Wild Secret

was in her early 50s, but she looked closer to 43. She had a little work done here and there, but she’d taken care of herself rather well over the years. She was dressed in a pastel blue blazer and skirt with a cream blouse. She wore cream spike-heeled shoes and had a large sparkling diamond on her finger and a few dangling from her ears. The standard-issue, business professional pearl necklace was draped around her collar bones.
As we hit the first-floor landing, we made formal introductions.
"Thanks for taking the time to speak with us," I said.
"Thanks for working on this case. I’d given up hope. I thought Skyler would never be found. She was my best friend. And after all these years, I still couldn’t get her out of my head. Every now and then, I would see her in my dreams. She was just as she always was, and we’d have a random conversation. When I woke, I could never remember what we talked about. I kept thinking that maybe the answer was in our conversations. I’d always tried to write them down when I woke, but it never seemed to make any sense. Skyler popped into my head just the other day. Then I saw the story on the news. Crazy."
"When was the last time you saw Skyler?" I asked.
"The day she went missing. She was in school that day. I had detention, imagine that, and had to stay after. I told her we'd catch up in the afternoon, maybe go to the mall. But I didn't hear from her. This was before cell phones. I remember I called the house, and she wasn't there."
"Did you talk to Paul?"
Her face crinkled. "You know, I don't remember if I got the answering machine or if I talked to Paul. I’ve killed some brain cells since then. Margaritas are my guilty pleasure. Anyway, I figured Skyler blew me off and was hanging out with Marshall. Then her mom called in a panic that evening."
“Tell me about Marshall.”
"Total loser. Have you talked to him yet?"
I shook my head.
“Life sure hasn’t been kind to him. Didn’t age well,” she muttered. “But he sure was cute back in the day."
"What was their relationship like?"
“He was kind of a dick. You know, the jealous, insecure type. He always wanted to know where she was, who she was with, what she was doing."
“Do you know if he ever got abusive with her?"
She cringed. "They were always getting in fights about something. She told me he hit her once. Could have been more than that, who knows? I told her she was crazy to stick around. He was a loser. He wasn’t going anywhere. And boy, did I call that one right."
"You think he could have had anything to do with her disappearance?"
She looked at me like it was a dumb question. "He was the first person I blamed. I could totally see him getting jealous. They get into a fight, and things get out of control. Next thing you know, she's dead, and he's gotta get rid of the body.”
"We talked to Paul. He said they searched for Skyler together.”
"Of course they did. What else was Marshall gonna do? All eyes were on him at the time. He put on a good show. Acted devastated. Searched everywhere. He put up flyers all over town. I remember the cops questioned him at the time, but they never got anything on him. Hell, I think he's been in and out of jail a few times on domestic assault. I wouldn’t be surprised if he killed more people too.” She sighed. “Some people seem to get away with everything."
"Did Skyler tell you that she was pregnant?"
"No. She never said anything to me about it. I was shocked when Deborah told me."
"You and Skyler were close, right?"
"Extremely. I didn't think we kept secrets from each other. Maybe she didn't know she was pregnant?”
"Was she seeing anyone else besides Marshall?"
Tiffany hesitated. "Well, sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“She told me she hooked up with this married guy a couple of times."
JD and I exchanged a glance.
"He was obviously older."
"Like how older?”
"I think he was like 40,” she muttered.
I lifted a surprised brow. "Really? Do you know who?"
"She never told me his name." Tiffany frowned. “We thought it was so cool at the time. Sophisticated. Worldly. It’s just creepy now. Looking back on it, I guess there were a few things she kept from me.” She sighed. “I like to think that I’m a vault, but I do run my mouth a little bit when I get tipsy."
She cringed.
"Were you getting tipsy a lot when you were 16?"
Tiffany gave me another look like it was a dumb question. "Don't act like you two never got in trouble when you were kids. We were always getting into some kind of mischief. We'd sneak vodka from Paul's wet bar and replace it with water. It was easy to find somebody to buy a six-pack of beer or something from the liquor store. Especially in that day and age. Hell, back then, we’d just get all dolled up, put on sunglasses, and buy it ourselves sometimes.” She laughed at the memory. “We’d wear low-cut tops and push the girls together, and the clerks would never card us. My God! The cheap wine we used to drink. And we thought it was good, too.” She smiled and shook her head, thinking about the good old days.
"Was there anybody else that she was involved with at the time? Guys that may have had a crush on her?”
Her face sparked with a realization. "Oh, yeah. Tommy Halford. He had such a crush on her. He was this dweeby little guy. No social skills. Just weird. He followed her around at school. He would stare endlessly, then just turn around and shuffle away when she looked at him." She took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling while she thought. "I can't prove it, but I swear there was