"Thank you for meeting me this morning. I have several people to talk to today so I won't take up any more of your time. If you think of anything else, call me. Anything at all. What seems like a small, insignificant detail can often be the missing puzzle piece that breaks a case open."
Chuckling, Theo picked up the card and tucked it in his breast pocket. "It's kind of strange, you being a cop. I know you talked about it all the time, but to be honest, I think we all thought you'd give in and go into business with your dad. But here you are...a cop. You did it. Just like you promised."
"I was never going to go into the family business."
"That's what Mariah always said but I have to admit that we didn't believe her. I guess she was right."
Mariah had said so? He hadn't known that.
Maybe she'd known him a little better than he'd given her credit for.
"I hope you find out the truth about what happened that night," Theo continued. "We're all counting on you to solve this and figure out who or what killed Brad."
That's exactly what Ryan planned to do. Next stop...Caroline and Daniel Bosworth.
14
Mariah and Daphne had promised to visit Caroline the next day. They'd planned to catch up on each other's lives but in reality, it was about supporting Caroline in her grief. She was taking Brad's death hard and they wanted to be there for her even if they hadn't been all that close in the last ten years.
Since the day was warm and sunny, they'd decided to sit out next to the pool. Caroline and Dan had a large, beautiful home in an affluent suburb for their family of four, plus a cute beagle named Ted. The children - a boy named Adam and a girl named Alice - were off of school for summer break but were headed out the door to a day camp with the nanny when Mariah arrived.
"Your son and daughter look just like you and Dan," Mariah said as they relaxed under the shade of an umbrella. "They're really cute, and so polite."
They had been, too. Unlike so many kids that she'd met over the years, Adam and Alice had politely shook Mariah's hand. They seemed happy, calm, and well-behaved.
"When are you two going to have some kids?" Caroline asked. "You'd both make great mothers."
Daphne vehemently shook her head. "Not me. I like other people's kids fine because you can give them back when they pee, poop, or cry, but I don't want any of my own. Too loud and messy. I'll stick with my two cats, thank you very much. I don't even scoop their litter. I bought one of those automatic litter boxes. All I have to do is change the bag every now and then. It's genius."
Now they were both looking at Mariah.
I guess it's my turn to share.
"I wouldn't mind having a child but it would have to be with the right man. I don't want to be one of those marriages where the father does nothing and the mother does everything. I'd want him to be involved."
Ryan would be an involved parent. He had strong opinions about how he was parented and none of them were very positive.
"Dan is a very hands-on father," Caroline said. "He was always better at getting the kids to sleep when they were babies. He could get a burp out of them when I'd failed."
"He sounds like a good dad," Daphne observed. "You both seem happy."
Caroline's smile dropped. "We are. I love him so much. I'm just afraid that I'm hurting him with all of this crying over Brad. I don't want him to think that I don't love him or our family."
"I'm sure he wouldn't think that," Mariah replied. "I'm sure he understands that it's just the past got dug up. No one was prepared for Brad to be found after all of these years."
Caroline was wringing her hands together, the knuckles white. "I'm realizing now that I haven't really dealt with all of my emotions from back then. I loved Brad, or I thought I did, and then he was gone suddenly. Just gone. No warning. Nothing prepares a person for that. So I made up a story in my head and tried to move on with my life. Apparently, I did a lousy job at it because look where I am now."
"I think you're handling it quite well," Daphne declared. "This was a shock to all of us and you wouldn't be human if you weren't upset. You and Theo were the closest to Brad, after all."
"Theo didn't seem upset yesterday," Caroline replied. "And I was all weepy."
"Men are taught not to express their emotions," Mariah reminded her friend. "Just because he didn't cry doesn't mean that he wasn't sad or upset."
The sound of Ted barking interrupted whatever Caroline had been about to say. The back door opened and Dan and Ryan walked out of the house and into the backyard, the beagle at their heels.
"Honey, Ryan is here to talk to us," Dan said taking a seat at the round table.
Ryan sat in the empty chair next to Mariah. Today he was wearing casual blue jeans and a light blue button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up. He didn't look like a man on a mission, but she knew for a fact that he wasn't here to socialize. He'd told her last night that he was going to try and talk to everyone in their friend group today, if at all possible.
Ryan greeted them briefly, but basically got right down to business.
"I'm talking to everyone that was at the bar that night to try and get a better picture of the evening and what might have been going on in Brad's life. Yesterday, I spoke with Carl and this morning I talked to Theo."
Daphne checked her watch. "Wow, you were up early then. It's barely ten o'clock."
"I didn't want to waste any time." He shifted his focus to Caroline. "I also just spoke with Dan so I do need to ask you some questions. Can you talk to me about that night?"
Dan reached for Caroline's hand as she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders as if bracing for a blow.
"I can. I want to help find out what happened to Brad."
"Great, then let's start at the beginning. Tell me about that night, even details that don't seem important. Take your time. There's no rush."
Caroline took another deep breath. "Brad wanted to go out and party, which as you know wasn't unusual. I was a little worried about getting up early to catch our flight but he said that it would be fine and that I could go home early if I wanted to. He never really needed all that much sleep so I didn't think it would be a big deal. We went to the bar and met Theo, who was already there. Everybody else started showing up. You and Mariah got there last. We'd already had a few cocktails and had been dancing. Well, I was dancing. Brad hated to dance."
"Was he in a good mood that night? Was anything bothering him?"
Frowning, Caroline shook her head. "He was fine, just like always. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He had been a little moody since he got home from school a few weeks before but he said he was just stressed out and he needed to have some fun."
Ryan didn't follow up right away, appearing to be struggling with his next question. After Mariah's conversation with him last night she had an inkling of what he wanted to ask but was afraid to.
Caroline and Dan exchanged a glance and then Dan nodded to his wife.