Crowned and Moldering (27 page)

Eric glanced around to make sure we weren’t being overheard. “Shannon, Jones was the
father of Lily’s child. She wrote it down in her notebook.”

I swallowed hard. “But he’s a good man. I refuse to believe he would hurt her.”

“He was her teacher.” Eric was speaking carefully, slowly, as he would to a very young
child. Any other time I might have been insulted. “She was his student. They had sex.
She told him she was pregnant, and he knew his career would be over if anyone found
out.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe he was happy with the news. Maybe someone else was angry.
What about Cliff? He was her boyfriend. Wouldn’t he be furious to know she’d been
with someone else? I think that would drive him crazy. He’s always had a lot of rage
boiling inside him.” I had a sudden thought. “And he was trying to blackmail Denise!
Cliff must’ve found out that her husband was the father of Lily’s baby.”

“Those are all good points,” Eric admitted. “But the very fact that Cliff tried to
blackmail Denise makes it even more likely that Brad Jones killed him.”

“That is so unfair,” I said. “Brad Jones is kind and thoughtful and . . . and squeamish!
He could no more kill someone than fly to the moon.”

“If he’s innocent, he’ll be free to go. But I have enough probable cause to take him
in for questioning.”

I glanced up and down the hall at the gathered officers. Lowering my voice even more,
I said, “You’ve come here with six police officers to drag Mr. Jones out in handcuffs.
You’re treating him like he’s a mass murderer. It’s going to ruin his career. Can’t
you at least wait until after school is out?”

“Trust me to handle this, Shannon.”

I stared at him for a long moment and then nodded and stepped back. What else could
I do? I couldn’t spin around on the floor and throw a temper tantrum and embarrass
myself—and Eric—in front of his officers. But I wanted to, darn it. Because I knew
Brad had to be innocent.

Okay, I didn’t actually
know
he was innocent, but how could he be guilty?

Ms. Barney had been standing off to the side, and Eric nodded at her. She looked so
unhappy, but she dutifully slipped into the classroom and closed the door. Thirty
seconds later, she emerged with Mr. Jones right behind her.

“Thank you,” Eric said to the principal, who nodded grimly.

Tommy crossed the hall and stood in front of the classroom door, probably to keep
any curious students from sneaking out.

Mr. Jones glanced from the police chief to Ms. Barney to me. “What’s going on?”

Eric pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket. “Bradford Jones, I have a warrant
for your arrest in the murder of Lily Brogan.”

Brad stared at him in horror. “What? Are you serious? No! I didn’t kill Lily. I loved
her. We were going to be married.”

“You can tell me the whole story down at the station,” Eric said quietly.

“The station? But I didn’t . . .” His gaze darted around the hall until he found me.
“I swear I didn’t hurt Lily, Shannon.”

“I believe you,” I said, and prayed I was right. But then I quickly brushed the doubts
away. There was no way Brad Jones could ever hurt anyone. I was sure of it.

Brad stared at the handcuffs and straightened his shoulders. “Those won’t be necessary,
Chief Jensen. I’ll go with you.”

Eric took a moment to decide the best way to proceed, then simply took hold of Brad’s
arm and led him down the hall and out the door. Tommy and the other cops followed
behind, and I, being no fool, joined them.

They got Brad seated in the back of the patrol car. The officer at the wheel had just
started the engine when a silver truck careened into the parking lot and skidded to
a stop. Denise jumped out of the cab of the truck and ran toward the patrol car, screaming,
“No!”

Eric and another officer tried to waylay her but she was too quick for them. She grabbed
the back-door handle of the car and tried to yank it open, but it was locked. “Let
him go!”

“Ms. Jones,” Eric shouted. “Step away from the car.”

The driver jumped out of the patrol car and tried to pry her hand off the door handle,
but Denise had adrenaline and panic on her side. He couldn’t budge her.

“Everybody step back!” Eric yelled, clearly annoyed with the breakdown in order. “Ms.
Jones, calm down!”

Denise whipped around. “I did it! Arrest me. I killed Lily. I—I was jealous of her
and Brad, so I killed her.”

Eric’s gaze narrowed in on her. “Ms. Jones, are you confessing to the murder of Lily
Brogan?”

Her eyes widened in fear and confusion. “Yes. No. Yes, I did it.”

“Oh, Denise,” I said. “You didn’t kill Lily.”

“I did, too,” she insisted.

Eric nodded at the driver, who jumped back into the patrol car and took off before
Denise could throw herself in its path.

She whimpered as Brad was taken away. “He didn’t do it.”

“Did you want me to arrest you, Mrs. Jones?” Eric asked.

“Yes. Arrest me, not Brad.”

“Are you just saying that to protect your husband?” he asked.

“Well, somebody has to!” she cried.

“Do you think your husband is guilty?” Eric asked softly. “Is that why you’re doing
this?”

“Guilty?” She looked aghast. “No. Brad couldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Why was Cliff trying to blackmail you?” I asked, then winced at the furious look
Eric gave me.

Denise answered anyway. “Cliff thought Brad killed Lily, and threatened to tell the
police if I didn’t pay him fifty thousand dollars. But he was wrong,” Denise said,
and turned to Eric. “And so are you, Chief Jensen. Brad didn’t kill Lily. He loved
her.”

Eric shot me another quick glance, then stared intently at Denise. “You admit your
husband was in love with Lily Brogan?”

“Yes,” she said, as some of her frenzy began to fade. “I was Lily’s best friend, so
I knew how they felt about each other. They were in love and she was going to have
his baby.”

“So you knew she was pregnant?”

She sighed. “Yes, of course I did. I was the one who used to cover for her so she
could meet Brad at the mansion.”

“But, then, how did you and Brad get together?” I wondered aloud.

“We had something in common,” she said softly. “We both loved Lily. When she disappeared,
we were both heartbroken. I guess it brought us closer together.”

“If you loved your friend Lily so much, why would you kill her?” Eric wondered.

Denise’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t come up with an answer.

“You did just confess to killing her,” Eric reminded her.

She blinked, then gazed at me beseechingly.

All I could do was change the subject. “Why did Cliff think that Brad killed Lily?”

That snapped her back to attention. “Oh. Cliff had dated Lily briefly, but he got
it into his head that there was more to the relationship than there really was. He
was pushing her to sleep with him, but why would she? He was cheating on her the whole
time, so why did he think she owed him anything?” Denise shook her head in disgust.
“But he kept harassing her, until she finally insisted that he leave her alone. She
told him she was seeing someone else.”

This sounded way too familiar. Cliff had always thought women should fall at his feet.

“He didn’t believe her,” Denise continued, “so he started following her. Apparently,
according to Cliff, he followed her out to the mansion one night and saw her with
Brad.”

I gave Eric a meaningful look. “So Cliff knew he could find Lily at the mansion.”

“I heard what she said, Shannon.”

“Just making sure,” I muttered. Because if Cliff had wanted to hurt Lily, what better
place to do it than the remote lighthouse mansion?

Denise ignored our banter and kept talking. “So, recently, when Lily’s body was found,
Cliff put two and two together and came up with five. And that’s when he tried to
blackmail me.”

“Because your family has money,” I murmured.

“Right,” she said, disgusted. “Brad’s always been a schoolteacher, so he was hardly
a target for a blackmailer.”

Eric scowled. “But now Hogarth is dead, so nothing adds up.”

Denise looked completely lost. I wanted to give her a hug, but I knew Eric would growl
at me.

“Ms. Jones,” Eric said, “I would appreciate your coming down to the station for an
in-depth interview. Assistant Police Chief Gallagher will escort you there.”

I looked around to find Tommy and noticed that a small crowd of secretaries and teachers
was standing at the top of the stairs, near the door to the school hall. They had
seen everything, from Brad Jones being taken away in a squad car to Denise arriving
and creating a scene. Now I felt even sorrier for her.

Among the crowd on the stairs, I could see Ms. Barney, watching. Thankfully there
were no students, but Dismal Dain was there, smirking as usual. I felt a chill at
the sight of him.

Eric watched as Tommy walked over and gave Denise’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Come on,
kiddo.”

Denise gazed at Tommy, someone she’d known her entire life, and her eyes filled with
tears. “Hi, Tommy.”

“I’ll meet you there, Tom,” Eric said, and walked to his SUV.

As soon as Eric got into his car, I came up and gave Denise a hug. “It’s going to
be okay. I know you and Brad are innocent.”

“But Brad . . .” She broke into sobs, and I felt helpless.

“You’re making a fool of yourself, Denise.”

Tommy and I turned at the sound of an irritating new voice, and the chills I’d felt
before turned to cold fury. Dismal Dain had moved closer to eavesdrop. He wore a cheap
brown suit and his now-famous sneer. I’d never had such an urge to slap someone in
my life, but I wanted to smack him so hard, I had to force myself to clutch my hands
together. The man was an arrogant little worm, and I hated the thought of him gloating
over Denise and Brad’s difficulties.

And then I remembered the way he’d stared at Callie the other night and it made my
stomach twist into a hard knot.

Denise wiped her tears away and glared at Dain. “Just go away, Darren. This is none
of your business.”

“It’s very much my business when a colleague acts like an idiot. Brad’s behavior reflects
poorly on all of us.”

As Dain was speaking, Tommy turned around and muttered something into the walkie-talkie
clipped to his shirt.

“You’ve always been jealous of Brad,” Denise said.

“Jealous!” Dain laughed and the sound was slightly maniacal. “Why? Because he got
that little slut pregnant?” He shook his finger at Denise. “Don’t make me laugh. It
was only a matter of time before they caught him.”

“Before who caught whom, Mr. Dain?” Tommy asked.

Dain hesitated for a moment, then said, “Before the authorities caught Jones. He was
having sex with a student. It’s about time he was disciplined.”

“How do you know that?” Tommy asked.

Dain stared at Denise as if he were aiming his words right at her. “I saw Jones with
that girl. I know what they did together.”

“Are you saying you saw Brad Jones having sex with Lily Brogan?” Tommy asked quietly
but pointedly. At that moment, I saw Eric approach and stop a few feet behind Dain’s
back. Tommy must’ve used his walkie-talkie to alert the chief to come back and hear
Dain’s accusations.

Way to go, Tommy,
I thought.

“Your friend was a slut,” Dain said, still speaking to Denise. “And your husband was
weak. Always so weak. And delusional, too. Do you know he filled out scholarship applications
for her? As if she would ever be anything but a whore.”

Denise rushed forward, ready to claw Dain’s face, but Tommy grabbed her and held her
back. She struggled to get loose, but Tommy had strength and experience on his side.

“Your emotions rule you, just as they rule your husband,” Dismal taunted. “He couldn’t
keep his hands off of Lily. And then he killed her.”

“How did you know about the scholarships?” I asked.

“Mr. Dain, did you see Mr. Jones kill Lily Brogan?” Tommy asked, his voice calm, in
complete control. Unlike me. I was so furious I could hardly breathe.

“I know what was going on,” Dain said.

“You don’t know anything,” Denise muttered.

“How did you know that Brad was helping Lily with her scholarship applications?” I
asked again.

He sniffed in my direction, as though I weren’t important enough to speak to him.
“I know who applies for scholarships,” he finally explained. “Back then, they all
had to come through me to get the forms.”

Dain homed in on Denise again. “Don’t you think I knew he was filling them out for
her? What a foolish waste of time. He was pathetic, and she made him worse.”

“Just shut up about Brad,” Denise said. “He’s stronger than you will ever be. And
Lily was smarter than you’ll ever know.”

“But where did you see them sleeping together?” I asked, trying to divert him.

He flashed me another derisive look. “I saw them at the lighthouse mansion.”

I exchanged a quick look with Eric, who took another step closer to Dismal Dain. “Did
you follow them out to the lighthouse mansion, Mr. Dain?”

Dain whipped around, saw Eric standing there, and seemed to realize his mistake. “No.
No, of course not.”

“Liar.” Denise pointed at Dain. “You did. You followed them and you watched them.
You’re nothing but a pervert.”

“Why would I care about either of them?” he said scornfully. “They were both beneath
contempt, especially the girl.”

“You’re the contemptible one,” Denise said. “If I find out you had anything to do
with Lily’s death, I’ll make sure you suffer the same way she did.”

Dain turned to Eric, cutting her off. “I don’t have to stand here and listen to this
drivel.”

But Denise wasn’t finished. “As soon as the police find Lily’s diary, we’ll know who
killed her.”

Dain frowned, then waved his hand brusquely, dismissing her. “I have work to do.”
He began to walk away toward the main building.

“Mr. Dain,” Eric said sharply. “Stop right where you are. I’m taking you in for questioning
in the murders of Lily Brogan and Cliff Hogarth.”