The Finishing School Read Online Free Page B

for the Nitro. She wore pink sunglasses and a huge grin that showed her braces. Her hair was pulled back into a demure ponytail, and her T-shirt read ROCK THE VOTE. No question, she looked like a dream teen, sweet and studious. On the other hand, appearances were often deceiving.
    “Is this the most recent picture you have of Carmen?” Melanie asked.
    “Yes. My wife die from cancer four years ago. Since then is only the three of us, and we so sad we don’t take too many pictures.” Tears flooded Reyes’s eyes. How could Melanie possibly tell this man that James Seward had just accused his daughter of supplying the heroin that killed her classmates? She decided she wouldn’t. Not yet anyway, not until she knew more.
    “Mr. Reyes,” she said gently, “please, have a seat. I’d like to ask you some questions.” She nodded at Ray-Ray, who opened his notebook.
    “Of course. Whatever you need, you tell me. What she wearing, when I last see her. I remember.”
    “We’ll get to all that. But first tell me about Carmen going to visit Whitney Seward tonight.”
    “Yes, I think it’s connected, right? Could be some drug dealer give Whitney the stuff, and he kidnap my Carmen so she don’t tell!
¡Ay, Dios
! ” Tears began falling from Reyes’s eyes, and he buried his face in his hands. “I don’t know what I gonna do if sonthing happen to her!” he cried. His stocky frame began to heave and shake with sobs.
    “Let me get you a glass of water,” Melanie said.
    She went into the adjacent galley kitchen and flipped on the overhead light. The shadows of dead cockroaches stood out in bold relief inside the plastic light fixture. New York was strange, the way extremes of wealth and poverty coexisted so closely, even in the same building.
    After he drank the water, Reyes seemed calmer.
    “About seven-thirty, Whitney call Carmen and say can she come upstairs and study for the math test. My Carmen a genius with numbers. They got her working in the office at Holbrooke because she so good with math. She could make a lotta money in business someday, but she say she wanna be math teacher instead, work with kids.”
    “So it was Whitney who called Carmen, not the other way around?”
    “
Sí
. I thought was strange, because Whitney never call here. Whitney and Carmen, they were not friends.”
    “No?”
    “Whitney is very fast. Carmen’s afraid of her. Besides, Whitney is very mean to Carmen, because she rich and Carmen is poor. You know, Carmen don’t got the right clothes, like that.”
    “Why did Carmen go upstairs if she didn’t like Whitney?”
    “How we gonna say no? Mr. Seward is the
jefe
. The boss. He run the co-op board in this building, so he hire and fire the staff people. And he get my girls in good school so they go in college. Not just Carmen but Lourdes, too. Lulu, we call her, my little one. So if Whitney ask for help to study, you bet Carmen gonna help her.”
    “So Carmen went upstairs to the Sewards’ apartment?”
    “Yes.”
    “What time?”
    “Right away when Whitney call. Maybe seven-thirty, seven forty-five.”
    “What was Carmen wearing?”
    “Her school uniform. Plaid skirt and navy sweater. She didn’t have no coat. I hope where she is now, she not too cold.” Reyes began to cry again, covering his eyes, his shoulders shaking. After a moment he pulled himself together and looked up.
    “I know this is difficult, Mr. Reyes. You’re doing a good job.”
    “I’m trying. Help my Carmencita.”
    “Let’s stay focused on the details of what happened, okay? I think it’ll be easier that way. How long was Carmen upstairs before you discovered the bodies?”
    “After maybe two, three hours, I say, Wha’s happening? Is taking too long. So I call up there, and nobody answer the phone. I wait little bit more. Then about maybe ten-thirty, I worried, so I go up and knock on the back door. No answer. I try front. Same. So I go in with my key and look around. And I find this terrible