The Magic Of Halloween Night

Chapter 15

Thursday

The movie wrapped, and everyone headed home Wednesday as I’d hoped. I knew Cass was bummed that he hadn’t solved Robert’s murder, but it did seem as if someone with a grudge against Robert Harrison, the prior Foxtail Lake resident, and not Harrison Roberts, the movie star, had most likely killed Robert. Cass had talked to all the landowners who lived out along the old highway once again, but there wasn’t a single person who would admit to knowing anything. I supposed that most of the folks who lived out along that particular stretch of highway were quite a bit older than Robert was, so wouldn’t necessarily hold a grudge against him. If I had to guess, I would say that Evie knew something she was reluctant to share despite the fact that she couldn’t have killed Robert herself since she was in Cincinnati at the time of his death.

I went over the other residents who lived and worked the farms and ranches in the area. Most of the landowners were closer to Gracie’s age than Robert’s. Cass had been able to determine that the incoming calls to his phone on the afternoon he’d died had originated with a woman in town named Rose Milano. I didn’t know her well when we were in school, but I did remember that she’d been somewhat of a nerd like Robert, who was into computers, science, science fiction, and comic books. Cass had shared that he’d spoken to Rose, who told him that when she heard Robert was in town, she decided to try to set up a get-together. She’d called him a couple times, but he hadn’t answered. When he did finally answer, they talked for at least twenty minutes, during which time Robert shared that he and Bill had chatted over dinner about a girl they’d harassed when they’d all been in high school. He’d shared that Bill still felt bad over the pretty awful things they’d done to her and was considering the idea of looking her up and apologizing. According to Rose, Robert had thought that was a bad idea and had persuaded Bill to let sleeping dogs lie.

Cass had asked Rose about the identity of the girl Bill had wanted to apologize to, but she said she didn’t know. Rose told Cass that Robert had just referred to her as ‘this girl from high school.’

I’d had a meeting with Dex this morning after I dropped Paisley off at school. My plan was to turn in my final article along with the photos I’d taken and interviews I’d managed to arrange for the special edition, and then head over to talk to Cass about the weekend. I planned to take the next four days off since my column for next week was already written, which gave me time to really focus on both my family and my love life.

“Remember that I don’t need a ride after school,” Paisley said as I pulled into the driveway in front of the elementary school. “I have a final rehearsal, and then the drama teacher is going to bring in pizza for all the cast members. She wants us all to remain at the school, so no one is late.”

“Do you have your costume?” I asked after parking near the curb.

“It’s already here at the school. Gracie dropped it off yesterday. The play starts at six, but you should be here by five to get a good seat.”

I leaned over and kissed Paisley on the cheek. “I’ll be here. I promise.”

Her smile faded just a bit. “I’m sort of scared.”

I tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Don’t be. We’ve been practicing. You know all the lines backward and forward. If you get stuck, just look for me in the crowd, and I’ll send you all my positive energy.”

Her smile widened. “Okay. Don’t be late.”

“I won’t.”

I waved to Paisley and then pulled away from the curb. I’d called Dex earlier to let him know I’d be by after dropping Paisley off at school, and he’d assured me that he’d be there. I’d been much too busy to do much follow up with Gabby about his health, but on those occasions when I had spoken to her, she’d reported that he seemed to be doing better. I had to admit that when I’d spoken to him directly, he did seem more like his old self.

“Morning, Gabby,” I said after walking into the lobby of the small newspaper. “Is Dex here?”

“Not yet, but he did call to let me know he was running late and that you should wait.”

I sat down on a chair across from the receptionist.

“So has the movie wrapped?” she asked.

“It did. Yesterday.”

“Did you get to meet everyone?”

“Almost everyone,” I said. “Sloan Kingston was in and out. I never did get a chance to sit down and talk to him. I was able to have a very short conversation with Dirk Coven and a slightly longer conversation with Logan Underwood. Things got pretty crazy once Harrison’s body was found, and I wasn’t able to speak to anyone I hadn’t already spoken to by that point. Which I understood, since there was a lot of shuffling to figure out, and scenes had to be reshot so that others could be cut. It was a real madhouse.”

“Did they get everything fixed?”

“Mostly. I think the film crew and cast still have a lot of work to do in the studio once they get back to LA, but they managed to get the exterior shots they were after, as well as those taken in the lobby and other resort rooms. All in all, it was an interesting experience.”

“I’ll bet. I wish I could have made it out there, but it just didn’t work out.”

Dex walked in, apologized for being late, and asked me to follow him to his office. I gave him everything I had, and he thanked me for a job well done. We discussed the articles I’d written and submitted, and he’d asked me about Harrison’s death, which to this point, was still unsolved. Dex had grown up in Foxtail Lake the same as Cass and me, but he was older, so he wouldn’t necessarily have known Robert. He did have a few ideas relating to rocks that we might attempt to overturn, and I promised to share his thoughts with Cass.

“Before you go, I want to let you know that I’m going to be out of the office for a while,” he said.

“Oh? Are you going on vacation?”

“Actually, I’m having surgery. Brain surgery.”

“Oh, no. Why? What’s wrong?”

“I have a small tumor pressing on my brain. So far, other than some memory loss, it hasn’t done a lot of damage, but the potential is there for it to get a whole lot worse.”

“Oh, Dex. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

He nodded. “My father is going to take over the management of the newspaper while I’m out. He’s the one who built the paper, so there’s no question about his knowing what to do, but I’ve made some changes since I’ve been in charge that I’d prefer weren’t undone. If at all possible, maybe you can persuade him to leave things alone while I’m out.”

“I’ll do what I can,” I promised.

“I’ll be out until after the first of the year, so I need you to be sure to stay on top of all the holiday stuff. I’m not thrilled to have to undergo this dang surgery, but I’m even more afraid of having things get messed up and changed around while I’m gone.”

I placed my hand over his, which was resting on his desk. “I’ll do what I can to make sure things run exactly as you would have wanted.”

“Thank you. I knew I could count on you.”

“Do the others know?” I asked, thinking of the rest of the staff.

“Not yet, but I plan to fill everyone in. I wanted to talk to you first. Alone. I’m really counting on you to take a lead role while I’m out.”

Okay, no pressure there. Even though I was the most recent hire, I knew what Dex wanted, and I would do my best to provide that. I told him as much. We chatted for another hour, and then I left to head over to the florist to pick up some flowers for Paisley. I wanted to have them ready to offer to her after her big debut.

“Morning, Callie,” greeted Dawn Nickelson, the local florist. “What can I help you with today?”

“Paisley is making her acting debut tonight, and I wanted to have a small bouquet to give her after the play.

“I have just the thing.” She went to the refrigerated section and pulled out a gorgeous bouquet in all of Paisley’s favorite colors. It was very nice but not overdone.

“It’s perfect. Thank you. I’ll take it.”

“I heard you’ve been out at the movie set the past couple weeks,” Dawn said as she wrapped a purple ribbon around the bouquet.

“Yes. That’s right. They wrapped yesterday, but I spent a week and a half with the film crew and cast as they filmed various scenes. It was very interesting.”

“I bet it was. Did you have a chance to speak to the actors and actresses?”

“Most of them.”

She made a face. “Were they rude and self-involved?”

I shook my head. “No, quite the opposite actually. Most were very nice. Cooperative and even helpful.”

“Do you want to add a balloon? It’s just a dollar more.”

“No. Just the flowers.”

She wrapped colorful tissue paper over the bouquet and took it to the register to ring up. “I’ve never met a movie star. Well, except for Robert, of course, but that was back in high school when he put his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us.”

“I didn’t realize you knew Robert. He was ahead of you in school by a few years.”

She nodded. “He was. All of you were, but my sister, Darlene, was in Robert’s class, as was Darlene’s best friend, Amanda Timberlake.”

“I seem to remember that Amanda had a crush on Robert back in the day.”

“Oh, she sure did,” Dawn confirmed. “That girl had it bad for him. Not that I knew everything that went on, but Darlene and I shared a bedroom, and even though she was older than me, Mama had a rule that I could be on my bed whenever I wanted, and Darlene couldn’t kick me out. I sure took advantage of that rule, which was probably rude, but I was pretty nosy and wanted to know everything that was going on in everyone’s life.” She took a breath. “I remember that Darlene and Amanda would talk about Robert all the time.”

I’d forgotten about the crush Amanda had on Robert until Dawn mentioned it. “I do remember Amanda following Robert around.”

She shook her head. “Oh, she did. The way Amanda told it, she was going to find a way to marry that boy.”

“I guess that didn’t work out,” I said.

“No, it didn’t. Something happened senior year, and Darlene kicked me out of the room despite our mom’s rule, so I couldn’t hear everything that was said, but Amanda came over and was completely hysterical, so Darlene insisted that rules didn’t count in that situation.”

“Did you ever find out what she was so upset about?”

“Not all of it, but I did hear Amanda saying something about Robert and wanting to die. She really was hysterical. I mean totally unhinged. I really worried that she was going to take her daddy’s gun to her own head, but Darlene managed to talk her down.”

Now that Dawn had brought it up, I did remember something about a scandal involving Amanda.

“In the end, Amanda talked her parents into letting her go and live with an aunt for the last few months of her senior year,” Dawn added.

“I remember that Amanda was gone at the end of the year. I’m not sure I stopped to wonder why.” And then it all fell into place. “Amanda was the girl in the shower!”

Dawn nodded. “Everything was kept hush-hush at first, but Darlene told me later that Robert and some of his friends had taken a video of Amanda in the shower of the girl’s locker room at school. They had shots, which included full-frontal nudity, which they posted on the school’s website. Darlene told me that Amanda was truly traumatized by the experience.”

“Well, I would guess so. Why would Robert do that?”

Dawn shrugged. “I can’t say for sure, but I do remember Amanda following Robert around all the time before the shower incident. She was always watching him and making up excuses to be near him. A lot of people saw her taking photos of him. Basically, she was stalking him. I guess Robert wanted to find a way to get rid of her, and based on the fact she left after the video was posted and didn’t come back until after he left for LA, I’d say he succeeded. That’ll be twelve dollars.”

I handed her the money. “I haven’t seen Amanda in ages. Does she still live in the area?”

“Sure. She lives out on the family farm. She rarely comes into town, though. I think the whole thing with Robert really damaged her.” She handed me my change. “It’s been a long time, but I suppose something like that would stick with you.”

“Yes, I suppose it might.” I smiled. “Thanks for the flowers. They’re perfect. Will you be at the play tonight?”

“I’ll be there.”

After I left the flower shop, I called Cass. His phone went to voicemail, so I left a message saying that I had a new suspect in Robert’s murder. I told him that I was heading out to the Timberlake Farm and that he should call me as soon as he got this message. As I drove out toward the area serviced by the old highway, I thought about the fact that Amanda had been so obsessed with Robert. Based on what I could remember, it seemed like he’d tried to be nice in the beginning, politely asking her to stop following him everywhere he went, but as time went by and she didn’t stop, his anger had grown.

“Hey, Cass,” I said through the Bluetooth in my car when he returned my call. “Did you get my message?”

“I did. Do you think Amanda Timberlake shot Robert?”

“I think she might have. I was in town buying flowers for Paisley, and Dawn Nickelson told me that it was Robert and his friends who shot and posted that video of Amanda Timberlake in the shower back when she was a senior.”

Cass was quiet for a moment. “I remember that. I saw the video. It was very intimate and very invasive.”

“I’m sure it must have been very traumatic for Amanda. She was totally in love with Robert, to the point of obsession, and then to have him do that to her had to be devastating. Dawn seemed to think the experience totally destroyed her.”

“Yeah, I imagine it would.”

“It occurred to me that the wound had been festering for years, and then when Robert showed up in town as Harrison, a somewhat famous actor, I can see how that might set Amanda off even after all these years. When you stopped by the Timberlake Farm, were you able to talk to Amanda?”

“No. Her father was the only one there. I asked the same questions I’d asked everyone else in the area. Had he seen anything? Heard anything? That sort of thing. Where are you now?”

“On my way to talk to Amanda.”

“Pull over and wait for me. I don’t want you to go there alone. I’ll head your way right now.”

“Okay. I’m pulling into that dirt lot just before the bridge.”

By the time Cass arrived, I’d had time to go over things in my mind several times. It all made sense. Bill was a nice guy who’d done a bad thing by helping Robert in high school, but he hadn’t been the one Amanda had loved, so maybe she didn’t feel the same sense of betrayal toward him that she felt toward Robert. As long as Robert stayed away, Amanda was able to go on with her life, probably rarely stopping to think about him, but then he comes back, and all the feelings she’d buried came rushing back. Based on the phone conversation Jeri overheard, it sounded as if Bill had been feeling guilty before his death and wanted to apologize to her for his part in the whole thing. I wondered if he ever had. If he had visited her, and if during that visit, he’d brought up the worst thing that had ever happened to her, might that have served as the catalyst that had set her off.

Cass pulled up next to me. We decided to leave my car in the dirt lot and take his truck out to the Timberlake Farm. I hadn’t called ahead, so I didn’t know if Amanda would be there, but it seemed like this particular conversation might be one we wouldn’t want to warn her about.

“I need you to wait here,” Cass said after we parked in front of the main house at the Timberlake Farm.

“But…”

“No buts. This could be dangerous. I really have no idea what I might be walking into. I don’t need to have the added worry of your safety to distract me.”

Man, I hated it when he got all macho on me, but I supposed he was the cop, and I was the sidekick, so I agreed to wait. I watched with a knot in my gut as Cass walked up to the door. He knocked and then waited. After a minute, Mr. Timberlake answered the door. He must have invited Cass in because Cass disappeared from the front step. I figured he might be a while, so I took out my phone, answered some emails, checked my social media accounts, and was on the verge of logging onto a Sudoku game when Amanda snuck out from around the back of the house and approached the truck. I rolled down my window and waved at her. I thought Cass had gone inside to talk to Amanda, but maybe he’d been talking to her dad this whole time. Cass had wanted me to wait out of harm’s way, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to do when Amanda slipped into the driver’s side seat, closing the door behind her.

“Amanda. How are you?” I asked.

“Cass is in trouble. You need to call for help.”

“Trouble?” I asked.

“My dad. He killed Robert, and now he’s threatening to kill Cass. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. You need to call for backup.”

“Okay.” I grabbed my phone and called the station. When Rafe answered, I told him what was going on, and he told me to sit tight. After I hung up, I turned and looked at Amanda. “Your dad killed Robert?”

She nodded. “Shot him clean in the back. I tried to stop him. I begged him to let him go, but when he saw him here, he just went crazy. He grabbed his rifle, and when Robert took off running, Daddy went after him, yelling the whole time about how he’d ruined his baby’s life.”

“Robert came here?”

She nodded. “To apologize for what he did back in high school. I hated him. I mean, really hated him. And he did ruin my life, but I didn’t want him to be dead. I told Daddy to let him go,” she said again. “This whole thing is my fault. I shouldn’t have let things get to me the way I did. I should have tried harder to get over it, but I was just so mad and hurt. I wanted to get past it, but at the same time, I wanted to hold onto it.” She looked me straight in the eye. “Does that make any sense?”

“Sure,” I said. “I guess. Sometimes, hanging onto anger is the easiest thing to do.” I thought about the fact that I’d held onto the anger I’d felt after my accident for a lot longer than I should have. “Do you really think your dad will shoot Cass?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. I like Cass. I’ve always liked Cass. I know Daddy likes him as well, so maybe it will be okay. When Cass showed up asking to see me about Robert’s death, instead of coming up to my room and letting me know Cass was here, Daddy went for his rifle.”

I looked at the house. “So, what’s going on now?”

“They’re just talking. Cass is sitting on the sofa, and Daddy is in his chair. His rifle is resting across his legs. He’s not pointing it at him or anything, but the threat is obvious.”

“And Cass’s gun?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see it. If he has it, hopefully, he’ll leave it where it is, so he won’t give Daddy a reason to shoot him.”

“Yeah, no reason,” I whispered. I turned to face Amanda. “I’m sorry about what happened to you in high school. It wasn’t right what Robert and his friends did.”

She nodded. “I loved him. I wanted to marry him. But then he took something from me that I was sure I could never get back. My confidence. My dignity. My ability to look my peers in the eye.”

“It must have been awful.”

“It was.” She sobbed. “I was so devastated. And embarrassed. My classmates saw that video. My teachers saw it. Even my parents saw it. I really wanted to die. I might have if not for friends who helped me through it.”

I got out of the truck as Rafe pulled into the drive. Amanda followed me as I walked to his car to talk to him. Amanda felt it would be best if she and Rafe went in together. Rafe had a gun, which he drew before he entered the house. Amanda willingly volunteered to act as a shield of sorts by going in first with Rafe following behind. Rafe wanted me to wait in Cass’s truck. I wanted to argue, but he was stressed enough, so I complied. Nothing happened for a good fifteen minutes, but eventually, Cass walked out with Mr. Timberlake in handcuffs. Poor Amanda was standing on the porch, crying inconsolably as Rafe and Cass spoke off to the side once Mr. Timberlake had been helped into Rafe’s car. I got out of Cass’s truck and headed toward her. I wrapped my arms around the poor girl, trying to share my strength, but knowing that nothing I could do would really help. In his effort to find justice for what had been done to his daughter, Mr. Timberlake ruined any sense of security the girl might have gained over the years in much the same way Robert had stolen it from her all those years ago.