Milo smiled. “Detective Riley? Yes, he did tend to get a little distracted.”
“I never felt he was really paying attention. Anyway, that’s where Agnes worked. I was just thinking about her on Christmas. Because Shawna’s birthday was December twenty-eighth and I knew her mom must be going through hell. I would’ve invited her to my parents’ house, but we all went to Hawaii. …”
“What did Mrs. Yeager do at the Hilton?”
“Cleaned rooms. She needed something so she could stay in L.A., and she couldn’t find any decent waitress jobs. The U let her stay in a grad student dorm for a few weeks, but then she had to leave. She didn’t know the city at all, almost ended up near MacArthur Park. I told her to stay as far west as she could, and she found herself an apartment near La Brea and Pico—Cochran south of Pico.”
“So she stuck around.”
“For a few months. Maybe she moved back home—I don’t know.”
“Back to Santo Leon,” I said.
“Uh-huh.” She rolled the pen between her fingers.
Milo said, “So the last time you saw Shawna was that night she said she was going to the library. Remember what time that was?”
“I think I said eight-thirty. It couldn’t have been too much earlier ’cause I was out with Steve—my ex-boyfriend.” Tiny smile. “He had football practice until seven, and I used to pick him up and we’d have dinner in the Coop and then he’d walk me back to the dorms. Shortly after I got back, Shawna left. I studied for a while, went to bed, and when I woke up she still hadn’t returned.”
“Was the library a usual place for her to study?”
“I guess.”
“You’re not sure?”
The hand clutching the pen tightened. “In the papers—the campus paper mostly—they said no one remembered Shawna in any of the libraries. Trying to make out like Shawna had lied. But the libraries are huge, so what does that prove? I had no reason to doubt her.”
Footsteps and laughter caused her to gaze down the hall. A group of people in suits passed, and someone called out her name. “Hey, guys,” she said, flashing the sunny smile, then turning it off as she faced us. “Is that it?”
“When Shawna left was she carrying books?”
“She’d have to be,” said Mindy.
“She’d have to be?”
“Even if she wasn’t telling the truth about studying, she would’ve covered herself, right? I mean, with no books, I’d have said something. And I didn’t. So, sure, she must’ve had books. I would’ve noticed if she hadn’t been.”
“Logical,” agreed Milo. “But do you specifically recall seeing books?”
Blue irises bobbled. “No, but. . . why do you doubt her?”
“Just trying to collect as many details as I can, ma’am.”
“Well, no way I can give you details after all this time, but the logical thing was she had books. Probably psych books. That’s all Shawna read, she was really into it—psychology, medicine. All she did was study.”
“A grind,” I said, remembering the phrase she’d used with Adam Green.
“Not in a dorky sense. She was just serious about her grades. . . . Do you think she could still be alive?”
Milo said, “Anything’s possible.”
“But unlikely.”
Milo shrugged.
Mindy shut her eyes, opened them. “She was so beautiful.”
“If Shawna did make up the story about going to the library, what do you think she was covering for?”
“I don’t think she was covering, and if she was I wouldn’t have the faintest.” The pen slipped from her grasp. She moved fast and caught it.
“Could she have been hiding the fact that she had a boyfriend?” said Milo.
Mindy licked her lips. “Why would she hide that?” “You tell me,” said Milo gently.
Mindy edged away from him. “I have no idea.”
“Did Shawna have a boyfriend, Ms. Jacobus-Grieg?”
“Not that I knew.”
Milo consulted his pad. “Funny, going over the file, I copied down something about a boyfriend. . . . For some reason I thought that came from you.”
“No way. Why would I tell anyone that?”
“Must be a mistake, then. Oh, well.”