CHAPTER 36 - Rita

CHAPTER 36RitaIDIDN’T GET HOME UNTIL MIDNIGHT LAST NIGHT, AND THEN I COULDN’T sleep. It had been a busy day, full of revelations and just plain hard work. After tossing and turning for an hour, worrying about not getting enough rest to tackle a busy day today, I got up and ran a hot bath. I threw in one of those bath bombs that foam up and smell nice. André and Collin gave me a huge basket of expensive bath products for Christmas, and I figured I might as well start using some of the stuff. I sank into the tub with a glass of wine, had the Moody Blues playing softly on my phone in the corner. After methodically working through what I think happened at the mountain house and a good soak, I finally felt sleepy and went back to bed.I woke up with the sunrise, swung by Dunkin’ for a large coffee, and met the chief as I was walking into the station. It’s early yet, and not everybody’s in. Lauren is here, of course, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I don’t think she ever goes home. Her latest boyfriend just broke up with her, and she doesn’t seem to understand why they never hang around for more than a month or two. But working 24/7 will do that, as I well know. My own romantic life is nothing to write home about.The chief has rounded up the team, or at least everybody who’s here, and we head to the conference room. This is my show, so I walk to the whiteboard, set my notes on the table. I run through everything we discovered yesterday at the Bradleys’ mountain house.When I finish, I ask Lauren to follow me to my office. Just as we’re getting settled, Chase arrives, coffee in hand. Lauren has already taken the chair, so Chase moves my dead philodendron from a low filing cabinet and sits there.“What are you thinking, Rita?” Lauren asks.I draw a deep breath. “If the blood turns out to be Ms. Robb’s, she was probably killed there in the basement, and the killer missed the blood under the table, and he may have missed the necklace too when he cleaned up. When Dr. Bradley went to return his tools, he dropped the box of nails. When he bent down to pick it up, he found the necklace, so I think either Dr. Bradley is the killer and needed to remove the necklace from the scene, or he’s not the killer, but knows about the missing woman because the sheriff called him when it happened last summer. He brings the necklace back to Graybridge and locks it in his filing cabinet. But then who killed him? They were obviously looking for something in the office. If it was the necklace, how did the perp know it was in there unless Dr. Bradley told him? One way or another, Dr. Bradley knew Ms. Robb was missing. He would’ve deduced that the necklace was probably hers. Either he killed her, or he knew who did and let the killer know he had the necklace in the office.”Chase clears his throat. “If the doctor was innocent, why wouldn’t he call the police when he found the necklace?”“Think. If the necklace was found inside his house, and he had guests there the night Annalise disappeared, who could the murderer be?”I lean back in my chair, prop up my feet.“Dr. Bradley,” I say, “didn’t call the police because he knew who the murderer was. It could only be someone who was in that house the night of July Fourth.”Lauren’s mouth pops open. “It was one of his friends.”I pick up a legal pad and list their names: Dr. Bradley, Mrs. Bradley, Elise Westmore, Scott Westmore, Cal Ferris, Laken Ferris, Josh Pearson, Kim Pearson, Hayes Branch, Alice Branch. “It all depends on the blood belonging to Ms. Robb, but if it does, I believe one of these people killed her.” I drop my pen and pad on the desk. “When Dr. Bradley found the necklace, he put two and two together. He probably didn’t see the blood. He would’ve had to get down on the floor and use a flashlight. Annalise was only missing at that point. I think he figured out one of his friends was involved, and when the doctor confronted him, he killed the doctor.” I take a deep breath. “Who can I eliminate?”“Alice,” Lauren says.I draw a line through her name. “Okay, it’s highly unlikely an eleven-year-old was involved in a double homicide. Anybody else?”“It could be any one of them,” Chase says.“No.” Lauren leans forward. “I don’t think it was any of the women. Women don’t usually kill women they don’t know. It’s highly unlikely that one of them killed and buried Ms. Robb.”I draw a line through their names. “I agree. Possible, but not likely.”“What if it’s just animal blood under the table?” Chase asks. “What if he found the necklace out on the road maybe?”“Then we’re back to square one. But why wouldn’t he have taken it straight to the sheriff? Why keep it if not to protect somebody?”