“Do you think she knows anything? Like has she been protecting him all these years?” I asked after he put his phone back in his pocket.
“No idea,” he said. “But I have a feeling we might be about to find out.”
A few minutes later, Sharon Richards was sitting on Cole’s couch. She wore an impeccable summer suit in light gray with a pink silk blouse. Her perfectly made-up blue eyes were fixed on me. Apparently, she wasn’t one who needed to blink much.
“What can we do for you, Mrs. Richards?” Cole asked.
“Please, call me Sharon. I apologize for barging in on you like this. But I saw you at the fundraiser and wanted to thank you for coming in your mother’s place. She’s been extremely generous with her time and talents.”
“It was our pleasure,” I said. “My mother thinks the world of your husband.”
“How kind of you to say.” Sharon peered at me. “Did you have glasses when you were younger?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” I tucked my hair behind my ears, a habit I had when I was nervous. “I have contacts now.”
“You look wonderful,” Sharon said. “Loretta must be very proud of you.”
“Thanks, she is.”
Sharon turned toward Cole. “And you had a twin. Isn’t that right? He was always in trouble? I recall my husband complaining about him missing practice because he was in detention.”
“That’s right. Drew was the unruly one of the three of us. Luke and I were more the walk-the-line types.”
“The football team was never the same after we lost the three Paisley boys,” Sharon said.
Cole studied his hands.
“What a terrible time that was for our town,” Sharon said. “Your poor families. I couldn’t imagine how tough that must have been. Thom was beside himself, losing one of his favorite students and watching your family be run out of town. All of that mess was one of the reasons we ended up leaving a few years later. He’s such a sensitive man. The whole thing didn’t sit well with him.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“He’s a man who believes in justice,” Sharon said. “It disturbed him to see his uncle bumble the investigation and then there was that ridiculous article in the paper. He didn’t speak to either of them for years.”
Was that true? I studied Sharon Richards as carefully as I could without being obvious. She was either a really good actress or she was telling the truth as she knew it.
“Your brother and Carlie here were Luke’s alibi,” Sharon said.
I twitched, shocked, and crossed one leg over the other. “That’s right.”
“I always thought that was awfully convenient,” Sharon said.
“Convenient?” Cole asked. “What’s that mean?”
“The clerk saw all three of the boys, as did several customers,” I said. “Convenience has nothing to do with it.” Why did we have to defend Luke to this woman? He was innocent then, and he was innocent thirty years later.
“Yes, of course,” Sharon said. “I simply meant it was good or they’d have convicted Luke. It’s almost always the boyfriend in cases like this. Between you and me, my uncle-in-law wasn’t the brightest man who ever served as sheriff. I never thought they looked carefully enough for Beth’s killer.”
“It’s too late now,” I said. “My mom and I just want to move on. We’ll never know what really happened to her, and we have to learn to live with it.”
“Your sweet mom. How I feel for her. If there’s anything that ever comes up about the case, don’t hesitate to contact Thom. If and when he’s governor, he’ll have the power to look into the case again if he feels like there’s new evidence.”
“What new evidence would there be?” I asked.
“I’ve no idea. This psychic you’re working with, does she have any ideas?”
Instincts kicked that made me say, “No, she’s a fraud. She gave us nothing.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. I really hoped she could help. I’ve heard of it before. On television anyway.”
“Yeah, wasn’t the case here,” Cole said, following my lead.
“I’ve come to ask you a favor,” Sharon said. “I’m having a small dinner party while we’re here and wondered if you two would like to join us.”
Cole and I exchanged a look. Why would this woman want us at a dinner party unless she wanted to do us harm? I had visions of every horror film I’d ever seen. Cole and I would go into the house and never come out.
“Why us?” I asked, not caring if I sounded rude or blunt.
She studied me for a moment. “I thought it might be a kick in the pants for my husband to spend a little leisure time with some of his old students. Seeing successful adults from the ramshackle children he once knew cheers him to no end. The campaign trail’s been arduous. He often needs a reminder about why he’s doing what he’s doing.”
Ramshackle? Is that how she’d seen us?
“That would be lovely,” I said.
“Wonderful. I’ve invited Sheriff Ford as well. You’re friendly with him lately, are you not?”
A jolt hit my chest as if someone had punched me. Was that a threat to him or us? What was she doing? Did she want us all out there to charm us into silence? Did she know what we suspected? My head was swimming.
“The sheriff’s not a friend,” I said. “I’ve been by to see him about my sister’s cold case.”
“But nothing new?” Sharon asked. “What a shame. Be sure and give your mother my best.”
“How do you know Sheriff Ford, Sharon?” Cole asked.
A satisfied smile, like that of a fat cat, curved her mouth upward. “We go way back. In fact, we went to high school together in Boise. By coincidence, we all ended up here in Logan Bend in the late eighties.”
“He was there the night they brought us all in for questioning,” I said.
There was only one way to get to the bottom of this. We had to go to that dinner party. I had to get Richards to
