Out for Blond Read online

  There was more trash on the floor back there, more plastic bags and fast food residue. I pushed it aside with my foot.

  And I saw a glint of something shiny.

  Hmm.

  I looked closer. What the heck was that?

  I spied the shiny thing, and could see that it was a chain to jewelry of some kind. I reached down and picked it up. A necklace.

  Wait. I’d seen this necklace before. The pendant was a tiny silver squirrel. It was in the picture of Tess that I’d seen back at the beginning of the case.

  Tess had been in the back seat of this car.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Ms. Stern?” called a voice.

  I was busy taking photographs of the necklace in the car. I’d leave it there, not take it with me, because the police would need to sweep the whole car for evidence. They might find some DNA, further linking Tess to the car, and possibly even tying Jagger to the scene as well. Now that I had some hard proof, I’d turn this over to them to make arrests.

  I poked my head out of the backseat. Jagger was making his way over to me.

  I got out of the car. “Hi, there.”

  “I heard you were looking for me,” he said, giving me an easy grin.

  I squared my shoulders, holding my phone out in front of me. I shoved the picture of the necklace in his face. “You see that?”

  He squinted. “Um, kind of. Is it a necklace?”

  “You know who that necklace belonged to? Tess Carver.”

  “Okay,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. Sorry.”

  “It was in the backseat of this car.” I raised my eyebrows.

  “It was?” He looked confused. “Who’s car is that?”

  “Don’t play games with me.” I shoved my phone into my pocket. “You know whose car this is. You borrowed it the night that Tess was murdered.”

  “No,” said Jagger. “I didn’t. I’ve never borrowed this car. Why would I do that? I have my own car.” He pointed at a Jeep Cherokee, shiny and well cared for, on the other side of the barn.

  I looked at the jeep. Then I looked back at him. Was he lying to me?

  “I was with Gunner—”

  “Gunner already admitted to me that he asked you to lie for him,” I said. “So, you can drop that.”

  His shoulders slumped. “All right, fine, then. I wasn’t with Gunner.”

  “So, do you have an actual alibi for that night?”

  “Ms. Stern, I would never—I could never—”

  “Do you have an alibi or not?”

  He fidgeted. “Well, if I tell you this, can you promise that you won’t tell anyone, because it could end up sticky for the person who was with me.”

  I folded my arms over my chest.

  “See, Laura Hopper and I, well, we been seeing each other. And I know that everyone else on the farm thinks it’s no big deal to have sex with whoever whenever. So even if Laura and I were together, that wouldn’t mean that someone couldn’t also be with Laura. Say, like, Gunner.” He made a face. “But, well, Laura and I, we just don’t want it to be like that. We don’t want there to be anyone except each other, and while that should be okay with everyone, there are certain people who might have, well, been denied by Laura, who then might be sort of annoyed about it, and if you tell, then it won’t go easy for her.”

  “By certain people, you mean Gunner?”

  He studied his fingernails.

  “So, you were with Laura?” I said. “And she’ll confirm that?”

  “You can’t tell her I told you!”

  I pursed my lips. “Isn’t Laura a little old for you?”

  “I happen to like my women a little mature,” he said. “Besides, it’s only a five-year difference. It might seem like a lot now, but when she’s thirty and I’m twenty-five, it’ll be nothing.”

  “Actually—”

  “We’re in love,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what age we are.”

  I sighed.

  * * *

  On my way to find Laura to see if I could get her to confirm this story, my phone rang. It was still early, so I was surprised to see that it was Brigit.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” I said.

  “You’re awake?” she said. “I was really worried I was going to wake you.”

  Why was everyone doing that today? “I’m awake. I’m out on the farm following up some leads.”

  “Leads? I thought we were done with the case.”

  “We were.” I sighed. As quickly as possible, I relayed all the information that I’d gotten this morning. “So, anyway,” I finished up, “I’m going to go talk to Laura to see if she’ll confirm what Jagger says.”

  “Oh, wow,” said Brigit. “That’s absolutely insane.”

  “Why were you calling?” I said.

  “Oh, it doesn’t matter now.”

  “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”

  “I was calling because I wanted to come out to the farm and say goodbye to Stella. I know that she really liked me, and I felt bad that I wouldn’t be seeing her anymore. But now it sounds like we’re back to square one, not knowing anything about the case at all. I mean, if this thing with Laura and Jagger pans out, we’re back to not having any leads.”

  I groaned. Trust Brigit to find the downside of this entire morning. All I wanted was to be with Miles right now, possibly having a very leisurely breakfast, both of us wearing pajamas. But instead I was traipsing all over creation trying to solve this stupid murder.

  Well, one thing was for sure. It definitely wasn’t Gunner. That meant that the murderer did need to be brought to justice. I guess that made me feel better, all things considered.

  “Anyway, I think I’ll come out,” said Brigit. “I can talk to Stella about what she said to you. Are you sure she said she lent her car to Jagger?”

  “Positive,” I said.

  “Well, maybe she was confused about it,” said Brigit. “Maybe she meant someone else and told us the wrong name.”

  “Or maybe Jagger’s lying through his teeth,” I said. “I better go find Laura and see if I can get her to confirm the story or not.”

  “Wait,” said Brigit, “what if Laura and Jagger did it together? It’s got to be two people, right?”

  “Hmm,” I said. “That means she could be lying no matter what she says.”

  “Exactly,” said Brigit.

  “Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine this morning,” I said in my driest voice.

  * * *

  “What?” said Laura. “Jagger said what?”

  I had found her in her office. She appeared to have just arrived, because she was clutching a fresh mug of coffee.

  “I accused him of murdering Tess, and he said that you’re his alibi,” I said.

  “B-but he was Gunner’s alibi,” she sputtered.

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “If Jagger’s telling the truth, then you’ve known all along that Gunner didn’t have an alibi, and yet you’ve sworn up and down that he wasn’t guilty—”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Gunner was at a casino,” she exploded. Then she got a terrified look in her eyes and ran over to shut the door to her office. She cringed. “I hope no one heard that.”

  “You knew about the casino?”

  She collapsed against the door. “He’s got a gambling problem. Yes, I knew. No one’s perfect, you know. But if everyone on the farm found out, then it would cause all kinds of issues. People might start questioning the entire institution of the Clayton Society. Our entire way of life was at stake. So, it was better if it didn’t get out.”

  “And Jagger? Are you two really in love?”

  Her face turned red. “He said he loved me? Really?”

  I thought she might swoon right then and there. I guess that answered my question. She seemed pretty into Jagger, and that kind of emotion was hard to fake. “You know, you could have saved me a lot of headaches by just telling me all of this from the beginning.”

  “
I told you that Gunner wasn’t guilty, and I gave him an alibi. What alibi it was shouldn’t have made any difference. If you’d just believed us instead of having to stick your nose into everything—”

  “I’m a detective,” I said. “That’s my job.”

  “Well, you wasted a lot of time investigating innocent people.”

  I squinted at her. Was she telling me the truth now? Was it possible that she was the murderer? Her and Jagger together?

  Well, anything was possible, but I didn’t have anything to make me believe that she’d killed Tess. Still, I supposed I should tread lightly. Be careful.

  “You know Stella, right?” I said.

  “Yeah?” she said.

  “I want to look at her car. Can you tell me what kind of car she has?” Of course, I already knew what kind of car she had. But if Laura didn’t, then it was fairly likely she hadn’t borrowed it along with Jagger to kill Tess.

  “Well, no, I don’t think so,” she said. “I haven’t ever seen it before. Stella has a car?”

  Well, that seemed genuine. Laura didn’t know about the car. “Apparently, it’s her mother’s. But sometimes Stella borrows it for long periods of time.”

  “Why does Stella’s car matter?”

  “Well,” I said, “I found Tess’s necklace in the backseat, that’s why it matters.”

  “I thought you didn’t know what kind of car it was.”

  “I never said that. I just wanted to know if you knew.”

  She looked confused.

  “Stella said that Jagger borrowed her car,” I said. “But Jagger said that he didn’t.”

  “He didn’t,” she said. “I was with Jagger that night, and we weren’t in any borrowed car. No one really borrows cars on the farm anyway, to tell the truth. The thing is, we all stay here. There’s not much reason to drive anywhere when everything we need is within walking distance. I can’t imagine who would borrow her car.”

  “Well, then that means that Stella—” I broke off. “Brigit.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Brigit wasn’t answering her phone, and I couldn’t find Stella anywhere. I searched the main house, and Laura had everyone on high alert, looking all over for her. But she didn’t seem to be anywhere. When I went back out to check out her car, it was gone.

  It was pretty clear that I’d been played. Now that I thought about it, it all began to make sense. I realized that of all the people we’d talked to who would do something desperate and drastic just to find favor with Gunner, Stella was the one most likely to do it. So murdering Gunner’s baby mama to do his pet ritual and protect the farm? Yeah, she might be crazy enough to do it. She was obsessed with Gunner. And she probably had been jealous of Tess, considering that Tess had actually been intimate with Gunner.

  So, now Brigit was with Stella, and I didn’t know where they were. And Stella was very probably dangerous.

  This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

  All I had wanted for Brigit was for her to be safe. I had tried to keep her out of things because I worried about her safety. But no, she had wormed her way in, and now she was in danger, and I was the stupid person who hadn’t seen it coming. I was the person who had let her walk right into harm’s way.

  Well, if Stella had Brigit, and if she’d taken her car, they were probably somewhere off the farm, so it didn’t make sense for me to look for them there. But I didn’t know where Stella would go, and I needed someone who did.

  I briefly considered asking around on the farm. Who was Stella’s friend?

  But then I remembered her talking this morning all about how lonely she was. Stella didn’t have friends. Not anymore. Not after her one and only friend had left the farm.

  Her friend Adeline Rollins, who sometimes spent time at the Station, the youth shelter in town.

  I jumped into my car and sped back to Renmawr.

  As I was driving, it all crashed together. I had figured it out, cracked this murder wide open.

  I got to the Station, parked, and stormed inside to Beth Anthony’s office. “I need to see Adeline right now.”

  Please let her be here. Please let her be here, I thought. If she wasn’t around, I didn’t know what I’d do. I had to find Brigit.

  “Sure thing,” said Beth, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  When Adeline showed up, I took her for a walk outside. “You’ve got to level with me now, Adeline, because I know everything.”

  She gulped.

  “I know why you really left the farm,” I said. “It was because of what you and Stella did to Tess, wasn’t it?”

  Adeline’s face turned white. She stopped walking.

  “Adeline, do not lie to me.”

  “I…” She broke down into tears. “I didn’t want to do it. But Stella wouldn’t shut up about it. She was always so into Gunner, and she said it would impress him. She said he’d like us afterward. That was always her thing. She wanted me and her to both be in a relationship with Gunner. She would go on and on about it. How we’d share him, and between the two of us, we would be all he needed. She said that if we did the ritual, he’d realize how special we were.”

  “And you? Were you attracted to Gunner?”

  “Well, he’s hot,” she said. “You’d have to be blind not to see that. But near as I could tell, he was just like every other dirty old man that’s ever tried to hit on me. Still, he was the guy in charge there, so I guess I wanted to impress him. And the way he talked about that ritual, he made it sound all noble and wonderful. Like it was this perfectly normal religious thing. Not like… not like what it was.” She looked down at the pavement, and she shuddered.

  “And you know what it was. You know first hand.”

  Fat tears slid down her cheeks. “Stella made me. She made me cut those symbols into her. She made me help. But it was… it was awful. There was so much blood. It was all over me, and I didn’t think I’d ever get it off.” She wiped her hands against her pants legs as if she still felt soiled. “I never wanted to do it. I never wanted to. But Stella—” Adeline started to sob. “When it came down to it, I said no. I said I wouldn’t. Tess was crying, and she was bleeding everywhere, and she was begging us not to make her little boy grow up without a mother, and I didn’t want to. I said to Stella that we should stop. We should just stop the whole thing. But Stella wouldn’t listen to me. She said we couldn’t stop now, that we’d gone too far. And I said I wouldn’t do it. So… so she did. She took the knife and she cut Tess’s throat. Somehow, Tess was still screaming. She was screaming, and Stella kept cutting her, and blood was splashing out and spraying and—and then Tess wasn’t screaming anymore.” Adeline buried her face in her hands.

  There was no noise except Adeline crying. I waited for several moments, the horror of what she’d described washing over me. It almost made me want to cry as well.

  I put a hand on Adeline’s shoulder. “Then you didn’t do it, did you? Stella did.”

  Adeline turned to me sharply. “I’m just as guilty. Stella said that I was. And that was why I left. I couldn’t be there anymore. Everywhere I looked, it reminded me of what we had done, and I didn’t— After it was over, I didn’t care about things I cared about before. I didn’t care if Gunner noticed us, and I didn’t care if Stella was my friend. I just wanted to run away from all that blood. I just didn’t want to hear her screaming anymore.”

  I let Adeline sob for a few moments. I rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. I needed her sharp and focused to help me find Brigit.

  “Adeline?” I said.

  She looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot.

  “I think Stella might have taken my friend Brigit someplace. Do you have any idea where Stella might have gone?”

  She furrowed her brow. “I don’t… no, I don’t even talk to her anymore.”

  “Think, Adeline. Was there anywhere that she liked to go? A special place? Somewhere private?”

  She shook her head. “No. We always spent time on the far
m. We never went anywhere else.”

  “Even when she borrowed her mother’s car? Even then?”

  Adeline chewed on her lower lip. “What’s going to happen to me now? I confessed to you, and Stella always said that if I confessed, I’d be thrown in jail for the rest of my life. She said I could even get the death penalty.”

  Aaagh. She wasn’t focusing, and I didn’t know what Stella wanted with Brigit. Stella seemed like a radically unhinged person, and I didn’t think whatever she had planned for Brigit was good, though. I wanted to find Stella and stop it. So, I needed to get Adeline to think, to help me.

  “No, Adeline, I don’t think that will happen. I think that if you cooperate with the police and testify against Stella, you can probably get a much lower sentence. That is, if it’s true that Stella did the actual murder, and you tried to stop her.”

  “It is, it is,” she said.

  “Then stop worrying,” I said, “and help me find my friend.”

  “But I’m telling you the truth. She didn’t have any secret hiding places or anything like that. I don’t know how to help you.”

  “Come on Adeline. When you went out in her mother’s car, where did you go?”

  “Lots of places,” she said. “Mostly out to fast food restaurants, because we couldn’t eat junk like that on the farm. She’d steal money from her mom, and then we’d go to Burger King or something.”

  I didn’t think that Stella had taken Brigit to Burger King.

  “There’s nowhere else? Really?”

  “No,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  Damn it.

  * * *

  I left Adeline and got back in my car. I called Eden.

  “Hey,” she said. “How are you doing? I haven’t heard from you in—”

  “Eden, something’s happened to Brigit.”

  “Oh, shit, that’s terrible.”

  “I need your help.”

  “Anything, of course.”

  “I need you to find out the name of Stella Garrison’s mother, and her address in Renmawr, if you can swing it.”

  “Sure,” said Eden. “I’ll do my best. Call you back as soon as I can?”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  And then, because I didn’t know what else to do, I drove to Burger King.