AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We met at a coffee shop in town. It was surprisingly empty for midafternoon. Standing together in the order line was uncomfortable for me because he was obviously sizing me up, and I wanted to slap the smug look off his face.
“So, you’re Pam Braddock’s stepdaughter?”
“Right.” We’d confirmed that a while ago.
“I’ve known the family for a long time.”
“Is that right? You’ll recognize people in these photographs, then,” I said, holding up a legal-size envelope.
We got our drinks and went to a table by the window. It had just started to rain, and people were running to their cars or to stores, some with umbrellas but most braving the drops.
“Pam went through the photos already.” I handed him the envelope. He opened it and took out the photo on top. I watched his face change from thinking he was going to take a break and maybe even waste his time to serious concern.
He held the photo up, his skin pale, hand shaking.
“Julie? I’ve been talking to her about the case for months, and she never mentioned she was at the cottage.”
A tick in his jaw was a dead giveaway that Julie was keeping information from Alan. I hoped I hadn’t caused trouble for Julie. Nah, I didn’t really care. I had already convinced myself that some of the guilty players were people still in Pam’s circle.
“She dated Brent for a long time, according to Pam,” I said. “It seems natural that she’d be there if Brent was hanging around.”
“Yeah, but it looks like Brent was the father of Ginger Harrow’s baby. If Julie knew, she’s keeping quiet about it.”
“Have you been able to talk to Ginger Harrow?”
“Yes, but not like I’d like to. Her husband won’t let us.”
“Right, because he’s the Manhattan DA.”
He leafed through the rest of the pile and shook his head, pointing out a coffee table covered with empty beer and wine bottles. “Dumb kids, and an even dumber set of parents. The husband rents a beach cottage, supposedly for guests to stay in when they have a big party, and then ignores that the kids are spending the summer using it for sex orgies. And the wife doesn’t remember? Yeah, something real fishy about that.”
I nodded, taking everything in that he said. I’d do my own investigation. After all, my stepsister was featured in most of the pictures, front and center. But I wasn’t going to draw attention to that.
The father of the baby was dead. The mother was unreachable, thanks to her high-powered husband. What evidence was there that a crime had been committed? Just a skeleton.
We finished the coffee. “Thank you for meeting with me,” I said.
“No, thank you. I’ll find out what happened between Brent, Julie, and Ginger.”
I didn’t ask him to keep me up to date because I had my own ideas about where to get the story. My stepsister, Lisa.
