Jones nodded and ran his fingers thoughtfully over his beard for a moment. “Lindy. Oh yes, I remember her well. She stands out not just because of her murder. The girl was such an enigma. One day she’d be all bright-eyed and excited to participate in class. The next, she’d be sullen and said she didn’t know the answer to a problem she’d gotten right the day before.” He shook his head. “Looking back, I suspect she was bipolar. How else could you explain it? I spoke to her mother about it, but my concern wasn’t well received.”
“What did her mother say?”
“That there was nothing wrong with her daughter. I was told to stay out of it. Very frustrating for a teacher who sees such potential going to waste.”
“Did you also have Charlie Farmington in your classes?” Shep asked.
“The stepsister.” Jones nodded. “She was smart enough but clearly not interested in math.” Shep knew only too well how that was with his own students. “Always drawing in class.”
“Did you ever see any trouble between the two sisters?”
Jones looked away for a moment toward the empty fireplace before he answered. “If you’re asking if I saw Lindy bullying her stepsister...yes. I also tried to talk to the mother about that with even worse results. The mother didn’t want to hear it, refused to believe that her daughter would do anything like that. You get the picture.”
He did. But now there was no doubt that Kat had known how Lindy was treating Charlie. He felt his anger at her building again.
“She was very protective of Lindy,” Fred said. “I saw that often with parents who knew there was something not quite right about their child. Denial is a difficult bridge to cross—until it is too late.”
“I’m sure you followed the murder case at the time,” Shep said. “Who did you think killed her?”
Jones raised a brow. “If you’re asking who might have hated her enough to murder her, I think you know the answer to that. Do I think Charlie was capable? Aren’t we all, if pushed far enough? You have to remember...only a child herself, Charlie was dealing with a teenager whose personality changed with the flip of a switch. She couldn’t depend on her stepmother’s help or apparently her own father’s. How terrifying to live in that house with her stepsister being as cruel and manipulative as she was. That young girl had no idea what Lindy was going to do to her next. I can’t even imagine that kind of mental torture over days, let alone months.”
Shep could see that Lindy had scared Fred Jones when he’d witnessed her cruelty toward Charlie. He couldn’t imagine either what Charlie had gone through.
But the teacher was wrong. Shep knew Charlie. She wasn’t capable of murder. He’d stake his life on it.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHARLIE STEPPED OUT of her office building to find Shep waiting for her with a recently harvested full-size Christmas tree and a bulging shopping bag. “What are you doing?”
“Your apartment needs some holiday spirit,” he said, handing her the shopping bag.
She glanced inside and saw decorations and a tree stand. “My apartment needs it? Or you do?” she asked as they began to walk the few blocks to her apartment with him dragging the huge tree.
“I thought it would brighten up the place,” he said, grinning at her. “How was your day?”
“I got my official directions to the hotel for Amanda and Greg’s wedding. It’s at Big Sky right after Christmas. I assume you want to go?”
“You assume correctly.”
She thought he would say that and smiled to herself, glad she wasn’t going to have to do this alone. “Amanda is counting on it.”
Tara had said she would try to make the wedding but with the new baby... In other words, she had an excuse. Charlie didn’t.
“The invite comes with free lift tickets along with rooms in a hotel on the mountain. Hopefully it’s large enough that we won’t see either Amanda or Greg.”
“Sounds cozy,” he said as they reached her apartment.
Once inside, he leaned the tree against a wall and handed her what appeared to be Christmas cookies.
“If you tell me you baked these—”
He laughed. “Sorry. They’re compliments of your teacher Mac. Larry McCormick. Remember him?”
“He was my favorite teacher.”
“How did I know that?” He grinned. “Was it his dimples?”
“He was adorable.” She laughed as she put down the bag of decorations and tore into the cookies. She took a bite before offering him the other one.
“They’re all yours,” he said. He dug out the stand and went to grab the tree. “I might need some help with this.”
She put down the cookies and steadied the tree as he slipped it into the stand.
“I thought it could go in this corner,” Shep said. “What do you think?”
“You’ve given this some thought, have you?” She couldn’t help grinning at him as she picked up her cookie and took another bite. “Pretty tree.”
“I got a deal on it since it’s so close to Christmas. Lodgepole pine. Smells good, huh?”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You have to help me decorate,” he said. “I’m thinking we should put on some Christmas music. Maybe have a little spiked hot chocolate.”
Charlie felt rather than saw that Shep was trying too hard. “You talked to Mac about Lindy? What did he say?”
“Just that Lindy didn’t apply herself. That he was worried about your relationship with her.” He stepped away from the tree to face her, his expression suddenly solemn. “I also spoke to your math teacher, Fred Jones.”
She felt a jolt, something in his expression warning her.
“He said he saw things about Lindy that bothered him and he tried to talk to Kat about them. She wasn’t open to him telling her that Lindy was bullying you and not living up to her potential in his class. He thought Lindy might have had some kind of mental condition, but Kat was determined that she was fine.”
“So other people saw what Lindy was doing to me,” Charlie said. “That’s...embarrassing.”
Shep stepped to her, taking both of her shoulders in his large warm hands. “You have no reason to feel that way. Lindy was the problem, not you.”
“Then why...” She met his gaze as her voice broke. “What did Mr. Jones say to you that upset you? Shep, tell me the truth.”
“Wasn’t that enough?” He let go of her and started to turn away, but she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and forced him back around to face her. His shirt felt soft and warm in her fist. She could smell his male scent mixed with her bath gel.