The Zero Night

20

“Do you know a girl named Delaney Candis?” Serena asked Cat.

The two of them stood next to Serena’s Mustang in a parking lot across from the main library at UMD. Cat was eating a PowerBar, and she had a laptop bag slung over her shoulder. She wore shorts that highlighted her sleek golden legs and a maroon UMD hoodie over her torso. It was a cool, bright afternoon, and the nearby sidewalks were crowded with students and faculty.

A little smile crossed Cat’s lips at the mention of the girl’s name. “Oh, I know of Delaney, that’s for sure. I bet she knows me, too.”

“Why is that?”

“Our calculus prof posts everybody’s tests scores online with a class ranking. She says competition makes us work harder. The first test, Delaney ranked number one, and I ranked number two. That pissed me off, so the next test, I studied my ass off and made sure I beat her out for the top spot.”

“I take it she’s smart?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s really smart. I just want to prove I’m smarter.”

“Have you met her?”

“No, but I tutor one of the guys in class. He’s Delaney’s boyfriend. Or he used to be when they were in high school. Sounds like they don’t hang out anymore.”

“Why is that?”

Cat shrugged. “Don’t know, probably just a college thing.”

“What’s the boyfriend’s name? The one you tutor.”

“Zach Larsen. I’m pretty sure he likes me. That’s why he asked me to help him. And he needs the help. Math is definitely not his subject.”

“What about you? Do you like him?”

“He’s okay, but he’s just a kid,” Cat said, which made Serena smile. “What do you want with Delaney?”

“It’s an old case. I want to make sure I didn’t miss something.”

“You? Not likely.”

“Well, there were special circumstances,” Serena replied. “Anyway, I called Delaney, and she’s supposed to meet me here. I figured I’d see how you were doing first.”

“I’m glad you did.” Cat finished her power bar and crumpled the wrapper. “Hey, I heard about the dog.”

“Elton? Yeah. He went home.”

“Sorry. Is there any chance you’ll get him back?”

“I don’t think so. The whole thing was just — I don’t know what it was. My circuits got fried with Samantha dying, and Elton helped me through it. But that’s over.”

Cat gave her a look that said nothing was over. “You think Stride didn’t tell me? Come on.”

“Fine, okay,” Serena admitted, feeling annoyed that she had to say it out loud. “I had a bad night.”

“Um, yeah. No kidding. Have you called Alice?”

“I don’t need a shrink.”

“It sounds like you need something. Just call her.”

“I don’t need you acting like a shrink, either.”

“Well, fuck that, I don’t care! Who do you think you’re talking to? Get pissed off at me if you want, but I get to be worried about you, all right? You did a cartwheel off the wagon, and the next day you’re over here crapping around with old cases like nothing happened to you. What’s that about?”

“This is my therapy,” Serena told her.

“Sounds more like a river in Egypt to me,” the girl muttered.

“Enough. Knock it off, okay?”

Cat didn’t look satisfied, but in fact, Serena wasn’t in denial about how bad off she was. Or at least, that was what she was telling herself. Working on this case did feel like the therapy she needed. Dealing with the death of Nikki Candis was her mind’s way of dealing with the death of Samantha.

Two mothers, both of whom had failed their daughters.

Two daughters, both determined to protect their mothers. Regardless of the cost.

“What did Stride say when he found you?” Cat asked.

“He was very sweet, which bugged me.”

“What a shock.” Cat shook her head in exasperation. “What the hell is it with the two of you? Was I the only thing holding you together?”

Then the girl shrunk back, as if her temper had carried her too far. “Sorry. That was a shitty thing to say.”

“Yeah. It was.”

“Except I’m not wrong, am I?”

Serena wanted to scream at the girl, but she pushed down her frustration. With Cat. With Stride. But mostly with herself. It had a bitter taste.

“No, you’re not wrong,” she acknowledged wearily. “Jonny and I love each other, but we still don’t know how to rely on each other. I know I should be turning to him for support, and I’m not. But it’s not like he’s asking me for help, either.”

“Are you going to drink again tonight?” Cat asked.

Serena could have lied, but what was the point? “Probably.”

“Just like that?”

“You asked for the truth, Cat,” Serena snapped. “If you don’t want it, don’t ask, okay? I’m not planning to drink, but I know myself. I already want another drink right now. I want a dozen drinks right now. It’s taking every bit of self-restraint I have not to drive straight to a bar from here. So I’m not kidding myself. Yeah, odds are, I’m going to drink tonight. I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions. Even bad ones.”

“You want me to go with you?”

“I definitely do not want that.”

“I’d do it. I’d hold your hair back when you throw up.”

“I know you would, but I’m not dragging you into my disease. Got that?”

Cat bit her lip, as if struggling to find something to say. “At least don’t drive.”

“I won’t.”

“If you can’t call Stride, call me.”

Serena softened. “Yeah. Okay.”

Cat was about to head to the library, but Serena took her shoulder. “Hang on. One more cop question.”

Cat smiled. “Sure.”

“Curt says he solicits UMD girls to go to parties for money. Particularly for somebody named Broadway who runs an illegal gambling racket. Have you heard anything about that?”

“Yes,” the girl admitted.

“I hear it’s good money.”

“Very good.”

“Did Curt ask you to go?”

Cat’s brown eyes flashed. “Yes.”

“I’m going to tear him limb from limb,” Serena said calmly.

“You don’t need to do that. I said no. I told him if he asked me again, I’d cut him off for good. And maybe cut off other things, too.”

“I may still kill Curt.”

“Don’t. He’s not worth it.”

“Have you heard anything more on campus about Broadway? Any rumors about who he is?”

Cat shook her head. “Only that he’s someone you don’t want to mess with. The girls say he comes across as mellow and cool when you meet him, but if you let him down, he’s like January ice.”

When nearly half an hour passed after Cat went into the library, Serena began to think that Delaney Candis had decided to skip their meeting. Then she spotted a girl getting out of a blue Highlander SUV in the library parking lot, and she recognized Delaney from the investigation two years earlier.

The teenager had grown up in the time since then. She was very attractive, with a willowy build and slightly messy brunette hair down to the middle of her back. She wore a white-and-yellow blouse and what looked like a Ragstock skirt in a sunny shade of orange. Her brown eyes reflected a keen intelligence, so Serena wasn’t surprised to hear that Delaney was in a battle with Cat for the top spot in class. In pictures, Serena had also seen the girl wearing a warm, magnetic smile. But looking at her now, she saw no smile, just nervous apprehension.

“Delaney, I’m Serena Stride,” she said as the girl approached her near the red brick walls of the library.

“Yes, I know.”

“I appreciate your meeting me.”

“What is this about?”

“I’ve been reviewing the case file about your mother’s death, and I have a few more questions.”

“My mother died two years ago,” Delaney said in a strained voice. “What other questions do you have? Why are you bringing this up now?”

Serena hesitated. Other students kept passing in and out of the library doors near them. “Do you mind if we go somewhere else to talk? This might be a little easier with more privacy.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

They headed down the sidewalk away from the library. Serena made small talk, but otherwise, they didn’t say anything to each other. At the Swenson engineering building, they turned right and headed toward the university stadium. There was a large stretch of green grass near the stadium parking lot, and Serena led them there. The sun was high in the blue sky overhead.

Serena had been debating exactly what to say, but she decided to be honest with the girl about everything. There was something about Delaney that made her think she would respond better to the truth than to anything else.

“I want you to know something right up front,” Serena told her. “I’m an alcoholic, like your mother was.”

The surprise on Delaney’s face was obvious. She hadn’t expected a confession like that. “Oh. Okay.”

“My own mother was an alcoholic, too,” Serena went on. “She was also a cocaine addict. There’s a strong genetic component to addiction, and I got the family disease. I’ve struggled with it my whole life. I hear you’re very smart, so I assume you’re smart enough to know that you’re probably at high risk, too.”

“I don’t drink,” Delaney said. “And I don’t intend to start. No drugs, either.”

“Good for you.” Serena looked away, squinting into the sun as she figured out what to say next. “When I was a teenager, I ended up taking care of my mother most of the time. I did a lot of things to make her happy. Sometimes it meant being in abusive situations. It hurt me in ways I’m still dealing with today. Something tells me you faced similar things with Nikki.”

“I loved my mother. I didn’t mind helping her.”

“I loved my mother, too. All I’m saying is, I have an idea where you’re coming from.”

“If you say so.”

But Serena could hear hostility in Delaney’s tone.

“My mother died a couple of days ago,” Serena went on.

“I see. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. It knocked me off my feet to an extent I wasn’t ready for. I didn’t see it coming. I’ve been sober for a lot of years, but last night, I slipped up. I got very, very drunk at a bar in West Duluth. And outside the bar — I saw something. I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Delaney’s brown eyes narrowed with curiosity. “What did you see?”

“I saw your mother. I saw Nikki. I know how that sounds, and believe me, I’m not saying it was real. It was just a hallucination.”

“This was the bar on Grand Avenue?” Delaney asked.

“Yes.”

A cynical shadow crossed the girl’s face. “Well, if my mother was going to haunt anywhere, it would probably be there. That was her place.”

Serena nodded. “Look, I don’t believe in ghosts. I don’t think that’s what this was. All I’m saying is, my mind was sending me a message. I think the message was that I missed something when I was investigating your mother’s death. That’s why I decided to take another look at the police file. I’ve been through it in detail now, and there are some questions that I failed to answer properly. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“I don’t know what else I can tell you,” Delaney said.

“Well, your grandparents thought something was bothering Nikki in those last couple of weeks before her death. Do you have any idea what that was?”

“Um, yeah, like she was thinking of killing herself.”

“I get that, but was there anything else? You told me she’d suffered from depression for a long time, but when people actually make a decision about suicide, there’s often a triggering event. Some kind of stress or crisis that pushes them over the edge. Can you think of something like that?”

Delaney’s face reddened. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Serena put her hands up in a kind of surrender. “Okay, let’s put that aside. I promise, the rest of this won’t take long. What about the gun she used? Did you know she had one?”

“No.”

“Your grandfather was surprised that Nikki would have a gun in the house. He said she’d always been adamant that it wasn’t safe.”

“Well, it wasn’t safe, was it?” Delaney snapped.

“Do you know where or when Nikki got the gun?”

“No. If I’d known she had it, I would have told her to get rid of it.”

“Okay. There’s something else. I found a reference to it in my notes when I was going back through the file. When I got to your house that day, there was a UPS package on the porch. We opened it as a matter of procedure, and there were two things inside that struck me as curious.”

Delaney shrugged, as if she didn’t remember the package. “What were they?”

“One was an angel figurine. It had the message ‘I’m sorry’ written on it. Do you know why Nikki bought that?”

“No.”

“Do you know who it was for?”

“I assume she wanted me to have it after she was gone. After... what she did.”

“Did you keep it?”

“No, I threw it away.”

“Okay,” Serena replied, but she found that answer surprising. “The other item in the package was a set of deer whistles. You know, like you attach to your car. Apparently, they give off a high-frequency whistle, and it’s supposed to deter deer from crossing in front of you.”

“Yeah, so? Mom hit a deer years ago. She was paranoid about them after that.”

“It just seems like an oddly practical item to be purchasing two days before you kill yourself.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Delaney said. “I really don’t know why you’re asking me any of these questions.”

“I guess I want to make one hundred percent sure that your mother’s death was what it appeared to be.”

“What else could it be?”

“Your grandparents were convinced that Nikki didn’t kill herself,” Serena said. “The fact is, from a forensic standpoint, the medical examiner couldn’t rule out the possibility that someone put the gun in your mother’s hand. My investigation declared her death a suicide, and I just want to be certain I didn’t make a mistake.”

“You didn’t.”

“Are you sure? Can you think of any reason someone might have wanted to harm your mother?”

“No.” Delaney’s voice was clipped. “No, and I hate the fact that you’re dragging me through this again. Mom killed herself. That’s what happened. You’re not helping me or her by bringing it up after all this time.”

“I respect how you feel,” Serena said.

“Then drop it. We’re done. I have to go.”

“Just one more question.”

“What is it?”

“My adopted daughter, Cat Mateo, is a freshman here, too. She tutors a boy named Zach Larsen. I understand Zach was your boyfriend at the time of your mother’s death.”

Delaney’s whole body twitched at the mention of Zach’s name. “So what?”

“Why did you and Zach break up?”

“What business is that of yours?”

“I was wondering whether it had something to do with your mother’s death.”

“It didn’t,” Delaney insisted. “Are we done? I have class now.”

“Sure. Thank you, Delaney.”

The girl hurried away in quick, nervous steps — practically running — as if she couldn’t get away fast enough. Watching her, Serena thought that the note she’d made in the file two years ago was still true.

Delaney wasn’t telling her everything.