What an amazing memory you have! The cop did frame her, or go way too hard on her, for the weed charge, which allowed his niece, second runner up, to usurp Jenny's music scholarship. And it appears one of the Feckers boys (the cop's nephews) have to be involved. I never did write in "Squeaky," because a guy with that nickname exists in real life - his trachea having been damaged by Barbed Wire At Neck Level, deliberately set to take down ATV riders in the woods. I haven't met him, but he exists. I think it's safe to use him in the story, but how do I top that name Squeaky, and how much is he like the guy who kidnapped Polly Klass after killing her parents... Her escape keeps coming to mind, and I keep picturing Jenny coming home ALIVE, not dead. I don't think I can even "go there" with a story where her body is found the way my sister's was, with police and BCI agents failing to collect DNA from her fingernails, at least (this was done in 1970 and earlier; no logical reason was given for the failure to collect evidence!). Police coverups or simple incompetence - it's too depressing to tackle in fiction. Let a gazillion other authors of procedurals deal with that sh*t.

Thank you for reading, commenting, and REMEMBERING!

you are an amazing reader! And I do need to finish this March Madness story. The November manuscript is so pathetic, I haven't had the temerity to look at it again. I really ought to delete most of it. But thank you for encouraging me!