AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"If you were so close to Jenna, did you notice anything in the days and weeks leading up to the day she died?" Phoebe attempted to casually glance around the coffee shop, but there was no sign of Jenna. "Was my sister acting strange? Did she say anything that would have caused you to think that she might have been in trouble?"
Ethan shifted in the chair until his right elbow was resting on the cushioned arm. He frowned as he stared down at the coffee in his hand.
"Ethan?"
"Others might say Jenna was acting strange, but that was only because she thought that I still had feelings for someone else," Ethan reluctantly admitted as he glanced away from the camera to focus on Phoebe. "Look, I dated someone from my freshman year to my junior year. We broke up that summer because I wanted to get away from this town, and she wanted to stay here with her family. Ironic now that I think about it."
"Why did Jenna suspect that you still had feelings for this girl?"
Ethan rubbed a hand over his beard again, and Phoebe recognized the habit for what it was—a nervous tick.
"I convinced Jenna that she was the only one, but Simone made it difficult."
"Simone?"
"Simone Langley."
"The same Simone who owns the tattoo parlor here in town?"
"The one and the same," Ethan replied with a crooked smile. "We don't really talk to one another anymore. Not after I accused her of following Jenna around, and making it seem as if we still had something going on between us. Simone denied it, of course. It got ugly, I'm not going to lie." Ethan must have realized how Phoebe had taken his description of said confrontation. He leaned back in the chair and looked directly at the camera. "Simone wouldn't have hurt Jenna, though. Simone couldn't even stand to watch me fish back then."
"What would have caused you to think Simone had been following Jenna around town?" Chloe asked, lowering the camcorder just enough so that she had a good view of Ethan. "Did something happen?"
Phoebe wasn't sure if it was the topic of conversation or the Chai tea, but it had suddenly become stifling hot inside the coffee shop. She pulled at her scarf until it was lying on the seat beside her before she unzipped her jacket. Maybe Jenna wasn't going to make an appearance right now.
"You're going to take this the wrong way, and you shouldn't," Ethan warned after he had taken a drink of his coffee. He wiped the remaining moisture from his bottom lip. "Jenna mentioned that she thought she was being followed one day. At first, we were worried about you."
Ethan had pointed his index finger at Phoebe.
"Me?"
"Yeah." Ethan tilted his head as if Phoebe should understand his response. "You were only sixteen years old, and you had just gotten your driver's license. Jenna used to say all the time how you told your parents everything. She thought if you saw her with me, you would go straight to your father."
Ethan was right, because Phoebe had always been the so-called good one. When she had told her parents that she had stopped having visions of Jenna, neither her mother nor father had ever questioned such a declaration.
"To clarify," Chloe said, bringing everyone's attention back around to the topic at hand, "You're saying that Jenna thought she was being followed before drowning in a pond, and you didn’t think to say anything to the police?"
"Yes," Ethan responded before emphatically shaking his head. "No. I mean, Jenna thought she was being followed by someone, but I figured out it was Simone. There was no need to say anything to the police. It wasn’t like that. At all."
"Does that mean Simone admitted to being the one trailing Jenna around town?"
Ethan's lack of reply had Phoebe thinking back to last night when Chloe had caught someone watching her apartment from across the street. Chloe had been sure the figure had been that of a man.
"Didn't Chief Bennett say that Jenna's drowning was an accident?" Ethan said, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from Simone. "I was devastated by the news, too. Life can kick you in the teeth, Phoebe. It's happened to me numerous times. There's nothing you can do but absorb the blow."
Phoebe wanted to scream at Ethan that no one should take a beating lying down. He had described himself as being angry at life back then. But Jenna must have seen something in him that others hadn't…that their father hadn't…and that kept Phoebe from lashing out at him.
She had stood on the sidelines for over a decade. In those eleven years, a killer had gotten away with murder. She now had a recorded statement that Jenna thought she was being followed, which meant that there was a chance that someone had been with Jenna at the pond that day. That someone had waited until Jenna was alone before killing her.
Phoebe motioned for Chloe to stop recording, which she did by collapsing the side and storing the device in her purse. Phoebe reached inside her pocket for her cell phone, pulling out a business card that she kept behind her driver’s license.
"Here. This is my contact information. I appreciate you talking to us, Ethan. If you can think of anything else, please call me."
Ethan took the card, not looking at the information as he slipped it into the front pocket of his jacket. He continued to stare at them expectantly, and Phoebe realized that she had promised him money in exchange for an interview.
"There's an ATM up the street." Phoebe grabbed her scarf off the seat and stood, waiting for Ethan to do the same. Chloe already had her purse slung over her shoulder. "I'll go and withdraw your cash for the interview."
Phoebe turned to exit the coffee shop, but she was brought up short. She came to an abrupt halt when Jenna suddenly materialized, standing directly in front of the door. She wasn’t focused on Phoebe, though. Her sister’s lifeless gaze had landed on Ethan. As her bluish lips began to part, the silence of her plea resonated louder than any uttered word.
