It was a sullen question. But even as she asked it, she started to move toward the car. Molly smiled at her as they walked across the street.
“I got sick of being a movie star,” Molly said.
Chapter Seventeen
Molly was in the backseat. Carla sat in the front seat with Jesse.
“Do I have to talk with you?” Carla asked Jesse.
“Not yet.”
“Shouldn’t I have a lawyer or something?”
“You’re not under arrest,” Jesse said. “We just need to know about your sister Billie.”
“You think she’s dead?”
“Yes.”
“Can’t you tell if it’s her by looking?”
“No.”
Carla was silent.
“So why do you think it’s her?”
“The young woman we found was wearing Hooker Royce’s class ring on a chain around her neck,” Jesse said.
“Does Hooker know where she is?”
“I talked with him on the phone,” Molly said. “He doesn’t.”
Carla’s face was pinched, and there was a tightness around her mouth. But Jesse saw no sign of tears.
“What happened to her?” Carla said.
“Someone shot her,” Jesse said, “and put her body in a lake.”
“Jesus,” Carla said.
“Yes.”
All three of them were quiet, listening to the air-conditioning in the unmarked police car.
“Do my parents know?” Carla said.
“Only what you heard me tell them,” Jesse said.
Again the soft sound of the air-conditioning. Across the street the kids were back to hanging out, but most of them looked regularly over at the car.
“Who did it?” Carla said.
“Don’t know,” Jesse said. “We’re still trying to identify the body.”
“You’re just a bunch of hick cops anyway,” Carla said. “You’ll never find out.”
“Do you have a family dentist?” Jesse said.
“Of course.”
“What’s his name?”
“Dr. Levine. Why?”
“It might help us identify the victim,” Jesse said.
“Can’t you just use fingerprints?” Carla said.
“Do you know where Billie is?” Jesse said.
“No.”
“When’s the last time you saw her?”
Carla shrugged.
“When’s the last time she was home?”
“They kicked her out right after school ended.”
“Your mother and father kicked her out?”
“Yes.”
“Because?”
“They said she was a druggie and a whore.”
“Was she?”
Carla shrugged again.
