“You know who is killing these young women?” Harper asks, sitting forward.
Lloyd shakes his head. “No. But I know there have been others. A great many others, in fact.”
“Tell me,” Harper says, feeling cold, as if from a draft.
Lloyd is hesitant at first, looking away from them. Harper can see the wheels turning in his old head, deciding whether or not to trust them.
“You can tell me whatever it is you have to tell me,” Harper assures him. “I don’t have ulterior motives. I’m trying to catch a killer.”
Stu clears his throat.
Harper looks back at him. “We,” she says with a shake of her head. “We are trying to catch a killer here. Anything you can tell me will help. Anything at all.”
Lloyd’s tired eyes study her face for a long moment, as if trying to determine the integrity of her character. “I’ve lived in this town my whole life. Do you understand that? Spending so long in one goddamn place?”
“I guess so . . .”
“Hope’s Peak relies on tourist dollars, Detective. The economic fallout if our town no longer had a steady stream of summer vacationers would be devastating. We do well because this is seen to be a respectable place. A little slice of small-town America that people find quaint, charming . . . irresistible, you might say.”
Stu says: “I don’t get where you’re going with this.”
“What I’m trying to say is that sometimes good people do bad things because they think it serves a greater purpose. Such as saving a town from ruin,” Lloyd says. “Not long after the murder of Ruby Lane, there was another. We’d already received a fair amount of media attention. Before I could attend the crime scene I was called to a meeting. Vince Brookstein, my captain at the time, was there, along with the mayor of Hope’s Peak and a number of other people.”
“How come there’s no record of another murder?”
“I was told in no uncertain terms that if I were to report the murders as what they were, my life would be made very difficult. They made the same case to me as I just did to you. That it would cause irreparable damage to Hope’s Peak and the people who live here.”
“Disgraceful,” Harper says.
Lloyd holds his hands up. “I know, okay? But that’s how it was. I concealed evidence so that they could never be connected. I was given strict orders to mislead the public and even some of my colleagues. We made the murders look like accidents, death by misadventure, that kind of thing. You have to understand, these are powerful men, with a lot of similarly powerful men in their pockets. For a long time they have influenced the police, the town council. However, I continued to investigate the deaths on the quiet, in the hope I might find the man responsible but, ultimately, my every effort proved futile. I mean, it’s not like I had the assistance of the department, is it?”
“You investigated knowing you couldn’t make an arrest,” Harper says, shaking her head.
“Who said anything about arresting him? He wouldn’t have lived long in my custody, believe me. I knew from the start that there would be no justice sought in his capture. No restitution in his imprisonment,” Lloyd says. “Anyhow, for what it’s worth, I never managed to make much progress. And every so often a body would turn up. When I retired, someone else took over. Every captain who comes in is sworn to secrecy.”
“I don’t believe it,” Stu says.
“Know what? I don’t give half a shit if you believe me. Who’s the captain these days?”
“Morelli.”
“He told you to come speak to me, didn’t he? Told you all about the Ruby Lane case?”
Harper realizes what he is saying. “He set us on our way. I get it.”
“The files I kept over the years are in the basement at the station. They’ve always been there. My altered records, the reports I made up, are in your database, I expect. Go back to Morelli, tell him you want to see the files. He’ll know what to do.”
Stu stands suddenly. “Call yourself a cop?” he spits, stalking off.
Harper stays where she is. “You telling us this because you think it gives you some kind of . . . redemption?”
Lloyd shakes his head. “No. I’m telling you this because you need to put an end to this legacy. You need to catch this man. And when you do, put a bullet in his head.”
“And Ida?”
Lloyd shakes his head, eyes heavy with shadow. “That poor girl.”
“She went to stay with Ruby’s parents, correct?”
“But it wasn’t the end, if you get my drift.”
Harper frowns. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
Lloyd sighs. “Seems that she was let in to see her mother in the casket. You know, the way they do sometimes. All laid out, hair done, dressed in her best clothes, looking like a sleeping angel. In fact that’s what they called her, in the papers. Snow angel or some such. When we found her, she was covered in frost, head to toe. Anyhow, I dropped by that day to the chapel. You know, to pay my respects. Broke me, not being able to solve her murder.”
“I’m sure seeing Ruby like that did have a lasting effect on Ida.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not it. She went in there, and from what I heard she reached inside the casket and laid her hand on her mother’s. Next thing anyone knew, she was on the floor, out cold. When she woke up . . . well, she wasn’t the same. It was like someone took that sweet little girl and wrung her out.”
Harper frowns. “What do you mean?”
Lloyd smiles weakly. “Listen, young lady, maybe it’s best you go out there, see for yourself. She probably still lives at her grandparents’ place.”
“I might just do that,” Harper says, already dismissing the notion in her head.
She starts to stand. Lloyd slaps a hand on her wrist, holding her in place. The old man looks her right in the eyes and she sees in his, not a retiree, but a fiery detective at his peak. A good man who tried his best but failed.
“Do it,” he tells her. “Go see her. She knows something about her mother’s death. I always said that girl was the key to solving the murder, but my hands were tied, her being so young and all. She might talk now, if you’re lucky.”
His hand relaxes around her wrist. Harper gets up.
“I’ll drop by her place tomorrow, after I’ve had a chance to review your old files.”
“Good,” Lloyd says.
She leaves, pausing halfway across the room to look back at Lloyd. His head is turned away from her, looking out the window. In the reflection in the glass Harper can see him squinting against the sunlight.
Revisiting the past.
“Hey,” she says, loud enough to get his attention.
Lloyd looks around.
“I’ll drop by again,” Harper says. “Let you know if I catch the bastard.”
He nods. “You know where I’ll be.”