“Shep, anyone who knew about the bullying believes that I killed Lindy. I can’t be sure what happened that night. Maybe I did this. At first I thought it was guilt bringing Lindy back—a figment of my imagination. But what if someone knows the truth about what I did and now they just want me to admit it?”
“You didn’t kill her.”
“How can you be so sure of that?” she cried.
“Because I know what’s in your heart.”
She shook her head, remembering how her heart had filled to overflowing with that terrifying, malevolent, dark hatred as she stood at the locked door, listening to her stepsister’s screams. “And if you’re wrong?” She pulled away. “Until I know—”
“All right,” Shep said, turning her again to face him. “I’m going to prove it to you and then...” His gaze softened.
“And then...” she whispered as he pulled her into his arms. She leaned into him, wanting to believe he could see into her heart. Wanting to believe that guilt wasn’t the reason her past had come back to haunt her.
* * *
CHRISTMAS EVE, CHARLIE announced she was going into work. “I want to get everything in order before the new year. The office should be empty, so it’ll be quiet.”
Shep understood. He liked to get into his classroom early before any of the students began arriving and prepare himself for the day.
But after walking her to work, he found himself at loose ends. He felt stuck. The murder had been too long ago. He’d talked to everyone he could think of. Now he just felt confused. He couldn’t understand what the Lindy sightings were about any more than he could understand the destroyed doll. What did whoever was doing this hope to accomplish? The Lindy look-alike could be acting alone, but who was behind it all and why? It made no sense.
As he walked back to the apartment along the busy snowy Main Street, he stuffed his hands into his coat pocket and felt a crumpled-up piece of paper.
Pulling it out, he stared at the scribbled writing. It took him a moment to recognize what it was. The list Wagner had given him with phone numbers for his stepsons. He could barely make out the names: Patrick, Frank and Allen.
Back at the apartment, Shep tried the phone number for Patrick. He got voice mail. He left his name and number and asked Patrick to give him a call, saying it was about Lindy Parker. Disconnecting, he wondered if any of three stepsons would even remember the name.
He called Frank next. A woman answered and told him Frank was at work. He left a message for the man to call him, saying it was about a family who lived near Frank’s stepfather and a tragedy fifteen years ago.
Allen answered on the fourth ring. “Lindy Parker? Sure, I remember the murder. It’s all the old man talked about for months. You’d have thought he knew her.”
“Did you know her?” Shep asked.
The man scoffed. “Those girls were kids. I was almost thirty.”
“So you didn’t have any contact with them?”
“I saw them a couple of times coming out of the house headed wherever.”
“Did you ever wave at them?”
“Seriously? In the first place, I was happily married. In the second, like I said, they were kids. No, I didn’t wave at them. Is that all?”
“What about your brothers. They’re younger, right?”
“You’d have to ask them but to my knowledge they didn’t have any more contact with that family than I did.”
Shep disconnected. Another dead end. He called the judge to ask if they had DNA back on the scarf. He was anxious since it was going to take a strange woman’s DNA on the scarf to prove to Charlie that she hadn’t seen the long-dead Lindy Parker.
“Not yet. Tell me what you have so far,” Landusky said in his no-nonsense voice. But the judge sounded less gruff than usual.
Shep ran through all of it, which didn’t seem like much, and waited for the judge’s reaction. When he said nothing, Shep added, “I was thinking I would try to track down Lindy’s father.”
“I’m afraid that could be a problem. Apparently Kathryn never married him so there is no record of a husband. Nor is his name on the birth certificate. Lindy’s birth certificate says it was a home birth in Brazil.”
“Another dead end,” Shep mumbled.
“I take it there haven’t been any more Lindy sightings?”
“Not since Charlie literally ran into the woman and ended up with her scarf. But the apartment was broken into. We suspect the Lindy look-alike was searching for her scarf.”
“Interesting. She doesn’t want us having her DNA.”
Shep knew he had to voice Charlie’s concerns. “Charlie is worried that she might have killed her stepsister.” He thought the judge would be shocked.
Instead Landusky asked, “What do you think?”
“No way. I know Charlie.”
“For a short while years ago,” Landusky pointed out but kindly.
“I know her,” Shep said adamantly. “She didn’t do it.”
He heard a soft chuckle. “So I was right to ask you to see to this.”
Shep didn’t know what to say. He thought the judge disconnected, and so was surprised when he spoke again.
“I just got a text that the DNA report from the blond hair on the scarf has come back.”
* * *
AMANDA WAS IN great spirits when she showed up unexpectedly—and unwelcome—at Charlie’s cubicle. “What do you think?” she asked, turning in a circle so Charlie could assess her ski outfit.
“I think you shouldn’t be here,” Charlie said. “I mean, I thought you were taking the day off like everyone else.”
“I am. I just picked up this outfit and I wanted to show it off but you’re the only one here. What do you think?” Amanda did another turn in the cubicle. “It’s Greg’s favorite color. I’m going to wear it on the ski hill at Big Sky.”
“It’s purple,” Charlie said before she could catch herself.
“Is it too much?” Amanda asked, sounding suddenly worried.
The outfit consisted of a purple sweater, purple bibs with a lavender scarf and purple mittens and hat with a lavender pom-pom on top. The only thing that would make it more purple would be if Amanda was chewing grape gum.
“I think it’s perfect. It’s...you.”
Amanda gave her a side-eye for a moment before she laughed and broke into a huge smile. “It is me. I’m so excited. About the wedding. About marrying Greg. About everything.”