“You had no way of knowing she would leave the house,” I reminded him.
“But I knew she was upset!” he yelled. “What the hell kind of parent am I that I leave my child alone when she’s upset?”
“The same kind of parent as everyone else,” I said. “She’s a teenager. They’re moody little beasts sometimes. You can’t stop living your life simply because they get upset. You had no way of knowing she was going to do this.”
“Her mother is going to remind me that I should have known,” he grumbled. “She’s going to have my ass when she gets back.”
“Deal with it when it happens,” I said. “For now, we need to focus on finding Nina.”
“What if we don’t?” he said quietly. “What if something terrible happened to her and I wasn’t there t
o protect her?”
“Do not go down that road right now, Blake,” I warned. “It’s way too early to think that way, and it won’t do you or Nina any good.”
“I know, that’s why I need to go to work,” he said. “I need to keep busy, or else I’ll go crazy.”
“Okay, well, I’ll grill the kids in Nina’s classes and see if I can come up with anything on her whereabouts,” I said. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”
“Emily…” Blake said, letting my name hang in the air between us.
“No, do not think that,” I said, in my most stern teacher voice. “I won’t allow it. We will find her.”
“I hope you’re right,” he sighed.
“I am. Of course, I am,” I said, projecting a confidence that I didn’t entirely feel. I told him I’d call later, and hung up hoping that I hadn’t made a promise I couldn’t keep.
After each class I taught that day, I kept the girls after and grilled them about Nina’s whereabouts. They all gave me the teenage shrug before saying that they knew nothing about her or where she’d gone. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but I knew that badgering them wasn’t going to produce any better results.
“All right, ladies,” I said to the groups of Nina’s friends who’d I’d retained after History class. “If you have nothing to report, that’s fine, but please keep in mind that if Nina is actually in danger, and we find out you did know something about where she was, you can be charged as an accessory to a crime.”
I had no idea if that was true or not, but I knew that if any of the girls was at all wavering, that might push them over the edge and give us a clue as to Nina’s whereabouts. The girls filed out of the room, assuring me that if they found out anything, they’d let me or the principal know. I knew it was a long shot because I still clearly remembered how much information I had withheld from my own parents when I was their age, but I figured it was better to try than to not try.
After school, as I was cleaning up my desk, the classroom door opened and Emma Langdorf slipped into the room. She quickly moved away from the door and pressed her back against the wall as she looked sideways to make sure no one had followed her.
“Miss Fowler?” she whispered softly.
“Emma? What is it?” I said, looking up from my desk.
“Shhh, please don’t give me away,” she pleaded.
“Okay, but you have to tell me what’s going on,” I said, looking back down at my desk and shuffling papers so that anyone walking by wouldn’t know that I was having a conversation.
“Miss Fowler, I think I know where Nina is,” Emma whispered urgently. “No one wants to rat her out, but I think she’s got a boyfriend over at Waltham College.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked, not looking at her.
“She’s been texting a boy for a long time,” Emma said. “She wouldn’t tell any of us who it was, but I saw her phone last week, and someone had texted her a picture of the library and another building, and told her that they’d meet her there on Valentine’s Day.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know who it was,” I said, wondering how much of Emma’s story was truth and how much was a desire to be part of the drama.
“I don’t know who it was,” she said. “I just saw her phone, and at the top of the screen, it said The Boy. I think that’s the guy from the college, but I don’t know for sure.”
“Emma, why didn’t you tell the police?”
“I don’t want the other girls to think I’m a rat!” she cried softly. “They’d never forgive me if they knew I was telling you this, but I’m worried about Nina. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.”
“Okay, I’ll let the police know, but you’re going to have to talk to them if they need more information,” I warned.