Let’s start with the boyfriend question.”
The both shook their heads, and Amanda added, “She had a lot of male friends, but none that were ‘boyfriends.’” She drew air quotes with her fingers.
Summer glanced at the list Patrice’s family had given her. No male names were among those provided. “Can you give us names of her male friends? How did she know these guys?”
“Classes, mainly. She was going to the vocational school in Hargrove to become a mechanic.”
Nolan’s chin jerked up. “A mechanic? Like to fix cars?”
Maria gave him a well, duh look. “What? Like a woman can’t be a mechanic?”
Summer angled her body toward Nolan, narrowing a wry gaze on him. “Yes, Nolan. Is there a reason why a woman can’t be a mechanic or whatever else she wants to be?”
He raised his palms. “Whoa. Easy, ladies. Just surprised me. It’s not a common career path for a female. But I have no beef with a woman being whatever she wants to be.”
Summer flashed a satisfied grin. “Good. Now that we have that settled—” she faced Amanda “—those names?”
“I only know first names. She met most of the guys in class and only referred to them as Barry, Charlie, Tyler and so forth,” Amanda said.
“Same when we all met up at Happy Hooligans for a drink,” Maria added. “She only introduced the guys with first names. It was just a casual thing and…” She shrugged.
Summer clicked her pen and started writing, “So Barry, Charlie and Tyler. All students of the automotive repair program at the vocational college?”
Amanda nodded.
Nolan waved a hand toward the roommates. “Are you two students there, as well?”
Maria snorted. “Like I have the money for tuition. I wait tables during the early-morning shift at the Bluebell Diner and clean offices at Lone Star Pharma at night.”
Summer scribbled that information down, then looked to Amanda. “And you?”
Maria gave a wry laugh. “Mandy’s got a rich daddy who pays her rent.”
Amanda scowled at her friend. “He’s not rich. He’s just helping me out until I graduate.” Then to Summer, “I commute to UT in Austin two days a week. I’m in the early childhood education program. I want to teach kindergarten.”
“How did you two meet Patrice?” Nolan asked.
“High school. We all went to Whisperwood High together,” Amanda said. “I was in a lot of classes with Patrice. We hit it off, even though we were…kinda opposites.”
Summer tipped her head. “Opposites how?”
Amanda flipped over a hand and gave a small shrug. “I don’t do sports, and she and Maria were on the basketball team together. Then there was her whole love of cars and fixing engines. I totally don’t get that. But she was super sweet and had a good sense of humor. We bonded because we’d both lost our moms.”
Summer was making notes again when Nolan asked, “Did Patrice have any enemies? An ex-boyfriend who was bothering her? A rival she’d upset? Anything like that?”
Maria shook her head. “No. Like Mandy said, Patrice was really nice to everyone. Everyone liked her.”
“So she hadn’t mentioned any angry responses to posts on Facebook or arguments in class? Maybe one of the guys harassing her?”
Maria and Amanda both shook their heads.
“Patrice was a private person. She didn’t share a lot with us about her private life, but I think she’d have mentioned something like that, and she didn’t.” Amanda divided a look between them. “She wasn’t on Facebook. She had a Snapchat account and Instagram.”
“Twitter, too, but she said she never checked it,” Maria added. “We told all this to the cops already.”
Summer smiled patiently. “I understand, but we may go a different path on this investigation than the police. So your cooperation is appreciated.”
“No ex-boyfriend,” Amanda said. “The guys from her classes considered her a buddy, which is what she preferred, I think. Early on, I think she had a thing for Barry, but he seemed oblivious to her feelings for him.”
“What about her family, her father and brother? What kind of relationship did she have with them?” Nolan asked, and Summer cut a startled look to him.
Summer tried to school her face. While she was in the middle of an interview, it wouldn’t do to give away any of her personal feelings about the case, anything that could slant the interviewee’s answers. But dang it, what was Nolan doing? Patrice’s family was her client! Why would they hire her if they were involved in her death?
Summer bit back her discontent and fought to hide her irritation with Nolan as Amanda and Maria exchanged a look.
“Like I said, her mom died while we were in high school,” Amanda said. “It’s one of the reasons she and I became friends. When I heard about it, I found her in the lunchroom one day and told her I knew how she felt and if she wanted to talk ever, I was available.”
Nolan nodded and offered a half smile. “That was kind of you. But what about her father? Her brother? Did she talk about them?”
“Some. Nothing major.” Maria shifted her weight restlessly. “She’d eat Sunday lunch with them and watch the Cowboys game after church, and she’d check on her dad at some point during the week to cook for him, so he didn’t live off fast food.”
“Did you ever pick up on any resentment in the family relationships?” Nolan persisted.
Summer eased a hand to his thigh and pinched him. Hard. Nolan grimaced, so slightly she’d have missed it if she weren’t looking for a reaction to her silent message.
Maria hesitated, clearly having seen the brief interplay between her interrogators, then said, “Normal family stuff. Nothing big. She said after her mom died that her dad became super strict and overprotective.”
Amanda added, “Also, more recently her dad had been pestering her to get a job to help with bills, which bugged her, because in his next breath he’d be nagging her about making good grades and spending more time studying.”
“Did she get a job?” Summer asked. No one had mentioned to her a place of employment for Patrice.
“She applied at a couple places to appease her dad,” Amanda said. “But no. She wasn’t working when—” Her freckled face crumpled, and she didn’t finish the thought.
“Did she say where she’d applied?” Summer asked. “Maybe someone saw Patrice as a threat to their own job?”
“I think she filled out an application at the Pizza Barn. We joked about the employee discount being a great benefit for us.” Amanda flashed a sad smile. “She had a couple other interviews, but she wouldn’t say much about them. Only that she didn’t
