Missing Marlene Read Online Free PDF Page B

to.”
    “Yes?”
    “Mm, Helen. She’s inside. She and Marlene were always together. Come on, I’ll take you to her.”
    She followed him back inside and into the larger room on the left. It was quieter here, the music not as loud. Squeezing through the maze of tables, Mann led the way to one at the back, at which a young woman in a baggy maroon sweatshirt sat alone.
    Jane knew the woman from somewhere. She was big-boned; Jane could tell she was tall. Her face was large and plain, pasty and rather flat, with large brown eyes set a little too far apart. The only makeup she wore was pale coral lipstick, messily applied. She had long dark brown hair pulled into a fat braid that trailed down her back.
    As Mann approached her table, the young woman’s eyes grew even larger and she frowned, clearly puzzled.
    “This lady’s lookin’ for Marlene,” Mann said, indicating Jane. He turned to her. “Didn’t get your name.”
    “Jane Stuart.” And to Helen, “Marlene worked for me.”
    Mann left. Jane pulled out a chair. “Mind if I sit down?”
    Helen shook her head. She was still regarding Jane as if she had dropped from the ceiling.
    “Were you aware that Marlene left?” Jane asked.
    “Yeah.” Helen spoke matter-of-factly. She bent for a filthy tan vinyl drawstring bag and took out a pack of Marlboros. “She’s my best friend,” she said, lighting a cigarette. “ ’Course I knew.”
    “Where is she?”
    “That, I don’t know.” Helen blew smoke that hovered in a dense cloud over the table.
    At that moment the waitress appeared. Jane asked for a mineral water.
    Helen was still studying Jane. “You know about Gil, right?” she said.
    “Gil?” Jane shook her head.
    Helen gave a little laugh of incredulity. “That’s amazing you don’t know him.”
    “Why?”
    “Marlene was going out with him. They met here.”
    “When?”
    “Couple of months ago. Right after she came to town.”
    Early August. “And who is this Gil?”
    “Gil Dapero. Marlene was, like, obsessed with him. At first he didn’t notice her, but she kept at him—you know, flirting with him. She wanted him really bad, and she wouldn’t give up till she got him.”
    “And did she? Get him, I mean.”
    “Whoa, yeah. Took about two weeks.” Helen dragged on her cigarette, blew smoke, and studied it. “I told her it was a bad idea.”
    “Why?”
    “Gil’s dangerous. He’s got a wild temper. Some people say he once killed somebody over some money in Newark. A couple of weeks ago a guy came on to Marlene, and Gil hurt him so bad he ended up in the hospital.”
    Jane’s mineral water arrived, and she paid for it. “If she was so obsessed with Gil, why would she leave town?”
    “ ’Cause they broke up.”
    “When?”
    “Uh ... four days ago now. Saturday night.”
    That would have been two days before Marlene left. “How do you know they broke up?”
    “Well, like I said, Marlene and I are best friends, so she would have told me, but she didn’t have to because they had a huge fight right out there in the parking lot.”
    “A fight about what?”
    “I have no idea. The next day Marlene came to see me at the store where I work—you know the Village Shop on the green?”
    Jane nodded. She stopped there occasionally for a newspaper. That was why Helen looked familiar.
    “Anyway,” Helen went on, “Marlene came in and said she was leaving town.” She looked Jane straight in the eye, as if challenging her. “She told me she hated working for you, and she was leaving.”
    Jane considered this. “I see. And even though you’re best friends, she didn’t tell you where she was going?”
    “No. I just figured she was going home to Detroit. Why don’t you check with her mother, see if Marlene’s there?”
    “I have. She’s not.”
    “Then I don’t know. She’ll probably call me.”
    Jane searched in her purse for a piece of paper and a pen and jotted down her home and office phone numbers. “Do me a favor. If Marlene