“Was there anyone at school who was interested in her?” Shep asked.
“Other than Andy, the boy I liked?” Charlie thought for a moment. “There was this one boy she argued with a lot at school. This can’t have anything to do with her death though.”
“Tell me about this boy.”
“Fletcher. I’ve forgotten his first name. Everyone just called him Fletch. I saw Lindy with him a few times, always arguing. Lindy said all the boys at school were too immature. She couldn’t wait to graduate and find a real man. Fletch,” she repeated as he came into view in her memory. “I remember this one time, he grabbed her arm roughly. She fought back and got him in trouble. He was kind of a bully. I thought they were perfect for each other.”
“I’ll check him out. What about boys in the neighborhood?”
She shook her head. “There weren’t any. Not boys anyway. There were some guys in their twenties around that older man’s house down the road. I did see Lindy wave to them once, just fooling around. She liked to think that any man alive would want her. It was probably true.”
“Did you ever meet the twentysomethings?”
“I know it seems strange, but Lindy didn’t have time for boys—or men. Her full-time job was making my life miserable.”
“It certainly sounds that way. I’m sorry.” He surreptitiously shoved some copies of photos under a pile of newspaper articles.
“Are those the autopsy photos? Let me see them.”
He shook his head. “You will never unsee them, trust me.”
“They’re that bad?” She shuddered. “I heard my foster mother talking about the murder. I knew it must have been awful.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said.
“You and I will always disagree about that. If I had just opened the door—”
The buzzer sounded. “Another date with what’s-his-name?” Shep asked.
“His name is Daniel and no, not until later.” She frowned as she moved to the intercom. “Yes?”
“Hey, I’m starved. I thought you might have finally gotten to the store?”
“I’ll be right down.” She turned to look at Shep. “He’s going to get suspicious if I keep sending him away.”
“I’m not leaving you alone in this apartment. I promised the judge I would find out what was going on and make sure that nothing happened to you. Why don’t you just tell your boyfriend about Lindy and that I’ve been hired to investigate?” He grinned. “You don’t have to tell him that—”
“Tell him that you’re a middle school math teacher?”
“True, but I’m good at it and I have other talents.” He sounded defensive enough that it made her smile.
She remembered some of his other talents. He’d probably picked up a few more in the past fifteen years too.
“I think we’d better keep your...talents a secret for now.” With that she was gone, slamming the door after her.
* * *
SHEP SWORE TO himself as she left. But she did have a point. Did he really have any idea what he was doing? He’d gone into this as if it was a math problem. So far, he hadn’t figured out anything. At least by staying in her apartment and dogging her every step, he could make sure she was safe. If there was another Lindy sighting, he would be there.
He wondered what was happening downstairs. He moved to the window and peeked out—first across the street. No Lindy. Below the window he could make out Charlie and Daniel talking.
She was right. Her boyfriend was suspicious. He could tell they were arguing. Daniel was all wrong for her anyway. But Shep didn’t want to see her hurt. If she had real feelings for this guy...
He stepped away from the window and picked up the newspaper article with Lindy’s high school photo. He thought of the stories Charlie had told him. There’d definitely been something dark inside Lindy. Too bad the judge didn’t get hold of her. But then again, not everyone came out of the judge’s boot camp changed.
Staring at her stepsister, he wished the photo could talk. What had happened that night outside the house? It seemed too coincidental that the one time Charlie locked Lindy out, a killer came along. He supposed it could have been random. They were close to the tracks and a lot of empty warehouses. A derelict could have heard Lindy yelling and come out to see what was going on.
Still...if that wasn’t what had happened, then what were the other options? Someone who’d been stalking the girl without her knowing it? The shoe tracks the police had found at the edge of the creek... Someone from school? Or someone from the neighborhood? He thought about the boy named Fletch. He also thought about the twentysomethings from down the street who Lindy had waved at.
He felt as if he was clutching at straws.
He realized he had a lot more investigating to do. Christmas was almost here and he had to get back to teaching after the first of the year. Even if he found the killer—unlikely after all this time—it didn’t explain why Charlie was seeing Lindy in someone who looked like this girl had fifteen years ago.
But at least he did know something. Lindy hadn’t come back from the grave. Though it did give him a chill to think that if she had, would it be to torment Charlie—or demand that someone find her killer?
The door to the apartment flew open and quickly slammed shut. He turned to look at Charlie standing there madder than an old wet hen, as his grandmother used to say. “He thinks I’m avoiding him.”
“You are.”
She rolled her eyes.
“He’s just annoyed that you don’t drop everything for him when he snaps his fingers. You can do better.”
“I should have known you would be understanding,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t want to fight with him. He thinks I’m breaking up with him, avoiding him, ghosting him.”
He met her shiny gaze. “Would that be so terrible?”
She stared him as if in shock. “This is really none of your business.”
Like that was going to stop him. “Charlie, tell him what’s really going on. That’s all you have to do. I’m sure he’ll be understanding since he knows that you’re being stalked by someone.” She shook her head. “What are you so afraid of? What’s so special about this guy anyway?”
“He’s...nice looking, easygoing and he likes me.”
“You could be describing a golden retriever.”
“We’re in a relationship. If you’d ever been in one—”