so many secrets (BREAKDOWN Book 2) Page 14

Still silent.

  “Vinn, I know,” Dana whispered. “You might as well tell me so we can talk about it.”

  Tears welled in his eyes and he spat out the words. “It’s his fault my mom killed Sylvia.”

  In her mind, Dana saw Connie Bradshaw scrambling to get out of whatever room she was in and into this one, and McCabe and Laney holding her back. Swallowing hard, Dana reached into her tote and grabbed a tissue, passed it to Vinn. “Why do you think your mom killed Sylvia?”

  “You said you know. Why do I have to tell you?”

  “Because it’s important to me to hear what you think.”

  He swiped at his face, wadded the tissue into a tight ball. “I was there working on my report with Sylvia. My mom didn’t know I was there. She showed up, and Sylvia told me to hide in her bedroom. So I did.”

  “Were you intimate with Sylvia?”

  “God, no. She’s beautiful, but old.” His face flushed. “I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, she’s too old for me.”

  “You’re right,” Dana said.

  “I was just staying out of sight. My mom would have been ticked off at me for being there.”

  “Why? If Sylvia was just helping you with your report…?”

  “Because my dad was messing around with Sylvia,” Vinn said. He shook his head, his expression contorted in anger. “Can you believe that? I thought she was my friend. I thought he loved my mom. She’s so good to him and he goes and messes around with Sylvia. What’s wrong with him?”

  “So Sylvia and your mother argued.”

  “Oh, yeah.” His exaggerated movements proved it’d been a wicked one, too. “Sylvia tried to calm Mom down. She told Mom not to worry about it. Their affair was over.” His voice choked. He paused and cleared his throat. “My mom was so hurt and angry. She was crying all the time. And my dad just kept acting like nothing was wrong. I heard him tell my mom it didn’t mean anything.” Vinn looked disgusted. “I wanted to put my fist through his face. It meant plenty to my mom. Enough that she went back over there and killed Sylvia.”

  “How do you know that, Vinn?”

  “You didn’t see Mom, Dr. P. I did. She was worse than mad and hurt. She was sick with it.” He let out a shuddered breath. “She killed Sylvia.”

  The door opened behind Dana. She looked and saw Connie Bradshaw enter the room. “I didn’t kill Sylvia, Vinn.” Tears streamed down her face. “I was hurt and angry and sick with it but, I promise you, I didn’t kill her.”

  “Mom, just tell the truth,” he told her. “I heard you say you were going to.”

  “I did say it, but I didn’t kill her.”

  Vernon Bradshaw stepped around Connie and faced his son. “Neither did I. I swear it.” His eyes brimmed with tears. “Vinn, I am so sorry for the pain I’ve caused your mother and you. What I did was wrong. I said it was nothing, but you were right. It was a huge thing. My family trusted me, and I broke that trust.” He gripped the back of an empty chair, his knuckles turning white from a tight squeeze. “What I did was unforgivable. I am so sorry.”

  Connie stepped closer to Vernon, placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re both sorry, Vinn.”

  “Neither of you killed her?” Inside, Vinn was reeling. It showed. He crossed his chest with his arms and plucked at his sleeves, as if his nerves were on the outside of his skin and agitated. “Neither of you?”

  “No.” Connie promised.

  “No, Vinn,” his dad said.

  “I didn’t kill her either.” Finally, Vinn said aloud the words Dana had been waiting to hear.

  The tears blurring Dana’s vision slid down her face, and she took her first easy breath since this nightmare had begun.

  Given a signal by McCabe, Connie and Vernon embraced Vinn.

  Dana and Laney backed out of the room and walked a short distance down the hallway. Out of earshot of McCabe and the Bradshaw family, they stopped.

  “Maybe Connie did do it,” Dana said, voicing her greatest fear.

  “She didn’t,” Laney said. “She was in Grass Valley all day having liposuction, trying to stay young looking for a man who didn’t appreciate her.”

  After that kind of surgery, no way was she out strangling Sylvia the same night. “What about Vernon?”

  Laney lifted a shoulder. “His current assistant says he was in the office until 10:00 PM, then he met a couple of buddies for drinks at The Rabbit Hole.”

  “Which buddies?”

  “Mayor Jessup and Quentin Windermere. Ray Jones was tending bar that night. He says they were all there.”

  Dana and most of the women stayed away from The Rabbit Hole. It’s black walls and ceiling and dark décor were too off-putting to them. “So he’s in the clear, too?”

  “Looks like.”

  Dana thought a long second. “Well, that clears Wade Travis, Mayor Jessup, Connie, Vernon and Vinn.” Thomas was still half in love with Connie Bradshaw, which was probably why he had never married. He hadn’t denied that. Oh, he’d had relationships, but as soon as a woman got serious, he was gone. Knowing that about him was one of the main reasons Dana had made it clear that they would be friends and colleagues, but never anything more. Honestly, the clotheshorse thing got to her. He had enough good points to stay on her friend list, but a romantic interest? That was so not happening. “It wasn’t Kristina either,” Dana told Laney. “She was with Vinn.”

  “Got that from your note, and she’s verified it.”

  “So what happens now? Can Vinn leave?”

  “No, we need more.” Laney seemed sorry to admit it. “We found Vinn’s DNA at the scene.”

  “He said he was there.”

  “In her bedroom.” Laney sent Dana a flat look.

  “What kind of DNA?”

  “Seminal.”

  Dana shut her eyes. “He was in her bedroom. Was it—“

  “Under her bed.”

  “Of course. Hiding out while his mother and Sylvia were arguing.” Dana winced. “He’d rather die of embarrassment than admit he…”

  “Yeah.” Laney nodded. “That’s the problem.”

  “Have McCabe ask him about it,” Dana suggested. “Guys relate differently than Vinn would about this with you or me.”

  “Jacking off in her bedroom would be like a badge of honor between them? Is that what you’re saying?”

  Dana avoided a direct response. “McCabe will know how to handle it.”

  Laney went back to the interview room, McCabe stepped out and she spoke briefly with him. A few minutes later, Connie and Vernon came out and McCabe grabbed two Cokes then closed the door.

  He and Vinn. That was it. Maybe, just maybe, Vinn would talk straight to McCabe and end this.

  A long half hour later McCabe came out and sent Vernon and Connie back into the room. He came down the hallway and joined Dana and Laney.

  “Well?” Laney prodded.

  He smiled. “I’m satisfied. We have no issue with the DNA.”

  “Sylvia didn’t—“

  “No, Laney.” McCabe went serious. “We still have to wait for the forensics. Can’t release him until the report is in, but Morris Barton needs to get down here and pull the confession.”

  “I’ll call him,” Laney said.

  One step closer. Dana hooked her handbag on her shoulder. “Now what?”

  Laney smiled. “Girls’ night out—right after I call the lawyer. Then tomorrow, another press conference—five o’clock.”

  Dana nodded. Time to rattle a few more bushes. Hopefully they’d shake loose the killer…before he or she struck again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dana looked beyond the long wooden tables with their fanned napkins and red glass candles to the door and watched Ana rush in. She spotted the three of them—Laney, Julia and Dana—seated at the back table near the windows and joined them, still wearing her white lab coat. “Sorry I’m late.”

  Ana was always late. It went with the territory of being a doctor.

  “As I live and breath
e,” Julia said, smiling at her. “You’re here before we pop the cork on the second bottle of wine tonight. I’m impressed, Ana.”

  She laughed good-naturedly. “Dana, I hear Vinn un-confessed.”

  “Withdrew his confession,” Laney corrected her, and filled her glass with white wine.

  “So Vinn withdrew his confession?” Ana corrected herself and dropped onto her seat.

  “He did.” Dana was still positively ecstatic about that.

  “I know you’re relieved.” Ana asked. “So he’s home with his family, then?”

  “Not yet.” When Ana looked to Laney for an explanation, Dana reminded the good doctor, “Laney can’t discuss the case.”

  “Ah, of course.”

  “They can’t let him go until they get a clear coroner’s report.”

  “When is that due in?”

  Dana again responded, sparing Laney. “Sometime tomorrow. Hopefully, before the press conference.”

  Julia paused, her glass mid-air. “There’s another press conference tomorrow? Why do I not know these things?”

  “Five o’clock,” Dana said. “Will you be there?”

  “After the last one, I wouldn’t miss it.” Julia shrugged off a reprimanding look from Laney. “What?” Julia asked. “Someone has to guard the doors for you and McCabe.”

  “Well, I know this,” Dana said. “I’ll sleep better once I know Vinn is home and back in school and this whole mess is behind us.”

  “That could be a while,” Julia said, draining her glass.

  Laney refilled it. “Why is that?”

  “Where’s Sylvia’s killer?”

  Laney frowned at her. “I can’t discuss the case.”

  “She’ll find him or her,” Dana said. “One thing at a time. For me, my nightmare ends when Vinn is released.”

  “Unless it happens again.”

  “We’re watching everything to prevent that.” A steel edge honed Laney’s voice to a razor’s edge.

  Julia dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin and reached for a cracker then loaded it with Gouda cheese. “Well, I was at The Firefly office this afternoon, delivering some edits to my article, and I overheard a little tidbit that might interest you.”

  “What’s that?” Laney asked. She wasn’t in uniform. She wore dark slacks and a white silk blouse.

  “You can’t talk about the case,” Julia reminded her. “So, Dana, I’m talking to you.”

  “Okay.” Dana smiled and waited.

  “Katherine Windermere came in asking to see Carrie Stone.” They all knew Carrie was the owner of the weekly newspaper. “Katherine forgot Carrie was traveling in Europe, so I asked if I could help her. She said it was a confidential matter.”

  “That could be about anything,” Dana said.

  “Could be, but it wasn’t.” Julia sipped from her glass. “She wanted contact information for a computer hacker.”

  “A what?” Ana didn’t bother to hide her surprise.

  “Hacker. You know, someone who breaks into your computer, takes control of it, and charges you a bloody fortune to get it back.”

  “Not all hackers steal your access,” Laney said.

  “Or extort money from you to get it back,” Dana said.

  Julia conceded. “True and true. But in the world I worked in during my investigative journalism days, I learned a few things, too. Hackers rarely hack for the pleasure of it, though many do enjoy it. They usually have a purpose.”

  “I’ll stipulate to that.” Laney said.

  Ana shot Dana a questioning look. “She agrees.” Dana asked Julia, “So why did Katherine Windermere want a hacker?”

  Julia’s eyes twinkled, the same enigmatic shade as her natural blue turquoise earrings. “Now isn’t that an interesting question?”

  “Do you have an interesting answer?” Laney dipped her chin.

  “Not yet. But I have a friend I’ll ask to look into it. He’s FBI. If he agrees, I’ll let you know.”

  “I’d appreciate that.” Laney refilled glasses, and noted Dana had barely touched her wine. “You planning on nursing that all night?”

  “I’ll take some more,” Ana said, tilting her head toward Dana. “She’s nursing her stomach, and she shouldn’t be drinking at all.”

  Only a blind woman could miss the reprimand. Dana frowned. “Medical privilege.” Dana called it, and issued a reprimand of her own. “You’re not supposed to discuss my medical condition, Ana.”

  “Then you tell them. Ordinarily I’d agree, but this is personal and these are our friends. If we can’t talk to friends about personal challenges…”

  Julia cut in, ending the debate. “What’s wrong with your stomach?”

  “I’m fine.” Dana groaned. “Can we not talk about it?”

  Three pairs of eyes trained on her proved they would talk about it. Giving in, Dana shrugged. “A little too much acid. It’s nothing.”

  “She’s worrying about Vinn,” Laney guessed. When Dana shot her a shushing look, Laney shrugged. “What? You are worried about him. You always worry about the students. It’s a no-brainer deduction, not a Shutter Lake secret.”

  “Phoenix haunting your dreams again, Dana?” Julia asked, her concern genuine.

  “I’m fine. Really,” Dana said. “Like all of you, Sylvia’s murder happening here was upsetting. That’s all—and I have been worried about Vinn.”

  “Dana Perkins will fight to the death to protect the kids,” Julia said. “Anyone on the lake can take that to the bank.”

  “She’s good at it,” Laney said, as if she weren’t seated beside Dana, then glanced over at her. “I mean that. If I’m ever in trouble, I hope you’re there on my side, fighting for me.”

  “That, you can take to the bank.” Dana promised.

  “I propose a pact.” Ana held up her glass to toast. “Trouble comes for any of us, the rest are there.”

  “Pact.” Dana added her voice to theirs and they all clinked their glasses.

  Chapter Twenty

  Thursday, October 11

  The next morning, Dana sat at her computer completely frustrated. She’d come in at 5:15—The Grind opened at 5:00 and no way could she face today without a large Macchiato Espresso.

  As soon as she arrived at school, she’d started searching hard for deep-background information on Quinten and Katherine Windermere. There had been a lot of articles posted and she’d waded through them, but she had found nothing that led her to believe they were anything but appropriate hosts for exchange students. She wrote up a report for her file, including all the article URLs, and then steeled herself and went to the website where Wade Travis had purportedly seen Josie Rodriguez or her lookalike.

  The website was gone.

  Dana’s stomach burned as if torched with a hot match. On auto-pilot, she grabbed an antacid tablet from the roll in her top desk drawer, then tried the URL again.

  Nothing. Not even an error message.

  She slumped back in defeat. Travis had warned her that these sites disappeared frequently and without notice. So had Laney. Pam had captured screenshots of the home pages of the sites and certified them as true and correct copies for the file, but Dana had wanted to capture an actual Viva Vivian film clip to pass on to the police. Could the site owner have noticed an uptick in specific searches for Vivian? Was that the reason for the site’s sudden disappearance?

  The antacid kicked in and the burning in her stomach stopped. Dana slumped back in her chair and sipped at her coffee, then checked her watch—7:30.

  Her desk phone rang.

  “Dr. Perkins,” she said on answering it.

  “It’s Laney,” she said. “I’ve been calling you for hours. Do you ever spend time at home?”

  Dana grunted. “I came in to look for a video clip on Josie—Vivian,” she added in case the girl wasn’t Josie. “The site is gone.”

  “Happens all the time. I’m not sure if we got one before it disappeared. Why did you want it?”

 
; “For the file,” Dana said. “In case any parents sue us over Travis.”

  “If we have a clip, we’ll seek the necessary permissions and get you a copy. Provided they are granted. Can’t see why they wouldn’t be, if the school attorney requests a copy.”

  Dana scribbled herself a note to follow up on this, adding a new item to her to-do list. It was two pages long, and full of strikeouts and notes in the margins. Hieroglyphics on steroids that only she could decipher. “I dug around a bit on Quinten and Katherine, too.”

  “What for?” Cagy now, Laney gave away nothing in her voice.

  “To make sure nothing in their pasts should prevent them from being exchange student hosts,” Dana said simply. “Just to put my mind at ease.”

  “I didn’t find anything on them either,” Laney said. “If that helps.”

  “It does.” Laney was a crackerjack investigator. If anything were there, she’d find it. “So why are you hunting me down at the break of dawn?” Pam entered the outer office and waved through the glass. Dana lifted a hand to return the greeting.

  “The preliminary coroner’s report is due in at about 2:30 this afternoon. I got a verbal on it, and it appears Vinn’s in the clear.”

  Relief swept through Dana. “But the DNA?”

  “McCabe isn’t concerned about it. It’s been adequately explained.”

  Dana understood. “No need for details,” she told Laney, though she hadn’t hinted specifics would be forthcoming. “So how did the coroner clear Vinn?”

  “Morris Barton agreed to hand-casting samples. We did them and the coroner examined them.”

  “I don’t understand.” Dana frowned into the phone.

  “The upshot is Vinn’s hands are too small to leave the marks left on Sylvia’s neck.”

  That Dana understood completely. “Wonderful news for Vinn.” Dana enjoyed the burden releasing from her shoulders. She felt a hundred pounds lighter, without realizing the weight of all this had been that heavy. “I hope it’s leading you to a specific someone else.”

  “Maybe.” Laney sniffed. “Any calls from parents on Wade Travis?”

  “Not even one, but it’s early.” Dana let her relief come through in her voice. “I’m praying hard the man told us the truth. We’ll know by three o’clock.” By then, word would be in from the parents on whether or not he had behaved inappropriately with any of the students.