Deadly Reunion (16 page)

“When.”

“
If
this comes crashing down, you won't be implicated. Happy?”

“E
cstatic,” she said, thrusting the licenses back into his hand.

*  *  *  *

“For the last time Hope, being a size six is not a crime.”

“It is when you stret
ch out a three hundred dollar cashmere sweater. My sweater,” Hope snarled, holding up the offending item.

Grace snatched the sweater out of her sister's hand.
“My sweater now. I should take your whole wardrobe after that stunt you pulled the other night. You promised you wouldn't say anything to Mom and Dad.”

“I didn't say anything.
I can't help it if they guessed.”

“What did you do,
play charades?” Grace felt Kyle's hand wrap around her upper arm and pull her towards him.

“Be nice.
We need her to be cooperative,” he whispered.

“Nice, to my own sister? That's against everything I stand for.”

“Then let's go talk to Tom,” Kyle said.

“Fine, I'll
be nice,” she whispered back. “Hope, if you don't sit down and talk to us, I'm going to tell Mom and Dad what really happened to Uncle Jessie’s car fifteen years ago.”

“You don't have to threaten me
. I would be happy to talk to Mr. Drake.”

Grace was taken aback by her siste
r's sudden change of attitude. “
Mr. Drake
? Just yesterday you were accusing him—”

“Yes, but I spoke to
Melodie, and she explained that you were just his secretary. After I heard that, well, everything made sense. Really, Grace,” Hope said shaking her head reproachfully.

“I'm sorry
, Grace. I really felt that I should tell my client the truth,” Kyle said, removing the sweater Grace was slowly twisting into a knot. “After all, you don't want me running around telling everyone you're a detective, do you?”

Quickly realizing Grace was beyond answering
him, he turned to Hope, flashed his most charming smile, and led her to the window seat. “I'm so glad you want to talk. I’m afraid you may be in a lot of trouble.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No one is goi
ng to believe that I killed Crystal. I'm world famous. She is or was insignificant. Why would I kill her?”

“For taking Tom away from you,
” he said.

Hope scoffed.
“So, I wait until our ten year high school reunion? If I was going to kill her, it would have been ten years ago, not now,” she turned to look at Grace. “Do you believe I killed her, too?”

Grace smirked, “No, but other people obviously do.
What did the police want yesterday?”

“To waste my time. They were interested in my alibi.”

“Yours or Tom's?” When she didn’t answer, Kyle said, “Tell me about him.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What is he like? What kind of man is he?”

“I have no idea.
” She sighed softly. “He used to be my best friend, but we haven’t spoken in years.” Hope turned her head away, blinking rapidly.

Grace sat down next to her sister. “What happened between you tw
o? Hope, you need to tell us. Crystal has been murdered. The police consider you a suspect, so talk to us. At least, talk to me.”

“I don’t know what happened.
” Hope looked directly at her sister. “It's not that I didn’t confide in you because I didn’t want to, it was because I couldn’t. I honestly have no idea what happened.” Her voice hitched. “One minute we were happily planning our wedding. We were talking about college and our future. I was going to be a fashion designer, and he was going to become a veterinarian. He loved animals. Then after college we were going to move back here, and raise a family. We were even picking out baby names for our future children. If it was a girl, we were going to name her after me. Tom said, he couldn't think of a prettier name. If it was a boy, we were going to name him Jack.” Smiling in remembrance, she turned to Kyle. “My middle name is Jacqueline. He loved that name, too.”

“You
’ve got to be kidding me,” Grace said, rolling her eyes.

Kyle sensing this conversation was about to quickly deteriorate
and deviate from where he wanted to go, jumped in. “A vet? How did he go from veterinarian to Assistant DA with aspirations to the Senate?”

“Crystal did that to him,” Hope said bitterly.
“His father was a lawyer, but Tom had no interest in the law. He said, he would never be an attorney, not after watching his parents’ divorce, and his dad die of a stress induced heart attack.”

“So
, what went wrong?” Kyle asked.

“I have no idea. We had everything planned. We were going to attend
college in the fall and marry on my birthday. Tom said he couldn't think of a more perfect day,” Hope said smiling.

“Oh
, neither can I,” Grace said sarcastically.

Ignoring her sister, Hope
continued, “One minute, he loved me and the next, he didn’t.”

Grace shook her head.
“You two had been fighting the day before graduation, remember?”

“He didn’t break up with me over that!”
Hope stood up and walked towards the door.

“What was it about?” Kyle asked
, attempting to keep Hope talking.

“After the honeymoon we were going to move in
to campus housing for couples. A few days before graduation we drove up there to take a look at the apartments. It was awful. Tom called it a rat's nest. He said, it wasn’t good enough for me. He said, that I deserved better.” Hope picked up a hairbrush and began brushing her hair. “I told him it was only for a few years. That we could make do until we were working and could afford a nice house. I was hoping we would save enough money to eventually buy the Moxley House.”

“
It’s an old Victorian on Ferris Street,” Grace added for Kyle's benefit.

“And our great grandparent’s house.”
Hope placed the brush back down and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “I've always loved that old house. That's where we were going to raise our family. The next day Tom surprised me by taking me to the Moxley house. He said he had a great idea. We would buy the house now, and we would commute from there to the college.” Hope groaned. “Over an hour away.”

“Just out of high school? Where was he going to get the financing?” Kyle asked.

“That's what I wanted to know. Crystal, he said. Crystal's family, more specifically, would put up the money. I almost fainted when I heard how much the payments would be. I told him we couldn't afford it. He said that's where Sam would come in.”

“Sam who?” Kyle asked.

“Sam Baxter, Tom's best friend,” Grace answered. “Oh, I absolutely loved Sam. I had the biggest crush on him. Melodie and I would fight over who was going to eventually marry him. He was so cute. Tall, blond, athletic, smart—”

“And Crystal's boyfriend,” Hope added, interrupting Grace’s li
tany of Sam’s best attributes. “Tom wanted to rent out one of the rooms to Sam. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that was not going to happen. I liked Sam, but I didn’t want to start our married life with Sam in the next room. Especially knowing that Crystal would be in and out of the place visiting him. If Crystal's family put up the money and her boyfriend was paying rent, you’d better believe Crystal would treat our home as hers. I simply told Tom that it wasn't happening. We were going to stick with the original plan. Campus housing wasn't nice, but it was our only option. I would have rather slept in a car for four years, than have had Crystal walking in and out of our home as she pleased.”

“How angry was Tom?” Kyle asked

“He wasn't really that angry. He was disappointed, but he said he understood. I saw him the next morning, and everything seemed fine. It was a normal day. Well, except for us graduating and Sam leaping off the bell tower. After that—”

Kyle sat back, “Wait, what happened to Sam?”

“Sam committed suicide,” Hope said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, it was awful,” Grace added. “He had been pretty depressed for a while, ever since he got into a car ac
cident and messed up his knee. He was our all-star quarterback. There was even talk of a full scholarship to Notre Dame, but all of that went away after the accident. We found out right after the graduation ceremony that he had jumped out of the bell tower behind the school.”

Kyle raised an eyebrow.
“When was the next time you spoke to Tom?”

Hope shook her head.
“Except for earlier that morning, I didn't speak to Tom until Sam’s funeral a couple of days later.”

“That’s not true. I saw you and Tom arguing right before commencement started,” Grace said.

“It was nothing,” Hope said, grounding out each word. “Anyway, I knew something was wrong. We had never gone that long without speaking before.”

Realizing Hope wasn’t going to elaborate
, Kyle asked, “What happened at the funeral?”

“I couldn't get close to him
. He was too busy comforting Crystal,” she said bitterly. “He sat there rocking Crystal back and forth throughout the whole service. Once everyone got back to the reception, I finally dragged him away from her. He . . .” she hesitated, her voice breaking, “told me that he didn’t love me. He told me to get out. He said, that since I had never liked Sam, that I didn't belong there.”

“Did he blame you for Sam's suicide?” Kyle asked.

“How could he?” Hope asked surprised. “I had nothing to do with it.”

“Could your messi
ng up their living arrangements been the last straw, so to speak?” Kyle asked. At Hope's disbelieving look, he asked, “Then why the sudden personality switch after Sam’s death?”

“I have no idea. I just know t
hat he never wanted to speak to me again and he hasn't. Not one word since that horrible day. I tried to get him to talk to me at the reunion, but he just turned and walked away. Anyway, I left for Europe that summer and I never came back.”

“
And I left for college around the same time,” Grace added.

Hope picked up the brush again and then angrily threw it on the bed. “
Crystal was kind enough to send me an invitation to their wedding. They married on the same date Tom and I had chosen, using the wedding hall we had booked, and the honeymoon that we had planned. They even bought the house, my house.”

Grace was bewildered.
“I thought they’ve been living on Franklin Street since they were married?”

Hope
shook her head, angrily. “Crystal’s parents bought that gaudy mansion on Franklin Street and gave it to them as a wedding present. They never lived in the Moxley house, but they still own it. I tried buying it anonymously once, but they wouldn't let go of it.”

*  *  *  *

“You don't really think that Tom broke u
p with Hope over Sam's suicide? Or that Sam killed himself because Hope wouldn't allow him to live at the Moxley house, do you?” Grace asked, following Kyle into the family den.

“
Sam was his best friend, Tom must've cared for him. You said yourself that Sam had been depressed. Maybe he couldn't take it anymore. His dreams had been shattered. His one chance to remain close to his friend was cruelly taken away by your sister, so he jumped. Tom and Crystal both blame Hope for Sam's suicide. They make a horrible mistake and marry each other out of revenge, as a way to punish Hope. Why else pick her wedding date, hall and honeymoon? Obviously, they both blamed her for Sam's death. Now, they're trapped in a loveless marriage.”

“
So, you think he finally snapped and killed Crystal?”

“Why not?
Ten years go by, and he sees Hope and realizes he made a terrible mistake letting her go, so he gets rid of the wife. He then alibi's the object of his affection and by extension himself. It's perfect. Case solved. That was so easy.” Kyle flopped down on the sofa, picked up the remote control and started channel surfing.

“That's great, Sherlock. Very impressive, only problem is you have absolutely no proof
, and I sincerely doubt Sam was so upset at the thought of not having to live with Hope that he chose to take his own life. Sam's living with them was probably Tom's idea or maybe even Crystal's, but I sincerely doubt it was Sam's. I just can't believe he would have wanted to live with Hope.” Having lived with her sister for the first eighteen years of her life, Grace found it hard to believe that anyone would willingly want to live with her.

“Well, at least I have a theory, what do you have?”

Grace took the remote away and turned off the TV. “As much as I hate doing this, I think we should talk to Tom.”

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Ky
le put his
new Camaro in park and glanced at the District Attorney sign prominently displayed in front of an old brick building adjacent to the sheriff’s office and the County Water Commission.

“I saw a parking spot three blocks from here, are you sure you wouldn't prefer that one?” Grace asked.

“You were the one freaking out about the scratch on the door.”

“I wasn't
freaking out about the scratch. I was freaking out about everything else,” Grace clarified as she shifted against the seat. “So, what's the plan?” At Kyle's confused look, she asked, “What do you plan on asking Tom?”

“Me?” he squeaked. “Coming here was your idea.”

“You’re the detective, buddy. I'm just the lowly secretary, remember?”

“But you know him,” he said.

“But you are the great detective,” she parried back.

Grace sighed with relief when Kyle finally unbuckled. To her surprise, instead of opening the car door and marching across the parking lot, Kyle twisted around and leaned over the back of the front seat.

“What are you doing?” she asked, as he brushed against her while reaching behind her seat.

“Getting help.”

After a few grunts and groans, he finally turned back around
, bringing with him several books.

“What do y
ou have, the newest edition of
Detecting for Dummies
?”

“Very funny. I'll have you know
, there is no such book, but I did find these,” he said, proudly displaying five rather worn looking books.

Grace took the books from him
and quickly scanned the titles. “Hmm, let’s see,
Investigating in the 20th Century
,
Perspectives From the Front Seat—A Detective's Life
,
How to Become a Private-Eye in Six Easy Steps
,
Private Eyes in the Movies
, and
Opening Your Own Detective Agency in the Age of Aquarius
.”

At Grace's less than impressed look, Kyle sa
id, “I didn’t have much choice. This is all the library had.”

“The library?
Are you crazy? Why don't you just announce to everyone that you're a fake?”

“It's a library
, not a chat room. They're not allowed to tell anyone what people check out.”

“Who checked out the books to you?”

“The very nice librarian, why?” he asked warily.

“L
et me guess, she’s about fifty; wears a neon bright sweater; black pencil skirt; matching neon high-heels; bleach-blonde, curly hair, pulled back by a matching neon headband; and she called you sweetums?”

Grace
took Kyle's silence as a yes. “That would be Mrs. Anderson. Wonderful lady, very friendly, very talkative, too. I once borrowed
What Every Girl Should Know About the Opposite Sex
. Oh, weeks of fun followed. It started with some rather crude offers from some of the boys in my class, and ended with my parents wanting to have a talk with me.”

“It's ok
ay . . . it's okay,” he said. “If anyone asks, I'll just say I got them for you. Yes . . . yes, that should work,” he said, nodding his head and picking up one of the books and flipping through the pages.

*  *  *  *

“Ok
ay, I think I should be good cop, and you should be bad cop,” Kyle whispered into Grace's ear as they waited for Tom in the District Attorney's lobby.

“
I don't think we should be taking our cues from a book that was published when disco was king.”

“It had some good advice.”

“Yeah, I especially liked the part that discussed how to best infiltrate hippie communes.”

“Quiet, here he comes,” he said
, placing his hand in the small of her back and shoving her forward.

“Gracie,” Tom said
smiling, spreading his arms out wide. He quickly dropped them to his side when he realized she wasn't about to rush into his arms. “I'm surprised to see you here. What can I do for you?”

“I want to talk to you about Hope.”

Grace watched as a shadow dropped across Tom's face. “Why, what has she done now?”

“What exactly does that mean? Look here
, Tom Lake, if anyone has done anything, it's you.”

Kyle jumped forward. “Ms. Holliday, I'm sure Mr. Lake didn't mean anything negative
.” Turning to Tom and doing his best good cop impersonation, he said, “She's usually so professional. I think being home is getting to her a little, but you know how Hope can be. She has a tendency to set everyone's nerves on edge.”

Tom
coldly smiled back at Kyle. “I know what you're after. Melodie told me she hired you, and I told her she made a mistake. We don’t need you around here. Sheriff Bellamy will find out who murdered Crystal. You're just wasting your time and Melodie's money.”

“What exactly are you doing here, Tom?” Grace asked.

“I work here,” he said.

“I know that,” she s
aid, “but I don't think anyone would have blamed you if you took some time off.”

“Time off? And do what? I can't help
find who killed Crystal sitting at home. I want to be here when they bring whoever killed her in. Now, if you two are done cross examining me, I have some work to do.” Tom abruptly turned away and walked down the hallway.

“Nice bad cop.” Kyle
whispered in Grace’s ear. “I knew you would be a natural.”

While Grace tried to decide whether that was a compliment or an insult, Kyle rushed to open the door for t
he incoming district attorney. “Mr. Simpson, is it?” Kyle reached out to shake the other man’s hand. “It's so good to meet you. I have heard wonderful things about you.”

“Oh, thank you. Have we met?” the older man asked.

“No, sir, but my friend here,” Kyle said, taking hold of Grace's elbow and drawing her closer, “is good friends with Tom Lake.”

Simpson's face suddenly relaxed.
“Tom? Thank goodness. He needs a friend right now.” James Simpson inspected her closely. “I think I remember you. You’re Hope’s sister, aren’t you?”

Grace nodded her head, wondering how he knew Hope.

Simpson smiled and shook his head. “You probably don’t remember me, but I was a good friend of Tom’s father. In fact, you and your sister attended a pre-graduation bash at my lake cabin.”

“The house on
Paducah Lake? With the tennis court?” Grace asked. She still couldn’t place the man before her, but she definitely remembered the lake house and the party Tom threw for his friends, right before graduation.

Nodding, Simpson suddenly changed subjects and asked, “I don't suppose you convinced him to go home have you?”

Grace and Kyle both shook their head.

“I have been trying for days to get him to rest
, but he acts like the world will come to an end if he gets any sleep.” James Simpson turned to Grace. “I remember seeing you at Crystal’s funeral. You were speaking to Adam Phelps, weren't you?”

“Yes, he's an old friend of mine,” Grace said.

“I absolutely love his movies. They're so moving, don't you think?” Kyle added.

Ignoring him
, Simpson asked, “I don't suppose you know where he is, do you? Sheriff Bellamy has been looking for him.”

“Does he have a warrant out for him?” Grace asked.

“No, but the sheriff has a few questions he would like to ask him.”

“You can't seriously believe that Adam has anyt
hing to do with Crystal's death?”

Simpson sighed and looked upward before saying
, “I suppose you believe he is completely innocent. That's the problem with celebrities. No one ever wants to believe that their favorite actor, singer, or even director is capable of committing any crime, just because they feel that they know him.”

“Well
, in this case, I do know him. I grew up with him. I trust him.”

Kyle shook his head.
“Well, I don't trust him. His movies really aren't that great. The last one was completely pretentious. I still can't believe he was nominated for an academy award.”

Sensing a like mind
, Simpson smiled, “It was horrible, wasn't it? I fell asleep half way through. It was the worst fifteen dollars I have ever spent at the movies in my life. I felt like leaving and asking for my money back.”

Grace listened as they continued to debate the various merits—
apparently there weren't any—of the other films up for nomination that year. The consensus was that, while awful, any of them were better than Adam's film.

When the academy award discussion somehow segued into a discussion on taxidermy
, of which Kyle seemed to creepily know a great deal about, she decided it was time to tell Kyle she would meet him out at the car. Before she had a chance to interrupt, she spied Steve slip through the door and walk down the hallway toward Tom's office.

Re
calling his argument with Melodie, Grace decided it couldn’t hurt to ask him a few questions. Perhaps, she could find out what they had been arguing about the other day.

By
the time she caught up to Steve he was standing in front of Tom's office door, staring up into Tom's scowling face.

Steve
’s face flushed. “Come on, Lake. I would think you’d be clamoring for my business. Don’t you want this creep caught?”

“I’m going to tell y
ou the same thing I told Drake. I don’t need a detective. Sheriff Bellamy is investigating this case, and I have no doubt, he’ll find the perpetrator—”

“Perpetrator?
Case? Listen to you, you sound like a prosecutor. This was your wife. This isn't one of your regular
cases
.”

“I am aware of that,” Tom snapped. Seeing Grace standing off to the side
, he added, “Oh Gracie, you're still here. Make sure to tell your sister I said hi,” he said, before slamming the door shut.

“Unbelievable,
” Steve muttered before turning to Grace. “What are you doing here?”

Grace shrugged her shoulders. “I just wanted to talk to Tom.”

“Good luck. He’s not the easy going guy he was in high school.” Steve looked over her shoulder. “Hey, are you here with Kyle Drake? I was thinking he and I might be able to team up. I could use a good partner.”

Over my dead body, she thought. “I think he would love that
, but after all of this,” she said, waving her hand around, “is over.”

“So, he is investigating! Who hired him?
Tom? No, probably not Tom. Melodie?”

Grace held up her hands.
“I can't tell you that, Steve, I would get fired. He's very strict about that sort of thing. What about you? Are you working on Crystal’s murder?”

Steve snorted. “Of course. The Assistant DA’s wife gets whacked, you’d better believe I’m on top of it,” he said puffing out his chest. “I didn’t get to be where I am today b
y sitting on my can.”

“Uh huh,” Grace muttered, suppressing a sneeze as a whiff of stale cologne blew past her.
“Who hired you?”

Steve shrugged.
“I’m just interested in seeing justice done. Look, sweetie, why don’t you tell Drake that I would be happy to offer my expertise?”

“And just w
hy would you want to do that, pumpkin? I would think you wouldn’t want the competition.”

Steve
smirked. “Purely professional courtesy. He’s new to the area and these are my old stomping grounds. I think he would appreciate my help.”

“He has me,” Grace pointed out, ba
rely concealing her irritation. “These are my old stomping grounds, too.”

Steve
raised his hands. “Hey, sugar, I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. I just thought I would offer. Seeing as how I’ve already got some hot information, but hey, he’s got you. I mean, you probably already know who killed Crystal.”

Sensing he was about to walk away from her
, she reluctantly asked, “And just how can you help?”

H
e shook his head. “Well, I am willing to help, but I don’t give away anything for free. If he doesn’t think he needs a partner, then, I thought, he might be interested in hiring me as a consultant.”

“
How about this, I’ll tell you what I know, and you tell me what you know. If it’s good, I’ll pass it on to Mr. Drake. I’ll even tell him where I got the information. Happy?”

He smiled slightly.
“All right, you go first.”

“The police suspect Adam.”

Completely unimpressed, he said, “That’s it? That’s what you’ve been able to figure out? Oh, darling, your boss seriously needs me. I’ve known that for days now.”