Chapter 18
An hour later, they had acquired photos of Linette and Lloyd Mansfield at the ages of fifteen through eighteen from the yearbook archives of the Woodstock Union High School. Lloyd had a clear resemblance to Jessie’s photos of Adam and Marigold’s of Seth.
“I think we can safely say they’re all the same person,” said Tina as they walked across the pretty high school campus, where class had already ended for the day.
A few students were still hanging around, playing Hacky Sack or working on homework.
“We’re on the right track. I’m glad coming to Vermont wasn’t a waste of time. ”
“Of course it wasn’t,” said Jack. “I now have a lifetime supply of crafting supplies.”
“Ha ha. So this is Linette.” She angled her phone so they could both analyze the photo.
In high school, Linette had been a very pretty girl with lemony-blond hair.
Her eyes were a light dreamy blue, her skin free of acne.
The various yearbook photos tracked her growth.
At fifteen, she was awkward and a little chubby, but by eighteen she appeared more bubbly and sociable, though with the rounded cheeks of someone still growing.
One photo showed her posing with eight other girls on the crew team. In another, she was receiving her diploma with a big grin. She’d been voted “most likely to marry a billionaire” by her fellow students.
“I wonder if she did marry a billionaire,” Jack mused.
“Unlikely. They don’t grow on trees.”
“It would make it easier to find her. Just look up the Forbes One Hundred List and go through it one by one, see who they’re married to.”
“If she’s anything like her brother, she changed her name even before she got married. Possibly her appearance, too. She may not even be blond anymore.”
Jack thought that if he’d gone through what the Mansfield children had, he too might be anxious to transform into another person. “The stuff about Lloyd was interesting too. I mean, voted ‘most likely to bake you a cake’? What the does that mean?”
“It sounds to me like his fellow students thought he was a kind person. Either that or it was randomly generated, like they didn’t know exactly what to say about him.”
“I vote for the ‘kind’ option, given that he’s involved with Jessie.”
Tina patted his arm. “It’s got my vote too, for what that’s worth. Marigold did say that he was quite compassionate and versed in trauma responses, remember?”
Maybe Lloyd/Seth/Adam wasn’t a villain. Jack just hoped they’d get the chance to find out by actually locating him.
“Where now?” He checked the time as they reached his Audi.
It was getting close to five by now, and they still hadn’t decided where they were staying for the night.
“Do you want to go to Rutland and work on locating Kate’s schizophrenic stalker ex?
It’s possible that his children visit him. You never know.”
“Chances are we’d have to go tomorrow. We need to find out his name first, obviously. Visiting hours are probably over soon. In my experience, patients are more alert in the mornings.”
He slanted a curious glance her way. “You’ve had a lot of experience with mental patients?”
“It comes up.”
That was cryptic, but she showed no interest in pursuing the conversation further.
A moment later, she relented. “I once worked a case in which a patient was strangled to death. My assignment was to interview every patient on the same floor to see if they’d heard or seen anything.
I had to keep coming back, hoping to catch them at a good moment.
But it was worth it, because I did solve the case.
Turned out it was a seasonal fill-in staff member who snapped. ”
“Oh man. I can’t believe we’ve never done an episode like that. Can I—”
“Absolutely not,” she snapped. “I had a new respect for those patients when I was done. I’d hate to see them misrepresented.”
He decided not to argue with her implication that his show would misrepresent anyone. While he took a lot of pride in the depth of their research, in the end, Dark of Night was just entertainment. He started up the car. “Where now? Want to find us a hotel while I drive?”
A hand settled onto his thigh. He felt his muscles jump at the contact.
“I’m sorry. You know I love your show. I’ve even been accused of being obsessed with it. But—”
“I get it. It’s still a show and we don’t get everything right. I don’t disagree. You don’t have to apologize.”
But you can leave your hand on my thigh, he wanted to say, but didn’t.
She took it off.
He eased the Audi out of its parking spot. Might as well head to Rutland so they could be in the right town tomorrow morning.
“We should go to Rutland and find a place for the night,” she said, opening up her app again. “It’s the biggest nearby city, and it has a likely hospital. That’ll give us time to find out more about this man, like his name, for instance.”
He smiled, feeling no need to tell her he’d already come to the same conclusion. She was in charge of this investigation, after all.
Who would be in charge in bed—that might be a different story. The thought made his groin tighten almost painfully. He ignored it as he pulled onto the rural route that would eventually take them to the highway.
“Let’s go back to that part about you being obsessed with the show. Can you elaborate on that?”
Tina relaxed back in the passenger seat and stretched out her legs. “Well, five years in a row I dressed up as Denver Black while working the overnight shift on Halloween.”
“Ha.” He snorted. “I’m a Halloween costume. Life goal achieved.”
“I’ve seen every episode at least twice, the earlier seasons even more.”
“How’s the rewatch value?”
“Top notch.”
He decided to put her Dark of Night knowledge to the test. “Who killed the high school janitor in season one, episode five?”
“The art teacher. He’d accidentally thrown away her best work, and also caught her with a student.”
“Ding ding, you are correct. What was the murder weapon in the death of the investment firm CEO in season three?”
“Rabid dog. Come on, give me something tough.” She gave him a “bring it on” gesture straight out of The Matrix.
None of the women he’d dated over the past ten seasons had been this immersed in Dark of Night lore.
He hadn’t minded, since once he stepped off the set, he had other things to think about.
But Tina’s devotion to the show really touched him.
Too bad that fascination didn’t seem to extend to Jack Finnegan, the man behind the character.
“Okay…” He dug deep and recalled one of his favorite episodes of the entire series. “How many people did the beauty queen stalk in season four?”
“Trick question. It wasn’t her, it was her husband.”
“Yeah baby.” With one hand on the steering wheel, he held up the other for a high-five. “Nicely done. You just won yourself margarita number two.”
“I usually stop at one.”
He slid her a seductive, teasing glance. “The thing is, Detective Tina Chen, as far as I can tell, there’s nothing usual about you.”