It’s that waitress from the Shamrock. The one I knew from high school. The one I ran into at the grocery store, who yelled at me for testifying against Shane and told me to stay away from Tim.

Tim is also staring at the television screen. His eyes widen when they show the photograph of Kelli. His fingers grip the edge of the sofa, his knuckles turning white.

“Isn’t that the waitress from the Shamrock?” I say as casually as possible.

“Um.” He rips his eyes away from the television screen. “Is it? Maybe. I haven’t been there in a long time. Not since we went together.”

“You’re not sure? Didn’t you say you went out with her?”

“No,” he says. “I mean, barely. We got a drink together when she was done with her shift. That’s it. It was nothing.”

“I see…”

I’m almost certain he told me they went out on two dates. And Kelli certainly seemed to remember it when she confronted me at the supermarket. But he doesn’t want to admit it.

Maybe because this isn’t the first girl he’s gone out with who suddenly vanished.

“Listen, Brooke…” He runs a slightly shaky hand through his hair. “I think I might head back to my place. I’m kind of beat and we’ve got an early morning meeting tomorrow. So I’m just going to sleep at my own place.”

I had assumed after we exchanged “I love you’s” for the first time, we would make passionate love soon after. But instead, Tim can’t seem to get out of here fast enough. And then when he’s walking down the steps of my front porch, he trips and almost falls on his face.

But I can’t say I’m not entirely disappointed he’s gone, because now I get to google Kelli Underwood.

The details are extremely easy to find. Kelli (with an “i” at the end) is a twenty-seven-year-old waitress, who was also taking art history classes at the local college. She lived alone in a small basement apartment, and they discovered she was missing when she didn’t show up for her shift at the Shamrock two nights ago. One story mentions she has a boyfriend, but it doesn’t say whether he’s a suspect.

Two days ago… was Tim here that night? I can’t remember.

Fortunately, Kelli was extremely active on social media. Unlike me, she has plastered photographs of herself all over the Internet. I look back on her various social media feeds, searching for anything that jumps out at me. Finally, I spot a post from the beginning of the summer:

Fact: Assistant Principals are GOOD KISSERS!!!!!