Searching For Jenna novel Chapter 4

As a cop, Michael knew how far he could go before he'd get busted. He never hit Darlene in the face. It was always her back or ribs that took the beating. The same with Jenna, especially after she turned into an Amazon. It pissed Michael off to no end that his little girl had not turned out to be the fragile princess that he'd wanted. Terry always thought that was a good thing. He'd worried that Michael might have become sexually abusive if Jenna had turned out to be a Miss America type. Not that Jenna wasn't a pretty girl, she was. She looked too much like her mother with her long blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes to not be pretty, but she was built like her father, big boned and tall.

Terry wasn't surprised to find out Jenna was gay. He'd suspected it for a long time, but Jenna was always with guys when she wasn't with Cara. There was a time that both girls had boyfriends, but Jenna had not been allowed to go out unless it was with a large group. Even then, Terry couldn't remember too many times that Jenna had gone out. That was a few years ago, before Michael and he had stopped being friends.

Terry and Michael had their falling out over a case around that time. Jenna had just turned sixteen. Terry remembered that because the case they'd been working on was a missing girl around Jenna's age. She had been blonde too, but that was where their similarities ended.

That girl, Callie Keller had a rough life. Both parents were drug addicts. She'd been living with an aunt, but the aunt couldn't handle her, so she was put in foster care. She'd run away two or three times. When she turned up missing the last time, few people believed that she hadn't run away, including Michael. Terry felt in his gut that that wasn't the case. Something told him that Callie had met with a bad end, but there was no way to prove it.

After a few months of working the case, Michael was done with it, but Terry couldn't let it go. Callie had been busted for possession a couple of times, even once by Michael and him. She never got caught with enough to get her more than a few months in juvie. Callie didn't have anyone to help her. She'd get out of the juvenile detention center, get sent to another foster home, run away, and start all over.

When Callie went missing the last time, the foster parents told Terry that Callie had straightened up. They were sure she'd quit using. Michael said it was just Callie blowing smoke up their asses. He was convinced that Callie had hooked up with a pimp that had moved her to another town. Terry wasn't buying it.

He turned to the officer. "We'll be careful. I need to see things the way Miss Marshall saw them when she entered the house."

Cara walked ahead of Terry and her mother. "I ran up the stairs and into Jenna's room." Terry and Caroline followed Cara up the stairs. "She texted me right as I got here and told me not to come over, but I was already here. I came into the room, and she was standing right here next to her bed." Cara stood in the exact spot Jenna had been standing. "I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her the way I always do. Her father came into the room. He glared at us, then grabbed me by the arm and flung me over there." She pointed to the bookshelf where several books had fallen when she landed against it. "He backhanded Jenna so hard that she fell onto the bed. When I stood up, they were on that side of the bed." She pointed to the space between the bed and the wall. "He was punching her in the face. I ran over and started hitting him on the back as hard as I could." She showed Terry her small fists.