The Stranger You Know by Andrea Kane Read Free Book Online Page A

team. The only thing she kept doing to clear her mind was her morning run.”
    “What about guys?” Casey brought the subject right around to where she wanted it. “Did she have a boyfriend?”
    A nostalgic smile touched Brenda’s lips. “Chris Towers. The two of them met at freshman orientation. They really, really liked each other, and hung out from day one in the fall. They were definitely a couple—but not the kind who were all over each other or who isolated themselves in their own little world. Chris was in prelaw and on the debate team. He invested as much time in his schoolwork as Jan did.”
    “No other guys in Jan’s life?”
    “None.” Brenda stated that definitively.
    Casey cleared her throat. “Do you have any idea if Jan was pregnant?”
    “Pregnant?” Brenda did a double take. “Absolutely not. Why would you ask that?”
    “Because her father gave me her date book. And she kept meticulous track of her periods. Every month there was a dot marking the date. There were no dots the two months prior to her disappearance.”
    “That was stress, not pregnancy.” Brenda shoved a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Like I said, the academic pressure was crushing, especially in Jan’s area of study. She was a wreck for weeks before she vanished. I remember her complaining that she’d missed her period. She went to health services. They confirmed that it was stress-related.”
    “You’re sure?” Casey asked. “You said she was shy and quiet. She might have kept it to herself if she was pregnant.”
    “Very sure. Jan was reserved, but she and I confided in each other. Besides, she came from a very religious family. She and Chris weren’t even sleeping together.”
    “Okay, then, tell us about her behavior during the last weeks before she disappeared.” Marc took over from what he was obviously convinced had to be a dead end. “You said she was under pressure?”
    “We all were. Jan more than others, because of her area of study. Plus, she was waitressing to make some extra cash. She was burning the candle at both ends and then some. That’s why she quit the swim team, and why she intensified her running schedule. It was just too much. I really believe the overall tension is what made her snap.”
    “What do you mean by snap?” Marc asked.
    Brenda’s shoulders rose and fell in a defeated gesture. “She started staying out all night studying. I couldn’t get her to take a break. She’d run a couple of miles at dawn, and then go from class to the library to her job and back. She barely stopped off at her dorm room, except to shower and change. And she withdrew—from me, from Chris, from everyone. Whenever I asked her to talk to me, she said she was too strung out. I was really worried about her. And then, abruptly, she disappeared.”
    “So you’re saying you think she took off on her own?”
    “We didn’t know what to think. Chris called the police. And, of course, Jan’s father. There was a brief investigation. But there was absolutely no evidence that Jan had been abducted—other than the fact that she didn’t take anything except her purse.”
    “Nothing else was missing? No clothes or toiletries?”
    “No.” Brenda’s brow furrowed. “Chris and I both practically ransacked her room. Neither of us could find anything out of place. That’s why we filed a police report. It didn’t make sense. But, given Jan’s state of mind, I knew what the cops were thinking—that she’d either run away or worse. They searched for a body. None was ever found.”
    Marc didn’t reply. But Casey knew his wheels were turning—and she also knew exactly the way his thought process was going. Suicide didn’t fit. If Jan was going to kill herself, she wouldn’t have vanished in order to do it. And running away? That didn’t seem likely. Not without packing at least one bag of essentials. True, there was nothing concrete for the police to go on. But the lead detective on the case