Julia’s heart was beating a little faster, but she quickly dismissed it.
“It’s just a scarf. Just a mass-market scarf that was bought at some everyday store. There are probably tens of thousands of scarves just like that floating around,” she said.
“That scarf is not mass-market. It’s designer. Not overwhelmingly expensive, but also not picked up on an end rack right before Christmas. And between the day I saw Samantha put it on before she walked out of that apartment, and the day you walked in here with it around your neck, I’ve never seen one like it,” Lynn said. “Where did you get it? Who does it belong to?”
Julia shook her head. “I don’t even know. I borrowed it because it was so cold, and it was just handed to me. There are a lot of options of who it could belong to. Besides, if it was a souvenir of a murder, wouldn’t it be kept somewhere safe? Some sort of shrine or something?”
“I don’t know,” Lynn said. “I’m not particularly familiar with the ways of killers. All I’m saying is that scarf looks exactly like Samantha’s, and it freaked me out for a second. That’s all. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Julia smiled at her as she stood up and picked up the basket of laundry again.
“Don’t worry about it. I probably would have reacted the same way. I’m really sorry to hear you went through something like that. I can’t even imagine. They never found out anything? No suspects?”
“No,” Lynn said. “There was no biological evidence left on her. No one in the area reported seeing anything suspicious. There aren’t any security cameras around that building, so they didn’t get any footage. There are a couple of cameras in nearby areas that they think might have caught a man walking, but it’s pretty much just their feet. A couple of flashes their upper body, but it’s at a distance and it’s pretty grainy. The criminal justice club got permission to review the evidence and look into it, but they couldn’t find anything, either. Their professor supervisor submitted some of their work to the police, who were really impressed, but it wasn’t enough to actually pinpoint what happened to her or why.”
“The criminal justice club?” Julia asked.
“Yeah. It’s mostly pre-law and criminal justice students, but there are also some psych students and a few who are just interested in crime. They get together and talk about different cases. Try to figure them out or talk about why they turned out the way they did. That sort of thing,” Lynn said.
“I hope they find out something someday,” Julia said.
“Me, too.”
Julia offered a tight smile, grabbed the detergent, and headed for the laundry room in the basement of the student apartment building, her mind reeling from the story Lynn just told her.
Chapter Thirty-Six Now
The next day comes, and I’m trying to distract myself from not being able to figure out the case by working on wrapping Christmas presents. This is one of those things Sam and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on.
He is all about the visual of Christmas. He loves his trees big and heavily decorated and presents on full display throughout the season. When he was younger, he loved watching as a couple of new shiny wrapping gifts showed up under the tree every day. Then, of course, on Christmas Eve came the big explosion of gifts, so Christmas morning they covered the tree skirt and tumbled out across the floor.
Now as an adult, he still wants presents wrapped and put under the tree as soon as they’re bought. It builds up anticipation, he says. It gets you excited about Christmas morning and trying to figure out what’s inside.
On the other end of the spectrum is me. Waiting until the last minute is more my Christmas style. Not in terms of decorating or shopping. I like to get my Christmas decorations up early and I’m one of those people who picks up presents and stashes them away throughout the year.
The problem is, they tend to stay stashed far too late in the season. I will have all the intentions in the world of wrapping them and making them perfect. But, Christmas Eve, inevitably they are still sitting in closets and under beds, still in their shopping bags.
Maybe it’s the quest for perfection that trips me up. I want all the gifts under the tree to look beautiful and to be coordinated. Each one has a designated wrapping paper, and I like having bows and ribbons to match. But as the frantic energy of the holidays ramps up and I find myself running around doing a million things on top of working, I constantly tell myself there isn’t enough time to do it the way I want to. So, I don’t.
Then Christmas Eve comes and in the middle of the night I’m wrapping presents and hoping I can beat the clock before Sam wakes up or my friends get there. And this is with only adults celebrating. I can only imagine what’s going to happen when a little one is in the picture.
This year, I’m trying to do things differently. I want to give Sam the kind of Christmas he loves, so I’m making it a point to get some things wrapped now. Hopefully he will come home to presents nestled under the tree and get a little spark of extra holiday spirit.
I could use some of it myself.
I’m also hoping getting my hands busy and thinking about something else will give my brain a chance to think without me distracting it. I’m fairly certain that’s what Bellamy tried to tell me is called mindfulness. To hear her tell it, it goes along with her hot yoga classes and the week she ate nothing but kale. She’s kept up with the yoga, but the kale has fallen by the
