Deadly Reunion (23 page)

“Oh that’s right
. I forgot I told you,” Hope said shrugging. “You haven’t told anyone, have you?”

“No, of course not.”

“Not even your boss?”

Grace shook her head. “No, I haven’t told a soul. What happened up there?”

“Nothing happened. When I left, he was standing up there, quite alive. Or do you believe I killed him, too?”

Grace ignored her sister’s question.
“What were you both doing at the tower?”

“I don’t know what he was doing there
, but I was on my way to the stadium when I saw him unlocking the tower door. I ran up to him to smooth things over about the house. He was Tom’s best friend, after all, and I didn’t want him to be upset.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. He said he understood and that it wasn’t his idea in the first place. It was Crystal’s. He told me to watch out for her because she was evil. She was after Tom, and nobody was going to stand in her way.”

“Do you think he killed himself?”

Hope sat down on the bed next to Grace. “I don’t know. I thought so at the time. I mean, he was acting so strange.”

“How so?”

“He just seemed really depressed. After we talked, I told him we had better go because the ceremony was about to start, but he said he wasn’t going. Then he hugged me and told me to tell Tom good-bye for him.”

“Did you think he was going to kill himself?”

“Do you honestly believe I would have left if I thought he was going to jump out of the tower as soon as I walked out? I assumed he was just leaving town, but when they found his body a few hours later . . .”

When her sister didn’t finish her thought
, Grace asked, “What were you and Tom fighting about right before the graduation ceremony?”

“It was so silly. He was jealous.
He said he saw Sam and me on the tower. He must have seen us hug. I tried to explain, but Tom was just being unreasonable and wouldn’t listen. Then he started yelling at me about my bracelet.”

“Your bracelet?”

“You know, the charm bracelet he gave me on my sixteenth birthday. It had been a family heirloom. I loved that bracelet.”

“
Whatever happened to it?”

Hope
shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I remember putting it on that morning, but I haven’t seen it since.”

Perplexed
, Grace asked, “Why was Tom yelling at you about the bracelet?”

“I don’t know
. He just kept asking me what had I done with it. Where was it? He was being completely unreasonable. I’d never seen him so angry before. Then I got angry. I told him that I wasn’t going to allow him to treat me like this and that if he didn’t like it he could go take a flying leap.” At Grace’s horrified expression, she quickly added, “I know. I know. Poor choice of words.”

*  *  *  *

Grace found Kyle, sitting at the kitchen table, attempting to explain what an indefinite integral was to an extremely disinterested Jeff. “I’m telling you, my teacher just hates me.”

“Yes, Jeff, she went back in time and develo
ped calculus just to punish you.” Grace opened the refrigerator and pulled out the ice tea pitcher. By the time she had poured herself a large glass, Jeff had declared that math sucked and since he and his band, the
Dead Toad
, were going to make gazillions someday, he didn’t need to waste his time, and left the room. Grace happily wished him good luck and sat down next to an amused Kyle.

“Discover anything interesting?” Kyle asked
, reaching for her glass and taking a drink.

Grace took the drink from his hand and handed him an empty glass. “Not really.” Grace didn’t like keeping things from Kyle
, but she wasn’t about to betray her sister’s confidence. “She didn’t really want to talk,” she hedged, hoping he wouldn’t push for more information.

“Right.
So, Hope was the last one to see Sam alive?”

Grace slammed down her glass. “You were eavesdropping!”

Completely unapologetic, Kyle nodded his head and said, “Yes, and good thing I did, or I would have no idea. The last one to see him alive,” he repeated slowly.

“Except for the murderer,” she immediately corrected.
“If he was, actually, murdered.”

“Of course,
” he said, readily agreeing with her. “Last one to see him alive. Just like with Crystal.”

“
Hope wasn’t the last one to see Crystal alive. She was in the gym when Crystal was murdered.”

“I was all over that gym looking for her.
She wasn’t there.”

“She’s small
. Maybe you missed her,” Grace said hopefully.

Kyle shook his head. “Tom wasn’t
in the gym, either. They both lied to the Sheriff that night.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter
, because she didn’t kill Crystal or Sam.”

“
Have you ever wondered why your sister didn’t want anyone to know she had been in the tower?”

“She was afraid. She was
seventeen years old, and she was scared people would talk. She was afraid they would say that she had been cheating on Tom with Sam, and that’s why he left her.”

“
Maybe, that’s the truth,” Kyle said.

Grace shook her head. “I doubt it. Hope loved Tom. She would never have betrayed him.”

“Maybe Tom just thought she did.” Kyle shrugged. “Well, are you ready to go?”

Grace laid her head on the table.

“We have to go. We need to scope out the area before we break in tonight.”

“How ‘bout you break in
, and I stay here.”

Kyle quickly nixed that idea.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“G
race, it’s so
good to see you again.” Eric Collins stood up and walked around his desk to clasp Grace’s outstretched hand in both of his.

“
Eric, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry about last night.” Which was very true, Grace hadn’t completely shed the mortification of being found out yet and according to Hope, she’s the new talk of the town.

The only thing worse was knowing she was going to be breaking in again in only a few short hours. She would just have to trust that Kyle would have their escape route planned out,
should everything fall apart. She could at least trust him not to leave her in the lurch if something went wrong.

“Grace, there’s no need to apologize,” he said, warmly as he led her to the chair across from his desk.

“I also wanted to thank you for last night. For defending me.”

Eric waved a hand dismissing her comment. “I know what it’s like to have everyone piling on top of you. You were always my best student, Grace. I knew you must have had a good reason to be here. Why were you here, by the way?”

Grace decided that it would be best to be as vague as possible. “It’s the scene of the crime.”

Eric smiled. “Sheriff Bellamy has been all through this school. Besides, school’s in session. If there was anything here, I’m sure it’s gone now.”

“Would you mind if we took another look?”

“Not at all. During school hours,” he said, wagging his finger at her. “I covered for you last night. I don’t think I can do it again.

Then he did know, Grace thought. “Why did you cover for me?”

“Because
I want Crystal’s killer caught. I liked Crystal. Oh, I know, I’m probably the only one who did, but it’s true. She wasn’t all bad. We worked on several charities together in the last ten years. She was a huge help. What with her family’s connections. Tom’s too. She loved children. She used to go to the hospital every Sunday and read to the children there. It’s a shame she didn’t have any of her own.” Eric’s voice softly faded away in remembrance.

“To be honest, I didn’t know her very well. She and Hope—”

Eric laughed. “I know. Hope and Crystal were like repelling magnets. If you only knew the amount of work that went into keeping those two apart for four years. I don’t know that it mattered; they always seemed to search each other out. It got even worse after she started dating Tom’s best friend. You know, I always suspected that they both secretly enjoyed the conflict.”

“My sister may disagree with you there, especially with what happened with Tom.”

“Yeah, I was rather surprised at that myself.”

“It’s a shame about Sam. I always imagined that they would have married right out of high school.” Grace paused at his grimace. “You don’t think so?”

He shook his head. “Sam confided in me that he didn’t really love Crystal. I know Crystal had been talking about marriage, but Sam told me he was planning on joining the Army after graduation and had no plans of ever coming back.”

As far as Grace knew, Sam was a broken man after the car accident. “But his injuries—”

“No, he was pretty much healed. Don’t get me wrong, he still had some problems. He couldn’t run as fast as he used to, but he was well enough to enlist.”

“You were pretty close to him, weren’t you?”

Eric shrugged. “I guess. I spent a lot of time tutoring him after the accident. The poor kid, even when he was at school, he spent most of it at the nurse’s office, but he slowly got better. Each day I watched him get healthier and stronger. He spent so much time at our home trying to catch up with school work that Sarah was ready to adopt him. She thought the world of him.”

“I don’t think
I ever told you how sorry I was to hear about your wife’s death.”

Eric closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

Grace chewed her lower lip. She didn’t want to go into Sarah’s death with Eric, but felt that she had to at least see his reaction.

“What happened that day?”

“It was a horrible accident. We should have cancelled school. I wish we had.” Eric shook his head. “Sarah was sick that morning. Flu, I think. She had been sick for over a week, but she wouldn’t stay home. Anyway, she had gotten sick again and I told her to go home. That was the last time I saw her alive.”

“Are you sure it was an accident?”

Eric’s eyes flew up to meet hers. “Of—of—course,” he stuttered. “Why would you think otherwise?”

“It’s just such an unusual death.”

“It’s not that unusual,” he said, his face reddening. “Icicles’ are very sharp and very dangerous.”

A knock sounded at the door. Eric looked past Grace towards the door. His face clouded. “Come in.”

A bleach-blonde, overly made-up woman stuck her head in the door. “Oh, Eric, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were with someone.” Grace’s eyes focused in on the large unobstructed glass window right next to the door. “Should I come back later?” the woman asked, clearly expecting Grace to volunteer to leave.

Eric, polite as always, stood and gave out introductions, despite seemingly reluctant to do so. “Ms. Avery is our new English teacher.”

Grace smiled and nodded politely. So this was Whatshername.

Ms. Avery did not return her greeting. Instead
, she sized Grace up in a matter of seconds before batting her eyes at Eric. “I really need to speak to you about my class.”

Eric’
s clear blue eyes narrowed. “All right, why don’t we make an appointment for this afternoon?”

“I would really like to see you now,” she said, twirling her hair around her fingers. “But if you would prefer
, I could see you at your home, tonight.”

“No,” he said quickly. “This afternoon.”

Whatshername, clearly not happy with being told no, glared at Grace before saying, “Fine. I’ll be back at one,” she said making it sound like a warning. Turning, she walked out of the room, leaving the door wide open.

Eric smiled at Grace and said, “Sorry about that,” as he closed the door.

“She seems nice.”

Eric frowned. “She’s just a bit, how should I put it,” he said, looking up searching for the right word, “persistent. Please don’t say anything. Diana and I,
we’re . . . well, I made a mistake ten years ago, and I’m trying to correct it.”

Grace held up her hand. “You don’t have to explain.”

Eric looked down at the desk. Tracing circles on the mahogany, he said, “I know. It’s just that I don’t want Diana to worry. I’m not the same man I was ten years ago. I’ve grown. We both have. I just don’t want to make the same mistakes I did before.”

“You mean, like leaving her for the English teacher?”

Still tracing circles on the desk, he said, “Don’t get the wrong idea. I should never have betrayed Diana like I did, but I did love Sarah. Very much. Why do you think her death wasn’t an accident?”

“I’m just curious about all strange deaths in the last ten years.”

Eric looked up from the desk. “Is that why you’re asking about Sam, too?”

Grace nodded.

“Grace, I assure you. My wife died accidentally.”

“What about Sam? Do you really think he killed himself?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged helplessly. “Some kids don’t like change,” he added weakly. “Crystal told me that he was very upset that morning. She never told me why.”

“Did Crystal know about his plans to leave?”

“I’m not sure. I think he may have told Melodie. He and Melodie were very close. I hope she never told Crystal. It’s bad enough knowing the man you love took his own life, but to know what he really thought of you. That’s just too much. I hope she didn’t know.”

Grace suspected it wouldn’t have made much difference to Crystal. She had to agree with Harper and Hope. Crystal had been using Sam to get to Tom.

“Grace, if you find out anything. No matter how small, about Sarah, please tell me immediately. I know it was an accident, but . . . please keep me informed.”

*  *  *  *

“She’s not going to know about this is she, dude?”

“No,”
Kyle said patiently, “Melodie won’t know. I promise.”

“I don’t want that psycho anywhere near m
e. DeeDee’s completely nuts. I mean a complete whack-job.”

“Yes
, David. I know. You keep saying that. Can you just tell me what happened?”

Kyle could hear the other man breathing hard through the phone. “All right, but you better not tell her about me. I have a good life now
, and I don’t need some lunatic messing things up. I have an art show coming up. People are going to finally see my gift.”

Kyle leaned his head back against the wall.
If he had to hear about this man’s gift one more time, he was going to throw the phone out the window. “She won’t know.”

“Good. Well,
it started off great. I thought she was kind of cool. I mean, she was hot and an artist, too. So, she recognized my gift right from the beginning.”

Kyle suppressed a groan.

“Everything was good at the beginning, but then she started to get clingy. I couldn’t walk down the street without her wanting to tag along. She wanted to talk every day. It was horrible.”

“Sounds frightening. Tell me about the night you fell down the stairs.”

“She completely went off the wall. I was in my studio entertaining another lady friend and Dee walked in. She went crazy. You know, we weren’t exclusive, but she started ranting and raving about morals and how she was wasting her time. It was crazy, man. She even slapped me.”

“Did you slap her?”

“Uh uh. No way. I never touched her. I told her to get out.”

“Did Melodie leave?”

“Yeah, but I heard her outside running her mouth to that little weasely dude.”

“Weas
ely dude?”

“Yeah, I don’t know his name, but he was always following Dee around. He was like her little lap dog. Anyway, she ran off and he came running up, barking at me.”

“Is that when you fell down the stairs?”

“I didn’t fall
! I was pushed. I broke my collarbone. It could have been my neck or worse my hands. What if I had lost my gift, dude?”

“That would have been a shame. So, is that when you almost died?”

“Uh uh. Not then. It happened later that night. I dropped my lady friend off and then came back to my studio. It was completely destroyed. Everything was gone. All my paintings had been ripped up. I heard something outside, so I thought I could catch whoever did that to my artwork. When I got outside, I felt someone push me. I went straight down, man. When I woke up, I called a friend to come and get me. He took me to the hospital.”

“Did you call the police?”

“What do you think? Of course, I called the police. They wouldn’t do anything, though. They said there wasn’t enough evidence. Couldn’t they see what happened to my art? The crazy lunatic ripped them up. Just shredded them. That had been some of my best work, too, man. I mean, isn’t that evidence enough? I think she paid them off. Her family was a big deal in that town. Anyway, I got out of there, dude. I left the next day.”

“Why do you think it was Melodie?”

“Who else could it have been? She was real mad that morning. You should have seen her.”

Kyle tapped his pencil against his pad of paper, thinking.
“Why couldn’t it have been the weasely dude?”

“No. No way. It was her. Sometimes, she would get so mad . . . Just completely furious. Over nothing, too. No, it was her. I have bad luck when it comes to women. She’s like the sixth girlfriend who’s tried to kill me in the last ten years. I just attract psychos, dude.”

*  *  *  *

F
ive hours later Grace and Kyle stood next to the school. Both had changed into the darkest clothes they had and were huddled behind a bush waiting for Adam to join them. Adam was late, again and Grace was about to give up on him, when she felt Kyle place a hand on her back. When she turned to look at him, he was holding a finger up to his lips. She peeked through the bushes and saw two deputies walking up the steps to the high school. One of them she recognized from the night before.

Grace and Kyle watched as one deputy, a large, portly man with a thick mustache, checked the door and shined a light through the window. The other one, the tall lanky one that she had bit the night before stood at the foot of the steps.

Grace ducked down when one of the deputies
’ flashlights passed over their bush.

“Don’t worry
, it will be okay,” Kyle whispered reassuringly. “We won’t get caught and if we do, it will still be okay.”

“Really how do you figure that?” Grace asked, less than convinced.