Addresses and phone numbers. Detailed information about his parents, Moe and Debbie Zimmerman. Moe was a trucker; Debbie worked at a hair salon. Cam was their only child.
Candy read through the papers with growing interest. But it was a notation scribbled at the bottom of one of the last pages that caught her attention and made her sit up straight in her chair.
He’s the one, it read.
“The one?” Candy said out loud. “The one what?”
“What?” Doc called from the living room.
“Nothing!” Candy called back.
“Hey, you should see this,” Doc said. “Ellen’s giving away iPods to her studio audience again. And you should see what else they’re getting.”
“Just a minute, Dad.”
Candy started going back through the files again, searching for other notations, but there was nothing unusual that jumped out at her.
Except, she realized with a start, for the fact that despite all she had found in Sapphire’s office, there was a lot of information that seemed to be missing-information that Sapphire, as thorough as she seemed to have been, should have collected.
In other words, there were huge gaps in Sapphire’s research.
For instance, there was a file on Cameron but practically nothing about any other student, or any teachers or school administrators. Practically nothing on the local police force or town council or county commissioners. Nothing about local businesspeople. Nothing on Mrs. Pruitt. Nothing on Maggie or Amanda.
And nothing on any of the other beauty pageant judges. Or any of the other beauty pageant
In fact, nothing at all about the pageant.
Now that’s odd, Candy thought, scratching her head. Ben had told her Sapphire was going to write her next column on the pageant, and that she had done some research on it. But there was nothing here about the pageant. Nada.
That doesn’t make any sense, Candy thought, especially when she was a contestant herself. There should be reams of information.
But there was nothing.
Maybe the police took those files, she thought, or maybe Ben has them.
Or maybe Sapphire kept those files somewhere else-someplace private, where no one else could get a look at them…
Candy was still sifting through the files, mulling them over, when Doc walked back out into the kitchen. Candy barely noticed him.
“That was a pretty good show,” he said in a conversational tone. “Too bad you missed it.”
“Huh?” Candy looked up.
“Ellen.”
“Oh. That’s great, Dad.”
“Hey, I’m gonna take a walk up through the fields before dinner. Want to join me?”
“No thanks. I’m going to work here awhile longer, then I’ll start dinner.”
“Okay.”
He was almost out the door when he stopped and turned back. “Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to tell you. I got some new information from Finn today. He talked to his source at the police department this morning. That guy we met, Officer Safford, was right about Ray’s lawyer. Seems he’s some superexpensive guy who works for a big firm up in Bangor. And guess who’s picking up the tab for his services?”
That caught Candy’s attention. She looked up. “Who?”
“You won’t believe it if I told you.”
“Daaad…”
“Okay, okay. It’s Mrs. Pruitt.”
Candy scrunched up her face. “Mrs. Pruitt is paying for Ray’s lawyer?”
“That’s what I said. In fact, this guy she’s hired is associated with the firm that handles all her estate and business affairs. Strange, huh?”
“Very.”
“Something else. They’ve been interrogating Ray-”
“Interrogating him?”
Doc nodded. “-and apparently he just keeps repeating the same thing over and over. Says he didn’t do it and says it’s up at the fort. The police have no idea what he’s talking about, and he’s not telling them. You know what he might mean by that?”
Candy had to think about that one. Finally she shook her head. “I don’t think so. The only fort I can think of is Fort O’Brien, that old Revolution-era fort up by Machias. But it’s just a ruin now, isn’t it? Just the foundations or something like that? I don’t know what that would have to do with anything.”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing. Well, I guess we’ll let the police figure it out. Just thought I’d ask.”
He gave her a wave and disappeared out the door, leaving Candy sitting at the kitchen table, gazing over the remnants of Sapphire Vine’s life.
But only partial remnants, Candy realized.
There had to be more.
She crossed to the phone, picked it up, and dialed Maggie at the insurance office.
“I’ve only got a second,” Maggie said. “What’s up?”
“You got any plans for tonight?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“You’re going to say I’m crazy, but I’m thinking about breaking and entering.”
“The old B-and-E? You
“So I’ve heard. But I’ve got to do it. It just might save Ray. You with me?”
“Of course! How could I pass up an offer like that? So whose house are we breaking into?”
“Sapphire Vine’s.”
TWENTY-TWO
“Tell me again what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, just so I know what to say to the nice police officer when he’s slapping the handcuffs on me and reading me my Miranda rights.”
Maggie had moments ago settled into the passenger seat of Candy’s Jeep, and the two were now headed at a steady though law-abiding clip toward Sapphire Vine’s house, with Candy at the wheel.
“It’s simple,” Candy replied, keeping her eyes trained on the dark road in front of her. “I went through Sapphire’s files, but there’s a lot of critical information missing. I figure she must have kept another set of files at her house. So we’re going to break in and see if we can find them.”
“But wouldn’t the police have confiscated them already? I’m sure they must’ve searched her house. Hey, did you see that? It looked like a skunk.”
Candy swerved out a little to avoid a furry critter that was scurrying back off the road. “I saw it. It was a fisher cat.”
“They eat horses, don’t they?”
“It’s ‘They
“Who? Horses?”
“No. Fisher cats.”
“Eww, that’s so cruel.”
“Simple way to solve it: don’t let your cats out at night.”
