The Sleeping Beauty Killer

59

It was late afternoon, but Laurie decided she had to try to interview Sean Murray. She had his address and went downstairs and hailed a cab. I might have more luck face-to-face than I would on a phone call, she thought.

Sean’s Brooklyn Heights brownstone was on a quiet, tree-lined street, where children could ride their bikes on the sidewalk toward Prospect Park, and small purebred dogs roamed free on the occasional fenced front lawn. Laurie had thought many times about moving to give Timmy a larger home and more open space, but he loved his school and his friends and seemed perfectly content in their apartment on the Upper East Side.

From the front stoop, she heard the thunder of rapid footsteps inside the brownstone in response to the doorbell. “Daaa-aaad,” a young voice called out. “There’s a grown-up at the door. Should I get it?”

A deeper voice gave a response she couldn’t make out, and soon she was looking at Sean Murray, the man who had been dating Angela when Hunter was killed. She recognized him from a few of the photographs Casey had provided for a montage. She could tell that Sean recognized her name when she introduced herself. “I wanted to talk to you again about the possibility of helping with our program.” She lowered her voice. “As it turns out, Angela won’t be participating in the show. I thought that might change the dynamics.”

He stepped back so she could enter and walked her into a sitting room at the front of the house. She could hear children’s voices and the sound of a television from upstairs. Sean took a seat in the wing chair across from her.

“I know you weren’t sure how your wife would feel about the show,” Laurie said. “Perhaps we should meet somewhere else?”

Sean let out a small laugh. “I felt silly the second I said my wife would mind. Jenna doesn’t have a jealous bone in her body-”

“Then why did you say it was about Jenna?”

“Because I’m a terrible liar,” he said, laughing again.

“You just didn’t want to talk to me,” she surmised. She started to pick up her briefcase, assuming the trip had been futile.

He held up a hand to stop her. “It’s not that. It’s-Oh, I may as well tell you. Angela asked me to find a reason not to sign on.”

Unbelievable, Laurie thought. Angela had made it clear she had concerns about Casey’s decision to go on Under Suspicion, but now it turned out that she had been actively undermining them.

“Is that because Angela has always believed Casey was guilty?”

Sean’s eyes widened. “Absolutely not,” he insisted. “Personally, I think Casey did it, but I can’t know for sure. But Angela?” He shook his head. “She was a fierce advocate for Casey. Supporting Casey brought out the best in her.”

“How so?” Laurie asked.

“I have no idea what Angela’s like today, but back then, her whole identity was wrapped up in being a model. But she was losing work, always to younger women. She started to live in the past, as if her best days were behind her. It wasn’t easy. Angela could be vain-and bitter. But she was completely unselfish after Hunter was killed. She told anyone who would listen that her cousin was innocent. It was almost like being Casey’s most loyal supporter became her new identity.”

“So why didn’t she want you to talk to the show?”

Laurie could tell that Sean was on the fence about revealing a private conversation. “Fine, I’m telling you, because it’s for her own good. She and Casey are practically sisters. They shouldn’t have secrets between them. Angela didn’t want me talking to you because she never told Casey that she was in love with Hunter.”

“She was in love with him? She and Casey both told me that it was just a couple of dates. They even joked about it.”

“Trust me, I heard that comedy routine, too. No, it was definitely more than that. Casey was so concerned with all those high-society women swooning over Hunter that she never noticed the way her own cousin looked at him. But I did. One day, I caught Angela staring dreamily at his picture in the newspaper, so I confronted her, point-blank: ‘Do you have feelings for your cousin’s fiancé?’ She tried denying it initially, but when I told her that I couldn’t continue a relationship with her if she wasn’t honest with me, she came clean. She said that at one point she had really loved him. She made me promise never to tell Casey.”

“You stayed with her, even after she lied to you?”

“Well, she didn’t lie so much as not tell me the whole truth.” Laurie couldn’t help but think about her own bump in the road with Alex-or was it the end of the road? She forced herself to focus on Sean as he continued to explain. “Ironically, knowing about Angela’s past relationship with Hunter made me feel closer to her. Her love for Casey was stronger than anything she ever felt for Hunter. She wanted Casey to be happy and didn’t want to do anything to cause a problem in her marriage. I admired her selflessness. But I can’t believe she’s still hiding this from Casey after all these years. Why does it matter anymore? If anything, it shows how much Casey meant to her. But once she told me, it felt like a wall came down between us.”

Laurie pushed away thoughts about her own wall, the one between her and Alex. The one she couldn’t seem to drop.

“So why did you break up?”

“Because being a little closer isn’t the same as true love. I think Angela really did try to love me, but I wasn’t him.”

“Hunter, you mean.”

He nodded. “I felt horrible when he was killed. To be honest, I used to wish something bad would happen to him, knowing Angela was still carrying a torch for him. I hoped she’d finally be over Hunter and let me into her heart after he was killed. But then one night I was going through her hallway closet, searching for a replacement bulb for her dining room light. I found a box she had kept from her time with Hunter-like a ‘memory box’ or something. I gave her an ultimatum. I told her she needed to get rid of it if we were going to stay together. She became enraged. I’d never seen her like that before. It scared me, frankly. She taunted me and said that I’d never be as good a man as Hunter.”

Laurie could tell that the words still stung all these years later.

“That was the end of our relationship. You just can’t get past that.”

No, Laurie thought. There are some things you can’t get past. She hoped that wasn’t the case with Alex.

“It worked out fine, though,” Sean said, his voice becoming cheerful. “Met the real thing two years later. I can’t imagine life without Jenna and the kids.”

Sean’s description of Angela was at complete odds with the impression she’d given Laurie. What she described as a few casual dates with Hunter had obviously meant much more than she’d let on. If the relationship had ever been serious, certainly Hunter would have mentioned it to Casey. And neither Hunter’s father nor his brother mentioned Hunter ever dating Casey’s cousin. Instead, it had been a running joke that Hunter and Angela would have made a terrible couple.

But maybe Angela hadn’t agreed. Maybe she was faking the laughter, while she kept a memory box devoted to Hunter in her closet. Laurie pictured Angela, short on modeling work and with no other career plans-removing the contents when she was alone, sitting on her bed and dreaming about a reality where Hunter Raleigh III had chosen her instead of her younger cousin.

“Sean, that box you found. Did it happen to contain a picture of Hunter with the President?”

He smiled. “You guys are good. How did you find out about that picture?”