Page 19 of M for Murder

‘Thursday. That’s almost a week ago. How come you didn’t report her missing before, Mindy?’

‘I went home for a long weekend.’ Mindy chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I knew she hadn’t come back on Friday morning before I left, but it’s not unusual for her to stay out all night. I just didn’t think anything of it.’

‘When did you get back to campus?’

‘Not until last night.’ She glanced up at Hickok. ‘That’s when I started to get worried about her. When I came up to the room it looked as though she hadn’t been in here since I’d left. I asked around, but no one could remember seeing her at all, so this morning I reported her missing.’

Hickok nodded. ‘Okay. So, last Thursday when you last saw her, where was she?’

His questioning was blunt and to the point. Not exactly the way Rebecca would have approached the situation, but she watched with interest.

‘We were here, in the room,’ Mindy told them. ‘I was packing, and Emma was getting ready to go out.’

‘She had a date?’

‘I’m not sure if it was a date or not. She said she had to go meet someone.’

Hickok glanced fleetingly at Rebecca. ‘Was it a guy?’

‘I don’t know.’ Mindy was thoughtful for a moment. ‘She’s been seeing a guy for the past few weeks,’ she said eventually. ‘Maybe it was him.’

‘Who is this guy?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You’ve never met him?’

‘No.’

‘And Emma has never told you anything about him?’

Mindy shook her head, a blank look on her face.

‘Not really. I know that she really liked him, though.’

‘Did she mention if he went to college?’ Rebecca asked.

‘No, she said he was older.’

‘Older as in middle-aged?’

‘No, just older than us. Emma likes older guys and, like I said, she told me that she really liked this guy.’

Hickok had his notebook out and was busy scribbling. ‘Do you know where Emma was planning to go on Thursday night?’ he asked.

‘She wouldn’t tell me.’

Hickok rolled his eyes, looking agitated. ‘Seems to me that Emma doesn’t like to tell you much considering that you two are supposed to be best friends.’

Tears started to well in Mindy’s eyes. She looked hurt by the comment. ‘We are best friends.’

Rebecca scowled at Hickok, wondering if he actually had a sensitive side. Somehow she doubted it.

She turned to Mindy. ‘The guy that Emma has been seeing, do you have any idea where she met him?’ she asked gently.

‘She said that she first got together with him at The Coven,’ the girl answered, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Though I think she might have already known him before that.’

‘The Coven?’ Hickok repeated.