Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries) (10 page)

“Of
course
he overcharged us,” Grace said as we got back into my Jeep.
 
“What he didn’t know was that he could have held me up for even more.
 
I would have paid a hundred for that footage if he’d demanded it.”

“I just hope that it’s worth it,” I said as I pulled out.

“Let’s go to my place and see, shall we?” she asked.

Chapter 8

“Is there any way to watch this on a screen bigger than your notebook computer?” I asked Grace as we walked into her house.
 
“I don’t usually mind looking over your shoulder, but three hours is a long time to be squinting at a small screen.”

“We don’t have to worry about that, Suzanne,” she said.
 
“After I load the zip drive onto my computer, we can play it on my big-screen television.
 
It’s going to be a lot bigger than my thirteen-inch monitor.”

“Cool,” I said.
 
“It sounds like it will be like watching a movie.”

“Maybe one before it has been edited, without a star, a script, or any discernible plot,” she said.
 
“I’m not expecting much from Gary’s rough cut.”

“To be fair, though, we’re looking for clues, not a cinematic experience.”

“Why can’t it be both?” she asked with a smile.
 
“I’d make popcorn, but we already had lunch.”

“I appreciate the thought, anyway,” I said as Grace got out her computer and stuck the zip drive into it.
 
After a minute, she tapped a few keys and then turned on her television.
 

In a matter of moments, I heard Gary’s voice as he surveyed the outside of the school.
 
“Here we are, back again.
 
This is test one, test one, April Springs Multi-Year Class Reunion.”

The camera showed us the event from Gary’s perspective.
 
His audio additions were scattered throughout the video, but what he lacked in dramatic storytelling skills, he more than made up for with raw footage.
 
No one was safe from Gary’s cameras, even those hiding in dark corners or outside in the shadows.
 
First, we got a sample of his entry into the main event where the Hawaiian luau theme was everywhere.
 
When he panned over the spears holding up the main sign, I felt a shiver go through me.
 
One of those spears had been used to kill Zane Dunbar.
 
I couldn’t tell which one was the murder weapon and which one was blameless, and it really didn’t matter, but for some reason, it really started to bother me.
 

“Freeze that shot,” I blurted out.

The camera stayed on the banner and the spears.
 
“Did I miss something?” Grace asked.

“Can you tell which spear killed Zane?” I asked her as I studied the frozen image.

“What?
 
No, of course not.
 
I never even saw the body, let alone the spear.
 
Can you tell?”

“They look exactly the same to me,” I said as I stood and got closer to the screen.
 
The clarity was remarkable.
 
Whatever style camera Gary used had been a good one.

“That’s because I’m sure that they are identical,” Grace said.

“Not quite.
 
Don’t forget, one of them killed Zane Dunbar.”

“To be precise, one of them was
used
to kill Zane,” Grace said.
 
“What could it possibly matter which one was used to kill him?”

“It doesn’t matter at all,” I said.
 
“Go on.
 
Turn it on again.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I said, and the image with the spears quickly jumped off the screen to be replaced by a punchbowl brimming with questionable contents.
 
“That stuff was dreadful, wasn’t it?
 
It could have peeled the paint off a car.”

“I couldn’t actually bring myself to taste it,” Grace said.
 
“Once I got it close to my nose, I couldn’t stand the thought of actually touching it to my lips.”

“I wish I’d followed your lead,” I said.

“You actually drank some?”

“Just a sip, and then it went right back into my cup.
 
It tasted like a mix of antifreeze and frying oil.”

“Suzanne, have you ever
tasted
antifreeze or frying oil, let alone the two of them mixed together?” Grace asked me.

“No, but I have a pretty vivid imagination,” I countered.

“I’ll give you that.”
 

As the scene began to move again, I marveled at how the people I’d gone to high school with had changed so much over the years.
 
One boy I’d had a huge crush on was now plain and drab, and I wondered what I’d ever seen in him.
 
A girl I’d been friends with who’d been a little on the homely side was now a real beauty.
 
It was as though there was no rhyme or reason to how their appearances had changed over time.

I was still marveling over that when I spotted Zane for the first time on the footage, but it wasn’t his image that attracted my attention. It was the person he was speaking with.

Off to the side and out of the camera’s main focus, Zane and one of our witnesses were having a heated discussion.

Why did it not surprise me all that much that it was Candy Murphy?

“I wish the sound was better on this recording,” Grace said as we watched Candy and Zane in earnest conversation.

“I just hope he keeps the camera on them a little longer,” I said.
 
Gary was talking inanely about the way everyone was dancing as he focused on some classmates in the foreground of the shot.
 
My worst fears were realized as he started to pull away, but as the image of the two of them went out of frame, I saw Candy reach out and slap Zane’s face.
 
I wished that Gary had kept on them long enough to show his expression, but the action was clear enough.
 
What had Zane done to make her react that way?
 
It certainly explained why Candy was so interested in the murder investigation.
 
She was more involved in it than we’d known.
 
The irony was that I might have missed the slap altogether if Candy hadn’t approached me earlier about Zane, since the confrontation all took place in the background of another shot.
 
I wasn’t even certain that Gary had been aware of what had been happening as he’d filmed it.

Grace grabbed a pencil and started writing.
 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking notes on where things happen in the sequence so we can find them again in a hurry,” she said.

“Smart thinking,” I answered.
 

Nothing much more of note happened for another twenty-seven minutes.
 
Some attendees got noticeably drunker over time, and the janitor, an older man with a shock of white hair, had a tough time staying ahead of the trash that the group seemed to spontaneously generate.
 
It was all slow and painful to watch, but we were afraid to fast-forward the video for fear of missing something going on in the background.
 
Our diligence was finally rewarded when I caught something a moment before Gary moved the camera.

“Wait,” I said.
 
“Go back.”

“What did you see?” Grace asked as she did as I requested.

“I’m not sure,” I said, but I had a hunch that I’d seen what I thought I’d seen.
 
“There.
 
Right there.
 
Pause it.”

As Grace hit the pause button, I could see in the background Janet and Billy, and it was pretty clear that they were sharing more than the dance floor.
 
They were actually kissing.

Wow.
 
There was more to that relationship than the freshly minted widow had been willing to admit.

“Be sure to mark the time on
that
one,” I said.

As Grace jotted down a few notes, she asked me, “How did you even
see
that?
 
I was looking at the footage, too, but I missed it completely.”

“I got lucky, I guess,” I said.

“We both know that it’s more than that,” Grace said.
 
“I wonder what Janet will say when we show her that particular little segment?”

“Grace, it sounds as though we’re blackmailing her,” I said.

“No, not at all.
 
We just found a way to encourage her to talk to us, that’s all.”

Grace was grinning when I glanced over at her.
 

“Okay, I can see that,” I finally answered.

“Let’s see if we can find anything else that juicy,” Grace said as she started the video again.

 
We watched it until near the end, when Grace finally said, “I thought that I had enough of this reunion before, but seeing it all over again is almost too tough to take.
 
Suzanne, can we stop it now?”

“You can go do something else if you need to,” I said, “but I’m watching until the bitter end.”

She sighed heavily, and then she replied, “No, I’ll watch it, too.
 
If you can take it, then so can I.”

Ultimately I was glad that we’d both watched.
 
During the last thirty seconds of footage, just as Grace was about to turn her computer off, we both caught something, and this time, so did Gary.

Tom Hancock could be clearly seen in the background waving a finger angrily under Zane’s nose.

Gary even commented on it.
 
“Clearly not
everyone
here tonight was happy to catch up, but for most folks, this reunion was a chance to see old friends again, and even make some new ones.”

“What was that all about?” I asked her.

“I thought the closing
was
a little forced,” Grace said.
 
“If Gary’s going to try to make a living doing this, he’s going to have to lighten his patter a little.”

“I’m not talking about the voice-over,” I said.
 
“What was Tom threatening Zane about?”

“Maybe it had something to do with the argument they had earlier.”

“Maybe.
 
I’d still like to ask Tom about it the next time we see him.”

“When do you think that might be?” Grace asked as her hands went automatically to primp her hair a little.

“I say we show this to the chief, and then we go ask Tom, Janet, Billy, and Candy about what we saw on the video.”

“I’m willing to bet that at least
some
of them have reasonable explanations,” Grace said.

“The ones I want to talk to are the ones that don’t,” I replied.

“Either way, it should make for a fun afternoon.”

“Can you play that on just your computer screen, or do you need a big television to show it?” I asked Grace.

“It’s actually easier to view it on my computer, even if the footage isn’t quite as clear as it was on the big screen.”

“I guess my question is, will our suspects be able to recognize themselves on the display if it’s not blown up way out of proportion?”

“Oh, yes,” Grace said.
 
“There’s no doubt about it, now that we know where to look.”

“Then let’s go find the chief, and then we’ll do some follow-up interviews.”

“That sounds great to me,” Grace said.
 
“You drive.
 
I want to copy this onto my hard drive.”

“Isn’t the little zip thingy enough?” I asked her.

She smiled as she explained, “Yes, the zip drive would usually be perfect, but I have a hunch the police chief is going to want a copy of his own.
 
We watched it from the drive, but now I want one for us.
 
It will be a lot easier to surrender the drive if we make our own backup first.”