After Mr. Sexton marginally composed himself, Briggs advised him to shut down the parties, the restaurant and bar and calmly ask visitors to get to their rooms for the night. Briggs let him know he needed to talk to the hospitality and room service staff before they left their shift. It was not an easy thing trying to gather evidence and piece things together in a vast hotel that was, by Mr. Sexton's estimation, two thirds full for the night.
Nate Blankenship was just finishing up with the first body and was heading up to Dane's room. Briggs instructed Officer Clark to not pick up or move anything until he returned.
Sexton had confirmed that the room next door to Dane's was vacant. There was a connecting door between the two rooms. Briggs opened it and ushered Clive through to hear his story. Before Briggs followed him through, I pulled him aside and whispered what I knew about the two victims and Clive.
"From snippets I heard while helping set up the reunion, Riley, Dane and Clive were best friends. They were also bullies, getting a great deal of joy out of making fun of and teasing their classmates."
Briggs leaned his head closer. "In other words, people didn't think too highly of them."
"Only those poor souls who are inexplicably drawn to bullies. And you know every bully has their group of fans."
Briggs' mouth turned up on the side. "You should become a psychologist." He reached forward and brushed his fingers against my hand, sending a warm tingle up my arm, before walking into the next room where Clive was waiting.
I hung out near the open door, watching as Nate prepared to examine Dane's body. Clive was a naturally loud speaker. If I tilted my head enough, I could catch most of the conversation.
"I'll start by saying that Riley, Dane and I were close friends in high school. We were, well, let's just say we were rambunctious. We occasionally teased the other kids. You know, just for fun."
I rolled my eyes on my side of the door.
"Fun for who?" Briggs asked.
I smiled at Briggs' perfect response. (As if I needed any more reason to adore him.)
Clive was too rattled to notice the sarcasm. "I know we could get mean occasionally and a few people were always targets. But there was still no reason for Grady Ramone to commit murder."
I stifled a gasp and inched closer to the room. I had no doubt Briggs felt me hovering in the doorway, but Clive didn't seem to notice. He was too busy tossing out accusations. Grady seemed like a genuinely decent guy. He'd already suffered enough at the hands of Clive and his pals. Now it seemed he was going to be cast as a murderer as well.
"I've got proof it was Grady," Clive said. I couldn't stop myself from moving close enough to see into the room. Clive was digging out his phone and standing at an angle that faced away from the door. Briggs' brown gaze flickered my direction before returning his attention to Clive.
"You have evidence connecting this person, Grady Ramone, to Dane's death and Riley's fall from the balcony?" Briggs asked as Clive pulled up something on his phone.
"Not to their deaths but to my near attack. And it's easy enough to connect the dots. Grady must have killed them after his failed attempt to kill me." He held up his phone. "Take a look at this picture. I was in the hallway at my room door and a very distinctive shadow appeared on the wall next to the door. The person was standing right behind me. I snapped a quick picture and swung around to greet the person but they were gone."
Briggs took hold of the phone. I badly wanted to be in the room, looking at the picture. Knowing how unsatisfied curiosity could make me bananas, Briggs kindly described what he was looking at. "It seems to be the outline of a jester's hat," Briggs said louder than necessary for my benefit.
I was once again stunned. Grady was definitely wearing a jester's hat. It was an impressively made costume from top to bottom. Could it be that the class valedictorian and successful engineer had been so badly scarred mentally by the bullying he'd endured that he came to the reunion for revenge?
"Grady was the only person wearing a jester's costume," Clive continued. "At first, I'd taken the picture because I thought the shadow of the hat was kind of funny. When Grady had run off, I assumed it was because he didn't want to talk to me. We weren't exactly friends, you know? Dane could be particularly ruthless, especially when it came to Grady and Jessica Trumbo."
Briggs looked up from the phone. "Jessica Trumbo?" he asked.
Clive shrugged half-heartedly. "Yeah, I feel extra bad about her. She had a long nose and these big ears." He reached up and put his hands next to his own ears and waved them like elephant ears. "Sometimes we called her Dumbo. Mostly because of her name," he said in a weak point of defense. "Anyhow, Jessica died in a car accident a few years back."
"Do you know what time you took this picture?" Briggs asked.
"It was just after the guys and I split up to go to our rooms. We left the reunion around eight. It was a real dud. We decided to change out of our costumes and meet downstairs at nine to go to a bar."
"After the man in the jester's hat disappeared, what did you do next?" Briggs asked.
"I brushed the whole thing off as a failed prank and went inside my room. I answered a few emails and then headed in to shower off makeup and hair gel. I was Dracula," he added. "I don't know how women do it. Took me forever to get all that stuff off."
A scoffing sound popped out before I could stop it. The dimwit was under the illusion that all women caked themselves in theatrical makeup just to look presentable.
"I don't think women generally walk around in vampire makeup and hair gel," Briggs said. (Earning yet another gold star on a long list of gold stars.)
"What happened after your long shower?" Briggs asked.
"When I got out, I heard all the chaos and the emergency sirens and figured something was up." He shook his head and his face dropped. "Never could I have imagined that it was my two friends." He took a moment to collect himself before continuing. "That's when I decided that Grady must have been sneaking up to hurt me."
"But you didn't see a weapon or anything else to lead you to that conclusion. Just his shadow behind you?"
Clive's laugh had a touch of anger. "Isn't that enough? After all, he ran when I turned around."
Briggs rubbed his chin in thought. "But you didn't see him running down the hallway?"
Clive was ready with his answer. "Room 420, my room, is on a corner. He must have dashed around it before I saw him. Like I said, I figured it was just a prank. Ramone was always kind of the nerdy guy in class. He was into things like comic books and practical jokes. Just never would have counted him as a killer."
"Alleged killer," Briggs reminded him. "So far all we have is your picture. Please refrain from starting any rumors and let us do our investigation."
"What should I do in the meantime?" he asked sharply. "After all, it's my neck on the line. My two best friends are dead. It's easy to conclude there is some kind of theme here."
Briggs was still holding the phone. "Do you mind if I send this picture to my phone?"
"Not at all. Especially if it'll help nail Grady—if he's guilty, of course," he said with a touch of sarcasm. It seemed Clive had already wrapped the whole thing up and put a guilty tag on Grady Ramone.
"I'll have Officer Clark escort you back to your room. Just make sure to lock the door. I'll be in touch with you shortly." Briggs quickly typed his number into Clive's phone to send the picture. "And now you'll have my direct number. Just call if anything seems off or suspicious. I'll be in the hotel for the next few hours."
"I hope you're not leaving before you catch the guy. Otherwise, I'm out of here. I'm not sticking around to get knocked off too." It seemed he'd recuperated from the shock and sadness of his friends' deaths quickly. He was in full defense mode.
Briggs paused. "Is there anyone else here, aside from Grady, who might have had a vendetta against the three of you?"
Clive shook his head. "Like I said, we were kind of tough on a few people, but Grady and Jessica were always our main targets."
Briggs nodded. "Any regrets now about bullying your classmates?" I was stunned and pleased by his question.
Clive stuttered over a few syllables. "Uh-uh, I—I don't think we were bullies. Like I said, we were rambunctious. That's all."
"Mr. Jergens, I have a large puppy who lopes around the house pushing over lamps and chewing on furniture. That's rambunctious. Calling a young girl Dumbo to remind her that she has large ears, an attribute I'm sure she was well aware of—that's bullying."
Clive's mouth was sealed shut in a straight line as they walked out. I shuffled out of the way and made it seem as if I'd been watching the coroner all along.
Briggs turned to Clive again. "Since the victims were good friends, I assume you know who we should contact for next of kin."
Clive nodded. He was still recovering from Briggs' words. "Uh, I suppose their parents. Dane was single and Riley was divorced. Twice," he added.
"If you can give the names and phone numbers of the parents to Officer Clark when you get back to the room, we'll take care of notifying them. Unless that's something you want to take care of?"
Clive's face smoothed to pale marble at the suggestion. "No, no absolutely not. I haven't spoken to any of them for several years."
"Officer Clark, can you escort Mr. Jergens back to his room and see that he gets safely inside? In fact, do a quick search of the room before he enters. And get the next of kin information."
"Right away, sir." Clark escorted Clive out the door. Before Briggs could get caught up in a conversation with Nate, I grabbed his hand and tugged him my way.
"First, let me represent bullied kids everywhere by saying thank you. That was brilliant."
Briggs pulled his mouth to the side in disbelief. "You were bullied?"
"I'm a little insulted you don't remember," I said, placing hands on hips and then looking cross eyed down at my nose to remind him.
"Ah, that's right. You couldn't eat because you could smell too many things around you. You were so skinny, the other kids thought you were sickly."
"Yes, exactly, and I can tell you that after hearing the phrase stick figure Lacey a few times, I was filled with anger. But if I met Terrence Connnor, the boy who loved to tease me, at a ten year reunion, I don't think murder would cross my mind. Especially if I was extremely successful like Grady Ramone. He was valedictorian and he's head engineer at NASA. Who wouldn't love to show up to their reunion and rub that shiny chunk of achievement in people's faces?"
Briggs nodded. "That does seem like a much gentler and more effective plan of revenge." He pulled out his phone. "But then there's this photo." He tapped open the picture and held it up for me to see.
The picture was at an odd angle and caught mostly the shadow on the wall. The overhead lights showed a silhouette on the wall that was clearly the outline of Grady's jester hat. It was cropped so that you could only see the hat in the shadow.
"There's no denying that it's a jester's hat, and I know that Grady was dressed as a jester." I tapped my chin in thought.
"What's ping ponging through that constantly calculating head of yours?" Briggs asked.
I dropped my hand. "If you were about to sneak up and kill someone, would you wear a large, highly visible hat? Seems like it might get in the way."
Briggs winked. "Good point."
"I'm just getting started but I'd say this man died in the last hour to two hours," Nate piped up from across the room.
"That's what I figured." Briggs turned back to me. "Looks like Nate is going to be here for awhile. Do you want to stay? I'll be here late. I could get one of the officers to drive you home if you're tired."
I tilted my head. "A double murder complete with jester hats and bodies falling off balconies. What do you think?"
"Right. Let's go over to Riley's room and look around."