"There wasn't a plan. She had it all figured out. They were going to run off together. She knew a place where they could get a marriage license even if they were underage."

"He must have been in a sweat."

"He was really scared. I told him he was being dumb. How could he even be sure the kid was his? All he had to do was get five or six of his buddies to swear they'd screwed her too and he'd be off the hook."

"Nice move, Adrianne. Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Well, what was I supposed to do? I couldn't let her wreck my brother's life! Besides, it was true. Why should he pay? He only did what every other guy was doing. Why's that so wrong?"

"Oh sure. I can see your point. There's only one tiny problem."

"What."

"She wasn't pregnant."

"Yes, she was."

I shook my head. "I read the autopsy report."

She stared at me, a hand lifting to her mouth as though pulled by strings. "Oh, shit. She made it up?"

"Apparently. So when she disappeared, what'd you think? That she'd gone off on her own to spare him the disgrace?"

"I didn't know she was lying. I thought she might have decided to I have an abortion."

"If she'd been pregnant in the first place."

There was another long silence and I stepped in again. "When you heard Medora'd filed a missing-persons report, weren't you worried they'd find her?"

"I hoped they wouldn't, but it did worry me."

"But there might have been a way to head them off."

"Head who off?"

"The cops who were looking for her."

"I don't know what you're getting at."

"The phone call."

She looked at me blankly, but I didn't know her well enough to know if she was faking.

I said, "Someone called the Sheriffs Department, claiming to be Charisse's mother, saying she was home again, alive and well. The Lompoc Sheriffs Department and the one down here were on the verge of linking the two-the missing girl and Jane Doe. Then the call came in and that was the end of that."

"Well, it wasn't me. I swear. I didn't call anyone."

"I'm not the one you have to persuade." I got up and brushed off the back of my pants. "I'll talk to you later."

"I sincerely hope not."

I went into the kitchen, feeling hyped up and tense. I was treading dangerous ground, but I couldn't help myself. These people had been sitting on their secrets far too long. It was time to kick in a few doors and see who'd been hiding what. I wondered where Cornell was the night that Pudgie was killed. That was a subject worth pursuing.