’t involved with each other and Grace just didn’t tell you about it? Maybe she kept secrets.”
A look of confusion crossed Angela’s face. She hesitated, appeared unsure of herself. “I, uh, I don’t know.”
The doctor placed a protective arm along the back of the couch behind his daughter’s shoulders. One look at his face told Mattie he wasn’t pleased with Stella’s confrontational approach. She scooted to the edge of her chair, hoping Stella would get the signal that Mattie was supposed to be taking the lead.
“That’s all right, Angela,” she said. “It’s okay for you to stick to telling us the things you know.” Then giving Stella a pointed look, she added, “You can leave the speculation for us to do later.”
Stella raised her hands slightly, as if in surrender, and settled back in her chair.
Mattie tried to get back on track with the teen. “So as far as you know, Grace had a little crush on Mike, followed him sometimes. Did she ever say where she followed him?”
Again, Angela appeared to search her memory. “Not really. Grace thought it was fun, you know, trying to follow him in the car without him seeing her.”
“Did she ever mention following him up into the mountains or anything like that?”
Angela shook her head. “No. Not that I can remember.”
“Did Grace like to drive up to the mountains?”
“I’ve been away most of the summer, and she got her license while I was away. I mean, we talked on the phone all the time, but we never talked about where she was driving her car.”
Stella spoke up again, this time in a more modulated tone. Maybe she’d been listening more carefully to Mattie’s approach. “Angela, do you know if Grace was involved with drugs of any kind?”
Angela looked at the detective, her face remaining certain, sure of her answer. “No, Grace didn’t want to have anything to do with drugs. Her parents would’ve killed her—” Her wan face blanched even more. “I mean, she knows how her parents feel about drugs.”
“And how did Grace get along with her parents?”
Angela’s eyes welled with unshed tears. “Are they doing okay? Have you seen them yet?”
Stella’s voice actually sounded kind when she answered. “No, I’ll be visiting with them this afternoon. I just wondered if Grace got along with them.”
Suddenly, Angela folded forward, put her hands to her face, and sobbed. The vet leaned over his daughter, trying to provide what comfort he could. Mattie could tell how much the thought of the Hartmans’ pain affected them both. She met Stella’s eyes and settled back in her chair, sending her a silent message to wait a few moments.
Soon father and daughter regained control, and he reached for a box of tissues beside him on an end table. “Here, Angel,” he said, before looking at Mattie. “Are we about done?”
“No, Dad. I’m okay,” Angela said, wiping tears and blowing her nose in a dainty way. “It’s just that, well, if you’d met them, you’d know they’re older than most of our parents.” Her lip trembled, and she bit it for a second, struggling to maintain her composure. When she continued, her voice was high pitched and quivery. “She’s their only kid, you know, and they love her so much. They give her everything she ever wants, but she doesn’t act spoiled about it. They just . . . love each other. That’s all.”
Through her tears, the girl glanced at her dad. He hugged her tightly against him with one arm.
Mattie cleared the tightness from her throat. “So from your perspective, they had a good relationship, right?”
Angela nodded.
“And as far as you knew, Grace didn’t use drugs,” Stella added.
“She would’ve told me. She didn’t.” Angela’s eyes moved from the detective back to Mattie. “Wait . . . do you guys think this has something to do with drugs?”
“We don’t know yet, Angela. But what if it did? Do you think there’s anyone, oh say, someone at school or maybe someone out in the community, who might have approached Grace to buy drugs?” Mattie asked.
Angela’s face took on a guarded look. “There’s always kids at school with something.”
“Don’t worry. You probably won’t be telling me anything I don’t already know, Angela. And anything you tell us is strictly confidential, our secret. Are there any kids you know of that are selling drugs?”
Again that guarded look. Mattie could tell the girl didn’t want to be seen by her peers as a narc. “Well, there’s rumors about Tommy O’Malley.”
“Yeah, he’s been on my radar for a while now. I can tell you the kids in his posse, too.” Mattie rattled off a half-dozen names while Angela’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, looking impressed. “So see, I know some things already, but if there’s a chance you could give us a lead we don’t know about and it ultimately reveals who killed Grace, that would be sweet. Can you think of anyone else?”