Wicked After Midnight (Midnight Blue Beach Book 1)

by Olivia Jaymes

  They followed her into a sitting room, Cathy on one side of the coffee table and Bailey and Chase on the other. Cathy folded her hands in her lap tightly, her features now composed.

  “Now how can I help you? I’m afraid I didn’t catch all that you were telling me. Your husband knew Gwen?”

  Slowly this time, Bailey and Chase explained how they had come to meet and what they’d done since, keeping the whole Evandria Council theory out of it unless Cathy Martin mentioned them. Gwen’s sister listened closely, not interrupting often, only asking a question when she didn’t quite understand something. She seemed to get that they were trying to find out who killed Gwen and how she was connected to Frank. When they were done, Cathy appeared to be holding back tears.

  “I’m sorry to be so emotional. It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve heard anyone speak of Gwen or even say her name. I don’t talk with my family much any longer, to be honest, not that they would have spoken about Gwen. When she died it was like she’d never existed to them.”

  “Is that why…?” Bailey asked hesitantly.

  Cathy nodded. “When I saw how they acted after Gwen’s murder I couldn’t deal with them anymore. It was as if they didn’t want her murderer found. They talked to the police once and then flew to Switzerland to go skiing.”

  Over the top cold and unfeeling.

  “You didn’t speak with the police though. They didn’t ask?”

  Brows pulled together, Cathy shook her head. “I did speak to the police. When they questioned my parents, they talked to me too. I was living on my own at that point but I’d come home when I got the news. I was living in Philly at the time.”

  Chase and Bailey exchanged a look. Whatever she’d said that day had never been put in the case file.

  “What did you tell them?”

  “It was so long ago, but I know they only asked me a few questions. If Gwen had called me that night, which she hadn’t. Also, if Gwen had argued with anyone lately and I said no. That was about it. I loved Gwen but since we didn’t live in the same city I wasn’t as involved in her life as her friends would have been. But I loved her like she was my real sister.”

  Bailey frowned at the last statement. “Your real sister? I’m not sure I follow.”

  “Gwen and I are step-sisters. Mine and Stephen’s father married Gwen’s mother and then adopted Gwen. Her own father had abandoned them when she was a baby. I’m also Stephen’s half-sister as my mother was my father’s first wife. Stephen was born out of his second marriage. They divorced as well and then he married Gwen’s mom.”

  Chase steepled his fingers and leaned forward so his elbows were propped on his knees. “We didn’t realize and your brother never said anything.”

  “You spoke with Stephen?” Cathy smiled slightly. “I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you. It was always a touchy subject for him. He and Gwen had gone on a few dates and that’s how my father met her mother. Of course they couldn’t date after Dad started dating Gwen’s mother. I think Gwen called it ‘icky’ or something like that. But it must have been the real thing because they’re still married today. I guess third time was the charm for both of them.”

  Bailey’s brows rose at the convoluted tale. “It’s like something out of a soap opera.”

  Cathy shrugged and laughed. “At the time it was sort of scandalous as Dad hadn’t finalized his divorce but I doubt anyone remembers all that drama anymore.”

  There was another question that needed to be asked and Bailey wasn’t sure how to say it without it sounding awful and rude. Delicacy and tact were called for here.

  “Gwen went to camp that summer,” Bailey began. “From what we were able to piece together she had several admirers that year. Did she ever talk to you about them?”

  “It’s okay. You can say it. I heard what the other kids were saying after she died. She’d been running wild and sleeping around that summer.”

  “Do you know why she was doing that? We’re told it was out of character.”

  Cathy seemed to be choosing her words carefully as well. “I loved my sister but that behavior wasn’t unusual. At least not from the time I met her a year earlier. She loved the attention, maybe because her father abandoned her. Who truly knows? Maybe before I knew her she wasn’t like that. Her friends would have better information. All I know is that I was worried she was going to get pregnant if she wasn’t careful and I told her so before she left for camp.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She said she had everything covered and that I worried too much.”

  “Did she ever mention anyone named Frank, Alex, or Greg?” Bailey asked. “Do those names sound familiar?”

  Cathy shook her head and sighed. “I don’t think so but it’s been so many years. She knew so many boys and after awhile I didn’t really listen to their names. They didn’t tend to stick around once they got what they wanted.”

  So far this trip had been a huge disappointment. Once again they were at another dead end.

  Bailey sat back and let Chase ask his questions. “We haven’t been able to speak to your parents, Mrs. Martin. We’ve been told that they’re out of the country.”

  “I can assure you they’re in the United States but as I said they don’t speak of Gwen. Ever. Honestly, I can’t see how they could help you. They weren’t involved parents at all. I doubt they could tell you the names of Gwen’s friends or even what classes she was taking. They were hardly ever home and when they were it wasn’t like we sat down to dinner together every night and talked about our day. When I was in high school, if I saw my father once a month that was a lot.”

  Great parenting. No wonder Gwen wanted affection and attention. She’d been starved of it.

  “So there was no one Gwen was fighting with? No spurned suitor?” Chase asked. Having spent so much time with him, Bailey could hear the exasperation in his tone but she doubted Cathy Martin would notice. “Can you think of anyone that would have wanted to hurt Gwen?”

  The sister shook her head, mouth turned down. “I don’t know anyone. Gwen didn’t have any enemies. She got along well with pretty much everyone. As for boys, as I said, she didn’t have the best taste in males. They came and went, but none seemed to stick around long enough for any drama. I’m sorry I can’t help you more.” Her expression perked up along with a smile. “I have her memory box if you want to take a look at it. There’s not much there but you’re welcome to it.”

  Bailey nodded in excitement. “That would be wonderful. Thank you so much.”

  Cathy stood and headed toward the staircase. “I’m just happy that someone still cares about Gwen’s life and death. I thought she’d been forgotten by everyone except me.”

  Chase stood as well, tension in every line of his body. “I can assure you, Mrs. Martin, we haven’t forgotten Gwen.”

  The sister was only upstairs a few minutes before she returned with a plain cardboard box labeled “Gwen” with magic marker. Chase took the box from her and said thank you again.

  “You don’t know how much we appreciate this.”

  “I’m not sure if it will help you at all but you’re welcome to it. You can return it when you’re done. I just ask that you be careful with her things. It’s all I have left of her. That and the memories, of course.”

  “I promise we’ll be careful,” Bailey assured the woman. “I have to echo Chase when I say we appreciate the time you’ve taken to talk to us and now this. Thank you so much.”

  Cathy’s hands wrung together and her chin firmed. “If I can do anything to help find out who killed Gwen, I will do it. I’ve barely spoken to my family in the last twenty years because I’ve been so disgusted with their behavior. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. They had the money to hire the best investigators but instead they closed their eyes and coldly moved on with their lives. It’s something I can’t forgive or forget.”

  Those words echoed in Bailey’s mind as she and Chase drove away, the box tucked safely in th
e trunk. A young girl brutally murdered and her parents blithely ignored it and went skiing. There were so many things she couldn’t understand about this case but the wanton disregard of a parent was at the top of the list. Gwen had deserved better.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The sealed cardboard box sat on the coffee table.

  Bailey popped the last bite of her egg roll into her mouth. “Are we going to stare at it or are we going to open it?”

  Chase pointed to an open carton. “Do you want the last dumpling?”

  Shaking her head, she pushed the food closer to him. “Are you ignoring me?”

  Grinning, he shook his head. “I could never ignore you, sweet. No, I was just thinking that perhaps we shouldn’t open the box until we’re done eating and have washed up. We promised to be careful with Gwen’s things and I wouldn’t want to get General Tso’s chicken on any of her belongings.”

  That was Chase’s polite way of saying she made a mess when she ate. She’d be mad but he was right. Somehow she couldn’t seem to eat a meal without some of it ending up on her boobs.

  “Good point. Are you almost finished then?”

  He took the last bite of dumpling and began cleaning up the take out bags and boxes. There would be plenty of leftovers. They’d purchased enough food for an army. After tucking the last carton into the refrigerator, Chase retrieved a box cutter from a drawer in the kitchen.

  “Are you ready?”

  “What if this doesn’t have anything to help us?” she asked as he slit the box open. “What will we do then? Because I’ve run out of ideas.”

  “Then we’ll follow up on the Evandria angle. I’m not sure Guy really knew what he was talking about but it’s worth a shot. We can’t give up so we need to do something.”

  The insistent buzzing of Bailey’s phone stopped Chase from reaching into the box. “Damn, just let me see who it is.”

  Willow. She had to take it. They’d been waiting to hear from her and Josh all day.

  “Her fucking parents aren’t anywhere to be found,” Willow growled, not even bothering to say hello. “I’ve talked to the house staff, the family attorney, and even their neighbors. They’ve all called her parents – who are somewhere in the Caribbean – and left a message but they haven’t called back. Their daughter is in a coma and they can’t be bothered to return a phone call. What kind of parents are these?”

  Just like Gwen’s, apparently.

  “Maybe they haven’t listened to their messages yet. If they’re on vacation they may have unplugged.”

  Willow sighed loudly into the phone. “Do you really believe that? I know Peyton mentioned that she had a strained relationship with her mother and father but this is ridiculous.”

  “You did all you could—in fact, you went above and beyond what anyone would expect. You should just come on back.”

  Chase held up his hand and shook his head. “Wait. Since they’re already down there. What do they think about trying to get some more information on the Evandria angle to this case?”

  Not a bad idea.

  “Willow, did you hear that? Do you think you and Josh could look into Evandria while you’re down there? Peyton is stable and they won’t bring her out of the coma for a few days.”

  “If that’s how we can help, then we’re on it. If she does wake up, please let her know I’m thinking about her all the time.” Bailey could hear Josh and Willow speaking but she couldn’t make out the words. “Josh wants to know what’s been going on there while we’ve been gone.”

  Chase and Bailey filled them in on the visit with Cathy Martin and promised to update them if they found anything of help in the box. They signed off after setting a time to call the next day.

  “I think they’re getting along pretty well.”

  Chase laughed as they began carefully unloading the contents of the box. The last time Bailey had done this with Frank’s possessions it had changed her whole life.

  “Did you think they would fight and snarl at each other? Josh is a laidback guy. I doubt there’s anything Willow can do that would get him angry. I’ve only seen him upset a couple of times in all the years I’ve known him. It wasn’t pretty. Once his fuse is lit, get out of the damn way.”

  “They’ll bond over dogs. I’m sure they’re staying at her place and that means he’s going to get sniffed from head to toe by her canine protectors.”

  “He’ll love it,” Chase assured her. “I’m betting he’s scratching them behind the ears and sneaking them treats behind her back.”

  They laid out the contents of the box on the floor. Some concert and movie ticket stubs, carefully marked with the names of her friends that had attended with her. High school yearbooks. Spiral notebooks that looked like they were used to take notes in Gwen’s classes. A few pieces of jewelry – a gold necklace, tiny diamond earrings, and a jade bracelet. A stack of paperback novels with notes in the margins and sections highlighted.

  It wasn’t much and Bailey’s heart sank as she took it in. There was no secret diary that pointed to Gwen’s killer.

  “I don’t know what I was hoping for but it wasn’t this.”

  Chase gave her a lopsided grin. “You were hoping for the same thing I was. A note that said ‘Here is my murderer. Go get him.’ The only problem with that is Cathy would have already found it.”

  Bailey picked up one of the spiral notebooks and paged through the contents. “Ick. Calculus. I hated math in school. Once they added the alphabet into equations I was done for.”

  “I loved math. I hated history and English. At least math made sense. My English teachers were always trying to teach me symbolism but I just didn’t get it. The house was a metaphor for the hopelessness in their life. Shit, how depressing. If they were hopeless why didn’t he just say so?”

  Bailey giggled, remembering those days well. “We read a bunch of depressing books in school. Now I only read stories with a happy ending. Look, here’s one for history. Looks like they were studying the American Revolution. Here are notes on the Boston Tea Party.” She ran her fingers over the handwritten page. “She must have been bored in class and sat next to her friend because instead of taking notes she and someone else were writing back and forth during the lecture.”

  Chase scowled. “I thought kids used text messages.”

  “Twenty years ago? I doubt that.”

  Bailey read over the short conversation.

  Friday?

  Yes! New skirt and shoes.

  Great! Cute boys will be there.

  Jerks. They all are.

  You’re just bitter.

  I have reason to be.

  They’re not all bad.

  Really?

  I’d date him.

  Go ahead. I told him I wanted to be friends.

  Ugh. Two chapters tonight.

  The history notes had more back and forth between Gwen and her friend. Mostly about nothing all that important – parties, boys, upcoming exams, homework, lunch, mean friends, and lame parents. Typical teenager stuff. The exchanges were all beginning to sound the same.

  I’m starving.

  Eat something.

  Banana in my locker. Forgot it.

  You forget everything.

  I didn’t forget Saturday.

  Shit, what did Adams just say?

  Papers are due Monday. You knew that.

  That’s next Monday.

  No it’s this Monday.

  Fuck. No. Will you help me this weekend?

  Systematically, Bailey looked through every single spiral notebook hoping for some clue but she came up empty. By the time, she closed the last one her eyes were almost crossed with fatigue.

  “There’s nothing here. Did you find anything?”

  “Nothing earth-shattering. From all the ticket stubs she liked to see movies and eat pizza.”

  “Then she’s in good company. I like that too. Anything else? What about those books?”

  Chase held up a paperback. “All of these book
s were gifts. There’s To Kill A Mockingbird, The Color Purple, and The Outsiders plus a few I’ve never heard of. She also had some non-fiction books. One on the Founding Fathers, one on the history of Greek architecture, one on the history of the United Kingdom, and one on the history of World War II.”

  “How do you know they were all gifts?”

  “They were personally inscribed in the front.”

  “She saved signed books. Fantastic. Any notes in the margins that were personal?”

  “Not one. All related to the story and that symbolism again. Looks like Gwen understood it a hell of a lot more than I ever did.”

  Bailey rubbed at her eyes and then held out her hand. “Let’s get to those yearbooks. They’re our last chance.”

  “Chase, wake up. Please wake up.”

  Bailey’s voice. Chase normally loved to hear her speak but not in the middle of the night when he was trying to sleep. Was the house on fire? He opened one eye and sniffed but he didn’t smell any smoke.

  Scraping his hand over his eyes, he groaned in protest. “Is everything okay? What time is it?”

  She didn’t even have to answer. It was too damn early. Still dark outside.

  “Five in the morning but you need to wake up.”

  Finally he sat up in bed and opened his eyes all the way. “Please tell me why I need to wake up. Are you sick? Did the hospital call?”

  Switching on the side lamp, the immediate bright light hurt his eyes but he could still see Bailey shake her head. “No, no, and no. The house is not on fire. I am not sick, and the hospital did not call. I think I might have figured something out about Gwen’s murder.”

  She had his attention, every bit of it.

  Placing her hands on his shoulders, she turned his torso so he was looking at her. “Listen to me because it’s a long shot and it may be nothing. I was lying here having trouble sleeping and I kept going over and over all the things we looked at tonight. I decided to go back through the box of mementos one more time.”

  “Honey, patience at five in the morning before I’ve had my coffee is in short supply. What hit you? What have you figured out?”