The Sleeping Beauty Killer

25

Laurie was stepping out of a taxi in front of Alex’s office when her cell phone rang. According to the screen, it was Jerry. She wasn’t surprised that he was still working. She picked up immediately.

“I’ve got bad news,” he said. “Mark Templeton, the former CFO of the Raleigh Foundation, finally called you back. He wanted to know what this was about, so Grace connected him to me. I told him about the show. I hope you don’t mind.”

The fact that Jerry had said he had bad news indicated that Templeton wouldn’t be participating. “Of course not, Jerry. I trust your judgment. I take it he’s a no?”

“Unfortunately.”

“That’s a little fishy,” Laurie said. “He was one of Hunter’s closest friends.” Maybe Casey was right about Hunter’s death being connected to his audit of the foundation.

“I didn’t want to raise the issue of the foundation’s finances without running it past you. I said we wanted to talk to him about that night at the gala. His rationale for declining had a certain logic. He says he loved his dear friend and eventually concluded from the evidence that Casey was guilty. As the head of a reputable nonprofit, he feels a responsibility not to get involved in whatever it is Casey has-quote-up her sleeve.”

“Okay, you made the right call by not pushing too hard.” She’d made the same decision by not asking Hunter’s brother about the foundation’s finances. Ryan could ask about it once they were in production. She was hopeful that by then, they’d know more about the reasons Templeton resigned his position.

In the meantime, they had other suspects to research. “I was just talking to Casey’s cousin Angela. She confirmed Casey’s claim that Jason Gardner tried getting Casey back after they broke up, even after she was engaged to Hunter.”

“Really? If even half of those nasty things he wrote about her in his book were true, you’d think he’d have run as quickly as he could in the opposite direction.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” The prosecution had tried to offer Jason as a witness at Casey’s trial, to testify that she was a jealous and volatile person. The judge ruled that the testimony was inadmissible “character evidence.” That didn’t stop Jason from writing a tell-all book that made Casey look like Lizzie Borden. “Let’s see what else we can find out about him.”

“Got it,” Jerry said. “Are you out for the rest of the day?”

“Yes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She needed to speak to Alex.