Deadly Reunion (28 page)

“There has to be mor
e. Are you sure there’s not another folder somewhere?”

Melodie
shook her head. “All of the reunion material is here.”

“What about at Crystal’s house?”

“No, I brought that here, too. Everything is in this drawer. You’re welcome to see it if you want,” she said, reaching into the drawer and pulling out more folders.

Grace went through each folder
, carefully turning over each piece of paper. Other than the ones in the expanding folder, there were no other pictures to be found. Frustrated, Grace sat back in her chair.

Melodie
stood up. “Well, that’s it. That’s everything.”

“Do you remember seeing any of the pictures
that night?”

“No, I was busy, Grace. I spent most of the night trying to keep Crystal and Hope away from each other.”

“You took a break to stuff the ballot box, didn’t you? I just thought you might have seen the pictures, since they were a part of the reunion.”

“Afraid not,”
Melodie said, “that was Crystal’s—”

“Job,” Grace said, finishing
Melodie’s sentence. “Yes, I know. I think you’ve mention that a few times. Someone had to have seen the pictures.”

“Why are you still investigating?” she asked perplexed. “The sheriff’
s office called me this morning. They found the murder weapon right where Adam said he buried them. Clearly, Adam killed my sister.”

Grace quickly filled
Melodie in on what happened last night. “That was
not
a suicide note, and it definitely wasn’t a confession. I believe Adam found out who killed Crystal and possibly Sam. We need to see those pictures.”

“You went with
Kyle to the lake? Just exactly how much time do you two spend together?”

Ignoring the question, Grace asked,
“Where’s the list of alumni who attended the reunion?”

Melodie
reluctantly handed her two sheets of paper. Quickly perusing the list, Grace counted over hundred names. Groaning, she dug through her purse, until she found her cell phone.

“What in the world are you doing?”
Melodie asked in disbelief.

“I’m calling everyone who was there that night,” she said matter-of-factly. “I need, um, I mean
, Mr. Drake needs to know if anyone saw the slideshow that played last night. You want to help?”

Standing,
Melodie threw Grace a disgusted look. “I think that’s what I’m paying you for,” she said, as she walked towards the door. Before leaving, she reluctantly added that she would fix lunch.

*  *  *  *

Kyle picked up his iced tea and enjoyed the cool autumn breeze, as he sat waiting for James Simpson to return to their table at the country club. He could get used to this, he decided.

“Well, it’s all taken care of
Kyle.” James pulled out a chair and sat down.

“That quickly?
”

“Yep, you can consider yourself a full fledge member
. Your references were impeccable,” he said, helping himself to a buttered roll.

Kyle smiled. Felix came thro
ugh and here Grace thought he was just an ambulance chaser.

“All you need now is to open up an office
, and you’ll be in business.”

“Excellent! I can’t tell you how refreshing this is. You know, in my experience, the author
ities don’t necessarily enjoy a private investigator hanging around, poking their noses in police business.” Kyle’s experience, of course being what he had seen on television and at the movies.

“To tell you the truth, Tom has had some reservations
, but I think it’s just the stress he’s been under.”

Kyle nodded sympathetically.

“I have the information you asked for, by the way.” James passed a folder across the table. “The coroner was convinced Sarah Collins’ death was an accident. If you find out any information that would indicate otherwise, I’d be interested in hearing it.”

Kyle picked up the folder and leafed through the coroner’s report.
“She had been threatened just a month before.”

“Diana Collins.” James nodded.
“The sheriff at the time was John Anderson. Wonderful man. Best sheriff this town ever had. He heard about the threat and launched a full investigation. His report is after the coroner’s. Diana Collins had an alibi. Air tight.”

“Those can be faked.”

“Not this one. She had slipped on a sheet of ice the morning Sarah died. She was still at the Emergency Room being treated for a concussion when the icicle fell on Sarah. An ER doctor and three nurses provided affidavits to the effect.”

Kyle frowned. Well
, that eliminates one suspect, he thought. He tested the weight of the folder. Pretty large for an open-and-shut case. “Did they have any other suspects?”

James hesitate
d. “Not really. The sheriff thought her husband may have killed her, but,” he said, shaking his head, “he had an alibi, too.”

Kyle looked up. “Eric
was a suspect?”

James nodded. “He had a motive.
She was pregnant when she died and there was a rumor that the baby wasn’t his.”

“Really?” Kyle leaned forward. “W
ho was she having an affair with?”

“The s
heriff couldn’t substantiate the rumor, but what was significant was that Eric Collins apparently believed it. According to a neighbor of theirs, Eric and Sarah had a huge fight the week before she died. Eric had basically accused her of sleeping with all the men in a five mile radius.”

“But
you have no idea who she was sleeping with?”

“
Anderson thought it was with the principal at the time. Hank Cooper. He wasn’t sure. Cooper denied it.”

“You said
Eric had an alibi?”

James smiled.
“An excellent one. He was tutoring Tom at the time. Tom swore he was with Collins from the moment Sarah Collins left, to the time Sam came running in to get help. Anderson didn’t really believe him, which is ridiculous. Why would Tom lie about something like that? Anyway, after Tom—” James paused as he reached for the buzzing cell phone in his pocket.

“Hello,” he said
, answering his phone.

Kyle watched as a multitude of expressio
ns passed over Simpson’s face. First surprise, disbelief, and finally anger. “He can’t do that! Tom, don’t worry. Does he have a warrant? . . . Just relax, I’ll be right there,” he said his voice rising in anger.

“Bellamy, that stupid son
—” he said, stopping himself and smiling as a couple of elderly voters passed by.

“What has he done?” Kyle asked.

James leaned forward. “I don’t know how he got elected. He is completely incompetent. Tom caught him and his deputies trying to search his house on Franklin Street.”

“Did he have a search warrant?”

James laughed bitterly. “No. He didn’t have a warrant for Tom’s house on Ferris, either, but that didn’t stop him. He is such an incompetent fool. Our sheriff’s office could use some help. You should see some of the evidence he brings me. Tom and I have had to dismiss more of his cases than we’ve had to try. Tom told him to get off his property and don’t come back without a warrant. However, he just found out that Judge Rawson is seriously considering giving them the warrant. Bellamy’s just doing this out of revenge. He’s out to get my office.”

Kyle sat back in his chair.
“What do they hope to find?”

“
Adam left a note describing where he buried the murder weapon. They followed the instructions but—” he stopped speaking when a waitress came up and refilled his glass.

As soon as she left, Kyle said, “So, they think Adam is the killer.”

“You would think so, but no.” Simpson shook his head. “They’re not so sure Adam killed Crystal anymore. Apparently, they didn’t find the trophies where the note said they were supposed to be. Instead, they found evidence of someone else digging around the fountain. They now think that Adam wasn’t the one who buried the murder weapon. They think he was trying to find it, and the note was actually an anonymous tip, he had received.”

“
But I thought they had found all three trophies in a duffle bag this morning.”

James nodded. “Bellamy tore apart the yard. They didn’t find them near the fountain where
the note said they were buried, but they found them somewhere else on the property. They also found a couple of purple silk threads inside the duffle bag. They’re hoping they can find more of these threads somewhere at Tom’s home, so they’re trying to get a warrant for his house on Franklin Street now. I don’t know how Judge Rawson can seriously issue a search warrant. Absolutely ridiculous,” he said in disgust. “Tom had nothing to do with Crystal’s death. It’s obvious Adam killed Crystal.
”

“Y
ou still think Adam is the killer?”

“Don’t you?”

Kyle quickly outlined their theory about Sam’s death.

“I can’t believe this has an
ything to do with Sam Baxter. As far as I know that was a suicide. Now the stolen flash drive and the slideshow? Perhaps, but I don’t know what you could hope to learn now. I doubt Bellamy has even thought about investigating the theft. Anyway, I have to go. I want to be there when Bellamy conducts his search,” he said, rising from the table.

*  *  *  *

Grace stood rubbing her neck, trying to release the tension of sitting in one place holding a phone to her ear for over three hours.

A third of those contacted didn’t even know
there was a slideshow playing. Another third was completely unaware that Sam had died and another third of the class asked, “Sam who?”

But it wasn’t a total loss.
One person remembered seeing the slideshow and had made a special point to videotape it. Unfortunately, that person was Beth. Having noticed Beth’s videotaping skills at the reunion, Grace didn’t hold out too much hope that the video would be clear, in focus and actually pointing at the pictures and not Beth’s feet or her own chest. Still, Grace didn’t feel like she would be able to rest until she had at least seen the pictures. There had to be some connection. There had to be a reason the flash drive was stolen, and Crystal was killed, Grace thought, as she left the office and walked towards Melodie’s kitchen.

Melodie
and Diana were sitting at the table, glaring at one another. “I had nothing to do with it,” Diana was saying as Grace walked into the kitchen.

Sensing the tension
, Grace asked, “I’m sorry, am I intruding?”

“Grace, I didn’t know you were here,” Diana said warmly.

“Have you had any luck?”
Melodie asked, still glaring at her aunt.

Deciding not to join them at the table
, Grace stood by the kitchen island. “Yes, as a matter of fact, Beth said she purposely recorded the slideshow. You remember, she was going around recording everything that night.”

Finally turning to look at Grace,
Melodie laughed. “You’ll be lucky if she remembered to turn the thing on.”

S
eeing Diana’s look of confusion Grace explained what she was looking for and why, before asking if she had seen the pictures Crystal had used for the slideshow.

Diana slowly nodded.
“I don’t see how they could help. There were only a couple of shots of Sam. His yearbook photo. There was one of him and Crystal. I remember it was their prom photo. There was one of him as a little boy with a train set, I think. A couple of him in his football uniform. A couple of school photos. That was about it. I don’t remember seeing anything unusual.”

“Grace, I think you’re wasting your time,”
Melodie said pouring more sugar in her tea. “Even if you saw it, what could you possibly learn?”

“I won’t know until I see it,” Grace explained, reasonably.

“Wait,” Diana said excitedly. “There were a couple of pictures of Sam by the lake. It looked like it was taken at James Simpson’s lake house.”

“Was there anyone with him?”

“Um, Tom was in one of them.”

“Of course
, you would mention that one,” Melodie said testily. “I remember that one, too. In fact, I’m the one who took that picture of them. Trust me, it wasn’t anything special.”

“What were they doing?”
Grace asked.

“What do you think?”
Melodie snapped. “They were standing and smiling at the camera. That’s it.” Sighing audibly, she added. “Honestly, Grace, you are on a wild goose chase. Why don’t you go find Kyle and tell him I need to see him, immediately? Please.”

“You call him and tell him yourself. I’m going to go to Beth’s house and watch the video.
Do me a favor. If you get a hold of him, tell him where I am.”

“Isn’t Beth at work?” Diana asked. “I thought she work
s at the comic book store part time nowadays.”