Crowned and Moldering (17 page)

I couldn’t lie to her. “Yeah, that happened.”

“That’s so terrible.” She rubbed her arms as though she were cold, but I figured she
was shivering from the story the girls had told her.

“It happened a long time ago. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“But it happened at Uncle Mac’s new house. Don’t you think that’s awful?”

“I do, Callie.” I made a quick judgment call and decided to tell her the truth about
Lily. “I knew the girl who died. And I was there the other day when they found the
bones. And, yeah, it was awful.”

Her eyes widened. “You knew her? Who was she?”

“A friend from school. She was really sweet and very talented. And really pretty,
too. We all thought she ran away because her dad was such an awful man. But apparently
she didn’t run away.”

Callie frowned and I could see she was thinking about all of this and getting more
and more upset. “That’s so sad. How will Uncle Mac live out there, knowing that someone
died inside his house?”

“How well do you know your Uncle Mac?” I asked lightly, hoping to defuse her fear.
“You must know that he loves all that macabre stuff. In fact, he’s thinking of writing
an article about the bones for a magazine.”

She smiled a little. “That does sound like Uncle Mac. Okay, I won’t worry about him
too much, then.”

The program started up again and the conversation ended. When the show was over, I
offered to let Callie stay with me in the house if she didn’t feel comfortable in
the garage apartment. “I have a couple of bedrooms upstairs and there’s a big bathroom,
too.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be okay in the apartment.” She slipped her feet back into her shoes
and stood. “Uncle Mac is right next door and he might miss me.”

I chuckled and stood, too. “I know he would definitely miss you.”

I walked her out of the house and up the stairs, just to make sure she felt safe.
Then I gave her a hug and waited on the balcony until I heard her door lock. “Sweet
dreams.”

Mac’s door opened and he glanced out. Despite a serious case of bedhead and drowsy
eyes, he looked completely awesome and outrageously attractive in boxers with no shirt.
“Hey, Irish.”

“Hi, Mac. Callie and I were watching TV. I just walked her back to her room.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he whispered. “G’night.”

*   *   *

Tuesday morning, I was mooning around the kitchen, thinking about Mac’s words the
night before. He’d never called me
sweetheart
. Did it mean anything? Probably not. He’d been half asleep, after all. Truth be told,
he’d been more like three-quarters of the way asleep. So I would be stupid to believe
the endearment had come from his heart. The word had, nonetheless, given me a cozy
feeling that kept me warm all night.

“Does that make me a fool?” I asked Tiger, as the pretty orange cat wrapped herself
around my foot. I picked her up and held her close, listening to the sound of her
intense purring.

I went with
yes
. “Yes, I’m a fool,” I muttered into Tiger’s soft neck. And,
yes
, I had better things to do than flounce around the house, worrying about such dumb
things. Today was the first day on the parking-lot job. I needed to be fully awake
and alert.

The phone rang loudly and Tiger jumped out of my arms. Robbie barked, as if demanding
to know who was calling so early. I agreed with him.

I grabbed it before the noisy thing could ring again.

“Hello?”

“It’s Chief Jensen,” he said gruffly, then softened his tone. “I mean, it’s Eric.
Hi, Shannon.”

“Hi, Eric.” I held the phone between my ear and shoulder and poured myself a second
cup of coffee. “What’s up?”

“Can you . . . that is, are you available for a consultation?”

I smiled at the difficulty he seemed to have when asking me for help. “Of course.
Did you want to come over?”

“No. I need you to come to police headquarters. The sooner, the better.”

Eric was on the phone when I arrived at his office. He looked annoyed and stressed-out
and he was pacing back and forth along the wall of windows on the west side of the
room. When he saw me, he gestured toward one of the visitors’ chairs that faced his
desk.

“We don’t have the budget,” Eric said, then paused to listen to whoever was speaking
on the other side of that phone call. “Right. It would be pretty dumb to order DNA
tests for every male in town over the age of thirty.”

DNA tests? Who was he talking to?

“That’s right,” Eric said. “We’ll have to take it on a case-by-case basis, depending
on the evidence.”

Eric listened for another minute, then said, “Yeah, thanks, Jay. Keep me posted.”
When he hung up, he looked fried.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Medical examiner.”

“Everything okay?” I was sitting on the edge of my seat, ready to jump up and run
out. “Should I come back later?”

“No, I need to talk to you right now.”

“Okay.” I scooted back in the chair and waited while he stared out the window for
a moment. The view seemed to calm him down, because when he turned around and walked
back to his desk, he was breathing easier and it looked like maybe his blood pressure
was falling back to normal. But maybe he was just faking it.

“What’s going on, Eric?” I asked. “How can I help?”

He scowled. Not at me in particular, but at the world in general. At least, that’s
what I chose to think, and I refused to take his bad mood personally.

“I really wish I didn’t have to involve you,” he said, still standing at the edge
of his desk.

“I know, I know,” I said briskly. “I’ve heard it all before. You hate to trust me,
but you have to. Blah, blah, blah, whatever. So, look,” I said, holding up my hand
like a Girl Scout. “I swear myself to secrecy. On my honor, what’s said in this room
will stay here. Like that Vegas commercial. What happens here in the jail stays in
the jail. You called because you need my help, so let’s talk.”

I could see him biting back a smile. That was a good sign. Maybe he wouldn’t arrest
me for being flippant to the lawman. I couldn’t help it, though. I was tired of his
constant reminders that I wasn’t trustworthy. Because I was! Oh, sure, I’d discussed
a few aspects of the case with Jane and Emily. And Mac. And Callie, too, now that
I thought about it. But I hadn’t disclosed any deep dark secrets.

He sat in his chair and said without warning, “Lily Brogan was pregnant.”

It was like he was speaking in tongues or something. Or maybe I just didn’t want to
believe it. “Wh-what did you say?”

“Lily Brogan was pregnant when she died.”

“Oh.” I had to concentrate on breathing because it felt like I’d had the wind knocked
out of me. “Oh my God.”

“We should’ve found out sooner, but the medical examiner’s office deals with cases
coming in from three different counties. So he’s always backed up.”

“But . . .”

He finally seemed to notice that I was stunned and upset by the news he’d just dropped.
“Sorry, Shannon. The thing is, the medical examiner found a tiny skeleton in with
Lily’s bones.”

Chills skittered down my spine and the hair on my arms stood up in horror. Tears welled,
too, but now wasn’t the time to get weepy. Still, my heart hurt for Lily and her baby
and the future they would never have. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes,” he said. “Jay estimates that Lily was at least three months pregnant.”

“Three months?” I wrapped my arms around my stomach, as though I could protect myself
from the tragic news. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah.” He stared at the wall behind me. “Jay said the baby’s skeleton was still mostly
cartilage, although bone was beginning to form at the joints. Knees, elbows, some
teeth. It was about three-point-five inches long.”

His tone was eerily matter-of-fact but I knew he was hurting inside. I imagined a
tiny skeleton three-and-a-half inches long and felt my spirit grieving. “Why are you
telling me this?”

Through gritted teeth he said, “Because I need you to think harder, think back to
that time, and give me the names of every single man Lily was involved with three
months before she died.”

“Okay.” I nodded as if in a fog. “Okay. Wow. Well, we’ve gone over most of the people
I remember. I told you about Cliff Hogarth.”

“Shannon, don’t give me his name just because you don’t like him. Was he truly involved
with Lily or not?”

“I already told you he was.” I said it more petulantly than I meant to, but I didn’t
like how he was getting in my face.

“Okay. Sorry.” He held up his hands in surrender as a way of acknowledging that he
was being pushy. “Really, I’m sorry. I’m a little . . . well, this whole thing has
blown up in our faces, and I’m angry—really angry—about it.”

“I don’t blame you. I’m currently in shock, but I’ll be moving toward angry any minute
now.”

“You might want to hurry up,” he said curtly. “This case was unfortunate to begin
with, but it just turned really ugly. Frankly, I was hoping to write it off as an
unfortunate accident or misadventure, but the fact that Lily was pregnant makes me
think somebody wanted to get rid of her and the baby. And that spells murder.”

“Oh, God.” I rubbed my stomach, feeling sick. Poor Lily. If only she’d had an understanding
parent at home, she might’ve been able to get through this with family support. Instead
she’d had only Cliff to lean on—if he even knew. Or if the baby was even his. Either
way, I couldn’t see him being any help at all.

I knew instantly that it wasn’t fair to blame Cliff. At least until there was more
evidence against him. But in my book, he was a big enough creep to have killed Lily
and her unborn child. So until further notice, he was number one on my suspect list.

“So, that’s why you were talking about DNA tests.”

Eric’s eyes narrowed. “There you go, paying attention again.”

Whether he was kidding or not, his response made me laugh. “Yeah, it’s an irksome
little habit of mine. So I guess this means the ME was able to extract the baby’s
DNA, and now you’re going to want to run a DNA test on whoever you think is the father.”

“You’ve got the basics right there,” Eric said. “So, can you think of anyone else,
any other male who was friendly with Lily? Maybe you saw her talking to some guy and
it didn’t register at the time, but now it makes sense? Anyone, Shannon. I’m willing
to grasp at straws to nail this guy.”

“I’m thinking.” I hated to name names off the top of my head, but that was what I
was here for. “Okay, I’m just going to call out every male who was around at the time.
Doesn’t mean I think he’s guilty, okay?”

“Noted.” He grabbed a pen and clicked it open. “I’ll write down the names.”

“Okay. So there’s Sean, of course, and his father, Hugh. And there’s Cliff and his
buddy, Jason. I forgot about him before. Jason moved away years ago. They hung out
with a bunch of other guys, but I can’t think of any of their names. They were older
than me.”

“Okay.”

“And there were all the guys in the play with her.” I thought for a moment. “Bart
Bockner played Danny, the lead.”

“He still living around here?”

“He’s not in Lighthouse Cove anymore, but I think he lives maybe ten or fifteen miles
away. Tommy might know all these guys and where they live. And there were a couple
of stagehands who were friendly with Lily.” I gave Eric the names of everyone I could
remember seeing on a regular basis in the drama club. “I guess you could add the drama
teacher, Mr. Peterson. He and Lily were always talking together because he was directing
the play. I think he’s still teaching.”

“Good to know.”

I shrugged. “And as long as you have Mr. Peterson, you might as well add all the other
teachers in school. There’s Mr. Delgado, Mr. Jones, Mr. Carver. And let’s not forget
Dismal Dain. I know you already talked to him but I’ll bet he’s worth another shakedown.”

He glanced up. “Shakedown?”

I smiled. “Just wishful thinking, I guess.”

“Do you even know what
shakedown
means?”

I broke out in a grin. “Not really, but I’m hoping you’ll shake him silly.”

Eric shook his head. “Dream on. Anyone else?”

I threw my hands up, exasperated. “Everyone I went to school with is a possibility.
I mean, Hal Logan went to school here. He was in Lizzie’s class and they’re both five
years ahead of me. But Hal might’ve known Lily. And there’s Billy. He’s on my crew
and went to school with me and Sean. And there’s Tommy. And Gus.”

“Wait. Are you talking about Hal Logan, your friend Lizzie’s husband? And Gus Peratti
at the auto shop?”

“Right. We were in the same grade.”

“And Tommy,” he said flatly. “Your former boyfriend and my deputy chief.”

I gave him a pointed look. “You asked for the names of guys who went to school with
Lily and me.”

“I did. But I’m more interested in any guys who were actually part of Lily’s circle.
We can’t go around accusing the whole school.”

“But you asked,” I grumbled, then shook off my mood. “Okay, you can erase Tommy and
Hal and Billy and Gus off the list. And Sean, too, as far as I’m concerned, but I
know you have to at least consider him. Of course, he already agreed to your DNA test,
so you’ve already proven he’s innocent, right?”

Eric didn’t answer, just gave me one of those looks that told me I’d ventured into
unwelcome territory, so I moved along with my theories. “Cliff, on the other hand,
is a definite suspect. And his buddy Jason, too, although I don’t know how you’d track
him down. Mr. Dain is another definite, in my humble opinion. Bart and the other actors
in the play were with Lily almost every night for three months leading up to the Spring
Festival. They should all be investigated. Not that I’m telling you how to do your
job.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly. “Besides Bart, how do I get the names of the other actors?
Do you have a yearbook?”

“I do, but you’d be better off looking at the playbill for that year. They’re all
on display in the glass case outside the theater auditorium. And they’ll have not
only the actors, but the A/V guys and the prop guys and stagehands and carpenters.
Not that a carpenter could ever be the bad guy.”

“Of course not.”

“I’ll be working at the school tomorrow,” I said. “I could get the programs for you.”

He smiled for the first time. “No, thanks, but I appreciate the offer.” He set down
his pen and sat back in his chair. “So, you got the job at the school.”

“Yes. I’m excited about it. My crew and I are expanding and resurfacing the senior
parking lot and erecting solar canopies.”

“Really smart idea.”

“I think so, too.” I stood to leave, then remembered something. “Why don’t you ask
Denise Jones for some names? She would know if Lily was ever with one special guy.”
I didn’t mention that I knew he’d already talked to her. It couldn’t hurt to ask her
again, right?

Eric’s jaw clenched even tighter than before and I stepped back in shock. “Oh, my
God. Denise is a suspect?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Interesting,” I said.

“Nothing is
interesting
, Shannon,” he said flatly. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”

I grinned. “I do. But before I go, maybe I should mention that I was out at the nursery
on Sunday and I talked to Denise.”

“Why?”

It wasn’t easy, but I managed to keep from rolling my eyes at the very question, not
to mention his tone. “Because she’s a friend and she works at the nursery where I’ve
been buying plants for most of my life.”

“Okay, just checking.”

I sighed. “You’re a suspicious guy, aren’t you?”

“Comes with the job.”

“Understood. Anyway, Denise and I were talking about Dismal Dain and the horrible
stuff he told Lily. And Denise got so angry, she started pounding and hammering her
shovel blade into the dirt. I don’t think she realized what she was doing, but it
was weird and kind of violent.”

“What’s your point?”

I shrugged, unwilling to admit that I didn’t really have a point. “I just thought
she seemed capable of killing someone with that shovel of hers. And she really hated
Dismal Dain, so you might want to keep an eye on him.”

He gazed up at me. “I thought you hated him, too.”

Darn, he had me there. “I guess I do. But I wouldn’t kill him with my shovel.”

“I’ll make a note of that.”

*   *   *

I drove over to the high school as quickly as traffic would allow. Wade had promised
to fill in for me until I could get there. I didn’t want the SolarLight people to
think I was shirking my duties the first day on the job.

On the way, I thought about Lily and the sad fact that she was pregnant when she died.
She must’ve been so frightened and alone. Or was she? What if she was happy to be
pregnant, but her own father was furious to find out? Could Hugh Brogan have tracked
her down and killed her for being promiscuous?

Or what if Cliff’s friend Jason was the father of Lily’s baby and Cliff was jealous?
Jason was a good-looking guy back in high school. So Cliff could’ve killed Lily and
then killed Jason, but not right then, since I remembered that Jason was still living
in town until he left a few years after high school. Who knew where Jason was living
now? Or if he was alive at all?

It was a ridiculous theory, but I liked it, along with a bunch of others I could dwell
on and refine later when I had nothing better to do.

My head was spinning as I pulled into my temporary space in the faculty parking lot.
I had to think about my attitude toward Cliff. I really didn’t like the man and wanted
him to be guilty of all sorts of transgressions. But wishing didn’t make it so. Especially
since Eric was scrupulous to a fault about following the rules and playing by the
book. He would rely on the evidence to show him who was guilty and pay no attention
at all to my pithy declaration that Cliff Hogarth was a big, fat creep.