Page 25 of All He Sees
Nicky and Ken both frowned. Ken raised his eyebrows at Nicky.
“Richter?” Nicky asked.
“Oh, yes, you might not know of Him. Richter is our deity at the church. He is all-knowing, you see.”
Nicky blinked. This girl was very strange, that much was clear. “You don’t worship… God?”
“It’s not a typical religion we follow,” June said. “You might find it odd. But Richter is growing in popularity. I promise you that. Everyone will know Him soon!”
Right… Nicky was getting the sense this was some sort of strange cult, not a church. "Be that as it may, Ms. Phillips, we have to do our jobs and find out what happened to Mira."
"Oh, don't worry about it," June said. "I mean, it's hard to accept, but it's true. I believe in Him.”
"I see..." Nicky said, pressing her lips together. She wasn't sure what that had to do with anything. "Well, with that in mind, we'd like to ask you a few questions about Mira. Would that be all right, Ms. Phillips?"
There was a moment of silence. "I guess that would be okay."
"How would you describe your relationship with her?"
"Oh, we were very close," June said. "We're very, very different: she was a social butterfly, I'm a homebody. She was really outgoing, and I tend to keep to myself. She was also very, very beautiful, and I'm... well, I'm not. We really just had different personalities. But I loved her. I still love her."
"I'm sorry to ask this," Nicky said, "but I have to know--did she ever go on dates? With guys, I mean."
"Oh, sure," June said. "She dated all the time. She was pretty, you know. She was very popular."
"Why was she popular?" Nicky asked, trying to lead June along. "What kind of guys would date her?"
"Oh, anybody," June said. "She was beautiful, and people loved her. She was really good at making friends."
"So, she was popular with everybody?"
"Wait," June said, "would you like me to go down the list of boys she dated?"
"Sure," Nicky said.
"Well, there was her first boyfriend, Danny. He was a jock. He was a lot like her, popular with all the girls and that kind of stuff. But he broke up with her and that hurt her, so she was a little bit mean to him the next time we saw him. He was pretty hurt by that. Then there was Trevor; he was the musician. Very cool guy. They dated for a few days and then he broke up with her because he thought she wasn't serious about the relationship. There was also Alvaro, the nerd. He was a real sweetheart. Bit of a pushover, but he--"
Overwhelmed by June's rambling, Nicky cut in: "Oh, no, June, that's okay. I don't need to know about every boy. Just any who she might have dated here in Vale."
"Oh!" June said. "Nobody here in Vale. All of those guys were back in New York."
So, it was irrelevant. Nicky sighed, trying to keep her temper in check, but this was leading nowhere. She expected Mira's sister to be more concerned about her whereabouts and willing to help, but this felt bizarre.
"Okay, thank you," Nicky said. "So, you can't think of anyone who might want to hurt Mira?"
"Not off the top of my head, no," June said.
"Good. And I'm sure you heard about Mira's neighbor, the one who said she heard a scream at about five in the morning. Was it typical for Mira to be up at five a.m. on a Sunday?"
June let out a laugh. "Oh, goodness me, yes--but Mira wouldn't have been at her house at that time. Oh, no, she would be at church."
Nicky paused, sharing a confused look with Ken. "Church?"
"Of course!" June exclaimed. "Mira was a saint. She would go early every Sunday to help prepare for worship. She never missed it. In fact, she wouldn't have missed it for the world."
Nicky took this in. The timeline still matched up--Mira was last seen on the night of the 17th, by her boss at a clothing store downtown, who claimed Mira went home that night as she always did. As far as the police were aware, no one else had seen Mira. It was reasonable to say she went missing on the 18th. But maybe what the neighbor had heard really was nothing.
Maybe Mira went missing from an entirely different location.
