aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65 (23 page)

I reached across the table and took Laura’s hand. “It’s worth a lot and I’m sorry. You’re right, you are my friend, and that makes it your business. Your support means a lot.”

“To me, too,” Caitlin said softly. “I’ve never had any close friends, not like you all are. The way you are always there for each other, it really makes me wish I was a part of that.”

“Well, you’re a part of us now,” Laura said with only a slight edge to her voice, “whether you like it or not.

When you get one of us, you get all of us. Right, guys?”

Everyone broke into smiles and Asher even sat up, proving he was still awake. “Right!” everyone said in unison.

We paid our bill and left before we scared off any of the poor proprietor’s business.

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JOSH ATEROVIS

“So where do we start?” Laura asked as we walked onto the moonlit plaza.

“Start what?” Aidan asked.

“Well, if we’re going to find Joey’s killer we have to have some sort of plan,” she said, sounding like a teacher explaining something to a particularly slow pupil.

“We don’t know anything about finding a killer,”

Gabe said reasonably.

“No, but Killian and Asher caught a killer last year,”

I reminded them.

“We didn’t exactly catch a killer,” Asher said in a pained voice. “He more or less caught us and Killian just kinda blew him away.”

“Oh,” I said in a small voice. “We’ll have to keep that in mind…”

“But we did do an investigation first,” Killian said with a withering glance at Asher, who snorted.

“At least you’ve had some experience with this kind of thing,” Laura said. “But that brings us back to my question, where do we start?”

“Well,” said Killian slowly, “the obvious place to start would be to find out who would want to kill Joey.”

“Everyone who knew him?” Caitlin said.

“He wasn’t exactly Mr. Popularity the last month or so,” I explained. “He was drinking a lot and sleeping around. Apparently he hurt a lot of people.”

“We’ll have to make a list and start talking to people.

The more people you talk to the better. What about the necklace? Who could have sent it to Will?”

“I’m going to the delivery place tomorrow to see if I can find out,” I volunteered.

“Oh, well, if that works everything would be all tied up in a neat package, but I don’t think we should count 208

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on that happening,” Killian said. “The next logical thing would be to talk to people who were at the party when it happened. Like, who found him?”

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling incredibly stupid that I hadn’t thought to ask that.

“I heard it was Blake Hammond,” Gabe said.

“She’s in one of my classes,” Laura said. “I’ll talk to her on Monday.”

“Whose house was it at?” Killian asked next.

“David Kemp’s,” I answered quickly. I knew that one.

“He’s in a couple of my classes. I can talk to him,”

Aidan suggested. “What do I ask him?”

“Ask if he saw anyone who shouldn’t have been there,” Laura said.

“Or if he saw anyone acting suspiciously,” Gabe said.

“Half the people there were on E; everyone was acting suspiciously,” Caitlin said.

“Ask if anyone knows about the necklace,” I said.

“Maybe he found it cleaning up.”

“Also ask if he saw Joey go out to the pool,” Gabe threw in.

“The police already asked everyone that. Nobody saw anything,” I said.

“Somebody saw something,” Gabe said meaningfully and pointed to the necklace around my neck.

“What if the killer sent you the necklace?” Killian said suddenly.

“Why would the killer send me the necklace?” I asked.

“With a note that said it wasn’t an accident? He was getting away scot-free; why draw attention to it?”

“Some killers want the attention. They secretly want to get caught. They hate the idea that they might not get credit for what they did,” Aidan offered.

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“But isn’t that usually serial killers?” Gabe argued.

“Killers who kill for the thrill?”

“How do you know that’s not what we’re dealing with?” Aidan countered.

“The MO doesn’t fit the profile,” Gabe shot back. I felt as if I was watching a tennis match. “Joey was drowned right?”

“As far as I know,” I answered.

“We need to know for sure. You’ve got a contact at the police department, right?”

“I guess you could call it that,” I said hesitantly, thinking of my last visit with Detective Grafton. I was beginning to feel like I had started something which I was quickly losing control of. Kind of like paddling a canoe into calm waters and suddenly finding yourself being sucked into white-water rapids.

“See if you can get a copy of the autopsy report,” Gabe ordered.

“Can just anyone get one of those?” Aidan asked.

“I guess I’ll find out,” I said when no one seemed to know the answer.

“What about Shelley?” Laura asked suddenly.

“What about her?” I said.

“Shouldn’t someone talk to her? I heard she was pretty pissed when Joey broke up with her.”

“I can do that,” Caitlin said brightly. “You know, one jilted ex to another. Hell hath no fury, et cetera, et cetera.

We both share a common bond; we both hate Joey.”

“Are there any other ex’s?” Killian asked.

“I’ll check,” said Caitlin.

“Have we forgotten anything?” Gabe asked.

“Our good sense?” Asher offered.

“There is one more person,” I said slowly.

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“Who?” Killian and Gabe asked at the same time.

“Joey’s mom,” I said. “She may know something we don’t.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Laura said and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I didn’t think I could handle facing her grief again. “But do you think you could go with me, Will?”

I sighed. I knew it was too good to be true. “I guess.”

“Do you think you could search Joey’s room while you are there?” Killian asked.

“We can try,” Laura said. “If all else fails we can just offer to help pack up his stuff.”

“I think that’s enough to start with,” Killian said.

“More than enough,” Asher grumbled.

“Why doesn’t everyone talk to the people you mentioned and we’ll get back together in one week and share reports,” Killian suggested, carefully ignoring Asher.

“Good idea,” Gabe agreed. The two of them seemed to be sharing director duties. I figured it was only a matter of time before an argument broke out, but I would deal with that when and if the situation arose.

Killian stopped walking suddenly and held his hand out in front of him, palm down. Laura realized what he was doing first and placed her hand on top of his. I smiled and added mine to the growing pile. Then Gabe, Aidan, and Caitlin added theirs. After a moment’s hesitation, Asher heaved a monumental sigh and slapped his hand on top on the pile.

“Remember,” Killian said, “we’re a team, and teams work together. No hot-dogging or taking unnecessary risks. We’re not necessarily going after the killer. The first proof that we get that Joey was killed we go straight to the police, agreed?”

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JOSH ATEROVIS

“Agreed,” we all said together.

“Then let’s get this son-of-a-bitch!”

Our huddle dissolved into a round of hugs and goodbyes as we slowly and reluctantly went our separate ways. No one seemed to want to leave the comfort and protection of our little group. I suddenly understood the pack mentality, the allure of gangs. There was an instinctive internal feeling of safety in numbers and alone we felt vulnerable. Joey had been alone when he went out to the pool that night. I wondered if he had felt vulnerable. I hoped he never even knew what hit him, literally.

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Having a real plan and knowing my friends were behind me filled me with a sense of purpose and renewed energy. Now that the show was out of the way, I felt like I could really focus on the nagging feeling that had been with me ever since the necklace arrived. Something wasn’t right about Joey’s death and I was determined to find out what.

The first thing I did the next morning was run by the delivery service again. An older lady with bright blue eyes and a cloud of snowy white hair was working behind the counter.

“Hello, can I help you?” she said with a cheery smile.

Her name tag read “Edna.”

“I hope so, Edna,” I said with a smile of my own. I had intended to shoot straight and hope for the best, but now that I stood before this grandmotherly woman, I decided a more tactful approach might work better. I decided to improvise. “An old friend sent me a present last Saturday and I’d like to send her a thank you card, but the thing is, we’ve lost track of each other and I don’t even know her married name now. She only signed her first name on the card. Do you think you could help me?”

“Well I’m really sorry, but I’m not sure how I could 213

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possibly help,” she said with a very phony look of disappointment. She could really stand a few acting classes if she was going to try that look often. I wasn’t at all convinced that she was sorry. “We don’t release that kind of information.”

“Oh, well—thanks anyway,” I said as I turned to leave. My look of disappointment was not feigned.

“Unless…,” she said slowly.

I forced myself to slowly turn back around. I didn’t want to appear too eager. I was beginning to get the impression I was dealing with a very sadistic grandma.

“Unless?”

“I suppose if I just happened to have the information pulled up on the screen and had to go into the back room for a few minutes I couldn’t help it if you looked at the screen.”

I blinked in surprise. This was one weird old lady.

“What’s your name?” she asked me.

“Will Keegan,” I told her.

She hit a few keys on the keyboard then looked up at me slyly and—was I mistaken or did she just wink at me? She turned and walked into the back room without another word. I stared after her for a second trying to decide if this was real or if it was possible that I was on Candid Camera. I shook my head with a sigh and leaned over the counter so I could see the computer screen. I was at the wrong angle creating a glare from the overhead lighting. I leaned farther onto the counter.

“Caught you!” the old bat hollered as she jumped back through the door. I jumped back with a yelp, almost falling backwards onto my bottom, as she cackled merrily. “I’m just kidding. This job gets pretty boring, you know?”

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I decided I was dealing with an escapee from the insane asylum and started edging my way toward the door. I didn’t want to turn my back on her again.

“Did you get what you needed?” she asked me.

“No, but don’t worry about it,” I said in a soothing voice.

“Nonsense, you’ve gone to this much trouble you can’t stop now. Here, the name is Joey Taylor. Does that sound right?”

I froze. No, it didn’t sound right at all. “That’s impossible. Joey died a week before that was sent,” I said when I found my voice.

Edna’s eyes widened. “Well someone used his name to order the delivery.”

“Do you remember what they looked like?”

“No, I’m sorry; I really don’t.”

“Was it a man or a woman?” I asked desperately.

“I don’t remember; after a while they all just blur together. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

“Me too,” I mumbled under my breath as I left. I hoped the others would make out better with their assignments.

* * *

“Back again?” he said in way of greeting after I’d been let into his office by the dispatcher. Once again, Detective Bernhardt was not in the office. I sat down without being invited.

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JOSH ATEROVIS

“Um, yeah. How is Detective Bernhardt?” Small talk did not seem like the best course of action when dealing with Grafton, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to ask for the report. Was there a protocol involved?

Grafton’s eyebrows inverted themselves into a “V”

as he frowned intensely at me. I started to point out that he was going to give himself even more wrinkles, but wisely refrained.

“Detective Bernhardt is fine, thank you for asking,”

he said shortly.

“It’s just that she hasn’t been here the last couple times I’ve come.”

“I’m sure if you called ahead she’d drop all her work and wait here for you.”

I blinked, not sure what to say to that. I didn’t have to worry; he took the reins of the conversation.

“What exactly are you doing here, kid? If you came to chitchat, I’ve got more important things to do. If you have a point, which I somehow doubt, then let’s get to it.”I bristled under his rudeness, but decided to ask for what I’d come for. “Can I get a copy of the medical examiner’s report for Joey Taylor’s death?”

That seemed to catch him by surprise.

“What?”

“Can I get a copy of—”

“I heard what you said. Why in God’s name would you want that?”

I didn’t have an answer ready for that either, but again, he didn’t really seem to expect one.

“Never mind, it doesn’t really matter why you want it, and besides, I can guess. You still think the Taylor kid was murdered and you’ve decided to play detec-216

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tive. Look kid, this isn’t a game of let’s-make-pretend.

We’ve told you, your friend had too much to drink, fell into the pool and drowned. A tragic accident, but that’s all it was. You have to move on. This isn’t healthy.”

It was thoughtful of him to be so concerned for my well-being, but he hadn’t really answered my question.

“About that report—”

“Didn’t you just hear me?” He waved away any response. I had a feeling he wouldn’t have heard me anyway. “Look, ME’s reports aren’t public knowledge, kid.