“Perhaps.”

  “So, you can’t think of anyone who might have wanted her dead?”

  “Not off the top of my head.”

  I pulled out my business card. “If anyone comes to mind, don’t hesitate to give me a call. All right?”

  He took my card. “Okay.”

  “I appreciate it,” I replied.

  “Good luck with your investigation.”

  “Thanks. I’m going to need all of the help that I can get.”

  Chapter Seven

  When I walked back to my car, I was feeling discouraged. How could I not? It had been a rough day. Even so, I felt like it was important to keep my chin up. If I didn’t, my depression could overwhelm me. That wouldn’t do me any good.

  As difficult as it was to do, I had to stay optimistic. There would be time to devise ways to do that later. In the meantime, I had some unexpected company as I left the building.

  Much to my surprise, I spotted Detective Scott Webster was leaning against my car. How odd. What was he doing there?

  His arms were folded as he stared at me.

  “It’s funny running into you here,” I said.

  “Funny is the last way that I would describe this situation,” he replied.

  “Is that so?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “How would you describe this then?” I wondered.

  “Perplexing.”

  “I can’t disagree with that. What are you doing here?”

  “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

  “I shared my question with you first.”

  “You’ve had yourself quite a busy day. From what I can tell, you’ve been running all over town.”

  “Have you been following me?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Would you care to be more specific?”

  “My intention wasn’t to follow you. But when I got wind that you were visiting a lot of places related to Alicia’s life, my curiosity took hold of me.”

  “You’re being awfully vague with me. Where did you get wind of my actions?”

  “I’m a detective. It’s my job to find things out. And the word on the street is that you’re conducting an investigation of Alicia’s death.”

  If I wasn’t in a difficult position before, things could get really hairy all of a sudden. Deep down, I knew it was highly unlikely that I’d be able to make it entirely through my investigation without crossing paths with Scott. Still, I didn’t realize that he’d learn about my case this quickly. I knew that we lived in a small town. Even so, this news had traveled ridiculously fast.

  I was not prepared to have this conversation right then. Mostly because I knew the discussion could take a crazy turn on me if I wasn’t careful.

  The stress of working on a case was significant. The last thing I wanted was to be at odds with Scott as well. The question became, would the detective be understanding? Or would he put up a stink?

  I tried to keep him from blowing his top.

  “Look. I don’t want to argue with you,” I said.

  “This isn’t an argument,” he replied.

  “Not yet. But it could easily turn into one.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you’re up to? Why are you asking so many questions about Alicia’s death?”

  “Why does it matter to you? I thought your case was closed.”

  He nodded. “It is.”

  “So, what does it matter what I do? Or who I talk to?”

  “Melody, I’m worried about you.”

  “How come?”

  “You don’t seem willing to accept the truth. I understand that Alicia’s death really hit you hard, but it’s not healthy to live in denial.”

  “Stop right there. I’m not in denial.”

  “Then what do you call this?”

  “I’m trying to uncover the truth.”

  “You already know what happened. She killed herself.”

  “What if she didn’t?”

  He groaned. “We’ve already been through this. I even showed you the autopsy report.”

  “I know.”

  “So, why don’t you let it go?”

  “I’m not the only one who is having trouble coming to grips with things. Alicia’s mom is a wreck too.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  “In fact, she was the one who hired me to conduct this investigation.”

  “I hope you didn’t give her any false hope.”

  “I told her what the odds were of success.”

  “Good.”

  “So, is there anything else? Or are we done here?”

  “Melody, you realize that I’m here because I’m worried about you, right? I care about you.”

  “I get that.”

  “I know it’s a hard time for you, but the sooner you accept the truth, the better off you’ll be.”

  “That’s what you say, but I’m not ready to give up,” I replied. “Not yet.”

  Chapter Eight

  A lot could change in a couple of days. In fact, a number of things were different in my life by the end of the week. Most notable was my mood. After a few more days of getting nowhere with the case, my optimism was nowhere to be found. It didn’t seem like it had any intention of coming back either. What a shame.

  All told, it was a pretty difficult Friday night for me. Normally, I looked forward to the weekend. That evening, instead of unwinding with a night out on the town or relaxing in front of the television, I was as tense as ever.

  I kept staring at Alicia’s phone. And her laptop. I was sure that when I went through them, I would find something that would give me insight into her death.

  I was completely wrong. There was nothing there of use. I couldn’t believe it. Those two devices represented my best hope. So, for them to be such a disappointment, was utterly heartbreaking.

  At that point, I didn’t know what else to do. It appeared that I had exhausted my best options. Or all of my options, for that matter.

  Maybe I was just letting my exhaustion get to me. Perhaps I just needed some inspiration.

  I loved detective shows. Fictional mysteries were just as interesting to me as real-life ones were. With that in mind, I turned on the TV. Not to relax or for some sort of an escape. Instead, I did it for research purposes.

  Maybe if I watched a number of detective shows in a row, an idea would come to me. It seemed like a good plan.

  However, after spending the better part of my evening binge-watching police procedural shows, I was still just as mentally blocked as ever. In addition, a pet peeve that I had about detective shows also made its presence known as well.

  Cop programs got a lot of things right. On the flip side, they also got one big thing wrong. On TV, whenever an investigator went through a victim’s phone or laptop, they found some sort of clue. It never failed. A key piece of evidence would always be waiting for them.

  That wasn’t my experience with investigative work at all. I would say that more often than not, my efforts yielded no results whatsoever.

  That wasn’t my only complaint about police shows. The other big one was how quickly the crimes were solved. Granted, the show only had one hour to work with per episode. But through the use of montage sequences, or skipping forward in time, drawn-out cases were presented as quick investigations.

  All I had to do was to look at this current case to see that things rarely worked out that way.

  Even though Alicia’s devices were unable to provide me with any insights into her death, they did provide me with a nostalgic look back at her life. She had so many amazing photographs on her hard drive. Some were taken on the beach. Some were taken on vacation. Some were birthday photos.

  One thing was clear. She experienced a lot of joy in her life. Which made it all the more perplexing that she would ever take her life.

  Had she just done an abrupt about-face in the last month?

  Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer to that one.

  ***

  I wanted to believe that getting a good night of sleep would really help me out. That when I woke up in the morning, I would feel refreshed. Maybe then an idea would pop into my mind.

  While my logic was sound, things didn’t work out the way that I was hoping for. By breakfast time, I still felt like I was staring down a brick wall. What a terrible spot to be in.

  So, when my mother phoned me and offered to take me out for breakfast, I jumped at the opportunity.

  “That’s it. You’re getting pancakes,” my mom said. “A whole stack of them.”

  Apparently, the expression on my face was a big signal to my mom that I needed carbs. And lots of them.

  “You know, I can order for myself,” I said.

  “I know. So, get some pancakes already.”

  “Look at you, being all pushy.”

  “I’m just looking out for you is all. Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”

  “Mom, I’ve been talking about it non-stop for the last week. I don’t know what else there is to say.”

  She stared deep into my eyes. “Your mouth said one thing, but your eyes are saying another. Something else happened. I know it.”

  “I guess I can’t get anything by you, can I?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. So don’t even try. Now, what is it?”

  “I feel like I’ve failed Veronica.”

  “Honey, don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Mom, she pinned all of her hopes on me. She truly believed that I would be able to uncover some key piece of evidence.”

  “True. But you warned her not to get her hopes up. You were very clear about the fact that this case could go nowhere.”

  “I was. It doesn’t matter, though. She didn’t listen to that part. She only heard what she wanted to. She was full of hope. But my investigation went nowhere.”

  “Melody, you did the best that you could. You gave it your all—”

  “And it wasn’t good enough.”

  “That’s not necessarily true.”

  I shrugged. “What are you talking about?”

  “Sure, you weren’t able to prove that Alicia was murdered,” my mother said. “Perhaps that was because she truly did take her own life.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “Aren’t you the one who is always telling me that it’s dangerous to let your emotions cloud your judgement during an investigation?”

  “Yes.”

  “You should listen to your own advice.”

  “That advice is a lot easier to take when the victim wasn’t one of your best friends.”

  “I agree. I’m just trying to point out that the facts are pointing very heavily in one direction. It just happens to be a direction that you don’t like.”

  I took a deep breath and didn’t say a word.

  My mother continued. “At some point, you might just have to face the facts. Don’t you think?”

  Chapter Nine

  I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet. There was one last conversation that I wanted to have first. I called up my co-worker and fellow investigator, Lisa Williamson. Maybe she would have some insight that had not occurred to me.

  “Sorry for bothering you on a weekend,” I said.

  “That’s okay,” Lisa replied.

  Lisa sounded groggy. Like she had just been ripped from a deep sleep.

  “I didn’t wake you up, did I?” I asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “I’m sorry. I figured you’d be up by now.”

  “What can I say? I had a late night.”

  “Did you do anything fun?”

  “Melody, you don’t have to make small talk with me. There’s plenty of time to do that when we head back into the office on Monday.”

  “All right. I just feel really bad—”

  “Don’t apologize. I can always take a nap later. Or go back to sleep when we finish this conversation. Now, what’s up?”

  “This case has just gone so much differently than I thought it would.”

  “That happens sometimes.”

  “I realize that. It just wasn’t supposed to happen this time. Yet, here I am, staring down a brick wall.”

  “Is it really that bad?”

  “Oh yeah. It’s terrible. That’s why I called you. I was really hoping that you could help me out,” I said.

  “You know I’ll do anything that I can,” Lisa said.

  “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

  “Here’s the thing, though. I’m not really sure what you want me to do.”

  “I just figured that with all of the extra years of experience that you have, perhaps you’d be able to give me some advice.”

  “Melody, I’m a private eye, not a magician.”

  “I realize that.”

  “I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve.”

  “Really?”

  “Did you honestly expect me to say something different?”

  “I don’t know what to expect anymore. This case has me completely turned around.”

  “I can see that.”

  “I’m not my usual self, that’s for sure.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  “It’s a terrible feeling to be wrestling with.”

  “It sure is,” Lisa said. “Unfortunately, this is something that I have all too much experience with.”

  “How do you deal with it?”

  “The usual ways. I typically start with denial. Then I blame myself for not getting the results that I was hoping for. From there, I feel completely lost.”

  “Wow. You’re pretty much describing everything that I’ve gone through.”

  “Do you know what the final step is of that cycle?”

  “What?”

  “Acceptance.”

  I grimaced. “Really?”

  “I know you don’t want to hear this, but there’s just no way around it anymore. Take your feelings out of this. Look at the facts. What do they tell you?”

  “Let me stop you for a minute. What if I don’t have all of the facts?”

  “Do you truly believe that?”

  “Like I told you before, I don’t know what to believe.”

  “Dig deep. Listen to your gut,” Lisa said. “I certainly know what my instincts are telling me right now.”

  “That Alicia killed herself?”

  “Yes.”

  I remained silent as I stared out into the distance.

  When I didn’t speak up for a couple of seconds, Lisa broke the silence between us.

  “Melody, are you still there?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I realize how difficult of a moment this is for you, but how much longer are you going to remain in denial?”

  Chapter Ten

  That Saturday, I did a lot of soul searching. I had gotten very honest advice from two people that I admired dearly. I knew that it would be unwise of me to ignore that kind of wisdom.

  That said, before I wrapped this case up, I wanted to give my instincts one last chance to speak up.

  Much to my surprise, my gut did not try to steer me to a different conclusion. I almost couldn’t believe it.

  Finally, the following day, I stopped stalling. I was done dragging my feet. I picked up the phone and called Veronica into my office. It was safe to say that I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. At all.

  It was one thing to give a client bad news. It was another thing when the client was your friend’s mother.

  When Veronica took a seat in front of me, she looked like she didn’t know what emotion she should be experiencing.

  “Thanks for coming in,” I said.

  “Are you kidding? I dropped everything to come over here. I’m desperate to hear any news about my daughter.”

  “I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you.”

  “Why not?”

  I took a deep breath before replying, “There’s no easy way to say this.”

  “Just come out with it. I can take it.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Veronica winced. “Is it bad news?”

  I nodded.

  “Oh dear,” Veronica said.

  “I just want to say in advance that I’m really sorry.”

  “Melody, I don’t want to hear an apology. I just want to know the truth.”

  “In that case, here we go. I wasn’t able to uncover any proof that Alicia was murdered.”

  “What were you able to uncover?”

  “Honestly, not much of anything. In fact, I didn’t find a single clue. In addition, I had practically no leads.”

  “Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”

  “Neither was I. This was one of the most frustrating cases I have ever worked on.”

  “What a dubious distinction.”

  “I guess the difference is, with other frustrating cases, I actually got somewhere in the end. With this one, I’m right back where I started.”

  “So, what does that mean? Do you now believe that Alicia killed herself?”

  “I don’t really have much choice in the matter. The evidence speaks for itself. Or, in this case, the lack of evidence.”

  “That’s it then? It’s over?”

  I reluctantly nodded.

  She shook her head. “No. This can’t be right.”

  “I’m afraid it is.”

  Veronica lowered her head.

  There were a number of unfortunate aspects of my job. Being chased was one. Discovering bad news was another. Having to act as an amateur therapist also made the list.

  In a way, having to emotionally counsel clients was worse than being chased because I wasn’t trained for this. Yet, despite having zero skills as a therapist, I found myself taking on the role of a counselor while I was in my office.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Templeton. I really wanted this case to turn out differently. I did everything I could to find evidence that went along with your theory. I just came up short.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t miss anything? Is there a possibility that you overlooked something?”

  “That’s highly doubtful. I was really thorough.”

  “I’m sure you were. As you can tell, I’m just grasping for straws.”