Jake nodded. “So what you guys were just doing-”
“Was finishing up Adam Culver’s plan. Our performance at the church this morning sowed the final seeds of doubt.”
“You were forcing Christian to make a play for you.”
“Exactly.”
“Incredible. So everyone was in on on this?”
“Jessica was,” Myron said. “So were her mother and brother. It would have been too cruel to lie to them. But Paul Duncan didn’t know. Neither did anybody else, and Win made sure that all the suspects-Otto, the dean, even Gary Grady-knew about Kathy’s ‘survival.’”
“Then you weren’t sure it was Christian?”
“No, I was sure.”
“You were trying to play it fair.”
Myron nodded. “That’s why I didn’t tell you anything. I wanted you to see what happened without any preconceived notions.”
“Fair enough,” Jake said. “Go on.”
“Adam Culver understood that only the killer would know this spot. If he made the killer think Kathy could still be alive, he or she would have to come back here-just to make sure Kathy was dead. That was why Adam rented that cabin nearby. That was why he had all that electronic equipment. To tape him. To have proof.”
“Catching the killer returning to the scene of the crime,” Jake said.
“Right.”
“But I don’t get something. Adam was killed before the magazine was mailed out. How did Christian find out about it?”
“He didn’t. Remember, Adam was a pathologist. He wasn’t an investigator. He overlooked a very important clue. At first anyway.”
“What clue?”
“Kathy’s clothes.”
“What about them?”
“When Kathy’s body was found, she was wearing a yellow sweater and a pair of gray sweat pants. Yet the sorority sisters said she was wearing blue when she left the house. The rapists said she was wearing blue. Dean Gordon said she was wearing blue. Ricky Lane said she was wearing blue. The sorority sisters were also positive that Kathy never returned to the house. So the question was: Where did the yellow sweater and gray sweat pants come from?”
Jake shrugged.
“It took Adam a while to realize the significance of the clothes. But when he did, he went to the most obvious source. Kathy’s roommate.”
“Nancy Serat.”
“Right. But he didn’t want to let on that Kathy’s body had been found. So he asked Nancy where he could find her favorite yellow sweater, pretending to be a typical dad on some kind of nostalgic tour. But think about it. If Kathy didn’t go back to her sorority house, where did she change clothes?”
Jake saw it now. “At Christian’s,” he said with a snap of the fingers. “Kathy slept there all the time. She must have kept clothes there.”
“Right.”
“And Nancy and Christian were friends,” Jake said, picking up the thread. “She’d see nothing wrong with telling Christian all about Adam’s visit. Probably thought the whole thing was kinda cute.”
Myron turned toward Christian. “You got scared when you heard Adam had been asking about the yellow sweater. You knew he was getting close. So you followed him that night. You heard him fight with his wife. You saw him storm out of the house, and you figured this was the ideal opportunity to kill him. Another perfect misdirection.”
Christian said nothing.
Jake said, “What do you mean, ‘another perfect misdirection’?”
“When your investigation of Kathy’s disappearance began,” Myron said, “who did you focus in on?”
“Christian,” Jake said. “Like I said, we always check out the boyfriend.”
“So what did Christian do? With campus security combing the campus for clues, he planted the panties on the top of a garbage bin.”
“The panties,” Jake added, “with someone else’s semen.”
“Proof he didn’t do it.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“He also misdirected us with Nancy Serat. He strangled Nancy. Then he planted one of Kathy’s hairs at the scene.”
“But where did he get the hair?”
“Kathy slept in his room all the time, right? She would have kept other stuff there besides her clothes. Stuff like a hairbrush.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“It was almost perfect. Blame someone who was dead. And if Kathy wasn’t dead-if she had indeed survived- he’d make her look like a lunatic. Who’d believe the ravings of a girl who’d killed her old roommate? But Christian didn’t count on Jessica showing up at Nancy’s. He panicked. He hit her over the head and ran. Problem was, he’d left his fingerprints behind. But Christian was quick. He even used that to his advantage. When you dragged him in the next morning, he immediately admitted to being at Nancy’s house. And then he came up with that wonderful story about sisters reuniting.”
“Another perfect misdirection,” Jake said.
“Except he forgot about the glass.”
“What glass?”
“His fingerprints were found in several spots in the house, including a drinking glass Yet Christian told us Nancy barely let him in the door, that she practically pushed him away mumbling about the reuniting sisters. Under those circumstances, isn’t it odd she’d offer him a drink?”
Myron looked at Christian. He lowered his eyes.
“I-I didn’t mean to hurt any of them, Mr. Bolitar,” he said.
“You were manipulative and calculating,” Myron said. “You covered all the bases, even when you hired me. I was small-time. I could be controlled. You knew about my background, that I was an experienced investigator. You knew if any trouble arose, I’d keep things quiet. That I’d keep you informed. That I’d try to protect you. You played me for a sucker.”
Everyone remained silent until Jake said, “All right. Get him out of here.”
The uniformed officers led Christian away.
Myron looked back at Jessica. She still hadn’t said a word. Tears slid down her cheeks. None of this morning’s tears had been for her father. Maybe some of these were.
Win shook his head. “‘Squirrel lunch.’ I can’t believe I said ‘squirrel lunch.’”
Jessica stopped crying. She even smiled a little. Myron put his arm around her and pulled her in close. Together they made their way back to the car.
Chapter 49
Three days later Myron drove Jessica to the airport.
“Just drop me off at the terminal,” she said.
“I’ll wait with you at the gate.”
“You should head back.”
“I have time.”
“The traffic will be murder.”
