CHAPTER 31 - Molly

CHAPTER 31MollyTHURSDAY MORNING, I HEAD UP TO THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE. THE road is covered in a light layer of fresh snow as I follow Detectives Myers and Fuller, who are driving a police cruiser. Coming up over the rise, I see several sheriff’s cars lined up on the side of the road next to the house. It looks like more than routine, and I wonder if I should’ve contacted a lawyer. Corrine thought it would be a good idea. But we’re here now. If I’d said no, they would’ve probably gotten a warrant anyway. Besides, if this can clear up the necklace mystery and get the cops back on the trail of Jay’s murderer, maybe it will be helpful.Alice sits in the passenger’s seat, and Sadie pants from the back, her head between us. It took some convincing for Hayes to let Alice come with me, but she managed to put it in educational terms. How often does one have an opportunity to witness a police search? She swayed him, as she usually does, and I’m glad to have the company. With Alice to look after, I’ll be less likely to obsess about the house and think about Jay.The house looks bigger, more forbidding in the winter, standing among the drifts, snow lining the valleys of the roof. I shiver, remembering its original purpose. A place to rest between hunts, a respite where long-dead hunters could boast to one another and relive the moments of pursuit and kill over glasses of whiskey.Alice, Sadie, and I follow the detectives to the door, where they stand aside for me to unlock it. I want this over with as quickly and quietly as possible. The last thing I want is for the media to catch wind of it. That I couldn’t bear. And for the first time, I’m angry with Jay. How could he have let this happen to me? He was my rock. The only reason I’d had to hold on to something of a normal happy life. But now . . .“Mrs. Bradley?” Detective Myers says. “We need you to walk us through the house.”“Yes. Okay.” We stop in the mudroom, and I automatically remove my boots and hang my jacket on a peg. The house is chilly, but the others follow suit.“What do those go to?” Detective Myers asks, pointing at the key ring hanging on the wall.“The spare keys. We keep them there for guests.”“Which doors do they open?”“The front door, back door. The door to the deck. And the basement outside doors.”Detective Myers scribbles in her notebook.We tread down the hall, and I point to Jay’s den. They go inside the room and look around, then we proceed into the kitchen. After a brief inspection there, we step out into the large great room. The tall windows at the back of the house look over snow-covered mountains, and I momentarily lose myself in their beauty, before turning to the fireplace. It dominates the room and is made of local fieldstone and blackened by decades of use. When Jay first brought me here, there was a large deer head hanging over the mantel. He removed it and a collection of smaller heads from the den and other rooms, at my request, and they’re stored away in the attic.We wander through the downstairs. The detectives ask a question or two. Alice has a notebook out as well, making notations, of what I have no idea, but that’s Alice.“There are two bedrooms downstairs,” I say, “and two upstairs.”“Four in all then?” Detective Myers asks.“Yes.”“Where was everyone staying, Mrs. Bradley?”I lead her into the master bedroom first. “Jay and I were in here.” It’s the biggest room, has its own bath, and is the most private of all the bedrooms. We have our own fireplace and sitting area, so when you’re in here you hardly notice anyone else is around.The door to the summer porch is just beyond our room, and I point that out. “Alice and her dad slept out there. It was really hot that week.”The other bedroom on the first floor is on the other side of the house. “This is where the Westmores stayed,” I say. Detective Fuller walks the perimeter of the room, peers out the window that looks out on the back lawn. I watch Detective Myers write in her notebook, and I notice that she’s drawing as well.“Okay,” she says. “What about upstairs?”I lead them to the staircase that runs halfway up, opening to the great room before turning on a landing and continuing to the upper floor. “There are two bedrooms up here, with a shared bath between them. The Pearsons stayed in the room on the right, and the Ferrises were on the left.”“Any kids here that weekend?”“No. They were all with the grandparents. Well, except Alice.”“Convenient,” she says. “Where were Mr. Branch and his daughter staying?”“Downstairs,” Alice says, totally at ease in the adult conversation. “We slept on the summer porch.” Alice puts pencil to paper as if she’s an integral part of the proceedings.Detective Myers looks at her as though she’s just noticed her. “Hmmm. Okay.” She tips her head up and points to the panel on the ceiling. “Attic access?”“Yes.”“That where your husband would’ve had to go to get to that window?”“Yes.”Detective Fuller pulls the cord, and we all step aside as it creaks open and frigid air rushes out like a trapped demon. I wrap my arms around my stomach. Sadie pulls close to my side. Fuller swings the stairs down, and we’re practically pinned against the walls of the hallway.“Mind if Detective Fuller and I look around up there by ourselves?”I shake my head. “No. Be my guest. We’ll wait downstairs.”