Read Online Behind Closed Doors by Michael Donovan - Free Book Online

asked.
    I raised my eyebrows.
    â€˜Yeah, I know.’ She took a sip. ‘“Don’t expect miracles.” Well at least you’re looking. Hey,’ her eyes widened, ‘have you got a name or anything? You know,’ she shrugged, ‘to be friendly?’
    She made it sound like names were a young-generation thing.
    I shrugged back. ‘Call me Eddie,’ I said.
    â€˜Like Eddie Gumshoe? That guy off the old repeats?’ She swung her right fist under my nose. If she’d followed through it would have been like a gnat had collided with me but her drink can sloshed threateningly. I shifted away but kept my tough-guy smile to let her know I wasn’t intimidated.
    â€˜How are you today, Sadie?’ I said.
    â€˜I’m okay,’ she said. ‘What do you think’s happened to her?’
    Enough small talk.
    â€˜I need to ask some questions,’ I said. ‘Gina Redding gave me some details but I need more background.’
    â€˜Sure,’ Sadie promised. ‘I just don’t know what will help.’
    â€˜I’m looking for a bit more on Rebecca’s parents.’
    She shrugged. ‘There’s not much I know. We never go to her house. Becky doesn’t get on with Larry.’
    â€˜Any particular reason?’
    Again the shrug. Her eyes gave nothing. Whatever Rebecca had said to her friend she didn’t see fit to pass on. ‘Larry’s a dick,’ she offered finally. ‘I think he bullies her mother.’
    â€˜But nothing ever happened between him and Rebecca?’
    She looked at me. ‘You mean like him coming on to her?’
    â€˜It happens,’ I said.
    â€˜Ugh,’ she said. ‘Sick. The guy’s at least fifty. I’d throw up.’
    â€˜Rebecca never mentioned anything?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜What about her mother? Does Rebecca get on with her?’
    â€˜So-so,’ Sadie said. ‘Jean’s a control freak. Wants to rule her life, you know? Where Becky goes. Who she sees. When she gets home.’
    â€˜Do the two of them argue about it?’
    â€˜All the time.’
    â€˜Would they argue enough to piss Rebecca off? Enough that she might walk out?’
    Sadie shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Becky’s always pissed off with Jean but she’s never talked about leaving. And she’d tell me if she was going to do that. She wouldn’t be like “see you later” one minute then disappear the next. And she gets her diploma next year. Then she’s out of there anyway. We’re going to share a flat.’ She looked at me again: ‘Becky hasn’t run away, Mr Gumshoe.’
    â€˜Eddie,’ I said. ‘Does her mother have any problems?’ I wondered if the drinking was under wraps.
    â€˜Nothing I know about,’ Sadie said. ‘She’s okay. Like any mother.’
    Maybe Rebecca saw things but didn’t tell. Things you’d not want even your best friend to know. Rebecca was up-front about not liking her stepfather but there was no reason she’d want to shred her mother’s name. Rebecca’s family sounded as normal or abnormal as the next. It was just the thing with the stepfather that bothered me.
    â€˜How’s Rebecca been acting lately? Happy? Sad?’
    She gave it some thought.
    â€˜Just the usual. Rebecca’s always up and down. She’s a crazy bitch.’
    â€˜A crazy bitch?’
    â€˜You know what I mean. Life’s a big saga with Becky. She should be in a soap opera.’
    â€˜What kind of things make her crazy?’
    â€˜You know.’ She looked at me again. ‘Whatever.’
    â€˜Whatever?’
    â€˜Yeah. You know?’ She lifted the can again.
    I turned to look squarely at her. ‘No, Sadie,’ I said. ‘I don’t know. Detectives never know things until people tell them.’
    She stopped swigging and rolled her eyes like I was diverting from the