Deadly Reunion (21 page)

“You didn’t need Crystal for any of this. You could have just used your imagination,” Kyle said.

Adam smirked, “That’s what I said. When she told me all of this, I told her to forget it. The only real story here was about the bored, rich, housewife, psycho, blackmailer, nut case—she wasn’t too happy with that description—and I didn’t think anything she had told me was worth forking over the amount of money that she wanted. That’s when she started dropping hints about something big. Someone dangerous.”

“
Let me guess, she didn’t tell you who.” Kyle said.

Adam ran a hand through his curly hair and sighed in frustration.
“I was so close. She was about to spill everything, but then she got all cagey on me. She wanted more money, up front, before she would say anything.”

“
Someone dangerous,” Grace repeated. “How dangerous?”

“
She hinted that she knew a murderer.”

“Crystal tried to blackmail a murderer?” Kyle asked incredulously. “No wonder she was killed.”

“She told me she never blackmailed this person. She was too afraid.” Adam shook his head. “I don’t believe it. Crystal was far too greedy. She had turned blackmail into a nice little part time job. I just don’t believe she would let this one slide. The only thing I could figure is maybe this person didn’t have any money, or it was someone she cared about or—”

“
Or maybe, it was because she couldn’t do it anonymously like with the others,” Kyle said thoughtfully, remembering the conversation he had overheard at the reunion. “If she tried, the killer might have figured out it was her. It would have been too risky.”

“Whether she was blackmailing this person or not, the killer obviously thought she was too big of a risk to keep
around anymore.” Grace sighed. “Did Crystal tell you who the victim was?”

Adam stood up and walked to the window. “Crystal
hinted around that she saw someone push Sam off of the bell tower right before commencement. Someone we all know. That’s the information I was trying to get from Crystal before she died, and that’s why I need to get into that school.”

Shocked
, Grace said, “Sam committed suicide.”

“
Crystal gave me enough hints to make me believe he was murdered.”

Grace was quiet for a few seconds.
“And you think you're going to be able to find out who killed him by breaking into the school?”

“Crystal said she had proof
. Evidence which she kept in a ‘scrapbook’, she called it. She said she would hand it over after the reunion for a nice, hefty sum I might add. I could do whatever I wanted with it, as long as I never mentioned Crystal’s name.”

“W
hy did she want to wait until after the reunion?” Grace asked.

“Crystal and her little games,” Adam smirked. “
She wouldn’t say anything until I came up with more money. I finally had it, too. I called in a bunch of loans. I had to liquidate my house and a few stocks to get the amount she wanted. By the time the reunion came, I was all set to go, but then Crystal suddenly had a change of heart.”

“What did she say?”
Kyle asked.

Adam snorted.
“She tried to tell me she had been lying. That none of it was true. Sam committed suicide. Larry didn’t commit suicide. She said, she was just playing a game with me, but Crystal was not a good liar. I think Sam’s murderer got to her that night and scared her. Suddenly, she didn’t want to talk to me anymore. I had the money. I even took her to my car and showed it to her, but she didn’t want it. If I can find that binder, then I’ll know who murdered Sam and probably who murdered Crystal.”

“What makes you think the murderer hasn’t already destroyed it by now?” Grace asked.

Adam shrugged. “I don’t think so. I think it’s still out there somewhere. I’ve already checked Crystal's home, Melodie's, her aunt's, Tom’s secret apartment no one knows about, even the district attorney's house, but I can't find where she hid the damn thing.”

“Were you the one at
Melodie's house the day after the reunion?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, I saw you guys come up to the door and ran out the back.
”

Grace pushed her bangs off her fac
e. “How did you get in?”

“Crystal had a set of keys. I swiped them after she died.” Adam shrugged. “Anyway,
I think it might be at the school.”

“Why the school?” Kyle asked.

“You remember that binder she was carrying around that night. That's what we were arguing about. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think that binder was her little ‘evidence scrapbook’. She insisted that it wasn’t, but she wouldn’t let me see it, either. She could have just been messing with me, but if it wasn’t the scrapbook, why would she have been carrying the thing around the whole night? We need to go through the school again. It's the only place I haven't been able to completely search. And we need to hurry because I'm not the only one looking for it. When I broke into Simpson's house, I found someone in the bedroom.”

“Did you see who it was?”
Grace asked.

Adam shook his head. “It was too dark
, and they were dressed all in black. They were wearing a mask, too.”

“
There’s only one problem with your theory, Adam,” she said. “Sam didn’t have any enemies. He was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known. Everyone at school loved him. He was ‘Mr. Popular’. Who in the world would’ve wanted to kill him?”

“I have a few guesses.”

“Such as?”

“I think it was either Tom or . . . Diana Collins,” he admitted reluctantly. “I don’t know for certain, but they’re both at the top of my list.”

“Tom was Sam’s best friend,” Grace pointed out slowly.

Adam shrugged. “So? Friends fight. I think he wanted Crystal for himself, and Sam was in the way. He was acting weird during graduation, and then you saw how quickly he moved on to Crystal once Sam was out of the way. Think about it. Crystal’s dad had just inherited a pretty large estate from his father. I mean, they had always been well off, but they were rolling in it after that. Meanwhile, Tom’s family was breaking apart. His mom ran off and gambled away the money. Then his dad had a heart attack. By the time we graduated, Tom was left with nothing but his parents’ debts. I think Tom suddenly decided that he didn’t want to live like a pauper anymore.”

Kyle looked over at Grace.
“I guess it’s possible. The trouble between Hope and Tom began when he decided campus housing wasn’t good enough for them both.

“See?” Adam said
excitedly. “It fits. What if Crystal saw Tom kill Sam and helped him cover it up? I don’t know, maybe he convinced her that he loved her, and it was an accident or something. Only he didn’t love her. He was just after her money. Flash forward to today. Crystal realizes he was using her all along and decides to contact me. Only Tom finally realizes what she’s up to at the reunion and kills her before she can tell me what she saw.”

Grace looked over at Kyle
, who was nodding his head in agreement. “Okay,” she said, not completely convinced, “but you said that you also suspect Diana. Why would she kill Sam?”

“
To keep him quiet. You remember what happened to Sarah Collins? The accident,” he said, placing accident in air quotes.

“
Sarah Collins?” Kyle asked, turning to Grace.

Grace shook her head. “
Eric Collins’ second wife. He had left Diana, for our English teacher, Sarah Scott, the year before.”

“It was
supposedly a freak accident,” Adam said. “It happened during winter, right after a horrible ice storm. Sarah Collins left the school to go home, but when she opened up the door, an icicle fell right on top of her.”

“It was ruled an accident
,” Grace said. “Diana had nothing to do with it. In fact, I remember Melodie telling me that Diana wasn’t even at the school when it happened.”

“Yes, it was ruled an accident,”
Adam confirmed. “Do you know why it was ruled an accident? Sam said he saw it happen. What if he lied? What if he saw Diana kill Sarah? What if he covered for her?”

“Sam was a good guy. He wouldn’t have kept qui
et like that,” Grace argued.

“Sam changed after his accident. He wasn’t the same boy sco
ut we all grew up with. I think, it’s possible, that he saw what happened and blackmailed her. Don’t forget, Sam came into some money that winter.”

“Yeah, because of his accident,” she said. “It was insurance money.”

“Really, are you so sure? I think he told Crystal what he saw. That’s how she knew, and that’s why she never said anything.”

“Did Crystal say Sarah Collins was murdered?” Grace asked.

“No,” he said slowly, “but remember how much Diana hated Sarah? Right before Christmas break, she threatened to kill her. We all heard her. Eric Collins had to get between them. She was absolutely crazy back then. She wouldn’t take off her wedding ring, even after Eric had asked for it back.”

“Yeah, he had a lot of nerve.”

“It was his mother’s ring.”

“I don’t care.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Fine. You remember how no one knew what to call her? One day she would want to be referred to as Mrs. Collins, the next day she would only answer to Ms. Hogan. She would then burst out into tears if anyone called Sarah, Mrs. Collins. The woman went nuts.”

“Her husband abandoned her for her best friend. She had a reason to be emotional.”

Adam pounded his hand on the table. “That’s right. She had a reason to kill Sarah Collins. Sarah stole her husband. She got back at her by killing her. Sam saw her do it, so she had to kill him to keep him quiet. Then Crystal, because she was talking to me. I truly believe it’s her . . . or Tom. It’s got to be one of them.”

Grace shook her head. “But you don’t know, for certain, that Tom killed Sam because he wanted Crystal’s fortune.”

“Well, no,” Adam admitted reluctantly.

“And you don’t know for certain
that Diana killed Sarah Collins and then killed Sam to cover up her crime.”

“No.”

“So, at this point, you’re just guessing.”

Adam slowly nodded.

“It could just as well be Melodie, for what happened with Larry,” Grace said.

“Or Steve—” Kyle pointed out.

“Or any number of people at that reunion that night.” Grace sighed. “There were over a hundred people there.”

“No
,” Adam said vehemently. “It is definitely someone we all know. Crystal at least told me that much. If we could just find that binder we would know.”

Still suspicious of Adam’s intentions, Kyle asked, “What about you? What was she blackmailing you for?”

“Me?” Adam asked, pointing to his chest. “She wasn't blackmailing me.”

Grace and Kyle exchanged disbelieving glances.

“
I swear. She wasn’t blackmailing me.”

Grace sat back in her chair. “
Why don’t you tell us about the picture, Adam?”

Adam tried to look innocent. “What picture?”

“The one hanging in the high school hall way. The charcoal drawing that was ripped up.”

Adam shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t—”

“Don’t bother lying. I know you had something to do with it. That wasn’t a bruise on your head. It was charcoal dust,” she guessed.

Adam made a face. “
Yes, it was charcoal dust. I got it all over me. I didn’t rip the drawing up though. I was trying to get the killer’s attention, so I wrote ‘who killed Sam?’ on the drawing and I drew a little stick figure on the ground. The drawing wasn’t that good anyway. The killer must have seen it and tore it up.”

Kyle sighed. “What about the ‘Most likely’ boards—”

“I didn’t touch those. Someone had already marked those up by the time I got there.”

“I still don’t understand why you felt you had to
get the murderer’s attention?” Grace asked. “What did you hope to accomplish.”

“
What was I supposed to do? Crystal wasn’t talking. I thought if I let the killer know, someone else knew, then maybe he or she would make a mistake.”

“You
know that little stunt probably got Crystal killed,” Kyle pointed out. “She had worked out a deal with the murderer to keep quiet. The killer probably saw that drawing and decided Crystal couldn’t be trusted anymore.”

Adam merely shrugged.

Appalled, Grace said, “I still want to know what Crystal had on you.”

“Listen,
I work in Hollywood. The moral code is dead and buried. What could she have on me that I wouldn't want to get out? After all, scandal sells baby, and that’s why I want that scrapbook.”

At their disgusted looks
, Adam said, “Think of it this way. Not only can I use it for my next movie, but we can discover what really happened to Sam on the bell tower before graduation. If we’re really lucky it might point us to Crystal’s murderer, too.”