Chapter 24 #2
“Maybe it’s just easier to put more of the blame on Tara, since she’s not here now.
” The answer sounded sincere enough. Was it the response of a therapist who understood the way grief worked?
Or the reply of a killer who’d eliminated the source of her anger?
“Either way,” she continued a moment later, “Losing Tara took some of the edge off my resentment.”
Was that practically a confession?
Jordyn’s thoughts were too scrambled to decide. Instead, she focused on her need to search the garage and hoped she could convince Kaitlin to leave the room for at least a minute or two so Jordyn could do some serious spying.
“But I seem to recall you said Sophie’s party would be a horror show.
Is that because of a beef with the hostess or does it have more to do with the fact that we’re dressing up as crazy characters in a murder mystery game?
” Finishing the pumpkin bread that had definitely been too dry, Jordyn set aside her plate.
“I will admit being wildly curious what everyone else is wearing after reading my character description.”
Kaitlin grinned. “Didn’t you see the note in that email that expressly forbid us from telling one another who we are dressing up as?”
“How can that rule possibly apply to the superintimidated new girl?” she pressed, needing Kaitlin to leave the room. “Did I mention that seeing your outfit was my not-so-secret reason for baking extra today?”
“All right. I give in.” Laughing, Kaitlin set the empty dishes in the sink and then backed toward the stairs leading to the second level. Nala got up to follow her. “I’ll go grab my costume. Come on, Nala.”
As soon as Kaitlin disappeared up the steps, Jordyn dashed to the door on the opposite side of the kitchen that had to lead to the area where the cars were parked.
Opening it, she passed briefly into a laundry area before reaching a heavier steel door.
That one led into a neatly organized two-bay garage.
The closer bay held a white Lexus coupe that definitely wasn’t what she was looking for.
But the second space was filled by a much bigger vehicle hidden under a silver custom car cover.
It was definitely the correct size.
Sprinting across the painted cement floor, Jordyn reached the nose of the tarped machine and lifted the canvas. Revealing the grill of a metallic black Range Rover Sport.
A luxury SUV.
What was more surprising was the obvious front-end damage. From the cracked right headlight to the dented fender and shattered front bumper, it was evident the vehicle had been in an accident.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Omigod,” she whispered to herself, hardly able to believe it.
Seeing it with her own eyes sent a wave of nausea through her so fierce she doubled over from it. The car cover fell from her fingers. Had this been the point of impact that killed her friend?
“Jordyn?” Kaitlin’s voice called from the kitchen.
Fear of discovery steadied her churning gut a little bit. She would never get justice for her friend if she couldn’t engage in better detective work than this.
Quickly, she withdrew her phone and snapped a photo of the damage before racing back to the laundry room.
Kaitlin stood near the island, brow furrowed. She had a bundle of green fabric draped over one arm. Nala stood beside her, tail wagging, looking decidedly less judgmental.
“Sorry! I thought I heard someone knocking on the exterior door, but I got confused where I came in.” Jordyn smacked her head with the heel of her hand. “I must be losing my marbles. But is this your costume?”
Frowning, Kaitlin moved to shut the door to the laundry room. “Yeah, that’s definitely not where you entered.”
Her voice was so monotone—so off—that it sent a tremor of fear through Jordyn.
If Kaitlin was the killer, what was to stop her from silencing Jordyn?
Did she realize that Jordyn had just found evidence that made Kaitlin look guilty as hell?
The reality of the danger she’d put herself in hammered home.
They were all alone in the house except for Nala.
Unsticking her dry lips with a swipe of her tongue, she forced herself to speak.
“So I discovered. It was probably just one of those annoying people trying to sell solar panels for your roof or something,” Jordyn rambled, knowing her face must be pink. She couldn’t believe she’d just found a vehicle with front-end damage in Kaitlin’s garage.
With the correct color paint.
“Maybe so,” Kaitlin conceded, even though she continued to stare at Jordyn oddly. “But this is what I’m wearing tomorrow. Run-of-the-mill doctor scrubs.”
Relieved that Kaitlin seemed willing to change the topic, Jordyn gladly followed her conversational lead.
“Oh you got a much cooler character than me. I’m supposed to be a nerdy scientist, so I got some coke-bottle-type glasses and a lab coat, but I have no idea what else to do.
” She felt like her heart pumped so loudly it must be audible as she plotted a quick escape now that she had the information she’d come here for.
“You should bring some Jell-O shots with you and pass them out, kind of like a Dr. Feelgood thing.”
The longer she stood here, the more scared she grew. The weirder things she was certain to say. She needed to get out.
Now.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Kaitlin admitted. “We’ll probably need some levity while we solve a two-hour murder mystery. Did you catch that on the game notes? Game play is two to three hours?”
“I did.” Jordyn had studied all of it at length, wondering if somehow Sophie Durand was using the game to reveal another murderer.
Just how much did Sophie know about her friends?
“But I’m going to run home and see if I can find anything else to add to my outfit.
I’m a little more pumped up to go to my first book club now that we’ve talked. ”
She tried to smile as she backed up toward the foyer, where she remembered perfectly well she had entered the house.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night then.” Kaitlin dumped the hospital scrubs on the kitchen island before walking with Jordyn to the front door. “Thanks for the bread and the visit.”
Jordyn smiled inanely, her brain stripped of sensible speech. Unable to think of anything beyond her fear that Kaitlin was a killer. She gave Kaitlin a goofy wave and made a quick exit.
Relief shot through her as the door of the house closed behind her. She wanted to look at that photo again, to see if a more careful study would show evidence the damage had been caused by hitting a person.
The moment she was safely in her car, she called Natalie and asked to meet her later this afternoon.
She wanted to bounce her new theory off the PI before tomorrow night.
Of course, Jordyn first wanted to find the other vehicles belonging to Luke and the Chamoun family before she made up her mind about who killed Tara.
As she backed out of the driveway, she saw a curtain flutter at the window, as if Kaitlin Teal was still watching her. A chill went through her. Reminding her that she’d been lucky to escape in one piece. Because right now, it sure looked like Kaitlin was guilty as sin.