by B. J Daniels
“This must have been a horrible shock,” the reporter prodded.
“Of course it was a shock.”
“But more so for you to realize that your best friend has been dead after all this time.”
“Ariel had lots of friends,” Lizzy said. “I was just one of many. I’m sure they’re all shocked.”
“Her mother gave us some photos of Ariel. The one with the two of you has the words best friends forever written on it,” the reporter said, following Lizzy to the front door of the sheriff’s office.
She reiterated what she’d said before about Ariel having many friends.
“Not according to her other friends I’ve spoken with,” the reporter said. “They all say that you were her favorite.”
Lizzy cursed silently, knowing only too well who had told the reporter such nonsense. Ashley. She’d seen right away that Ashley had been jealous; Lizzy had been Ariel’s pet project from the beginning. Stephanie, Jennifer and Ashley had resented her and made little secret about it.
At one point she’d overheard Stephanie say, Ariel will tire of her soon and toss her back to the dumpies, which was what Ariel called Whitney and Kayla.
Having had more than enough of this pushy reporter, Lizzy tried to get to the door of her office. “Ariel had a talent for collecting people. She treated all of her best friends the same.” She pitted them against each other, chewed them up and spit them out.
“Everyone I’ve talked to said you two were inseparable your senior year in high school,” the reporter said, trotting alongside her.
Inseparable was definitely the right word. By senior year, Lizzy no longer had a life of her own without Ariel. They went everywhere together because Ariel wouldn’t take no for an answer. She would pull up in front of the house and honk until Lizzy came out. Ariel always insisted on driving. It wasn’t until later that Lizzy realized Ariel wanted to dictate what time they left and who got to come along as well as how long they stayed out.
The real trouble began when Lizzy tried to distance herself from Ariel. Ariel wasn’t having it. She would buy her something, something that she knew Lizzy wanted. Then Lizzy would feel guilty. All Ariel’s other friends seemed to adore her. They talked about how thoughtful and generous she was.
Lizzy began to cringe when Ariel would come up to her in the lunchroom, throw her arm around her and practically drag her to her table. The more she started to pull away, the more expensive the gifts Ariel gave her—always in front of others. If Lizzy saw something at the mall that she paid even the slightest attention to, Ariel would surprise her with it.
She begged her to stop since she couldn’t afford to reciprocate. She tried turning down the gifts and only looked ungrateful and mean. Ariel would act hurt and confused as if she didn’t know what was going on. But there would be that warning look in her eyes—
The threat was clear. Ariel traded in secrets. If someone didn’t want a secret revealed to the world, then do as told or else. If not, things would turn ugly. Ariel began bad-mouthing her behind her back. There were whispered accusations. Lizzy had foolishly pleaded with Ariel to stop.
I miss you, Ariel would pout. We never talk or hang out anymore. I don’t know what’s going on with you but I don’t want to lose you as a trusted friend.
The harassment didn’t stop. Ariel would post things on social media about her and then deny it.
“You have to stop reacting,” her aunt had told her, shoving the book The Gift of Fear into her hands. “She won’t stop until you do. It’s all in this book, under stalkers.”
Lizzy had just wanted to graduate and put high school and Ariel behind her. She’d already decided that she was going into criminology. Just a few more weeks, she’d told herself as graduation neared. It was almost over. Then maybe she and Shade...
Now she had to admit guiltily that she’d been relieved when Ariel disappeared right after graduation night. The only time she’d even thought about her over the past ten years was in passing. She’d wondered whom the woman was luring into her web and if Ariel had left a trail of victims through the years.
Lizzy had thought that no one could hate Ariel as much as she did back then. But when she’d looked into that car and had seen the restraints still tied to the steering wheel, she’d been proved wrong. Someone had hated her enough to kill her in a horrible way.
“One more question,” the reporter said, having walked backward all the way to the front door of the sheriff’s office, the cameraman right beside her.
“That’s all I have to say.” Lizzy tried to step past her.
Again the woman blocked her way. “Is it true that you and Ariel’s boyfriend were cheating behind her back?”
Taken off guard, she answered, “No, it’s not.”
“You don’t deny that you know Shade Sterling, right?”
Lizzy realized the mistake she’d made. She should have stuck with her original statement of not talking. She shoved the camera out of her face as she leaned toward the reporter. “If you push that microphone into my face and block my way into the sheriff’s department again,” Lizzy said quietly, “I will be forced to have you arrested.”
The woman blinked and started to ask another question.
“I wouldn’t try me on this unless you want to spend the night in my jail.”
With that she shoved her way past the woman and into the building. “Make sure the reporters stay on the sidewalk,” she told the deputy coming down the hallway and saw Sid sitting in a chair as if waiting for her. She motioned him into her office and closed the door behind him with a sigh.
“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d see if you wanted to skip out and grab a bite of lunch. Are you all right?” Sid asked.
Lizzy shook her head as she moved to the chair behind her desk. “I shouldn’t have talked to that reporter, huh?”
He shrugged and she noticed that he still hadn’t sat down.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re here with more bad news?”
“I saw your live interview on my phone just now,” Sid said, making her grimace.
“That bad, was it?”
He chuckled. “Not bad for your first. Best advice I can give, tell them no comment and stick with it. They won’t like it, but otherwise...”
“Right, otherwise you dig yourself in deeper, which I did.”
“There was a theme to her questions,” Sid said. “I happened to see the county attorney earlier. He expressed the same concerns.”
She frowned. “That I can’t do my job because I went to school with Ariel? Or that it’s rumored I was her best friend, which isn’t true. She had no real friends.”
The former sheriff eyed her. “I believe it’s that attitude that has the county attorney worried. What bothers me, though, is that someone put the bee under his bonnet, which leads me to believe that someone wants you off this case.”
Lizzy groaned. “Is this political? Or something else?”
Her former mentor shrugged. “If I had to guess? I’d say whoever is spreading the unrest doesn’t want you on the case because you’re so close to it you’re going to solve this and unmask a killer.”
She hesitated. “They think I might have inside information? That I know too much about Ariel and who had reason to hate her?”
“This is a high-profile case for all the wrong reasons.”
“Ariel’s father.”
“That,” Sid said. “And the spoiled rich girl made enemies. Is the sheriff too close to all of it? You know, can you see the forest for the trees?”
“I’m not too close to it.” She met his gaze, held it and did her best not to falter. “This is my first case on my first day on the job. I don’t want to stand aside. I can do this because I did know Ariel and at least some of her secrets. I also know all of the people who might have wanted to kill her.”
; He nodded. “And very possibly the person who did. Just don’t become part of the story. You have to keep your hands clean. Let everyone else roll around in the mud that’s going to get slung.”
Lizzy wondered if that was possible. It wouldn’t just be other people’s secrets that might come out during the investigation. What about her own?
Sid stood. “I have faith in you.”
She had to smile as she thanked him. “Maybe lunch some other time?”
He nodded. She considered telling him about some of her worries about the case but changed her mind. She was sheriff. This was up to her to figure things out without Sid’s help.
“And watch your back. The one deputy who ran against you?”
She knew at once whom he was referring to. “John ‘Ace’ Turner.”
He nodded. “He just got beat by a woman who he feels is much less deserving than him. That could make him...”
“Angry?” she asked and laughed.
Sid met her gaze. “Dangerous.”
CHAPTER FIVE
LIZZY HAD TWO more days in which to try to find out as much as she could about Ariel’s murder before the reunion.
The name Progressive made it sound as if their school was an academy for gifted and talented children. Some of the students definitely were. But others needed that smaller, more controlled environment because they’d been in trouble at other schools.
Lizzy had been having a hard time at the end of her junior year. Several of her close friends at the public school had moved away and she’d felt adrift. That’s when Gertie had heard about the school and its smaller classes and decided Lizzy should try it.
Gertie had hoped there would be fewer distractions at the small private school. Lizzy could laugh about that now. Ariel had been more than a distraction. Not to mention Shade and her feelings for him her senior year.
The cost of being Ariel’s friend had been high, making her wonder what price the others had had to pay for Ariel’s brand of friendship.
First, Lizzy had visited Ariel’s mother to give her condolences. Catherine Matheson Warner had remarried after divorcing her imprisoned husband. She’d left town for a while and had only recently returned.
Lizzy had asked about Ariel’s personal items that had apparently been boxed up. Catherine had given her several containers that she’d gone through, but Lizzy had found nothing interesting. Certainly nothing about Ariel being pregnant.
Lizzy decided she would start her interviews with those closest to Ariel. Ashley was at the top of her list. The petite, cute, blue-eyed blonde hadn’t changed all that much since high school from what Lizzy had seen earlier. With the reunion committee meeting over, she thought she’d pay the woman a visit.
Ashley answered the door in a short romper. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail. Lizzy got the impression that Ashley had been expecting someone else. The woman’s eyes widened as she looked past Lizzy to the street before giving her a nervous smile. “I wasn’t expecting...company.”
Uh-huh. “Good, since I’m not company. Are you alone? I need to ask you a few questions about Ariel’s death.”
Ashley jammed a hand on her slim waist and cocked a hip. “This really isn’t a convenient time.”
“There really isn’t any convenient time with the reunion coming up so quickly,” Lizzy said. “We can talk here or maybe you’d like to come down to the sheriff’s department to talk. I can have an officer swing by and pick you up.”
Ashley’s smile evaporated. Her blue eyes narrowed as she straightened. “You’ve changed since high school.”
“I certainly hope so,” Lizzy said and stepped forward, forcing Ashley to move aside and let her enter.
“I can’t imagine what I could tell you about Ariel that you don’t already know,” her former classmate said as she led the way into an immaculate living room.
Lizzy wanted to laugh since she was sure that Ariel had something on all of her friends—and vice versa. “Are you telling me you haven’t speculated on who might have killed her?” she said as she sat down in one of the chairs and pulled out her notebook and pen.
Ashley shrugged and slowly took a seat, glancing at her cell phone as she did. Lizzy realized that the woman had just sent a short text on her way into the living room. To warn whomever was on their way?
Lizzy glanced around the living room. It looked unlived in. Ashley’s husband, Lizzy knew, was a commercial pilot who was seldom home. “Is your husband coming to the reunion?”
Ashley shook her head. “He has overseas flights this week. Just the luck of the draw.”
Lizzy got the feeling Ashley wasn’t upset that her husband couldn’t make it. Not that spouses or significant others were invited the first day of the reunion. Families could come up Sunday for a barbecue and hayride, but since most of the class was still single, they wanted to keep it just the ten of them the first night and day.
“There must be someone you think was capable of murdering Ariel,” Lizzy prodded.
Ashley laughed. “You were in our class. None of us were angels or we wouldn’t have been at Progressive.” She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head in a way that Lizzy had seen Ariel do a thousand times. “What about you, Lizzy? What got you sent there?”
She smiled. “I’m not the one being questioned by the law.”
“Maybe you should be.”
“Don’t worry, the state crime investigators will take care of that part. In the meantime, why don’t you tell me why you were sent to the school?”
Ashley shrugged. “I thought everyone knew. I broke into the public high school with Christopher and got caught.”
Lizzy knew it was more than that. “Why break in?”
“Just for the fun of it.”
“Did you vandalize the place?” She’d heard the stories.
“Only Mrs. Brandon thought so because of what we did on her desk.” Ashley laughed. “It was harmless.”
“You were the only one caught?”
“That time,” Ashley said and mugged a face. “Christopher could run faster than me. He tried it again with someone else.” Her eyes were bright with spite. “That time he got caught red-handed, so to speak.”
“He got caught with Jennifer.”
Ashley nodded slowly, eyes narrowing to slits. An old wound that hadn’t quite healed.
“Then Christopher ended up at the same school with the two of you—and Ariel,” Lizzy said. “I got the feeling that you all had some kind of history.”
Ashley shrugged. “Ariel and Christopher, definitely. I always suspected there was more to their animosity toward each other. The two of them were like oil and water.”
“You know what they say about opposites. Do you remember seeing Christopher at the party after Ariel left?” Lizzy asked.
“I saw him talking to you.”
“That was before Ariel actually drove away.”
Ashley shrugged again. “Sorry. I’m afraid I’m not much help.”
Lizzy realized that she’d been assuming that whoever killed Ariel left the party at the same time, followed her and had somehow gotten her to turn off into the pond road.
A thought occurred to her. As upset as she’d been, Ariel would have contacted someone because she would have needed to vent. Lizzy had been on the receiving end of those phone calls many times—until Ariel showed up in person or demanded that Lizzy meet her somewhere to talk.
“Did you hear from Ariel after the party?”
“Just one text as she was leaving,” Ashley said. “She wanted to meet up and talk.”
Lizzy felt a small thrill. Of course, she’d been right. Who knew Ariel better than her? “She was upset, right?”
Ashley nodded.
“With me.”
Another nod, this one slower.
“And Shade.”
Ashley looked away. “She was furious, but mostly with you,” she added as her gaze came back to Lizzy. “She said you were a traitor and that we weren’t to ever speak to you again.” She raised an eyebrow, her lips curving into a snide smirk as if proving that even years later, those old insults could still hurt.
None of this came as a surprise though. Much of the sting had been taken out of it by the years and maturity. But that Ariel wielded such power back then and could strike out so easily made Lizzy suspect that Ariel’s killer had been on the receiving end of her vindictiveness more than once.
Under the law, Ashley didn’t have to speak with her. Lizzy wondered if she knew that. Did the woman just want to get a few jabs in for old times’ sake? “Was there anyone else she was angry with?” Lizzy asked.
The eyebrow came down, the lips untwisted from the smirk and that familiar bored look was back. “Brad.”
“Brad Davis?”
“He’d parked his car right behind hers and she had to find him to get him to move it.”
“There were words exchanged?”
Ashley laughed. “She called him a few names. He threatened to use some awful photo of her he’d taken at the party in the last school newspaper of the year. The newspaper at Progressive was a joke anyway, like anyone read it, but you know Ariel.”
She did know Ariel. The young woman would have been livid.
“So he moved his car.” Lizzy realized that other than the killer, Brad might have been the last one to see her alive. Unless, after he’d moved his car, he was so furious that he followed her and killed her.
“Did you see anyone follow her as she left?”
“I didn’t see her leave. I just heard the argument with Brad. Her car was parked behind those pine trees beside his house. I heard her rev her engine, make the tires screech as she left before I received the text to meet her.”
“Where did Ariel want to meet after the party?”