“That was the idea,” Scott chuckled. “But when I was with the other students, it was really easy to slip back to speaking English.”
“I wish I had had an opportunity like that,” Aline said.
“Whatever you did, your French is better than mine.”
“There’s a reason for that.” She told him about her frequent trips to Paris.
They compared notes on different places they had visited in and around Paris. The conversation shifted to the high school, and Scott shared his impressions of his fellow teachers and the administration. It was only over coffee that he brought up Kerry’s name.
“Aline, I’ve had a wonderful time tonight. Part of me wants to tell you about how great a young woman Kerry was, but I’m reluctant to introduce a topic that might upset you.”
“No, it’s okay. I saw Kerry through the eyes of a big sister. If I had it to do over again, I would not have been away as much as I was the last three years. What was it like to be her coach?”
“She was really special. She wasn’t the best player on the team, but she was very good, and she had a natural ability to lead. The best compliment you can give a player is that she made her teammates better when she was on the field.”
When the evening ended and she was driving home, Aline realized that she had enjoyed the dinner very much. Scott was a very nice guy, and he was good company.
27
The results of the autopsy revealed that Kerry had been killed instantly by a massive blow to the back of her skull. There was almost no water in her lungs, indicating she had not been breathing after being struck. The alcohol level in her blood was .06, the equivalent of a person her size consuming two to three drinks. There was no evidence of sexual assault.
The State Lab’s analysis of the golf club verified that it was the weapon that had been used on Kerry. The strands of hair on the head of the putter were matched with samples of her hair. The specks of blood lifted from the club contained Kerry’s DNA.
Fingerprints on the rubber grip would be virtually impossible to collect, but there were five identifiable prints on the shaft that potentially could be matched.
Mike began the process of identifying the prints by going first to Steve and Fran Dowling. It was as he had expected, a difficult meeting. Once again he swung by at about 6:45 P.M., when Steve would be home. When he explained his reason for being there, it caused Fran to cry out in near hysteria, “Are you telling me that our golf club was used to kill my little girl?”
“Fran, Detective Wilson is telling us that he needs to identify whose fingerprints are on the club. Obviously, he wants to know which are ours and eliminate them.”
“You can have them taken at the Saddle River police station,” Mike said. “They’ll forward them to the Prosecutor’s Office.”
“We’ll go there tomorrow morning,” Steve assured him.
Aline put her arm around her mother. “Mom, we all want to see whoever hurt Kerry get caught.”
Fran repeated what she had said before. “It was Alan Crowley.” Turning to Wilson, she said, “Do you have his fingerprints?”
“Yes, but let’s wait for the total fingerprint analysis to be complete.”
Aline again walked him to the door. “Mike, I’ve been thinking and thinking about that text Kerry sent me the day before her party. I say this with love. Kerry had a little bit of the drama queen in her. Whether it was a quarrel with a boyfriend or a dispute with a teacher, she always quickly said what was on her mind. In the text she sent the day before the party she referred to something very important, but didn’t say what it was. That’s not the way Kerry usually did things.”
“Aline,” Mike said, “I know how hard all this is for you. But I can see that you are a great comfort to your parents.”
His hand brushed hers as she opened the door for him. “Aline, I promise you and your mother and father that we are going to find out who did this to Kerry and your family, and that person will go away for a very long time.”
“At that time maybe we’ll be able to try and put our lives back together,” Aline said, but there was doubt in her voice.
28
Bobby, Rich and Stan had collective guilt after lying for Alan. The detective had interviewed them one at a time, and each of them stuck to the story. “Alan got to Nellie’s about ten-thirty and left at the same time we did, about eleven-forty-five.”
Rich even shared that Alan told them that he was going to see Kerry in the morning and make up with her.
Stan told Mike Wilson that Alan had been mad when he came to Nellie’s, but he got over it.
Bobby volunteered that Alan had said that Kerry liked to tease him because she enjoyed making up.
When Mike asked them if they knew who sold the beer to Kerry, they claimed truthfully that they had no idea.
But after they spoke to Mike, they got together and discussed the possibility that Alan might break down and admit that he had left Nellie’s early, gone back and killed Kerry.
If Alan did that, what would happen to them? Would they end up in jail for lying?
The three of them, together and individually, worried about that.
They tried to reassure one another but they still had visions of getting arrested and going to jail.
29
Aline was sure she knew why Marge had not brought Jamie to the funeral Mass. From the time Jamie was born, the Chapmans and the Dowlings had been very cordial. Kerry had been Jamie’s lifelong friend. How hard it must be for him to comprehend that she’s gone forever, Aline thought.
Steve had put in the pool when Kerry was ten. Jamie always wanted to swim in it if Kerry was there. If he was out in the yard, Kerry would call Marge and ask if he could come over to swim. He followed Kerry’s every movement in the pool and became a very adequate swimmer himself.
Aline always knew how much he adored Kerry, and how much he would miss her now. When the company came in to close the pool for the winter, she noticed Jamie watching them from his side of the hedge that separated the backyards. Impulsively, she walked over and spoke to him.
“Jamie, how are you?” she asked.
“I’m sad.”
“Why are you sad, Jamie?”
“Because Kerry went swimming and then to Heaven.”
“I know, Jamie. I’m sad too.”
“My daddy went to Heaven, so Kerry is with him.”
Jamie’s eyes were filling with tears. Aline felt herself on the verge of breaking down. She didn’t want to do that in front of him. She said, “I’ll see you soon, Jamie,” and went back into the house.
30
Mike Wilson decided that his next move would be to go to Nellie’s and verify the time that Alan and his friends had been there and when they left. He phoned the restaurant and was told by the manager that the same waitstaff that had been on duty Saturday would be there this evening.
It turned out to be easy to find the waitress he wanted to speak to. Glady Moore had been telling everyone that she had served Alan Crowley the night that poor girl was murdered. Wilson got to the restaurant at seven, spoke to Glady briefly and was told she could take time to talk to him in about fifteen minutes.
The tempting smell of pizza reminded him that he was hungry. He ordered a Margherita pizza and a glass of beer.
As she had promised, Glady came over to his table and sat opposite him. “Kerry used to come in here with her friends,” she said. “She was such a beautiful girl. To think that she was murdered the very night that I was serving pizza to those boys.”
“Do you remember what time they got to the restaurant?”
“Three of them, not the boyfriend Alan Crowley, came in around ten o’clock. The Yankees were playing, so they took a table near the bar so they could watch the game.”
“When did Alan join them?” Mike asked.
“It was about ten-thirty. You should have seen the look on his face.”