Reed Family Box Set Page 5

  Jo searched the room and found Mrs. Finney in one of the sitting areas surrounded by three young women. Jo noticed Senator Finney was not nearby, which was probably a good thing. She looked back at Pete who was filling up a plate of food. She gestured to him to meet her over near Mrs. Finney. After zigzagging around the crowded room, Jo approached with Pete trailing behind.

  Mrs. Finney stood. Her makeup was meticulously done, her blond hair swept up into a ponytail. Laura had been a younger version of her mother. “Detectives, thank you for coming. Please meet Laura’s friends.”

  The woman appeared a bit too chipper for a grieving mother. Jo glanced at the glasses sitting on the table and wondered if Mrs. Finney had taken another substance with her glass of wine.

  Jo tuned in as Mrs. Finney introduced the young women. Sarah Anderson was a blond. She looked so similar to Laura she could have been her sister. Micah Jacobs appeared to be a mixed African American woman with long dark curly hair that partially covered her light caramel face.

  Mrs. Finney turned to the third woman and seemed to hesitate. “And this is Clarice Rivers.”

  “Reece,” The young woman snapped. “I go by Reece now, not Clarice.”

  Mrs. Finney placed her hands on her chest as if she was offended. She turned from Reece and tried to smile, but appeared to want to cry.

  All three girls looked somber and as if they had been crying. Something about Reece made Jo think the young woman was uncomfortable being at the memorial, as if she felt out of place. Reece’s green eyes darted back and forth behind royal blue frames. She was the shortest of the three young women and her short, black pixie haircut made her appear more tough than cute. She was dressed in all black, but Jo sensed wearing black was her normal fashion statement the majority of the time instead of just memorial service clothing.

  Despite Reece’s demeanor, the person Jo was really looking for didn’t seem to be present in the room. Jo asked Mrs. Finney, “Where is Laura’s fiancé, Matthew Vaynor?”

  Mrs. Finney blinked. “Matt couldn’t stay. He’s very distraught, as you can imagine.”

  Jo looked over at Pete. He raised his right eyebrow. The fiancé was high on their list to talk to since there was more than likely a male involved in Laura’s death. It was common to interview the significant other like a spouse or a boyfriend.

  “No worries. We’ll reach out to Matt later.” Jo looked around the room and turned to Mrs. Finney, “Is there a room where we can talk one-on-one with the girls?”

  Mrs. Finney seemed flustered, “Do you really have to do this now?”

  Pete spoke up, “We just have a few questions about Laura. I’m sure these girls want to help.”

  Reece asked, “Do I need a lawyer?”

  Strange question. This girl was definitely going to be interesting to interview. Jo forced a smile, “We simply want to find out what happened to Laura. Isn’t that what we all want?” By the head nods, Jo assumed everyone agreed. “Good. Sarah, we’ll start with you.”

  Once situated in what appeared to be Mrs. Finney’s office, Pete agreed to let Jo take the lead with questions since the girls would be more comfortable talking with her. He sat in a chair behind the desk so he could observe and munch on the food he’d just collected.

  Jo looked at Sarah who stood in the corner as if she didn’t want to be there. “Come take a seat across from me, Sarah.”

  Sarah wiped her eyes and sat quickly on the couch.

  Jo sat on the chair perpendicular to the couch. She pulled out her recorder and her notebook. “Do you mind if I record our conversation?”

  Sarah shook her head.

  “Thank you.” Jo pushed the record button. “How long have you known Laura?”

  “We’ve known each other since we were six years old. People always thought we were sisters.”

  Jo commented, “I can see the resemblance. You probably knew her well. When was the last time you talked?”

  Sarah bit her lip. “In person? Probably Monday afternoon. We went to the gym together.”

  “Weren’t you all together on Tuesday evening? I thought that’s why Mrs. Finney asked you to be here,” Jo asked.

  It took a few seconds before Sarah answered. “We had plans for Tuesday night, but Laura cancelled. She didn’t say, but I assumed she wanted to meet with someone else.”

  Jo glanced at Pete. He cocked an eyebrow. Jo looks back at Sarah. “A man? Someone besides her fiancé?”

  Sarah nodded. “She definitely wasn’t planning to meet with Matt. She would have said so. I knew when she was vague or secretive that usually meant it wasn’t any of my business.”

  Laura was cheating on her fiancé. That would explain the engagement ring left behind. Jo wondered why Laura accepted the engagement if she wasn’t ready to commit. “Sarah, have you ever seen her with another man?”

  Sarah nodded. “Not on a date, but we were running one morning a few weeks ago and a guy came up behind us. He scared me to death, but I could tell Laura knew him and was thrilled to see him. I walked behind while they walked and talked together. I couldn’t blame her for liking him. He was good-looking.”

  “Can you describe him?”

  “I remember he was tall, taller than Matt. Matt’s six feet one, I think. This guy had dark hair and he had blue eyes. Really blue eyes.”

  Jo froze. She thought about Jeffrey Maddock. Sarah could have been describing his features. That isn’t possible because Maddock is in prison. Jo didn’t look back at Pete, but she wondered what he was thinking. This case wasn’t anything like Maddock’s victims, so Jo wasn’t sure why she kept having these moments.

  Sarah blew out a breath like she’d been running. “I thought the guy had to be wearing contact lens to be honest. Just something about his eye color looked off to me. I could tell he was more mature than Matt. Matt is my cousin, but he can be a jerk. Anyway, after the guy left, Laura was all smiles.”

  “She never mentioned his name?”

  Sarah frowned. “No. She said she had met him earlier in the summer when we went to this new club. It’s the place where Reece works. I don’t remember seeing him then, but I wasn’t in the best condition that night. Too much to drink. I’m not sure how I even got home that night.”

  Jo noted that Laura and Sarah were two friends who liked to have a good time. “Just to confirm you only talked to her Monday afternoon? When did she officially cancel the plans for Tuesday night?”

  “She texted a message early Tuesday afternoon. I didn’t really want to go out on a Tuesday night anyway. I just started this new job and wanted to wait until the weekend.”

  “Makes sense. Thanks, Sarah. That will be all for now. Will you be going back to school soon?”

  Sarah looked at Jo. “I dropped out of UNC last year.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Sarah shrugged. “No big deal. Laura was the smart one. At least most of the time.” Sarah bit her lip as tears rolled down her face. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

  Jo nodded, “I’m sorry for your loss, Sarah.” She watched Sarah as she left the room wondering how close she really was to Laura. There seemed to be some animosity.

  Ten minutes later, Jo questioned Micah. “How long have you known Laura?”

  Micah’s luminous brown eyes were almost hidden behind her thick curly bangs. She brushed her bangs to the side with her hand. Her light caramel skin was blemish-free except for a mole above her right eyebrow.

  Jo thought of the actress, Zendaya, who B.J. seemed to have a crush on despite only being six years old.

  Micah answered quietly, “Since middle school. We became friends during dance class.”

  “What type of dance?”

  “Jazz.”

  Jo nodded. “Let’s see, you’re attending the University of North Carolina…UNC, right? How often did you talk to Laura seeing as you were both attending rival colleges?”

  Micah smiled slightly. “Not much. We haven’t really been in touch until th
is summer. She called me in June to have lunch with her and asked me to be in her wedding next summer. It was a silly promise from middle school that we would be bridesmaids in each other’s weddings. I was really surprised she remembered.”

  “That’s true friendship. Funny thing though, I’ve heard there was someone else in Laura’s life besides Matt.”

  Micah’s eyes widened. “No, I don’t think so. They’ve been together since high school. Every time I was around Laura, all she talked about was wedding plans even though the wedding wasn’t until next summer. I know she wanted to graduate first.”

  “What about Matt? He’s finished with school.”

  “Matt graduated last summer from UNC. He was working here in Charlotte at his dad’s construction company. But I think Laura said he got a new job with Ridgecrest Construction. She said he seemed happier not having to work at his dad’s company. They weren’t getting along.”

  Jo squinted. “So Matt has some family issues. You sure everything was good between Matt and Laura?”

  Micah looked at Jo. “I assumed everything was okay. Laura liked to have things in her life perfect even if they really weren’t. She didn’t want to appear like she had a problem.”

  Jo made a note before continuing the questions. “Micah, when did you last talk to Laura?”

  “Tuesday. Well, we didn’t really talk, more like texted. She had called earlier, but I was running some errands for my mom.” Micah looked down at her hands. “So she left a text. She wanted to know if we could get together later in the week.”

  Jo frowned. “Laura’s mother thought she was meeting with friends Tuesday night. What happened to those plans?”

  “We were all going to meet that night, but Laura wanted to get together another night closer to the weekend. I don’t know why she canceled all of a sudden.”

  “Who were we?”

  “Sarah and me. I guess Reece. Laura seemed to become friends with her again.”

  “Again?”

  Micah shrugged, “They had some kind of falling out in high school. I guess they made up. To be honest, it was kind of awkward having Reece around.”

  “Why?”

  “She’s just not a nice person, always cynical and sarcastic, but...” Micah held her head down causing her thick hair to fall across her face again.

  “Micah, continue what you were going to say.”

  Micah moved her hair. “I don’t want to say anything bad about Laura because she was a good friend, but she was mean to other people sometimes. She was a bit of a bully in school.”

  Jo observed Micah. “Really? Do you think Laura did something to someone in particular recently?”

  Micah held up her head and looked directly at Jo. “I don’t know. I’m just saying she wasn’t liked as much as she thought she was. Sarah and I always told her she should tone it down some. She said what was on her mind, but she wasn’t the most sensitive person either. Anyways she had this way about her, people either really loved or hated her.”

  In her line of work Jo knew being mean and insensitive to the wrong person could cost one to lose her life. Sounded like Laura had that same brash attitude her father was known to have as well. Senator Finney had made quite a few of his own enemies. Jo had a sinking feeling that finding a suspect was going to be increasingly harder to do.

  Chapter 9

  Monday, August 24 at 3:05 pm

  Jo scribbled down notes as Reece strolled in the office. She looked up to watch as the young woman approached. Reece stared back at Jo as though to challenge why she was asked to come. The young woman sat and placed her hands together in her lap.

  Jo noticed Reece’s fingers were all adorned with a variety of silver rings and black nail polish. Out of the three girls, Reece did seem the least likely to be friends with Laura. She hoped Reece would spill a little more about Laura Finney than the other two young women.

  “Reece, thanks for your time. Tell us, how did you know Laura?”

  “I have known Laura since elementary school, I guess. We were best friends back then. Laura, Sarah and me.”

  Jo raised an eyebrow. “Were you not still friends?”

  Reece stared. “Laura and I haven’t been friendly for a few years, most of high school. We hung out with different crowds.”

  “But you have become friends recently?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. Sarah and I have always been cool. I was not trying to be Laura’s BFF. I didn’t trust her. And I knew she was suddenly being friendly with me to protect herself.”

  Jo leaned forward. “What would make Laura want to protect herself?”

  Reece smirked. “She didn’t want her boyfriend…oh, I mean, fiancé to know she was seeing someone else.”

  Pete had remained quiet giving his thoughts in between questioning the other young women. He stood from behind the desk and walked closer to Reece, “Sounds more like you had something over Laura’s head. Were you blackmailing her or something?”

  Reece rolled her eyes. “Now why would I do that?”

  Jo cleared her throat to get Pete’s attention. She didn’t want Pete antagonizing the young woman. They needed to know what else Reece knew. He turned and looked at her, but remained standing with his arms crossed.

  Great, going Pete! Jo took a breath and turned to Reece. “Who was the guy?”

  Reece peered up at Pete as if she wanted to run. “I don’t know.”

  “Reece, look at me. I’m assuming you saw Laura with someone that was clearly not her fiancé. What did he look like? Keep in mind, we are investigating Laura’s murder. So if you know something, tell us.”

  Reece’s stoic face faltered, but she composed herself. She glared at Jo. “Earlier this summer I saw her at the club where I bartend. She was with a guy I had never seen before. He seemed older, maybe late twenties or even early thirties. He had dark hair, slim build. Not bad-looking. Laura was pretty tall and this guy was definitely taller because when I saw her, she was looking up at him laughing.”

  Jo noted the description matched the one Sarah gave them earlier. She needed more information. “Anything else?”

  Reece shook her head. “I saw her a few days later after that night at Starbucks and I asked her was she still with Matt Vaynor. I really didn’t care. I just wanted to see what she would say. She was so smug about herself.”

  “Anyway, you should have seen her looking all flustered when she showed me her engagement ring. It was a big beautiful diamond, but I know what I saw. So I asked about the guy. She played it off as if he was someone she just met that night, but I could tell she must have liked him because her cheeks turned red. That conversation must have bothered her because a week later I received an invite for the first time in years to the Finneys’ annual July 4th party. I haven’t been since I was in middle school.”

  That’s interesting. “Could you identify the man you saw Laura with? Did Laura share his name or where he worked?”

  Reece shook her head. “I definitely don’t know his name. It’s been about two months ago now. I may be able to and he may have been back to the club. I’m slinging out drinks from behind the bar all night, so I’m not always paying attention to people unless they’re regulars.”

  Pete asked, “Well, how do you know Laura was seeing him?”

  “I can’t confirm it was the same guy, but I overheard Laura and Sarah arguing the last time we were out. Sarah is Matt’s cousin. I could tell Sarah was upset. She told Laura if she didn’t stop seeing this guy she was going to tell Matt. I just assumed it was the same guy from the club earlier this summer. If it wasn’t the same guy, Laura was sneaking around seeing some man and Sarah wasn’t happy about it.”

  Jo asked, “How long ago was Laura’s argument with Sarah?”

  Reece looked thoughtful. “Maybe two weeks ago.”

  Jo made a note to talk to Sarah again. Someone had to have seen and known more about this elusive man. Next to Matt Vaynor, the mystery man in Laura’s life was a definite suspect.

&
nbsp; She looked at Reece’s hands and noticed she was twisting them.

  Jo took a breath. “Reece, you don’t need to be nervous. I just have one more question for you. Did Laura reach out to you on Tuesday?”

  Reece looked at them. Her cheeks grew red. “Yeah. I’m not sure why she contacted me. I was really getting tired of hanging with them. I did a few times just to see if Laura had changed any.”

  “Changed?”

  Reece sighed. “Like I said, I didn’t trust her. Laura liked to play jokes on people or she was one of those people who liked to spread rumors. It’s why we stopped being friends. She basically made people think I was some slut just because a guy she liked had asked me out. Laura was jealous and couldn’t believe that someone would even like me. I’m sorry something happened to her, but as far as I’m concerned Laura Finney still thought she was better than everyone else. She seemed to have gotten worse since she was in high school.”

  Just as Jo concluded when she first saw the young woman, Reece would have no problem telling what she really thought about Laura Finney. “What did Laura and you talk about when she called Tuesday?”

  “We didn’t really talk. She mainly left messages. She left a text message around three o’clock to say she wanted to meet later in the week. Like I said, I really didn’t want to hang out so I was glad she cancelled.”

  “You said messages. Did she contact you again?”

  Reece nodded. “It was a text message the second time too. Look.” Reece pulled out her phone and tapped on the screen a few times. She held her phone towards Jo. Jo stood and looked at Reece’s face first. Her face turned red again. She appeared embarrassed and shaken.

  Jo peered down at the phone. The text message read.

  HELP!

  At first Jo stared at the screen trying to comprehend. “Laura asked for help?”

  Reece stuttered. “I thought she was joking.”

  “Why did you think she was joking?” Jo snapped.