What did Rob mean by that? Was this simply more of her brother blowing smoke up people’s asses?
The questions multiplied faster than she could process them. She forced herself to slow down, to think clearly. Facts first.Speculation later. That was how she approached every case on her podcast, and it needed to be how she approached this one.
Fact: Lori and Ethan had a secret relationship the summer before her death.
Fact: Lori came home pregnant.
Fact: Lori was murdered that fall.
Fact: Ethan Walters was currently at this reception, sitting somewhere among the wedding guests, less than a hundred yards from where Kelly sat with the phone still warm in her hand.
She stood up from the bench. Her legs were steadier than she expected. The trembling in her hands had stopped, replaced by something more focused. She smoothed the front of her navy dress, dropped her phone back into her clutch, and turned toward the reception.
She needed to find Ben. Then, she needed to talk to Ethan.
The dance floor was crowded now, and the DJ was playing something by Whitney Houston. She spotted Ben among the crowd, holding a plate with two miniature cheesecakes and listening to a woman in a floral dress who was gesturing enthusiastically. One of Trevor's cousins, maybe. Or an aunt. Bergen weddings tended to blur the line between guest and relative after the third hour.
Kelly approached and touched his arm. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. Ben looked at her face, set down the plate, and turned to the woman in the floral dress.
"Would you excuse us? I'm sorry."
The woman waved him off with good-natured understanding. Ben fell into step beside Kelly as she led him away from the dessert table, past the gift table, and toward a cluster of potted ferns that the event planner had arranged near the garden wall. The ferns created a natural barrier between this corner and the rest of the reception.
"What happened?" Ben asked.
"I just talked to Lori's aunt. Patricia Givens." Kelly kept her voice low, her back to the reception. "Lori spent most of the summer with her aunt and uncle before senior year. Working at their ice cream shop. At first, her aunt said that Lori was homesick, but that didn’t last."
Ben glanced at the guests who were all ignoring them before nodding at her to continue.
"She ran into someone from Bergen while she was down there. A boy who was also staying with family for the summer. They spent every day together. Walks by the river. Late nights on the porch. Her aunt said they were inseparable."
"Who?"
"Ethan."
Ben's expression didn't change dramatically. A slight narrowing of the eyes, a tilt of the head. The reaction of someone fitting a new piece into a puzzle and watching the picture shift.
"Ethan Walters," Kelly clarified, though she was certain he'd already made the connection. "Student class president. Currently running for mayor. Rob's best friend."
"The one Rob was just talking about," Ben said.
"The very same. The one who was about to 'blow his entire future' before Rob saved the day. As usual.”
Kelly made a second mental note to talk to her brother.
"Patricia said they were dating?” Ben asked.
"She didn't use that word. She said she looked out her kitchen window one evening and saw Lori with her head on his shoulder on the porch swing. She said she assumed they were together, but Lori never confirmed it outright."
"And Cal?"
"Lori stopped mentioning him after Ethan showed up. Patricia assumed they'd broken up."
"So Lori comes home from the summer with a secret relationship and shortly after turns up pregnant. And it might be by the student class president with the bright future and the political ambitions," Ben said.
The words hung between them in the warm evening air. From the reception, the DJ announced that the bride and groom would be cutting the cake in ten minutes. A small cheer went up from the crowd.
"Patricia said they had some kind of serious conversation toward the end of the summer," Kelly added. "Not an argument, but intense. And then Lori went home and told her aunt it had been the best summer of her life."
