Page 49 of The Fall Back Plan
“Well enough to kick her out of my bar the day before she decided to accuse me of being some doll weirdo.”
Slocum and I exchange looks. That does cast Sloane’s report in a different light.
Slocum pulls out her notebook and a pen. “Can I ask why you kicked her out?”
“Because she’s awful?” Jolie’s tone says she can’t believe Slocum even has to ask this.
“Did she say or do anything in particular that night that led to your invitation to her to leave?”
I have to fight a smile at Slocum’s phrasing. She’s very good.
“Sloane Oakley is still mad I beat her for valedictorian. She worked hard enough to be the salutatorian, but I guess she thought she deserved the crown. In high school, she never missed a chance to harass me about something. My appearance. My address. She stopped in the other night with her coven and decided to relive those memories. I decided not to.”
Her coven. She’s killing me. Even Slocum’s lips twitch.
“Where were you between midnight and 7 AM this morning?” Slocum asks.
“Home. I left the bar around 10:45 and didn’t come back until this morning.”
That’s not great. Since she lives alone, she won’t have anyone to corroborate her story.
“You can check the log on my security alarm,” Jolie says. “I have to arm and disarm it when I come and go. It’ll match up.”
I want to cheer.
“That would do it.” Slocum makes a note before tucking her notebook into her jacket. She hands Jolie a business card. “If you could notify your alarm company to email the log to me, it’ll save us a lot of time on this end. Otherwise, I can make a formal request with a warrant if you prefer.”
It’s not a threat, and Jolie seems to sense that, nodding. “Thank you, detective. I’ll have it sent over.”
Slocum nods and leaves, pulling the door shut behind her.
That’s when it feels safe to smile. “I knew you didn’t do it, by the way.”
This doesn’t seem to thrill her. In fact, she looks even more frustrated than before. “Great. That’s three of us plus anyone who actually knows me.” She holds up her phone. “That only leaves everyone who sees this post suspecting me. What’s that saying? That a lie can travel around the world in the time it takes the truth to put its shoes on?”
“You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“You don’t get it.” She stands and paces to the wall where a large map shows the different patrol districts. “It doesn’t have to be true for it to cause me problems. I can’t even go to the library now.”
“The library?” I don’t see the connection.
She turns to look at me, twin spots of color high in her cheeks. “I was on my way in to tell Mrs. Herring that I would be happy to volunteer. She wants me to teach an adult financial literacy class, and I don’t really want to do that. It would have to be at night, and I’m usually going to be at the Mockingbird. But I could be free in the afternoons and be there for homework help when kids come in.”
I didn’t need any more proof, but those aren’t the words of someone trying to terrorize small children in town. “That’s a great idea, McGraw.”
She shoots me a sharp look. “You can call me Jolie. And itwasa good idea until this post showed up.” She shakes her phone. “Who’s going to want to send their kids for tutoring with someone who’s been accused of a weird preoccupation with little girls and matching dolls?”
I grimace. “Yeah, okay.”
“This sucks, Lucas.” She jams her hand through her hair and turns back to the map. I think she doesn’t want me to watch whatever she’s feeling play out on her face. “I left Harvest Hollow because I felt like I didn’t belong here. I was a loner kid, and I didn’t fit anywhere or with anyone. I thought I’d go live a different life where I could find my place.”
She slides her hand from her hair, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it in anything but perfect condition, every strand in place. Now there are bumps and stray locks of hair, and I want to go over and smooth them. Anything to make her feel better right now, because under her anger, I hear the hurt. I wonder how many people in her life have known to listen for it?
Without turning around, she slips her hands into her pockets and continues. “I came back to Harvest Hollow because of a breakup, if you can believe that.”
“What happened?”
She takes a long time to answer. “I built this whole life in Chicago where I thought I belonged.” She flashes me a small but real smile and sits again. “The weirdest part was that even though Ry is the only person I’ve stayed in touch with here, all I wanted to do was come back to Harvest Hollow. I don’t know why. But I couldn’t let go of it. Every day, I’d show up to work and think about how much I didn’t like it. I’d walk into my overpriced condo and think how it didn’t look like me. After about a month, I felt like I was climbing the walls everywhere. The office. Home. I decided I was done.”
