All Dressed in White (19 page)

“A dead end,” Laurie sighed.

“Oh, don’t look now, but we have company, at the bar,” Alex said in a low voice.

Laurie stole a glance to the front bar. Austin and Nick were drinking what looked like scotch. Their heads turned in sync as a group of young women in cocktail dresses walked by.

“Looks like they’re on the prowl,” Laurie said.

“It sure does.”

“Think they’ll mind if I interrupt? I want to ask them if they remember Jeremy Carroll.”

“I was thinking about him this afternoon,” Alex said. “I bet the police have never connected him to Amanda.”

“I’m sure they haven’t. The photographer, Ray Walker, didn’t think of it himself until Jerry called him. It was only after Amanda disappeared that any clients complained about Jeremy. And the
neighbors didn’t seek a protective order until last year. There would be no way for the police to realize that Jeremy had been working on Amanda’s wedding photographs.”

“Have you considered approaching him for the show?”

“We certainly can’t ignore him. If only there were some way to know if he was the man who turned to follow Amanda in the surveillance photo. Let me see what Nick and Austin remember.”

“Want me to go with you?” Alex asked, beginning to stand.

“No, I think you intimidate them. Too much competition for best-looking man at the Grand Victoria.”

He was smiling as he watched her walk away.

•  •  •

“Ms. Moran,” Nick exclaimed. “Let us get you a drink.” Laurie noticed that Austin did not look happy at the suggestion that she join them. Hers was probably not the kind of female company he was hoping for tonight. “Please call me Laurie, and thank you, but I already have one.” She gestured to Alex, who gave a small hand salute. “I don’t want to interrupt for long, but something’s come up in our investigation. Do you happen to remember a younger man who was working for Jeff and Amanda’s wedding photographer? His name was Jeremy Carroll.”

“The intern,” Austin said immediately. “Kind of a nosy, nondescript fellow. He took good pictures as I recall.”

“So you do remember him!”

“Austin remembers everyone,” Nick said. “He’s the Rainman of people-watching. Me on the other hand? I don’t even remember there being a wedding photographer.”

Austin launched into a detailed description of the photo shoot by the swimming pool the afternoon of the bachelor party, but Nick’s face was still blank.

“Did you notice anything unusual about him?” Laurie asked.

“Are you thinking he might be a suspect?” Austin asked, his voice tense. “We’ve been telling people all these years that there’s no way Jeff would hurt Amanda. Henry said from the beginning she probably went for a walk and ran into a dangerous creep. Is it possible this intern’s the one?”

“At this point, we’re just trying to make sure we have a complete list of people Amanda would have encountered down here.”

“Come to think of it, the guy did seem very interested in everyone,” Austin said. “I thought he was just too eager, the way interns can be.”

“Did he seem especially interested in Amanda?”

“Yes, I think so.” His voice was deeply concerned now. “That seemed normal at the time. After all, she was the bride. Maybe someone should have mentioned it to the police.”

“It’s a big leap from being overly interested in your job to hurting someone.” She saw no reason to mention Jeremy’s more recent problems with the law.

Nick downed the rest of his scotch and signaled for the bill. “Is that all we can help you with for now, Laurie?” They were clearly eager to move on to more fun conversations with more available women.

“Just one more question while I have you here: We were trying to clarify who had access to rental cars that week. Jeff and Amanda rented a car; did either of you have one?”

“No, only Jeff had one. On this trip we’re yacht people,” Nick said with a smirk at his own joke. Austin began to tell Laurie in agonizing detail about their newfound love for boats and putting their
Ladies First
and
Lonesome Dove
nameplates on their charters.

“So is that it?” Nick asked. Laurie had the impression that he either needed to leave right now or would be ordering another drink.

“Yes, and, please, let me get this,” she said, reaching for the tab. “It’s the least I can do.”

Nick placed a gentle hand on her forearm. He certainly was a flirt. “I hate to break this to you, Laurie, but you’ve been picking up more tabs than that one. We’ve put everything on our rooms.”

Brett Young will be so thrilled, Laurie thought.

38

“H
ow’d that go?” Alex asked when she returned to the table.

She related the new information to him.

As usual, he processed it quickly. “So that’s one more person saying Jeremy Carroll is a little off.”

Jeff, Austin, and Nick had all given the same timeline to police. According to the three friends, after dinner, they went to Jeff’s room for a nightcap. Around eleven o’clock they said good night and Nick and Austin went to their own rooms and to bed.

“Alex, think about this. All four men supposedly were in their hotel rooms alone by eleven o’clock. Henry claims that he went to bed earlier, close to ten o’clock. That means that nobody can confirm the whereabouts of those four after eleven the night Amanda disappeared.”

“Yes, it does,” Alex agreed.

“And it was about eleven o’clock when Amanda stepped back from getting on the elevator.”

“Do you think she was meeting one of the four?”

“I don’t know. And the question is, was Jeremy hanging around the hotel at that time? If so, he could have seen Amanda and followed her again.”

“I know your father found Jeremy’s address and it’s not far from here.”

“That’s where my mind was going. After the shoot tomorrow, I want to pay a visit to Mr. Carroll.”

“Laurie, please don’t tell me you’re planning to go alone.”

“Don’t worry. Armed Commissioner Leo will be going with me.”

“That makes me feel better. Switching to another subject, can you and I have dinner tomorrow night? There’s a new gourmet restaurant in town that I hear is wonderful.”

“Really? Just the two of us?”

“Over a romantic dinner you can tell me all about your meeting with Jeremy Carroll.”

Laurie laughed and said, “What could possibly be more romantic? You’re on.”

•  •  •

Half an hour later they were walking to the elevator. Laurie found herself thinking about Jeremy Carroll. Her gaze drifted to the now dark atrium outside the bar. She could picture Carroll lurking there, his camera strapped across one shoulder. She imagined Amanda walking past him that night, never noticing that the young photographer was watching her. And following her.

39

J
eremy Carroll’s neighborhood, a mix of ranch-style and bungalow homes, was modest but well maintained. The one exception was his address. The split-level ranch was in dire need of both a paint job and a lawn mowing. According to his neighbors’ application for a restraining order, Jeremy had inherited the home three years earlier from his great-aunt.

Laurie paused on the sidewalk. “Now that we’re here, I’m worried that we should have called the local police instead.”

“I was on the job three decades, Laurie. I know police work. If we took our suspicions to the police department here, they’d spend the entire day mulling things over. They’d probably even call in an Assistant District Attorney for advice. Jeremy would lawyer up the second they started asking questions about Amanda. But we’re just a couple of civilians from a New York City television show. We can use that to get him talking.”

“Is it safe to just walk up there and knock on the door?”

“While I’m around, we’re fine.”

Laurie saw Leo’s hand reach inside his jacket to where he kept his gun. After all those years with the department, he felt unnatural without it.

Laurie felt her heart start to race as her father rang the doorbell. Were they about to look into the face of Amanda’s killer?

As the door slowly opened she immediately recognized Jeremy from his booking photo. He even had the same trapped, fearful expression.

“What are you doing here?”

On instinct, Laurie looked at his hands and clothing to see if he might be armed. His hands were empty, and he was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, not ideal for concealing a weapon. She felt her pulse begin to return to normal.

But then her gaze moved past Jeremy, into his home. A worn brown sofa and an old television were the only furniture in the living room. Past that, she saw a small table and two chairs in what was meant to be a dining room. Despite the paucity of furniture, the house was cluttered beyond belief. Old computers, video equipment, and printers were scattered in random places. Stacks of magazines and newspapers stood five feet high. And everywhere Laurie looked, there were photographs—on the floor, strewn across the table, pinned to the walls, lining the stairwell.

Her eyes widened as she looked at Leo.

He took the lead. “We’re with Fisher Blake Studios and wanted to talk to you about your photography work.”

It was a smart move. The name of their show would put Jeremy on high alert. Fisher Blake Studios sounded like a photography company. Even so, Jeremy looked wary.

“I’ve sent my work to every major photographer in Southern Florida. I’ve never heard of you, Mr. Blake.”

“Oh, I’m not Mr. Blake. My name’s Leo.” He offered a handshake. “This is Laurie. And we’re not local. We’re from New York.”

Jeremy’s eyes lit up at the mention of the Big Apple, then immediately lowered as Leo handed him a still photograph from the Grand Victoria surveillance video. Laurie could tell that he recognized himself. There was no doubt in her mind: Jeremy was the
man she had spotted walking behind Amanda at five-thirty the night she disappeared.

“This is from the Grand Victoria Hotel,” Leo stated. “See the date stamp at the bottom of the picture? Do you remember that night?”

Jeremy nodded slowly. He wasn’t denying being the man in the security video.

“Ray Walker, the photographer who hired you, told us that the two of you had finished taking pictures at five o’clock. But you were still there a half hour later, with your camera. And when you saw Amanda, you changed your direction to follow her. We have the whole thing on film.”

“I don’t understand. Who are you?”

Laurie decided that it might be best to let Jeremy experience a bit more fear and told him they were from
Under Suspicion
, investigating Amanda Pierce’s disappearance. “Can we come in?” She stepped inside without waiting for a response, and Leo followed her. She was no longer afraid. This man was a coward, finding power in the shadows, behind a camera. He was not going to lash out with her father around.

“Why didn’t you tell the police that you saw Amanda after you and Walker finished taking pictures?” Leo demanded.

“Because nobody asked me if I’d seen her. And I knew if I told them, they’d suspect me. Everybody always suspects me.”

“You like taking pictures when people aren’t looking.” Laurie gestured to all the photographs strewn around his house. Even at a superficial glance, she could tell that most were taken with long-distance lenses, their subjects unaware of the stranger watching them.

“It’s my art. I don’t photograph flowers or landscapes. I photograph people, and not when they are posed and artificial. I capture their reality. Isn’t that what everyone really wants? Look at all the
selfies posted all over the Internet. People love having their picture taken.”

“Even your neighbors?” Leo said. “They didn’t seem happy with your art.”

“That was all a misunderstanding. I tried to explain. Once I realized they were offended, I got rid of all my images of them. It wasn’t right to keep them.”

“What about Amanda?” Laurie asked. “Do you have pictures of her? Ones she didn’t know about?” Laurie walked to the dining room and began rifling through the photographs spread across the table.

“Stop it!” Jeremy’s voice was booming. Leo lunged in Laurie’s direction, placing himself between her and Jeremy. “Please,” Jeremy said, lowering his voice, “you need to go now. You have no right to be here. You’re trespassing. Get out.”