“And there are still too many youths loitering in the park in the evenings,” an old woman croaked, her arm raised beside her head.
“We spoke about this at a previous meeting, Mrs. Faversham,” a female police officer with ringleted hair said. “They aren’t engaging in any antisocial behavior. They are just playing soccer after school.”
Pip was sitting on a yellow plastic chair in an audience of twenty-two people. The small meeting room in town hall was dark and stuffy, and the air smelled like old books and old people.
The meeting was exceptionally slow and dreary, but Pip was on high alert. Daniel da Silva was one of the seven officers taking the meeting. He was taller than she’d expected, standing there in his uniform, his light brown hair wavy and styled back from his forehead. He was clean-shaven, with a narrow, upturned nose and rounded lips. Pip tried to not watch him for long stretches of time, in case he noticed.
There was another familiar face here, too, sitting just three seats down from Pip. He stood up suddenly, flashing his open palm at the officers.
“Stanley Forbes, Fairview Mail,” he said. “Several of my readers have complained that people are still driving too fast down Main Street. How do you intend to tackle this issue?”
Daniel stepped forward, nodding for Stanley to retake his seat. “Thanks, Stan,” he said. “The street already has several traffic-calming measures. We have discussed performing more speed checks, and if it’s still a concern, I am happy to reopen that conversation with my superiors.”
Mrs. Faversham had two more complaints to drawl through, and then the meeting was finally over.
“If you have any other policing concerns,” another officer said, noticeably avoiding eye contact with old Mrs. Faversham, “please fill out one of the questionnaires behind you. And if you’d prefer to talk to any of us in private, we’ll be sticking around for the next ten minutes.”
Pip held back for a while, not wanting to appear too eager. She waited as Daniel finished talking to one of the town councilors, and then she pushed up from her chair and approached.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hello.” He smiled. “You seem a few decades too young for a meeting like this.”
She shrugged. “I’m interested in law and crime.”
“Nothing too interesting in Fairview,” he said. “Just loitering kids and slightly fast cars.”
Oh, if only.
“Um, I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask you.”
“Shoot,” he said. “I’m all ears.”
Pip coughed lightly into her fist and looked up. “Do you remember reports being made, about five or six years ago, of drug use and drinks being spiked at house parties thrown by Fairview High students?”
He tensed his chin, and his mouth sank into a thoughtful frown.
“No,” he said, “I don’t remember that. Do you want to report a crime?”
She shook her head. “Do you know Max Hastings?” she said.
Daniel shrugged. “I know the Hastings family a bit. They were my first call-out after I finished training.”
“For what?”
“Oh, nothing big. Their son had crashed his car into a tree in front of the house. Needed to file a police report for the insurance. Why?”
“No reason,” she said faux-nonchalantly. She could see Daniel’s feet starting to turn away from her. “Just one more thing.”
“Yep?”
“You were one of the first responding officers when Andie Bell was reported missing. You conducted the primary search of the Bell residence.”
Daniel nodded, lines tightening around his eyes.
“Was that not a conflict of interest, seeing as you were so close to her father?”
“No,” he said, “it wasn’t. I’m a professional when I have this uniform on. And I have to say, I don’t really like where these questions are going. Excuse me.”
Daniel began to walk away, but a woman appeared behind him, stepping in beside him and Pip. She had long fair hair and a freckled nose, and a giant belly pushing out the front of her dress. She must have been at least seven months pregnant.
“Well, hi,” she said in a forced pleasant tone to Pip. “I’m Dan’s wife. How entirely unusual for me to catch him talking to a young girl. Must say you aren’t his usual type.”
“Kim,” Daniel said, placing his hand on her back, “come on.”
“Who is she?”
“Just some kid that came to the meeting. I don’t know.” He led his wife away to the other side of the room. Pip watched them go and headed out the exit, huddling farther into her coat as the cold air closed in on her. Ravi was waiting just up the road, opposite the café.
“You were right not to come in,” she said when she arrived at his side. “He was pretty hostile. And Stanley Forbes was there too.”
“My favorite person,” Ravi said sarcastically, dipping his hands into his pockets to hide them from the bitter wind. “So you didn’t learn anything?”
“Oh, I didn’t say that,” Pip said, stepping in closer to him to shield herself from the cold. “He let one thing slip; don’t even know if he realized.”
“Stop pausing for dramatic effect.”
“Sorry,” she said. “He knows the Hastingses, and he was the one who filed the police report when Max crashed his car into the tree by their house.”
“Oh.” Ravi’s lips opened around the sound. “So he…maybe he could have known about the hit-and-run?”
“Maybe he could.”
Pip’s hands were so cold now that they started to curl into claws. She was about to suggest going back to her house when Ravi stiffened, his eyes fixed on a point behind her.
She turned.
Daniel da Silva and Stanley Forbes had just left town hall, the door banging behind them. They were deep in hushed conversation, Daniel explaining something with gestured hands. Stanley turned his head in a wide arc to check around them, and that’s when he spotted Pip and Ravi.
Stanley’s eyes cooled, his gaze a cold blast in the wind as it flicked between them. Daniel stared, too, but his eyes were just on Pip, sharp and blistering.
Ravi took her hand. “Let’s go,” he said.