Death by Fountain

by Jennifer S. Alderson

  Alex was right, Lana thought. The police were going to close this case without looking any further. “I’m certain Randy didn’t do this, but do you honestly think one of his friends did? The police did say their suspect was wearing a Straight Up Climbs jacket.”

  Gloria sighed. “Honestly, I can’t see any of them wanting to hurt her, either. It’s hard to know for certain, but I suspect that we are the only ones in Rome with those jackets right now.”

  Lana blew out through her nose, disgusted by what she had to ask. “I’m going to need your help, Gloria. I don’t know Randy’s friends as well as you do. What can you tell me about them and their possible motives for wanting to hurt Rachel?”

  When Gloria remained silent, Lana added, “What about Craig? He and Randy met at college, right?”

  “Yes, they lived in the same dormitory for their first two years of college and hung out quite a bit. Randy said that they aren’t as close as they used to be because Craig isn’t interested in the outdoors anymore, and that’s where Randy prefers to be when he’s got time off. When Craig does show up at our parties, he usually keeps to himself. I know Randy only invited him to the wedding because he didn’t want to hurt Craig’s feelings, but we were both surprised when he said he was coming. But I can’t imagine Craig harming Rachel. If anything, I would say Craig was in love with her. No, love is too strong—I’d say he’s infatuated with her.”

  “What! Are you sure? He is one of Randy’s oldest friends. You’d think he would have stayed away from her.”

  “She was a forbidden subject, but Craig let it slip a few times that he thought Randy treated Rachel badly. It was the way he said it that made me think he was interested in her, too. I don’t know if they ever dated, but he does have a soft spot for her. But then again, most men do. I mean, did.”

  “What about Heather? She adores Randy and hated Rachel,” Lana said.

  “Heather did hate Rachel, but mostly because she wouldn’t leave Randy alone after he broke up with her. I know Craig thinks Heather is in love with Randy, but I can’t really recall her ever making a move on him. It’s more like she considers Randy her big brother.”

  “It’s odd—yesterday I got the feeling that Heather doesn’t like you, but I can’t remember her ever being rude to you before.”

  “No woman is ever good enough for your brother, are they?” Gloria sighed. “Before we announced our engagement, Heather was nice to me, though never super friendly. Since Randy told her the news, she’s been downright hostile and takes every opportunity to badmouth me. He thinks she’s mad because he had less time to go hiking with her, but her nasty remarks are only pushing Randy away.”

  “And Jake—what’s his story?” Lana asked.

  “I don’t really know much about him. He and Randy always meet up at the climbing hall and have a drink in their bar afterwards. Jake’s been to a few of our parties, but he was too busy hitting on the hottest female in the room to have time for me. He does seem quite sure of himself, if you know what I mean.”

  Lana thought of his slightly arrogant manner. “Yes, I think I do. Did you know that Jake and Rachel were dating?”

  “What?” Gloria gasped. “No, I did not. And I guarantee you that Randy didn’t either; otherwise he wouldn’t have invited Jake to our wedding. He was terrified Rachel would find out about it.”

  “Yeah, Randy does seem to think one of his friends told Rachel when and where the wedding was taking place.”

  “They must have—we only told those we were inviting, and only after they confirmed that they were coming. We wanted as few people to know where it was happening, as possible.”

  Lana was silent for a moment. “You know I love you both, but aren’t you two being a bit paranoid?”

  “In the past year, we have had to move twice and change our telephone numbers more times than I can count, just so she’ll leave us alone. That restraining order helped a little, but not much.”

  Lana felt like a fool for thinking her friends were overreacting. She had believed Randy when he said that they’d found a better rental and wanted to move the next week, or that he’d found a cheaper telephone plan again and had to change his number. She had never considered that there was a sinister reason behind the frequent changes.

  “I’m sorry for doubting you. You are right—I had no idea of what you two were going through. And here I thought I knew Randy well.”

  “It’s not your fault; he didn’t want to think about Rachel or be reminded of her in any way. Besides, he would have hated it if you felt sorry for him. It was easier for him to not tell anyone about it.”

  When Lana fell silent, contemplating his friends’ motives, Gloria added, “Is there anyone else you have questions about? I need to talk to my parents about all of this.”

  “What about Katherine? How is it that she and Randy managed to stay friends?”

  “After Randy dumped Rachel, Katherine switched the schedule around so that they wouldn’t have to work together. I know Randy was quite grateful to her for that,” Gloria explained.

  “She doesn’t seem too dismayed by her sister’s death.”

  “I’m not surprised that Katherine’s not upset. She’d been living in Rachel’s shadow for so long. Katherine always told us that Rachel was the older, prettier sister whom their parents adored. I thought she was exaggerating or jealous, until their mother dropped by to take Rachel to lunch. When she found out that Rachel wasn’t in the office, their mother didn’t even ask Katherine if she would join her. Instead, she left without saying hello. It was pretty painful for everyone. When Rachel got back and heard what happened, she laughed in Katherine’s face.”

  “Ouch. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.”

  “Rachel was quite cruel to Katherine. She knew she was the family favorite and never let Katherine forget it. From what Randy said, she liked to steal away Katherine’s boyfriends, too, which is why she didn’t want Rachel to meet Bruce. Oh! I wonder what this will do to her—being the only daughter. I wonder how her parents are going to react.”

  “That is an excellent question. I’ll keep an eye on Katherine. Grief can do strange things to a person. What do you know about Bruce?”

  “Not much, to be honest. I know he and Katherine met when he worked as a guide one summer during college. But he’s working as a computer programmer now and prefers kayaking to mountain climbing.”

  “A man after my own heart.”

  “Yes, well, he seems like a good guy. And he and Katherine are great together.”

  Lana was silent a moment as she contemplated all that Gloria had shared. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel as if she’d learned anything new that could help her point to Rachel’s true killer. “From what you’ve told me, it doesn’t sound like anyone wanted Rachel dead.”

  “Maybe someone tried to rob or assault Rachel and it turned deadly. I don’t understand how they got ahold of our jackets, but I do know Randy didn’t do this,” Gloria wailed. “Yet until we can find a reason for the police to doubt his involvement, they won’t look for another suspect.”

  “I’ll keep my ears open today, and Alex will be here tonight. I promise we’ll do everything we can to set Randy free.”

  19 Investigating Friends

  As soon as Lana hung up the phone, she fired up her trusty laptop. It was time to find out more about Randy’s good friends. The thought made her slightly nauseated—what kind of friend would do this to him? Just like Gloria, Lana was certain that Randy would not have killed Rachel, as much as he may have wanted to. Heck, if he’d caused her to fall into the water, he was the kind of guy who would have stopped to help her back out again.

  But if one of his friends had harmed Rachel, they must know that their continued silence would cause Randy not only to miss his wedding day, but also to spend several years in an Italian prison.

  After she opened an internet browser, Lana’s fingers hovered over the keyboard as she tried to decide who to investigate first. Before she looked i
nto a specific person, she wanted to find out more about Randy’s accident and its official cause. It seemed to be a recurring theme on this tour and the reason why Randy was terrified of Rachel.

  She soon found a short article about his ladder’s collapse that confirmed the details provided by Randy’s friends. The safety catch broke while Randy was climbing over a crevasse on Disappointment Cleaver, causing the ladder to fold in the middle. The unexpected movement threw him off balance, and his leg got caught in between the rungs. When the ladder slammed against the ice wall, it fractured his ankle, calf, and knee.

  Lana sat back, stunned that her friend had gone through this experience yet never really opened up about it with her. She’d known that he had gone through intensive physical therapy and still walked with a slight limp, but he’d always been vague about the details of his accident.

  She finished reading the last few paragraphs, learning that the official cause of Randy’s fall was equipment failure. Both Heather and Rachel were suspended until an insurance investigation could determine whether either was to blame. Lana was unable to find a follow-up article.

  Lana tapped her chin, thinking back to the conversation she’d had with Randy’s friends about his fall. Why hadn’t anyone mentioned that Heather was also temporarily suspended? His friends had been quite keen to tell her all about Randy’s suspicions concerning Rachel’s possible involvement. Were they simply afraid of humiliating Heather by telling Lana about it?

  That must be it, she thought, deciding that she would have to ask the younger woman about her suspension. As much as she didn’t want to embarrass her, Randy’s freedom was far more important than staying on Heather’s good side.

  The equipment specialist was Lana’s first target. She soon discovered the bubbly blonde had worked for Straight Up Climbs for eleven years, which meant she and Randy had started their jobs around the same time. Was that coincidence, or had Heather taken the job in order to be closer to Randy?

  It was painfully clear that Heather longed to be a part of Randy’s life, though Lana still wasn’t certain that the young woman wanted to be his romantic partner. They had known each other for so long that they had literally grown up together. Lana could imagine that Heather didn’t want to lose that closeness once he married.

  When she searched further, Lana stumbled upon a plethora of articles in which Heather was mentioned. Apparently she was also an environmental activist and had been arrested twice during protests held in downtown Seattle. Lana was shocked to read about the tiny blonde’s fierce resistance to the police—and to see a photo of Heather biting an officer as he tried to handcuff her. She is even more spirited and impassioned than I realized, Lana thought.

  Next up was Craig. He was extremely active on social media and shared moments from his personal life on a daily basis. To celebrate his friend’s upcoming marriage, Craig had recently posted forty photos of him and Randy, taken during their university days. Lana chuckled at their clothes and goofy grins as she quickly scanned the images. Craig was the most changed, considering his full mane of dark hair in the photos. Randy’s hair was shaggy and long, similar to how he wore it now. Several photos featured women that Lana assumed were the two men’s then-girlfriends, considering the close embraces and kissing faces.

  Although most of Craig’s posts received many thumbs up, Randy hadn’t liked or commented on any of them. However, Lana knew that Randy preferred spending his free time outdoors rather than on social media.

  When Lana was done reviewing Craig’s photos, something niggled at her brain, telling her to take another look. During this second pass, she noticed what was bothering her. Three of the women she’d noticed cuddling with Craig were also photographed kissing Randy. When she checked the dates in each case, Craig was with the women in earlier shots, only to be replaced by Randy several weeks later. What strange photos to share, Lana thought; it was as if Craig was reminding everyone that Randy ended up dating his old girlfriends.

  Lana wasn’t certain she liked the Randy that Craig shared with his Facebook friends. Was Randy the instigator of the breakups? Or was it pure coincidence? During their first breakfast together, Craig did tell them that he’d bumped into an old flame at the airport, one who dumped him to date Randy. It appeared to be a pattern.

  Had Craig also been involved with Rachel when Randy met her? From what she could recall, Randy had said they’d met at Straight Up Climbs. But maybe Lana was remembering it wrong and they’d met via Craig instead. She would have to ask Craig about it.

  When Lana ticked “Rachel Merriweather” into the Facebook search engine, a light shiver ran up her back. It almost felt as if she was summoning the dead. If Rachel and Craig had been involved, Lana expected to find some sort of photographic evidence on social media. Rachel seemed the type to post about herself on an hourly basis.

  Unfortunately, she was right. It appeared that Rachel had taken a selfie with pretty much everyone she met and posted pics several times a day. It was eerie to see her laughing and smiling for the camera.

  Jake had said that they’d met a month ago, and from the looks of Rachel’s social media, he wasn’t lying. Most of the more recent snaps were of her and Jake, cuddling and kissing while partying in a host of expensive-looking bars and restaurants. Lana was about to click away when a blurry image taken in a Seattle nightclub a few weeks earlier made her hand freeze. This one wasn’t of Jake, but of Craig and Rachel in a passionate embrace. “Look who I ran into!” was the caption.

  “What the heck?” Lana mumbled. Maybe Craig and Rachel were romantically involved, as well. It seemed like every man alive was drawn to her. Well, except for Randy.

  Lana made a note to ask Craig about his relationship with Rachel, knowing she would need to speak with him in private about it. If he had been dating Rachel, she could imagine he would rather that Jake not find out.

  She scrolled through the photos Rachel had posted in the past six months, but couldn’t find any more images of either man, so she turned her attention back to Craig, digging further into his life. He worked as an architect at a small firm in Ballard, a neighborhood in Seattle close to Lana’s home in Fremont. Other than posting about parties he’d attended and restaurants he’d eaten at, Craig didn’t share much about his current interests—assuming he had any.

  Next up was Katherine, Randy’s friend and former coworker. From what Lana could find online, Katherine was five years younger than Rachel and had been working for Straight Up Climbs for six years. Beyond that, she was a mystery. Her social media was limited to sporadic photos of her and Bruce, but nothing more. Lana was slightly surprised that there were no photos of her sister or parents, but from what the others said, they didn’t get along that well.

  Her boyfriend, Bruce, was as much of an enigma. Though Katherine tagged him in several shots, his Facebook page didn’t even have a profile photo, and he wasn’t active on any other social media. Lana was shocked, yet pleased. She’d always thought a robust social media presence was a requirement for Millennials and that Randy was the exception. It was good to see that not everyone under thirty was obsessed with that virtual world.

  Jake was her last target and the person she knew the least about. They’d met at one of Randy’s parties, but he had been too busy chatting up the single ladies to really notice her. Given his muscular build and rugged good looks, Lana wouldn’t be surprised if his advances were successful most of the time.

  When she ticked his name into her internet browser, a long list of links appeared. She opened his Instagram account and found several photos of him and Randy that he’d recently taken in a local climbing hall. They really did love to climb together, and often, it seemed. Funny how Randy didn’t have time to get together with Heather, but did make time for Jake, Lana mused. Perhaps he was unconsciously distancing himself from his female friends.

  She then went back to the list of links. The earliest articles were about his successes in track and field at the University of Oregon and the many m
edals he’d earned. Things seemed to have gone well for him until he hit his senior year. Jake was arrested for assaulting a female student during a back-to-school celebration. Although the details about his crime weren’t mentioned in the article, he was promptly booted out of the university. From what Lana could tell, he didn’t attend another one.

  The next mention of Jake was three years later and in reference to another altercation—this time while working in a Chicago nightclub as a security guard. He got grabby with a female patron, and after she slapped him with her purse, he punched her in the jaw and broke it in two.

  Lana’s eyes widened in disbelief. What kind of person was this? She tried to reconcile the casual, easygoing guy Randy had introduced her to with this monster she was reading about. Granted, the last article was dated six years ago. Maybe the incident was all a horrible misunderstanding, she thought, though two references to assault made that unlikely. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find any more details about his arrests or punishment.

  Lana sat back against her bed’s headboard, frustrated. There wasn’t much to find out about Randy’s friends because they were all who they said they were. Only Jake’s alleged assaults were something she needed help investigating.

  Considering she had no other leads at the moment, Lana checked her world clock. It wasn’t too late in Seattle to call her ex-boss and good friend, Jeremy. She figured it was a long shot, but right now she had no idea who would have wanted Rachel dead—other than Randy.

  Jeremy had been Lana’s editor when they worked at the Seattle Chronicle, one of the city’s most important daily newspapers. When Lana was wrongly fired for having committed libel, Jeremy was also let go. After she’d been cleared of any wrongdoing, the newspaper had offered Jeremy his old job back, just as they did Lana. Both turned the newspaper down, Lana because she was happy being a guide and writing her travel blog, and Jeremy because he was happy working at a smaller, regional newspaper. The hours were better now that he had three daughters to raise.