Deadly Reunion (22 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Grace pulled out
a chair and flipped through the
Rabbit Falls Gazette
, the town newspaper. She was waiting for Harper Price, the gazette’s editor. Harper had been Sam’s uncle and guardian after Sam’s parents had died during Sam’s junior year of school. If Adam was correct and Sam was murdered, Grace hoped, Harper would be able to help or at least answer some questions.

Her
memories of the events surrounding Sam’s death were hazy. She had been so preoccupied with her own graduation and then comforting her sister over losing Tom, that she hadn’t paid much attention to Sam or even to his death. Like everyone else, she had just accepted that Sam had committed suicide. And as far as she knew, there had never been a question about it being anything else. Not even a rumor.

Of course, she thought, there
was the chance that Adam was wrong or that Crystal had been lying to him. Grace put down the paper and sighed. Now instead of one murder, they were investigating two. She would have felt better if they were a little closer to solving the one before they embarked on another. Oh well, Adam may be right. One might lead to another.

“Sorry about that,”
Harper said, walking into the room and sitting down. “This whole town is going crazy. Seems everyone has a crackpot theory about who killed Crystal. So,” he said, looking at her expectantly, “what’s your crackpot theory?”

Grace smiled. “Don’t get too excited. I don’t know who
, but I may know why?”

Harper
stood up and walked over to his office door, closing it quietly. When he had settled back down, she offered Adam’s theory.

“You think Sam was murdered?” he asked, the color draining from his face. Grace watched as a mixture of emotions passed
over his face. “It’s possible, I guess. Anything’s possible. I know there was something bothering him. It’s just that Sam was incredibly unhappy after . . . well, you know, after the accident. The suicide just made sense,” he said, quietly. “But I don’t think this has anything to do with Sarah Collins death. He liked Sarah Collins. She was his favorite teacher. If he saw someone kill her, he would have said something. There’s no way Sam would have kept that quiet.”

Grace couldn’t agree more
, but she had to press on. “Can you think of anyone who would want to kill him?”

“
No. Everyone loved Sam.” Harper picked up his pen. Twirling it slowly in his hand, he looked toward the door and back. His face was grim. “If I had to point my finger at anyone, it would be Adam.”

“Adam? Why?”

“Adam’s the only one that has a motive. That movie, the one that put him on the map, the one he won all of those awards for, he didn’t write that all by himself. The whole idea was Sam’s. After Sam died, Adam passed it off as his own. Not one mention of Sam.”

Surprised Grace asked,
“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I have no proof. It would be my word against his and frankly
, the only person who would be upset was dead. Still, I can’t see Adam as a killer.” Harper slowly shook his head.

Grace agreed.
If Adam had killed Sam, why would he clue them into the fact that Sam was murdered?

“Those last few months
. . . Sam was just a different person after the accident. We weren’t as close as we used to be. He was withdrawn and moody. Always disappearing. The suicide just seemed plausible. But if Sam was murdered, and Crystal knew about it . . .” He smirked. “In fact, I can see her keeping quiet and trying to blackmail the person. That seems exactly like something she would do.”

Grace had already
had this conversation with Kyle on the way back from Adam’s lake shack. She couldn’t believe Crystal could have been that money hungry, but then she would never have believed she would have blackmailed her own family, either. “See, that’s the one part that bothers me. They were dating. She loved Sam—”

Harper
snorted and threw the pen he had been playing with on the desk. “Crystal didn’t love anyone but Crystal. Her whole world revolved around herself. I’ve never believed that she loved Sam. I still think she was just using him to make Tom jealous.” Harper shrugged. “It must have worked too. She and Tom married right after Sam died. Actually,” he said leaning back and staring at the ceiling, “if Sam was murdered, why are you so certain that Crystal saw it happen and blackmailed anyone? Now that I’m thinking about it, Crystal also had a motive to kill Sam.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Sam didn’t love her, either. He was seeing someone else on the side. Perhaps, Crystal found out and killed him in a jealous rage. Just because she didn’t want him, doesn’t mean she would have liked him going behind her back. Crystal was mean enough to kill for that reason alone. I remember Sam telling me how scary she could get when she flew into a rage. I think he may have been afraid of her.”

*  *  *  *

The sight of the mess Kyle made in the library caused Grace to sigh loudly, disturbing the elderly lady dozing in a nearby chair, a well-worn romance book lying on her lap.

Kyle looked up and smiled when he saw Grace approaching. The table where he sat was covered with an assortment of newspapers,
microfiche, and books. He picked up the books sitting on the chair closest to him, making room for Grace. “Well, how did it go?” he asked, softly whispering in her ear.

Grace quickly and quietly outlined what she had learned from
Harper, earning a succession of “shhs” from the lady behind her.

“Find anything
, yet?” Grace asked in a low whisper, cringing when she heard the inevitable “shh” coming from the woman sitting behind her.

To Grace’s surprise, Kyle nodded enthusiastically and motioned for her to follow him. Excited, Grace followed close on his heels. Her usual pessimism dampened by her curiosity.

Once they reached a back corner
, devoid of other patrons, Kyle turned to her, smiling. “You’re never going to believe it. I think Adam might have been telling the truth.”

“Why? What did you find?” Grace asked, anticipation making her bounce on her toes.

“Nothing!”

Grace felt the excitement drain from her body, briefly wondering how quickly the library denizens would pounce on her if she screamed in frustration.

“No, really, absolutely nothing!” he repeated happily.

“And that’s exciting, why?” Grace asked confused by his obvious pleasure.

“The newspaper articles surrounding Sam’s death are missing. The microfiche copies for the weeks after graduation? Gone. The copies in archives? Gone, too! I haven’t been able to find one article on Sam’s suicide. Not one. Someone’s stolen them. I think we may be onto something. Did Sam’s uncle say who he had been cheating with?”

Grace shook her head.
“He didn’t know. Sam would change the subject whenever Harper would ask. Harper thought he was afraid of Crystal finding out.”

*  *  *  *

“What time do you want to meet tonight?” Kyle asked, as he opened the front door to Grace’s house.

“Not so loud
,” she said. “I’m grounded, remember.” Grace peered around the corner into the family room.

Jeff was sitting on the couch, a calculus book lying at his feet and a graphic novel on his lap.

“What are you doing?” she asked him, sneaking into the room.

“Stu
dying. Did you have Mrs. Bailey when you were in school?” Grace shook her head. “You’re lucky. I think she hates me. We have to do twenty problem sets before Monday,” he whined.

“Poor baby,” Grace sai
d without an ounce of sympathy. “Where is everyone?”

“Mom and Dad are at the store
, and Hope is out back with her old boyfriend.”

“Tom?” Grace
asked in surprise.

“Yep,” Jeff said flipping another page.

Kyle spun around, accidentally knocking into her mother’s curio cabinet. As he attempted to catch a vase which fell from the top, Grace ran past him, down the hall and out to the back.

She found
Tom standing in the backyard, his back to the house. Grace looked around the yard, searching for her sister. Unless she was hiding under one of the lawn chairs, Tom was out here all alone. Grace cleared her throat to get his attention.

“Hope, I told you, I’m not here to speak to you,” he snapped.

“Then who are you here to speak with?” Grace asked, glancing behind her as Kyle came through the door.

Tom tu
rned around and glared at them. “You two. I heard you both were running around town, playing detective.”

“Playing?” Kyle asked nervously.

“Yeah, playing. I don’t know what you two are up to, but I want it to stop, right now. Sheriff Bellamy is in charge of this investigation. All you’re going to do is confuse the issue and let the murderer get away. Grace, you’re like my sister. I don’t want—”

“Speaking of sisters, where is mine?”

“Upstairs. I didn’t want to speak to her.”

Grace crossed her arms
, but before she could speak, Kyle stepped forward. “We’ve received information that your wife’s death may have been connected to another murder.”

At Tom’s confused expression, Grace said
, “Sam’s.”

Grace watched as Tom’s normally handsome face went cold. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. Crystal was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. This has nothing to do with Sam. Crystal was murdered
, and Sam committed suicide. There is absolutely nothing between the two events.”

“Well, there’s one thing. You,” Grace pointed out.

“Yeah, there’s me. Crystal, my wife, was brutally murdered by some stranger. Sam, my best friend, on the other hand, was upset the day of graduation and chose to end his life.” Grace watched as Tom slipped his championship ring off his finger and shoved it back on.

“And you just stepped right in,” Grace snapped.

“I went to Crystal to comfort her. She just lost someone she loved. We both did,” Tom turned away, as he thrust his hands into his pockets. “That day I realized how much I loved her . . . how much I had always loved her. I’m sorry I hurt Hope. I didn’t mean to, but something’s are just not meant to be.” Turning back around and walking to the door, he snarled, “Just stay out of it Grace, before someone else gets hurt.”

“Well, that was interesting,” Kyle said
, when Tom was out of earshot. “Do you think he knows I’m not really a detective?” Kyle asked worried.

“No
, if he did, we would be in jail,” she answered, pushing open the back door and entering the house.

Grace needed to find her sister and make sure she was all right. She took the stairs two at a time and knocked on Hope’s door. Without waiting for an answer
, she opened the door. Hope was standing at the window, holding the drapery back. “Is he gone?”

“Yes
. Are you okay?”

Hope let the drape slide back and walked to the mirrored vanity table with
the royal-purple velvet chair their parents had spent a small fortune on for their sweet sixteen birthday. Grace had been happy with a simple bike. “What did he want?” Hope asked, picking up the pearl encrusted hairbrush.

Grace filled her sister in on their conversation, as well as everything K
yle and she had learned so far. “Perhaps, you should listen to him,” Hope said, running the hairbrush through her hair. “Stay out of it. You’re barking up the wrong tree. You don’t seriously think Tom killed Sam?”

Grace decided it wasn’t worth pointing out that was just one of many theories.

“Harper’s right. It’s not as if Crystal loved Sam, everyone knows she was just trying to make Tom jealous. It was so obvious. Tom had no reason to kill Sam. All he had to do was snap his fingers and Crystal would have come running.”

“Do you know who Sam was seeing
behind Crystal’s back?”

Hope threw down the brush. “Sam and I weren’t exactly best buddies.”

“I should have asked Tom.”

“He doesn’t know
.” At Grace’s questioning look, Hope added, “Tom told me back then that Sam was fooling around on Crystal, but it was a big secret. Sam wouldn’t even tell him.” Hope walked over to her closet and pulled out a green sundress. “Tom kept trying to figure it out. Like it was some sort of game. He even tried to follow him one day. He never found out who it was, though.”

“Are you sure?”

Ignoring her, Hope held up a dress and asked, “What do you think of my new dress?”

Grace
, not fooled by the sudden change of subject, ignored the question. “How upset was Sam that day on the tower?”

Hope blinked rapidly. “How should I know?”

“Hope, you told me right before graduation, you had just had it out with Sam on the bell tower, remember?”