Page 54 of One Night Years Ago

“Done.”

She brought out the wrench and placed it inside a large Ziploc bag somebody gave her.

Staring at the dark, rusty stains on the tool, there was no doubt in Hunter’s mind that they’d just found their murder weapon.

“Everybody out. We don’t need any more people traipsing all over the scene. I need to talk to Jake and Helen.”

Jake and Helen were both already outside the shed. Somebody must have warned them something was going down.

“This was in your shed,” Natalie said, showing them the wrench.

“We haven’t even been in that shed since we bought—” Helen said.

“Actually, I have,” Jake interrupted, looking at his fiancée. “I came looking for some hot glue. But I’ve never seen that before. What’s the problem? It’s just a wrench.” And then the investment banker answered his own question. “Fuck. You think it’s the murder weapon.”

“Does he need a lawyer, Natalie?” Helen asked, her expression going cold.

“I didn’t do anything, Helen. Why would I need a lawyer?”

Helen looked pointedly at Hunter.

Natalie shook her head tiredly. “I don’t want to ruin your engagement party, Helen, but a young woman is dead and another one is in the hospital. This may well be the murder weapon, so yes, I’m going to need to speak to anybody who’s had access to this shed.”

“That’s going to be a lot of people, Sheriff,” Helen said. “We’ve spent all week organizing this party. We’ve had caterers and decorators walking in at all hours, we had a photo shoot here last night, even the wedding party joined us.”

Chapter 22

Natalie

Natalie shook her head, which was a mistake. She had a killer headache, the kind that started right above the eyes and ended up wrapping itself all the way around the head.

Natalie looked at the pictures on the far wall of her office. Somewhere on that wall there must be something that could help them identify the killer.

She looked up from her desk as Rob’s blond mop appeared at her doorway.

“The wrench had two types of blood on it. Lanie’s and Felicia’s.”

“That’s it? No other DNA?”

“Just the girls’.”

The killer had left the wrench in that shed, maybe hoping it’d be found. Did he know Jake and Helen were hosting a party? How did he get access to the shed?

“Felicia was found on Wednesday. We’re looking for someone who had access to that shed between Wednesday and Saturday.”

Rob opened his little notepad. Natalie waited patiently, not even bothering to look at it. Rob’s writing was illegible to anybody other than him.

“Let’s see, that would be—” he stopped, looking dismayed. “That’d be half the town, Sheriff.”

“Did you get an exact list of who was there?”

Rob nodded and started rattling off names. “And those are just the people who had a legitimate reason to be there. Helen was quick to mention the shed isn’t locked, and they’re not even living at the property, so anybody could have snuck in at any time.”

“But it had to be somebody who knew they’d be hosting the party. It wouldn’t have made sense to choose that shed, otherwise.”

He’s laughing at us.

“Parents are scared. They’re calling to ask about all sorts of things, but what they really want to know is whether Sharp’s Cove is safe for their daughters.”