Chapter 19
Sean wanted to speak to them separately, so he had Tim stay in the hallway while he shut the library door so he and Julie could speak privately.
The library walls were covered with tomes that towered from floor to ceiling.
Only the windows, packed tight with the snowfall from last night’s storm, were barren of books.
And while Sean had a sense of where this story was going, he wasn’t going to jump to conclusions.
But he wasn’t sure how much truth he would get from either of them.
When Sean showed Julie the shoe, she confirmed it belonged to her sister.
“She was wearing them last night,” Julie replied, and then, probably noticing the red smear for the first time, she grimaced. “Is that blood?”
Sean didn’t want to alarm the sister, but he didn’t want to get bogged down in what he’d found on the roof, either. “Do you know why she would have lost her shoe in the kitchen?” Sean asked. “Or why there might be blood on it?”
The sister stared at the heel with fear and confusion. “Oh, well, we did go back to the kitchen, just to get some food,” the sister replied. “We were drunk and hungry, and we thought, what the hell, you know?” She laughed. It was nervous, forced.
Sean remembered the butler, Stephen, mentioning that he’d delivered food to the girl’s room around eight thirty. “You were still hungry after the charcuterie board?” Sean asked.
Julie laughed nervously again. “Hey, it was a long night.”
“Why didn’t you mention that before?” Sean asked.
“I just… I had a lot on my mind,” she answered. “Because my sister was missing and I didn’t know what else to do, you know? I didn’t… I couldn’t…think. I still can’t.”
“What were you two talking about?” Sean asked.
“Nothing,” she answered.
“Didn’t sound like nothing,” Sean replied. “It looked like Tim was angry about something. You appeared angry, too.”
Julie straightened up. “It was a family matter about the wedding. That’s it. It didn’t have anything to do with my sister’s disappearance if that’s what you’re implying.”
“It was,” Sean said.
Julie clenched her fists, her left eye twitching in anger as she stepped closer to Sean. “Do you have a sister, Sheriff?”
“No,” Sean answered.
“It’s not a relationship that’s so easily broken,” She replied.
“It’s a bond, by blood, and it supersedes everything.
Every relationship. Every friend. Every boy.
Even if that boy is going to be a husband, there are secrets that only sisters have between one another.
And that’s not something I’m going to give up for you or anyone else.
I love my sister more than anyone on this earth, and if I find the person who took her before you do, then you better pray there’s something left of them for you to question or jail when I’m done. ”
Julie didn’t wait to be dismissed, and she turned to leave, but Sean wasn’t finished.
“One more thing,” Sean said. “I need your sister’s phone number.”
Julie turned. “Why?”
“I can try to ping her location, but that will only work if her phone is turned on,” Sean answered. “Either way, I need the number.”
Julie nodded, and Sean quickly jotted down the number she gave him.
“Thank you,” Sean said.
Julie lingered, not as eager to leave despite the earlier attempt at a walkout. “Is my sister alive?” she asked, and then quickly added, “I want the honest answer.”
Sean had been a cop long enough to know the victim’s family didn’t want honesty. They wanted the truth, wrapped up in a way that made it easier to swallow. “I don’t know,” Sean answered.
Julie looked neither happy nor relieved with the reply.
“You can send in Tim now,” Sean said.
Julie wrinkled her nose and then walked out, while Sean braced himself for what was certain to be a lively conversation with the best man, Tim.