The Key (3 page)

O
ne by one the lockers were opened, and Carly dared not blink until she knew if anyone would open locker
198
.
Then it happened. Vincent Halliday reached into his pocket and pulled out a locker key. Without hesitating he slipped it into locker
198
,
gave the key a
quick
twist,
and the
wooden
door
flipped
open
to reveal a picture of Natalie Wood on the set of Westside Story on the inside of the door
.

Carly took a step back as she realized she now knew who the locker belonged to. Her head buzzed with questions.

Is it him?
Is the charming Vincent Halliday
really
Tracey’
s killer?
He doesn’t look like a killer; but then they
said that about
Ted Bundy
, she told herself
silently
as she watched the foursome gather their stuff and leave the building.
Carly had just turned twelve
when the infamous Bundy was executed, but she never forgot how so many people celebrated his demise. It was the
endless
stories
about
his life and death that first got her thinking about a career in the media.

Following closely behind the chatt
y
foursome, Carly watched and listened
intently, hoping to catch a tell-
tale sign or
a
word that would help her confirm Vincent’s guilt or innocence.

As they all turned the corner, she recognized the street. She’d been here before. It was the street leading to the library.

“Well, we have to go. We need to pick up some books from the library.
We’ll be over about
Eight
, unless we change our minds. Come on Tracey
,
let’s go,”
Pamela
smiled as the
two girls linked arms and
swaggered
away.

As Vince
nt
and
Scott
crossed the road together, Vince
nt
shouted down the street, “See
ya
later
,
”
b
ut his words were drowned out by the sound of
a
burglar alarm
going off
from
a
nearby store.
And at that exact moment, Carly awoke to the sound of her alarm clock.

Carly was ready to get down to business. She set the laptop onto the
k
itchen table
.
T
hen grabbed
her note pads, and
a
n assortment of
pens
and highlighter’s
from the kitchen drawer.
It was while she was jotting down the names of the three people she’d seen with Tracey, that she couldn’t help feeling that a couple of the names seemed familiar.

She was just be
ginn
ing to search the archives on a news website when she
realized
why
Tracey’s friend
Pamela
looked familiar.
There was a picture of Pamela and Tracey on one of the many articles written shortly after Tracey’s disappearance.

As soon as Carly
saw the
full name
Pamela
Galbraith,
it hit her.

No wonder I recognized her
!
She’s the very same Pamela Galbraith who caused all that trouble
a couple of years ago
when she accused
a
creepy politician guy of attacking her.
Yeh
, now I remember
her. S
he said the
creep
paid off the police to keep it quiet
. He said she was a drunk and he’d rejected her. Everyone said she was always asking for trouble, and no one believed her story. I must try and track her down later
.

Carly made a note of the name Pamela Galbraith, and next to it wrote ‘must try and find her; last known person to see Tracey’. She then highlighted the words in fluorescent pink so she couldn’t miss them.

There was
a
much more important person to check out
, though
; Vincent Halliday.
Wondering if he too had hit the headlines at some point or another, Carly decided to do a simple search on the internet for his name only. Her eyes widened as she saw the results.

Holy cow, that joker is the owner of
the
Cabbage Tree
pub chain
. H
e’s loaded
.
Who would have thought it? Well, that’s torn it. He spends most of his time on his yacht
or mixing with the rich and famous
. T
here’s no way
of bumping
into him
by chance
. I need another way in.
I need to get to know everything I can about the real Vincent Halliday.
Wonder what
Scott
is up to now? Maybe he’s my way in
?

Entering
Scott
Halliday’s
name into the search box, Carly waited for the results. There were no glaring headlines, no pictures; just one small story.

‘Man
In Hospital After Punch Up At
School Reunion’
,
the
headline read.
Scott
’s name stood out on the article as the man who had been taken to hospital, although it appeared that several people had been involved in the disturbance. The story was
trivial in the grand scheme of things; but it did give Carly an idea.

I need to show up at that reunion, find out what leads to the fight, and maybe get to meet
Scott
while I’m there. At least I should be able to find out more about him. He’s the
answer
to getting closer to Vincent.
That’s strange;
it doesn’t mention Vincent being involved in the fight
. If my brother was hurt so bad he needed to go to hospital, I’m sure I’d be in the fight helping him
.

Moving back to the Crime
S
toppers website Carly checked for any new additions to the Tracey Dawn Jackson appeal. Earlier details had been pretty vague, but now there w
as more information. Tracey had been given a locket for her
sixteenth
birthday. She always wore it, but the locket was not on or near her body when she was found.

There was a picture
of the solid gold ornate locket
with details that
T
racey
’s name was
engraved on the back
of it
.
Someone had u
sed a photo
graph
of Tracey wearing the necklace, and simply cropped
the
image
,
leaving out anything
that might distract the viewer;
namely
the beautiful
Tracey herself.
It suddenly brought home, yet again, the import
ance of finding Tracey’s killer
.

Right, I’ve got enough information for now. Tonight I will travel back to the
1999 Harvest
Spring Junction College reunion to get the answers to some much needed questions
, Carly confidently thought to herself.

The
long hot shower and
lavender shower gel had relaxed Carly, and she felt ready to continue her quest to find Tracey’s killer.
Climbing
into bed the CD was started, and much quicker than usual
,
Carly was
fast
asleep.

Approaching the familiar
school
building there was a large banner hanging over the doorway, reading, ‘HSJ College Twenty Year Reunion’.

The college had not changed much since Carly’s visit the night before, even though twenty years had passed. However, walking through the doorway she
came across a
stumbling block. It wasn’t two burly security guards
at the end of the hallway
, but three prim and proper reunion
organizers and former
pupils
, who you can guarantee were school prefects when they were there
.

They’ll never let me in. For one thing I’m way too young to pass as a
former
pupil
, and anyway they’ve got a list of names there and my names not on it. I’ll have to think of something else
.

Wandering back outside
,
the
co
ld night air
caught her breath and made the
solution of
getting into the reunion much more urgent. Thankfully, luck was on her side, as she saw an old battered van pull up outside the building.
The
hand-painted
name on the van told Carly
that
the band had arrived.

Oh how cheesy
;
‘Hot Stuff
70’s
Tribute Band’. That’ll be after that Donna Summer hit that they always dig out when it’s ‘golden oldies’ hour at the radio station.
I bet they’re all dressed
up like the ‘
Village People,’ Carly
sniggered to herself.
I can’t
wait to see how these guys
look
.

She didn’t have to wait long.

Emerging from the van were
three guys
who
had the typical dodgy moustaches, large
sunglasses and flared trousers,
closely
followed by
two
blonde
haired
gum
-
chewing
girls
who
were obvious
ly
Debbie Harry wannabe’s.

The first
guy with the handlebar moustache walked swiftly up to Carly, guitar case in hand. Looking extremely flustered he immediately apologized to her.
“Hi, we’re ‘Hot Stuff’
. S
orry we’r
e late, we got a flat tire. We got changed in the van while we waited for the mechanic
,
to save some time. T
hen
we got stuck in traffic. B
ut we’re here now, so which way is it then?”

Obviously assuming that Carly was an organizer waiting to greet them, she seized on the opportunity.

“No problem
. I
f you’
ll
all just grab your
‘hot
stuff
’
and follow me we’ll get you sorted
,
”
smirked
Carly a tad sarcastically.

Once the group had all their kit out of the van, Carly led them through the college doors. With a confident walk she strode down the hallway
, the band following directly behind her
, giving the open mouthed organizers no time to think.

“Hot Stuff, ready for action, would someone show us where to put the gear. Let’s get this party started.”
Carly surprised even herself
in
the way she’d acted herself out of trouble.

T
he
band were
directed to a
room behind the stage in the school hall
.
While they were
putting
the finishing touches to
their 70’s make up
,
Carly
took the opportunity to slip away
to mingle with the guests.
She casually wandered around
the hall
until the band appeared on the stage, all the
while
keeping an eye open for Pamela, Vincent, or
Scott
.

Although the name badge was a small help, Carly recognized
Scott
Halliday almost
immediately
. He still resembled his brother, and although it turned out he was a year younger than Vincent, he was considerably older looking. It seemed life had taken its toll on
Scott
, and his
cheap-looking
clothes
meant
he wasn’t sharing the wealth of his older brother.