AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just the basics.” I pull out my notepad and a pen. “Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt Eve?”
Nick shrugs. “No. I mean, everyone liked Eve. Hell, I loved her. I always thought we would get married.” These were the words I found in the file, almost verbatim to what Nick said twenty-five years ago.
“That’s funny,” I say, tapping my pen against my front teeth.
“What?” Nick asks.
“That’s not the vibe I got from Eve.”
“What do you mean?” he asks. A flush begins to creep up his wide neck.
“You guys only dated for a short time,” I remind him. “A few months, right? Eve never said anything about you guys talking about marriage. She always said she was moving away after graduation and going to college.”
“We dated for eight months and would still be together if she hadn’t died,” he says. I wonder what Nick’s kids and ex-wife would think of this speculation.
The only thing Eve told me was that she broke up with Nick, told me he didn’t handle it well.
“I know there were rumors that Eve broke up with me,” Nick says heading off my next question. “But they weren’t true. We loved each other. I bought her a promise ring. I was going to give it to her for Christmas that year. Her mom told me that Eve bought me a present too. She found it in Eve’s room. A video game. She gave it to me at the funeral.”
I stare him straight in the eye. “Eve told me she broke up with you. It wasn’t a rumor.” I had said some mean things to Eve the morning she told me about the breakup. I felt bad the second the words came out of my mouth. I never told her I was sorry. I could have though. If only I would have apologized maybe the day wouldn’t have ended the way it did.
“That was her mom, not Eve,” Nick contests. “She loved me.” By the look on his face I can tell Nick really believes this to be true.
“Uh-huh,” I say noncommittally. “And you were where on the afternoon of December twenty-second?”
“I was with Jamie Hutchcraft and then I was here at the shop with my mom until about ten. I was at home the rest of the night.”
“Where is Jamie these days?” I ask.
Nick squirmed. “I don’t know, we lost touch. Why?” I let the question hang there, let him think that I’m searching for Jamie to once again confirm the alibi.
Nick rubs his elbow and he catches me watching. “Still aches sometimes,” he says, rolling up his shirtsleeve to show me the scars. “Twenty-five stitches because of Nola, that crazy bitch.”
“Just stay away from trophy cases and large windows and you’ll be fine,” I joke. Nick doesn’t think I’m funny.
“I’m serious,” Nick says, pulling down his sleeve with a snap. “It took an hour for them to get all the glass out. You’re going to make sure she stays far away from me, aren’t you?”
Nick has a point. A week after Eve’s funeral, Nola, who stopped at the high school to pick up Eve’s things, shoved Nick into a glass trophy case. She overheard him describing in minute detail to a group of friends how sad it was that Eve was dead because she gave the best blow jobs.
“Nola isn’t going to bother you. But if she does,” I hand him one of my business cards, “just call me.”
He looks at my belly. “You’re going to stop her?” he asks. What a sexist pig.
“Maybe,” I say.
“Wait, did your dad ever look into that guy Eve used to babysit for?” Nick asks. I freeze, pen in midair.
“What guy?” I ask.
Nick looks up at the ceiling trying to retrieve the name. “Harper, I think. I don’t know for sure.”
“Cam Harper?” I ask. “The man who lived next door?” I was not expecting this name to pop up. Not now. Not ever.
“Yeah,” Nick says. “Eve mentioned once that he kind of creeped her out and on the day she died I saw them together. He was holding her hand.”
I give my head a little shake as dread spreads through my body. “Why would Cam Harper be holding hands with Eve?” I ask.
“I figure she would have told you,” he says. “I thought the two of you talked about everything.” I respond with a noncommittal grunt. “I called him out on it. Told him to stay away from my girlfriend. He just blathered on that I had gotten it wrong.”
