The Lies I Told(82)

“He’s never said anything to me.”

I studied the rounded face of a man with dark hair. He was looking away from the camera, and the image was slightly out of focus, as if he were intentionally turning away as Clare clicked. I wanted to be excited but had been disappointed too many times. “This is all you have?”

“David met Brit at the hospital right after my accident. I’m in surgery, and he just happened to show up.”

“Random connections happen.”

Her eyes still turned a vivid shade of blue when she was angry. She ran long fingers over her shorn hair. “You once said that when facts appear connected, they generally are.”

“You’re correct. But coincidences do happen.” I walked to the kitchen counter and carefully set down my cup. “This picture is not enough for a warrant.”

She moved toward me, standing within a couple of feet. “I followed him last night.”

“What?”

“I drove to Brit’s house, thinking he’d be there. He was, so I followed him home because I wanted to see where he lived. On the way back downtown, he circled through my parking lot before heading home.”

“And?”

“Nothing. He drove home to his place in Church Hill. There’s a bar down the block from his townhome, and I could swear I was there. And his residence is only minutes from where I had my car accident.”

The flukes were piling up. “It’s not smart to follow him.”

“Maybe, but this is the first lead I’ve had in thirteen years.”

“Why did Jo-Jo give you the camera now?”

“She’s pregnant. And she has been thinking about Clare a lot. She knew Clare was pregnant.”

“She never told me that.” I’d never bought Jo-Jo’s innocent look and vague answers, but sensing and proving were two different beasts. “Was that omission also because of her special bond with Clare, too?”

“They were best friends,” she said.

“She’s also married to a former con who’s done very well for himself recently.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Most restaurant owners I know have struggled the last few years. And yet Jack is sitting on a pile of cash.”

“When did you become so attuned to Jack?”

“He dated your sister at the time of Clare’s death. I looked into him and found he’d served time in juvenile detention for breaking and entering and theft. If he’d been a couple of years older, he’d have done serious time. And then a few years later he did real time in state prison.”

“He might be sketchy, but he’s Jo-Jo’s problem. I’m focused on who killed Clare.”

“Why now?”

“I’ve been half-assing my life for the last thirteen years. Young, drunk, fill in the blank, but I was out of touch. Now I’m dialed in, and I won’t let this lead go.”

That prompted a laugh. “You haven’t been half-assing it. You struggle, but who doesn’t?”

She shoved out a sigh. “You busted my chops enough times when I came to see you.”

“Tough love,” I said. “Holding your hand and telling you it’ll be okay wasn’t going to get you on the right path.”

“It might have,” she said.

I arched a brow. “You believe that?”

“No.”

“And through it all, you’ve been the one that’s continued to ask me about Clare. Not your father when he was alive or your sister.”

She twisted a ring on her pinkie. “I kept hoping you’d solve this.”

“So did I.”

“The police know how to do this kind of thing and have more resources than me. But maybe it takes someone on the outside to figure this out.”

“Okay, Nancy Drew, what do you think happened?”

She glanced down into the milky depths of her coffee, swirled it. “Like you said, I got drunk while I was visiting Brit at college. David, by the way, was a junior at the same school. I wake up in a dorm room, lying fully dressed on a perfectly made bed. I stagger back to Brit, and we go shopping. We don’t get back to Richmond until late Saturday. I remember being annoyed because I missed the art show.”

“Did Clare know about it?”

“We were supposed to meet there.”

“How would David know about it?”

“I’d had the art show flyer in my pocket but couldn’t find it the next day.”

“You’re saying he took it?”

“Maybe.”

“It’s a stretch.”

“I know. But I do know Clare went to the show. She raved about it. Maybe he went, too, thinking he’d see me. They meet, she ends up sleeping with him and gets pregnant. David circles back on New Year’s, and he finds her at Jo-Jo’s party. They fight. You said you only found Kurt’s DNA in her. Maybe this time she refused to have sex with David. She’d told me that night she’d decided she was only going to be seeing Kurt going forward. Maybe David got pissed over the rejection. Whatever happened, David lost his temper and strangled her.”

“You’re describing a crime of passion. Strangulation is very intimate and personal. But to strip her down and dump her body miles from where she vanished is calculating.”