We weren't ten feet inside when Briggs stopped me in the empty hallway. "Wait, Lacey, what were you saying about Katrina Jessup really being Jessica Trumbo?"
I tapped the side of my head. "I nearly forgot all about that after finding the hat. It was sort of crazy at first and my theory seemed thin but then pieces started fitting in the holes."
"Lace—"
"Right, I'm getting to it. I was looking at Jessica's senior portrait and something about her looked familiar. Later, I realized what it was. Jessica had pretty almond-shaped, hazel eyes that looked remarkably similar to Katrina's eyes. Jessica had dreams of becoming a concert pianist. That's when my wild notion really started to gel."
"I don't understand," Briggs said, looking rightfully perplexed. (The man even made confusion look good.)
"Earlier, when I walked past Katrina's office, I caught her pretending to play piano on her desk while she was looking at paperwork. There was classical music playing on her computer. Even though it was just pretend, it looked as if she knew what she was doing on her invisible keyboard. By the way, the hand cream they use in the kitchen doesn't match up to the oily smell. Anyhow, after I caught her playing air piano, I headed straight out to the hotel guest computer and did a little research. Everyone at the reunion thought Jessica Trumbo had died in the car accident. Even Grady Ramone, her good friend." I snapped my fingers. "Or did he?" I asked.
Still somewhat baffled, Briggs waited for me to answer my own question.
"Maybe Grady knew all along that Katrina was really Jessica Trumbo. Maybe they killed both men for revenge because of how badly they'd been teased in high school." Brainstorming out loud wasn't helping to convince me though. My enthusiastic posture, one that would have made my third grade teacher proud, crumpled. "But then they are both so successful. Why would they throw that all away? Then the bullies would have won anyhow."
"You mean the dead bullies?" Briggs asked.
"Well, I meant won in the virtual sense because if it's true that Grady and Jessica, I mean Katrina, murdered Riley and Dane, they haven't won at all. They'd be going straight to jail."
"Yes, they would. If that's where the evidence leads." Briggs rubbed his chin. "I don't get it. If Katrina is Jessica, how come no one recognizes her? Ten years isn't such a long time."
"That's where the story gets good enough for a Hollywood movie," I said excitedly. I had never untangled something so complicated, and I was feeling pretty good about my investigative skills. "Jessica was in a terrible accident. Her car flipped and she was thrown into the driver's side window, injuring her face and hands. I suppose that's why she gave up the piano. The doctor who helped heal her and saved her face was a plastic surgeon named Dr. Calvin Jessup."
"So they fell in love while she was his patient," Briggs said. The pieces were coming together for him too. "I wonder why she never told anyone she was Jessica. She's obviously done well for herself. Unless, she came here for a specific reason," he added darkly.
"Exactly. When Debra and I were setting up flowers, Debra mentioned how lucky she was to get Elegant Edibles as the caterer for the reunion. But it wasn't luck or coincidence because Katrina reached out to her when she saw a post online about the reunion."
"Well then, it seems we need to talk to both Grady and Jessi—Katrina."