No One Knows Linda Marks

Sheriff Payne looks over the file again and sighs. He doesn’t understand any of it. Currently, he is trying to find Linda Marks. Linda seems like a nice girl. A musician, not quite top of her class at Angelwood Private School, and working as a waitress at a local diner. Her parents had separated when she was seven, and just got a divorce after a long custody battle. Other than that, there is no evidence as to why she left or where she may have gone.

“Sir?” Officer Lee pokes her head into the interrogation room. “Allison’s here.”

“Send her in.” A moment later, Allison Payne plops herself down in front of her father. Her eyes are red and her blonde hair isn’t as curly as normal. But Sheriff Payne smiles anyway and asks Allison how she’s holding up. She just shrugs and stares at the wall behind him.

“You’ve known Linda for twelve years now, right?” Allison nods. “Do you have any idea where she may have gone?”

“If I did, you would’ve found her already.” Sheriff Payne sighs.

“I know, Ally, and we’re trying as hard as we can to find her, I promise. Is there anything you can tell us about the day she left?”

“She wasn’t at school. We’d had a fight the night before--” Allison began to cry. Sheriff Payne passed her some tissues.

“You said you had a fight with Linda. Can you tell me what happened?”

The night before Linda left, there was a party at Emily’s house. Linda got there a little bit after I did and she had a guitar case on her back. I asked her why she had it, and she said, “Emily asked me to play something.”

Then, I said, “Yeah, I was there. You know she meant on the violin, right?” And Linda just walked past me like she was annoyed by something I said. So I just followed her and we went into Emily’s living room. There were a lot of people there, just dancing and drinking--No, Linda and I didn’t have anything-- and the music was really loud. But then Emily saw us come in, and she was too drunk to notice the guitar case, so she just turned off the music and yelled, “Linda’s gonna play something!” Then everyone stopped and listened. So Linda pulled her guitar out and started playing and singing this song about some guys who went on a trip in something-39.

When she was done, everyone just stared at her and started whispering because nobody knew she played guitar. So she left and people started asking me about it like I knew anything. So eventually, I went to find Linda, and she was sitting by the door, and I said, “What the hell was that?” She just stared at the ground. So I asked, “Since when do you play guitar?”

And she finally says, “Ollie’s been teaching me.”

And I asked, “That freak you’ve been hanging out with for the past few months?”

Then she snaps, “He’s not a freak.” Which made me really mad for some reason.

So I snap back, “Yes, he is, he sits by himself at lunch all the time and reads those dumbass history books and he’s taking you away from me!”

“He’s not taking me from anyone! Do you think I’d be here if Ollie was trying to take me from you?”

“Yes, he is! He’s just been working so slowly I don’t even recognise you anymore!”

Then she asks, “Why are you such a bitch?” And I felt like I just got slapped.

“I’m a bitch? What about you? You just started randomly hanging out with him one day, and now you’re not even my friend anymore, you’re just some stranger who hangs out with freaks--”

“STOP CALLING HIM A FREAK!” Linda was crying and breathing really heavily, and I got kinda scared. “He’s the only one who asks about my parents or cares about what I like and how I feel.” Then she just put her guitar on her back and left.

We both said a lot of stuff we didn’t mean. I just miss her so much. I’d give anything to have her back.

Sheriff Payne nods. “Thank you, Allison.” He gets up and hugs his daughter as she cries into his shirt.

About half an hour later, another girl walks into the room. She’s taller than Allison. Her face is blank, and she’s still in her uniform. She sits in front of Sheriff Payne, and he notices that her hands are balled into fists.

“Please state your name for the record.”

“Jenna Holland.”

“And you worked at the Tulip Diner with Linda Marks, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you working on the night of November 15th?”

“No.”

“Where were you?”

“At a party.”

“Whose?”

“I don’t know. Some popular chick who lives next to a friend.”

“Was Linda at this party?”

“I saw her there.”

“Could you describe that night to me?”

It was a party. Most kids in our grade were there. There was booze, and a couple guys had weed, but that was it. My girlfriend and I went to have a couple drinks and dance. Then some girl said someone was going to play a song. Linda sat on the floor and played my girlfriend’s favorite song on guitar. I was proud of her. For once she wasn’t just doing whatever her mom or her blonde friend wanted. When she was done, my girlfriend and I clapped and cheered for her, but pretty much everyone else was silent. So she left the room. I saw her a little bit later when I was trying to find a bathroom. She was arguing about something with the blonde. Our friend Ollie got mentioned a couple times.--Yeah, Oliver Cooke. Eventually, Linda just left. I found a bathroom, went back to my girlfriend, and spent the rest of the night dancing.

“Is that really all?” Jenna nods.

“Why? Did Linda kill someone at this party?”

“Linda and Oliver went missing three days ago.” Jenna looks shocked for a moment, then excuses herself. Sheriff Payne sighs and goes over to Detective Larson’s office to take over the Oliver Cooke case.

Interviewing the parents isn’t helpful. Mr. Cooke just mumbled something about teaching a girl guitar. Miss Lamb simply stated that Linda wasn’t her daughter anymore and left. Then it was time for Allison’s friend, Emily, who was a complete airhead.

Ohmygod, that party was amazing. I was so drunk I barely even remember it! Anyway, I asked Linda to play a song for us because she’s an amazing violinist and she said yes because she’s just the best. So, when she gets to the party, she starts playing a song, and everyone shuts up because she’s just so great, but instead of playing a violin, she had a guitar and was playing this totally awesome song. I forget what it was called, but I think it was from, like, the 70’s or 80’s, so it was like, a really old song. I didn’t even know Linda liked that kind of music. Anyway, Linda finishes the song, and everyone’s silent except for my friend, Shelly, and her friend, Jenna. I think Jenna works with Linda at Linda’s mom’s diner. --No, I don’t think there was anyone called Oliver Cooke there. Is he in our grade?--Okay, I’ll look for him sometime! Anyway, everyone’s shocked because we didn't know Linda could play guitar like that. I guess she thought we didn’t like it, though, because she left right after that. She hasn’t been at school since. Is she okay?

Sheriff Payne sighs. “Thank you, Emily.” He was going to have a talk with Allison about these girls she hung out with. When Emily leaves, he bows his head and prays for Linda and Oliver’s safety. Then he waits for the next person he needs to interrogate.

A couple hundred miles away, a girl and a boy walk side by side. His father has been drunk since his mother left, and her mother disowned her after a party the night they left.

“So, I walked into the living room, and Emily got everyone quiet,” the girl starts. “Then I took out my guitar and started playing ‘39 by Queen--” The boy laughs.

“Wait, why ‘39?”

“Because it’s the best.”

“Okay, we really need to talk about your taste in Queen songs, but for now, continue your story.”

“Okay. So I started playing ‘39 by Queen, THE BEST SONG IN EXISTENCE, and when I finish, everyone just stares, except for Shelly and Jenna.”

“What were they doing?”

“Screaming and clapping like maniacs.” The pair laugh together for a few minutes. The girl continues, “I don’t know if they were shocked by the guitar or if my singing is just that bad, but I got so overwhelmed, I had to leave. Then Allison just started yelling at me, and I yelled back. I don’t even know what we said. I hope she doesn’t hate me now. Eventually, I just walked out the door and went home. My mom freaked when she saw the guitar on my back. She said I was going to be just like Dad. Then I went over to your place, and now we’re here.” The boy reaches over and takes the girl’s hand.

“God, Linda, that’s just….” Linda squeezes his hand.

“Don’t worry, Ollie.” She considers her long, loose curls, considers her short shorts, mismatched socks, tank top, and sneakers, clothes her mother never let her wear. And she considers the guitar on her back and the boy at her side and the endless road before them. “We’re finally free.”