Missing Pieces(51)
“Not the entire file,” Margaret amended. “There’s no physical evidence in there. They keep that in the basement under lock and key.”
“But still, all these documents. How did you get them?”
“I have my ways,” Margaret said cryptically.
“No, really, Margaret,” Sarah said with concern. For the first time, Sarah noticed how tired Margaret looked. Her eyes were framed by dark circles and she was pale, though she tried to camouflage her exhaustion with heavy makeup. “You could get in big trouble for this. You could lose your job. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” Margaret said with feeling. “You only live once, right? Besides, I’ve seen what Lydia’s death has done to my mother. If there’s anything I can do to help my mom, I’ll do it. Now, this is the one file that the sheriff keeps in his office. He was down on the jail side talking to Amy so I just went in and grabbed it.”
Sarah’s eyes widened in alarm. “You broke into the sheriff’s office? Oh, my God, Margaret, you could have been caught. I thought you would just go down into some storage area to find it.”
“Not with this case file,” Margaret said, tapping the lid of the box. “The sheriff keeps it in the closet in his office. He pulls it out once in a while and looks through it.”
“But why?” Sarah asked. She itched to pull the lid off the box and start perusing through the contents. “The case is closed. Why would the sheriff care so much?”
Margaret leaned in close to Sarah even though no one was near. “Rumor had it that Sheriff Gilmore and Lydia might have been having an affair. My mom said that was ridiculous, that they were just friends, but you know how people talk.”
“No one in the audiotapes mentioned anything about an affair. Everyone interviewed said Lydia and John had a good marriage. Why wouldn’t something like an affair come out?” Sarah asked.
“Look at who was interviewing them. Gilmore.” Margaret’s eyes shone with excitement. “They wouldn’t have said anything, at least not on the record.”
“I don’t know,” Sarah said doubtfully. “It seems a little far-fetched.”
A truck crept by and Margaret hurriedly closed the trunk. “I told you my mom was best friends with Lydia, right? She thought something wasn’t quite right about the whole thing since the start.”
“She doesn’t think that John killed her?”
“No, I’m not saying that. She just believes there’s a lot more to the story than folks know or are saying. Can you pull your car up and we’ll put the box in your trunk?”
Sarah trotted to her car. She still needed to stop by Arthur Newberry’s office to pay the retainer; she hoped she hadn’t missed him for the day. She climbed inside, checked her phone and found that she had several voice mails from Jack. She didn’t even bother to listen to them. She knew she needed to touch base with him, at least let him know where she was, but she was still so angry. She pulled her car up next to Margaret’s, stepped out and went around to the other side to open the passenger’s-side door.
“You don’t want it in the trunk?” Margaret asked.
“This is fine for now. I can’t look through it at Dean’s or Hal’s house. I’ll probably have to sit in my car somewhere and go through it.”
Margaret hefted the box draped with her jacket from the trunk and transferred it to the passenger’s-side seat of Sarah’s car. “I’d invite you over to my house, but my mom will be there and it’s best if she didn’t know what we are up to.”
“Thanks again for getting this for me,” Sarah said gratefully. “When do you need it back?”
“As soon as possible. What about tomorrow or the next day?” Margaret nibbled on a manicured nail. “God, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I must be crazy.”
“We can stop—you don’t have to...” Sarah began.
“No.” Margaret shook her head. “I want to. For my mom, for Lydia.” Margaret took a deep breath as if to bolster herself and continued. “The sheriff is pretty busy with Amy and the search at Hal’s house. So we should be okay until at least then.”
“They’re still searching Hal’s house?” Sarah asked. “I didn’t think it would take that long—it’s not that big of a home.”
“They’re searching the outbuildings, too. It looks like they might have found something on the property.”
“Evidence?” Sarah asked curiously. Did the sheriff find something that would further incriminate Amy? Exonerate her?
“I don’t know,” Margaret said, “but from what Tess said, they’re going to be there for a while. I’ll keep my ears open, though. Do you think you’ll be able to go through the whole thing in the next day or two?” Margaret nodded toward the box.
“I’ll have to. If I don’t find out what happened to Jack’s family thirty years ago in the next forty-eight hours, I probably never will.”
13
SARAH LOCATED THE attorney’s office, a narrow redbrick building sandwiched between a bakery and a hardware store. An ornate gold sign, engraved with an illustration of a blindfolded Lady Justice, read Arthur L. Newberry, Jr., Attorney at Law.