This time she pulled into the back parking lot. I kept my distance, but I could see her talking on her cell again, then a man opened the back door of a store. He was around our age, dark hair, with a bit of a potbelly, but nice-enough-looking. Shauna got out of the car. They talked for a moment. Shauna’s body language was still aggravated and I got the feeling she was venting about her fight with Ashley. Who was this guy? They looked around, checking to see if anyone was watching. I ducked down, peeking over my steering wheel. He pulled her in for a hug, then kissed her on the mouth. She accepted the kiss but she was the first to move away, pushing his hands off her rear end. He ushered her inside the back door.
I drove around the front of the building to see what store she had entered. A camera shop. Was she having an affair with Ashley’s teacher? Talk about being involved in your daughter’s life. I went back to the campsite and tried to process everything. I had new information, but how could it help me? I considered calling Ryan but decided to keep it to myself for a while. I didn’t want him rushing anything.
I thought about everything Darlene had told me. The girls had to know Nicole had been seeing a boy. She would have confided—if nothing else, just to prove how cool she was. Maybe I was right and Shauna had been involved with this Dave guy or was friends with him.
Maybe I was looking at it all wrong. What if they hadn’t testified to screw me over? What if they were protecting someone else?
The only person who knew the whole story was Shauna. But how was I going to get it out of her? I couldn’t risk following her around. Could I piss her off somehow, make her crack? What would be the best way to get under her skin? Even though she tried to control her daughter’s every move, it was obvious she loved Ashley, or at least wanted Ashley to love her. I remembered how threatened she’d get when she felt she was losing someone when we were kids. So how would she feel if her daughter were to find out about her affair?
I had to convince Shauna that I had information she wouldn’t want her daughter, or anyone else, knowing about. If I could then get her to meet me somewhere private, her ego and her hatred of me might get the best of her and she might start talking. I’d seen that in prison. People who couldn’t keep their mouths shut about their crimes because they were so proud of what they’d pulled off that they just had to tell someone. Shauna might relish the idea of telling me face-to-face how she’d screwed my life up. How she’d won.
I thought of Ashley filming her mom talking with Kim. It wasn’t a bad idea. My cell phone also had a voice recorder. There was nothing stopping Shauna from trying to attack me, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t go one-on-one. She was sneakier than that. I did have a feeling she’d want to meet with me, though, to find out what I knew.
But I wasn’t stupid. If she was willing to meet with me, I’d make sure I was carrying a knife.
First, I had to speak with her.
*
I looked up Shauna’s number, hoping that Ashley didn’t answer. She didn’t.
Shauna said, “Hello?”
“It’s Toni. I think it’s time we talked.”
She paused for a long moment. I didn’t say anything else.
“You’re not supposed to call me,” she said.
“And you’re not supposed to make out with store owners in a parking lot.”
She sucked in her breath, then regained her calm, her voice smooth and controlled as she said, “What’s this about?”
“I want to meet with you face-to-face.”
“You’re nuts. Why would I meet you?”
“Because I know things. Like why you killed my sister. I just had a nice chat with one of my sister’s friends from school. A close friend. Seems my sister talked with her before she died, about someone she was seeing in secret. But I don’t think it was a secret to you.”
Silence.
I had to be careful. If I took a step in the wrong direction, I could lose her. I had to make her think I had evidence of something. Then it came to me.
“After Nicole died, my parents gave her friend a box of things, sentimental things, from when they were kids. Like my sister’s diary. Now I have it, and something tells me you might want it.”
“I don’t believe you.” She said it firmly, but it was too emphatic, like she was trying to convince herself.
“But you don’t know for sure, do you? And the only way you’re going to find out is if you meet me at the lake tomorrow night.”
“I’m not going to meet a convicted killer at the lake.”
I wondered if she remembered that the anniversary of Nicole’s death was coming up soon. Did she even care, or had she forgotten the date years ago?
“I think I’m the one taking the bigger risk, don’t you? You know that I’ve never killed anyone, but I can’t say the same about you.”
“If you have information, why aren’t you going to the police?”
She was showing her hand, admitting there was something to be known, to be shown.
“I’ve already served my time. I don’t want to go through another court case and lengthy appeal. I just want to move on with my life, and I need you to back off. So we’re going to meet, and you’re going to give me a big chunk of cash for this diary. Then I’m going to get transferred out of here, and you never have to see or hear from me again.”
“That’s all you want? Money?” I could hear her sneering through the phone.
“Thirty grand. Then you never have to see me again.”
“What about Ryan?”
I thought quickly. “He’s leaving too—we’re splitting the money.”