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“Nope. Not that I know of anyway. But we aren’t, like, super close.”
“Simon said you guys are good friends.”
“We are. I mean, we’re friendly. We hang out.”
“So Nina didn’t mention any guys who’d shown particular interest in her?”
Olivia shook her head again, her eyes serious. She understood what he was asking and why he was asking it.
“I’m sorry. No.”
“Okay. Well, thank you for your time.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t more help.”
“You’ve been very helpful, Olivia. One thing—can you put together a list of Nina’s friends at UVM?” He handed her a card with his number and email address. “If you could do that, and include cell numbers, and send it to that email address, I’d appreciate it.”
She took the card. “Sure. Of course. No problem.”
Matthew stood. Sarah Jane did too, but something in the expression on her face told him she didn’t think the interview was over. He paused, and there was a moment of wordless communication between them. Sarah Jane obviously wanted to ask a question, and she was checking with him to see that it was okay. Matthew nodded. Sarah Jane turned to Olivia.
“Did Nina often call you babes?”
Olivia looked blank. “I don’t know. No. Maybe?”
Sarah Jane hesitated. “You said you weren’t super close. Were you surprised when she said she wanted to meet up in Boston?”
Olivia shrugged. “Not really. I mean, like I said, we might not be the kind of friends who tell each other everything, but we hang out.”
Sarah Jane subsided. “Okay. Thank you.”
They left Olivia in the dining hall, picking at her blueberry muffin and scrolling through her phone. They walked back to the car. Campus was much busier now, with students out and about and on the way to classes.
“What made you ask if Nina—”
Sarah Jane cut him off in a rush. She seemed embarrassed, like she felt she’d overstepped. “It’s just I was looking at Nina Fraser’s social media in the car, and the tone of her text messages to Olivia seemed off. She didn’t strike me as that type. You know, bubbly or gushy. Her posts are mostly about climbing. She seems kind of serious.”
“You’re thinking that she didn’t send the messages.” Matthew said.
Sarah Jane gave him a quick glance. “I guess I just wondered. It seems so convenient. And that second message saying that Simon had left.”
Matthew nodded. “You think he sent the messages himself to create an alibi, and then sent us to Olivia Darlington so that we’d find it.”
“I do,” she said. She gave him a sideways glance.
“It has that feel about it.”
“You think he killed her?”
Matthew wanted to say no. He wanted to meet Nina Fraser one day. He wanted to discover that she’d walked away safely from Simon Jordan and that she was, right now, hanging out with some unknown friend or love interest, oblivious to the worries of her family and friends.
“What I think is that one way or the other, we have to find Nina.” Matthew looked at the clock on the dashboard. He had to be in Waitsfield by ten thirty to pick up the Frasers and bring them to the press conference. “If we hustle, we should have just enough time for one more interview.”
Sarah Jane had her phone out, open to her notes. She scrolled through a list of names and numbers. “Who do you want to talk to next?”
“Let’s start with Julie Bradley. She’s on the list Nina’s mother gave us. A friend from high school.” It would be good to talk to someone who had known Nina and Simon from the beginning. Olivia Darlington had been too new to Nina’s life to have any real insight into her friend. “Give Julie a call. See if she’s free to meet.”
Sarah Jane made the call while Matthew drove. Julie was available. She was at work, cleaning up and restocking at her mother’s bar in Waitsfield, and she’d be happy to meet them there if that was convenient. Matthew drove on, satisfied. Driving gave him time to think. Time to sift through the impressions he had formed and the facts he had gathered in the eighteen hours or so since he’d taken the case.
