They Just Don't Know You

Chapter 16

Perrie's POV

Sunday, September 29

I don't realise it's deja vu until I'm in the middle of it. 

When I wander into the kitchen Sunday morning, it doesn't strike me as strange at first that Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain is sitting at our kitchen island. He and John are both on the town council, so I figure they're probably talking stoplights again. Even though it's barely 8:30 in the morning, and even though Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain is listening with a surprising amount of interest to Leigh's long-winded description of her date with Andre last night.

My mother is fluttering around the kitchen, trying to fill cups of coffee that people haven't emptied yet. Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain lets her top his off, then asks, "So you didn't see Ellie at all last night? She didn't call you or text you at any point in the evening?"

"She texted to see if I was coming to the party. But I wasn't."

"And what time was that?"

Leigh scrunches her face up, thinking. "Around...10, maybe?"

"Could I see your phone please?"

The official tone of the request makes my skin prickle. I've heard it before. "Is something going on with Ellie?" I ask.

John rubs a hand over his unshaven jaw. "Apparently she wasn't in her room this morning, and it looks as though her bed wasn't slept in. Her parents haven't seen her since she left for work last night, and she's not answering her phone."

My throat closes and my palms start to sweat. "She's not?"

Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain hands Leigh's phone back to her just as it buzzes. She looks down, reads the message that's popped up on her screen, and her eyes widen. "It's from Jesy," she says, her voice suddenly shaky. "She says she lost track of Ellie at the party and hasn't talked to her since." Leigh bites her lower lip and shoves the phone at Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain, like maybe he can make the text say something different. "I really thought they'd be together. Ellie stays over after work sometimes because Jesy's house is closer."

Dread starts inching up my spine. No. This can't be happening.

Mom sets down the coffee pot and turns towards me. "Perrie, you didn't happen to see Ellie when you picked the twins up, did you?"

Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain looks up. "You were at Fright Farm last night, Perrie?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

"Just to give the Thirlwall twins a ride home," Mom says quickly. But not as though she's really worried that I'm going to get in trouble.

My stomach twists. She has no idea.

Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain rests his forearms on the kitchen island's shiny, swirling black marble. "Did you happen to see Ellie while you were there?" His tone is interested, but not intense like it was when he interrogated Jonnie.

Not yet. 

Five years ago we were in a different kitchen: our tiny ranch, two miles from here. My Dad glowered in a corner and my mother twisted her hands together while Jonnie sat at the table across from Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain and repeated the same things over and over again. I hadn't seen Caitlin in two days. I don't know what she was doing that night. I was out driving.

Driving where?

Just driving. I do that sometimes. 

Was anybody with you?

No.

Did you call anybody? Text anybody?

No.

So you just drove by yourself for...what? Two, three hours?

Yeah.

Caitlin was dead by then. Not just missing. Workers found her body in the park before her parents even knew she hadn't come home. I sat in the living room while Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain fired questions at Jonnie, my eyes glued to a TV program I wasn't watching. I never went into the kitchen. Never said a word. Because none of it involved me, not really, except for the part where it became this slowly burning fuse that eventually blew my family apart.

"I..." I'm taking too long to answer. I scan the faces around me like they'll give me some clue how to respond, but all I can see are the same expressions they always wear whenever I start to talk: Mom looks attentive, Leigh exasperated, and John is all patient forbearance marred only by a slight nostril flare. Officer Oxlade-Chamberlain scratches a note on the pad in front of him, then flicks his eyes towards me in a cursory, almost lazy way. Until he sees something in my face that makes him tense, like he's a cat batting at a toy that suddenly came to life. He leans forward, his brown eyes locked on mine. 

"Do you have something to tell us, Perrie?" he asks.