22

“I’m standing by the alibi I gave ten years ago. I was at the gym after school with James and Landry. You can ask them,” said Ross Geldon when Nick and Emily found him working sales at a used car dealership in Lyndon.

“I did ask Landry,” said Nick. “He said you left early. How early?”

“I don’t know. I was there till James was.”

“Give me a guesstimate. When did you leave the school gym?”

“Or what? You’re going to arrest me?” Ross let out a huge sneeze. “Sorry, caught a cold.” He reached for a tissue in his pocket and blew his nose. “I know you don’t have any evidence on me, Nick. You only care now about Sandi because it’s your job.”

“That’s not true. I tried to help her.” Nick raised his voice, and Emily noticed a middle-aged salesman drinking hot cocoa from a dispenser in the waiting area turn a quick glance to them. Other than him, they were the only three people in the place. It was now eight o’clock on a Saturday night. Emily noted that this was definitely the best time to buy a used car if you wanted a salesman’s full attention.

“When did you last see Sandi?” Nick asked.

“Best guess, four thirty,” said Ross, tossing the dirty tissue into the trash and reaching for another one.

“What was your relationship to Sandi?” asked Nick.

“Friends.”

“Did she ever talk to you about her relationship with James?”

“James was toxic to her,” hissed Ross, wiping his sniffling nose into the fresh tissue.

“How?”

“He just bullied her. Forced her into things she didn’t want to do.”

“Like what?”

Ross crossed his arms and glanced outside. “Hey, man, it’s water under the bridge, right? Nothing we can do now.”

“Yes, there is. We can try to find out who killed her. So speak up. What do you know?” said Nick.

“I know what you know.”

“I don’t think so. I think you know more,” pressed Nick.

“The video, you moron. Don’t you remember?” Ross said, throwing his hushed voice away from the prying ears in the waiting area.

“Of course I do. But I never saw it. Did you?” Nick turned to Ross with an indignant look.

Ross shrugged.

“Does that mean you did?” asked Nick.

Ross began to strum his fingers lightly on his arms. Emily knew this as a classic sign of anxiety. Ross knew something more about that video.

“What was on that video, Ross?” Nick asked.

“Stuff.”

“Be a little more specific.”

“Stuff she didn’t want anyone to know about.”

“She told me she didn’t know about the video,” said Nick.

Ross shook his head, “She did. She knew.”

“If what was on that video was so bad, why didn’t you do anything about it?”

“Because … because … I was the guy in it,” Ross blurted out.

“You and Sandi made a sex video?” Nick’s voice cracked at the word sex and echoed through the showroom. The hot-cocoa-drinking salesman snapped his gaze to them, drawing Ross’s attention. He sent a little wave to the guy. “Hey, Darren, I can close up. You go on home to that sweet family of yours.”

“You got it, boss. Thanks!” Darren tossed the Styrofoam cup into the trash bin and zipped out. Ross turned his attention to Nick.

“Just friends, huh?” said Emily.

“Hey, I didn’t know we were being filmed.” Ross was indignant.

“How’d you find out?”

“James came up to me at the gym that afternoon and showed me. He blackmailed me with it.”

“What did you do?” said Emily.

“I ripped the phone out of his hands and I threw it against the brick wall. It shattered. And I nailed him one. I mean, I sent him to the floor.”

“That’s how he broke his nose?” said Nick.

“Yeah. It wasn’t a stray baseball like he told everyone.”

“Why would he make a sex tape of you and Sandi?” Emily could not wrap her head around the motive here. Sandi was dating James and sleeping with Ross? What else was going on?

“He knew Sandi and I had been seeing each other. And she—we—were in love. It made James crazy angry.”

“I’m missing something here. If she was in love with you, why was she still with James?” asked Nick.

“He had this weird hold on her. He could be sweet. And he was rich. He bribed her with nice things. Purses. Jewelry. New jeans. He made her feel special in a way I couldn’t.”

“But that’s not real love.” Emily still didn’t get this mess.

I wanted to show her I would be there for her.

“But she was dating someone else. Didn’t that bother you?” said Emily.

“Dating isn’t exactly what I would call her and James. And I know she wasn’t sleeping with him.”

Nick cleared his throat. “What did you think happened to Sandi?”

“For a long time I believed she ran away. I kept hoping I’d get a call from her. I just wanted to know she was safe.”

“How long did you hold on to that?” asked Emily.

“I guess I knew after a couple weeks she was gone.”

“Gone?” asked Nick.

“Dead.”

“Dead how?” said Emily.

“Murdered.”

“And who do you think killed Sandi?” The wash of sadness sweeping over Ross did not escape her.

“Honestly, I had the same thoughts as everyone else. The stepdad.”

“Never James?” asked Nick.

Ross shrugged. “I don’t see it. He was controlling, manipulative, but not violent. He never even hit me back that day in the gym.”

“He didn’t fight back?” asked Emily.

“Not with punches. He got up off the floor, gave me this cocky little smile, and walked out.”

Nick and Emily exchanged a quick glance.

“Turning the other cheek? That’s not very manly,” said Emily.

“James didn’t like to get his hands dirty,” Ross said.

“Or his designer clothes,” added Nick.

“I don’t get how you guys were friends with him,” said Emily.

“We weren’t,” they said in unison.

“He was one of those guys who just showed up and inserted himself into everyone’s business,” said Nick.

“James was someone you tolerate.”

“Maybe he didn’t fight back because he knew he could get into big trouble for what he had done?” suggested Emily.

“He liked to let his daddy fight his battles with money and lawyers,” said Ross. “I half expected to see a lawsuit the next day on my doorstep. But he just drifted away from all of us after Sandi was gone.”

Nick was about to say something, but one look from Emily and he pressed his lips shut. Emily put on her best empathetic face and waited. Sometimes a moment of silence was all that was needed for someone to continue the conversation on their own. People hated silence. She didn’t have to wait long before Ross filled it.

“I got to thinking about it. I spent a lot of time with Sandi and her kid sister, Tiffani. She was always hanging around us. She was this really sweet kid sister one minute, and then after Sandi was gone, she turned into a hellion. It’s weird, right? I just think she’s hiding something.”

He stopped, and the three of them let that thought hang over them for a moment. Emily tried to imagine Sandi’s little sister as a killer. How would she have had the strength to strangle Sandi, unless she knocked her out first? What would be the motive? Was she jealous of Sandi? Had Sandi promised her something and then backed out? Was it just a sisterly spar gone awry?

“Can you give us a minute?” Nick asked, motioning with a flick of his hand for Emily to leave.

Rude. “Fine.” She disliked his dismissive attitude but didn’t want to break their solidarity on the matter at hand. She smiled sweetly and strolled into the showroom to look at the selection of vehicles. As Emily passed a Lexus sedan, it triggered the image of the black Lexus in Pinetree Slopes at Sandi’s site. Unlike Nick, who’d brushed it off, Emily was convinced that the two people in the car had been at that spot because they knew something about Sandi’s murder.

Ross had access to cars. Unregistered cars. Cars without plates. Cars that could come and go easily off a showroom floor. If Ross had been one of the people in that Lexus, what was his motive for returning to the site of Sandi’s grave? Emily started to roll a new circle of thoughts through her brain. If Ross had loved Sandi so much, why hadn’t he put James in his place before the video incident? There seemed to be a very real possibility that since Sandi wasn’t leaving James, Ross might try to take James down again. Would Sandi turn against Ross at some point if that happened? Would James fight back? Maybe not with his fists, but if he had such a hold on Sandi, wouldn’t he try do everything in his power to sully Ross’s reputation, shatter his chances of university scholarship, his varsity status, his shot at graduation? And did Ross have reason to believe there were more sex videos? Ross knew James and his father had the power to dismantle his whole life. Maybe he was lying about his love for Sandi? Maybe he’d been using her, too. Maybe Sandi wasn’t worth the risk of losing his whole future. Getting rid of Sandi would send James the message that Ross had the upper hand and that he’d better not mess with him ever again. It was extreme, but maybe that’s how far Ross would go to protect himself. It was a theory they needed to consider.

Emily glanced over at Nick. He was standing and shaking Ross’s hand, like old friends. She thought Nick was being very naive right now. Ross had told a nice story, and Nick was immediately ready to cross him off the suspect list. Same with stepdad Gordon Ghetts. Emily had been deceived by well-intentioned stories before, and it had made her wary of feel-good tales.

Emily looked up to see Nick give her a quick nod. He was ready to go. She made her way to Ross’s desk to say goodbye.

“Ms. Hartford, nice to meet you, again. I’m sure our paths crossed at school,” said Ross, the tail end of his sentence getting cut off by a loud sneeze. Emily cringed as he blew his snotty nose into a tissue and then reached out to shake her hand.

“It’s Dr. Hartford.” Emily gave him a polite smile and kept her hands to herself. “And if you want some free medical advice, you should take two aspirin, plenty of water, and get a good night’s rest.”