All Dressed in White (Under Suspicion #2)(54)

“And what about when he’s back in New York?” Alex asked.

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes, but trust me, we’re not going to lose sight of him.”

“Good,” Leo said. “If we’re right, Jeff’s gotten away with too much for too long.”

“There’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Laurie said, her pacing commencing once again. “Was Jeff really the one to call the police? But why would he tip us off to the location of the body? He had to have known that the wedding band would only call attention to him.”

“I thought of that, too,” Alex said. “But I’ve had clients who are extremely calculating about the costs and benefits of the choices they make. Jeff may have been confident that the ring wouldn’t be enough proof for a conviction—because it’s not. But now that Amanda’s body has been found, he can finally inherit her trust fund without having to sue to declare her dead, which would have made him look like a real heel in the public eye.”

“The account was worth two million dollars more than five years ago,” Henson said.

Leo let out a whistle. “It’s probably considerably more by now.”


Laurie said, “Is there any way to analyze the voice on the tape to see if it’s Jeff’s?”

Henson shook her head. “You can buy a voice distorter in any spy shop. As I told you earlier, the caller could be a woman for all we know. We traced the call, and it came from a burner—a throwaway phone, no name attached to it. According to the cell site information, the call originated through a cell tower two blocks from here. So any of the people you are interviewing could have made the phone call. So, nothing helpful.” Henson continued. “Can I trust the three of you to keep all this to yourselves? Don’t make me regret this.”

Laurie assured her that they would not let on that the police were closing in on Jeff, but as she shut the door behind the detective, she just couldn’t picture Jeff making that phone call. They had to be missing something.

As she and her father left Alex’s room, she asked if he could join her for a ride in the car after taking Timmy to the water park.

“No need to wait,” Leo reported. “I just saw Jerry, who was quite proud to have finished scouting locations with the camera crew early. Much to my surprise, Jerry announced he’d been looking forward the entire trip to checking out the four-story slide Timmy keeps carrying on about.”

“I’ll see if Jerry is joking or if he minds staying with Timmy so you can keep me company.”

“Dearly as I love my grandson, at sixty-four I’m not up to the water slides. But Laurie, give yourself a break and spend your free time with Alex. I know you’re done shooting for the day.”

“I am, but there’s something I need to do, and I’d feel safer if you came along. But you have to promise that this time, we do it on my terms.”





53





Laurie knocked on the door for the third time. “I know you’re home.” She peered through Jeremy Carroll’s front window, but couldn’t see anyone in the living room. At least it didn’t look as though he had thrown out his photo collection.

She stepped toward the edge of the front porch to make sure that her father was staying put in the rental car parked across the street. She wanted him within view in case things went terribly wrong, but she thought she had a better chance of getting Jeremy to open up if she talked to him alone.

She’d seen a curtain part when she walked up the driveway. She wasn’t going to leave until he answered.

“I know you didn’t hurt Amanda,” she cried out. “I’m sorry that we were so pushy last time, but I think you want to help. Please!”

The front door cracked open by an inch. Jeremy peered out from beneath unkempt brown bangs.

“Are you sure you’re alone?” he asked fearfully.

“Yes, I promise.”

He opened the door fully and stood back, allowing Laurie to step inside. She hoped she wasn’t making a terrible mistake.

? ? ?

“I didn’t like that man who was with you,” he said once she was settled next to him on his living room sofa. “He seemed like a police officer or something.”

“He’s actually my father,” she said, allowing that to serve as a response. “You were right to worry that people would be suspicious of you if they found out you were taking photographs of Amanda and her friends when they weren’t looking. But I understand now. You take pictures because you care about people. You want to see them in their most honest moments, not just when they’re smiling for the camera.”

“Yes, that’s exactly right. I don’t want to see the faces that people put on for the world. I want reality.”

“You said you got rid of the photographs you took of your neighbors once you realized that they were truly upset. What about the pictures of Amanda?”

He stared at her, blinking. He still didn’t trust her.

“I saw you in the hotel surveillance footage. She walked past you, and you turned around to follow her. You had your camera. You’re an artist. You must have taken a few snapshots.”

“They’re not snapshots, like some amateur Instagram account. They’re my art.”