“Of course,” Aline said.
“I’d like to meet and talk to you quietly for a few minutes.”
“Sure. Do you want to come to the house?”
“No. This is a conversation I would rather have with you alone.”
“When do you have in mind?”
“By any chance are you free tonight?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’d like to get a little away from Saddle River, where we both could be recognized.”
They agreed to meet at a diner on Old Hook Road in Westwood.
When Aline arrived promptly at 5:30, Mike waved to her from the corner booth. She slid in opposite him.
“After I spoke to you, it occurred to me that you’d probably prefer to go to a place for a glass of wine versus a cup of coffee,” he said.
“To be honest, that would have been my first choice. As it is, I drink too much coffee.”
Mike smiled. “Aline, the next building over is an Irish pub that just opened. We wouldn’t even have to move our cars. Do you want to walk over there?”
“Sounds great to me.”
Five minutes later they were sitting in O’Malley’s, at a table in the corner of the bar. Aline took her first sip of Pinot Grigio while Mike took a drink from his beer.
“Aline, I know how strongly your mother feels about Alan Crowley’s guilt, which is why I don’t want to have this discussion in her presence. I do believe that he did it, but there are two loose ends that I wish I could clear up. The first is to find whoever helped Kerry with the tire.”
“Is there any way I can help you with that?”
“Seven girls who were at the party are still seniors at the high school. They’re minors. These parents refused to allow them to talk to me. In your work as a guidance counselor, I assume you’re going to interact with some of these girls.”
“At some point I probably will.”
“It makes sense that they might want to talk to you about Kerry.”
“Possibly.”
“Kerry told one girl about the guy who helped her with the tire. She might have told some of these girls as well. If they talk to you about Kerry, could you somehow work that into the conversation?”
Aline exhaled. “You must know I’m on really shaky ethical ground here. The privacy rules for guidance counselors are very strict.”
“I understand that. I’m not looking for personal information on these girls. Maybe I don’t even have to know the name of the girl who shares something with you. But if any of them knows something that will lead me to that guy, it will be enormously helpful. If I give you a list of their names, could you get them to talk about Kerry and bring up the subject of the guy who helped her with the tire?”
Aline considered for a minute. Once again, she knew that she would be taking a chance on losing her job. On the other hand she had seen the disbelieving look on Alan Crowley’s face when he had been photographed leaving the courtroom in prison clothes and handcuffs. If there was even the slightest chance that he was innocent . . .
“I’ll do it,” she said firmly.
Mike’s serious expression brightened.
“Thank you. It’s a lead that may not go anywhere, but I need to follow it through.”
He picked up the stein of beer on the table in front of him. “A glass of beer hits the spot at the end of the day,” he said.
“And so does a glass of wine.”
He leaned his glass forward. “A toast to that.”
They clinked glasses.
“You said there was something else you wanted to talk to me about.” Aline’s tone of voice was more of a question.
“It may be nothing, but that last text Kerry sent you the day of the party sticks in my mind. You had said she was something of a drama queen, but I wonder if you’ve had any ideas about what she might have been referring to.”
“I’ve asked myself the same thing over and over,” Aline said slowly. “The answer is no. Kerry would write something like, got A’s in two classes . . . celebrating that our team won three games in a row. But never anything like ‘something very important to talk to you about.’?”
“Aline, from my interviews I have learned that Kerry and Alan would break up and then get back together the next day. Do you think there’s any chance that the text was referring to him?”
Aline shook her head. “The answer is I simply don’t know.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
Mike took a sip from the beer. “What I’m asking you to do is to encourage those girls to talk to you about Kerry, ask if she told any of them what was so very important.”
This time Aline did not hesitate. “Yes to that request too.”
“Then we’re on the same page.” Mike paused then added, “I’m getting hungry. Any chance you might stay for dinner? I just came upon this place last month. Wherever they found the chef, he’s excellent.”
That’s the second dinner invitation in a few days, Aline thought.
Her parents were having dinner with friends at the club. Why not? Aline asked herself. “I hope they have corned beef and cabbage,” she told Mike.
“That’s a must when you’re an Irish pub. I had it last week. It’s really good.”
“You’ve convinced me.”
The dinner was as good as Mike had promised. They compared their backgrounds. Aline said, “I went to Columbia. I always thought I would be a social worker or a teacher. But when I was studying for my master’s, I decided that being a guidance counselor would be the right fit for me. I really enjoy helping the kids with their choices.”
“I’m a local guy too. I grew up in Washington Township, played football at St. Joe’s in Montvale and went to Michigan. No, I didn’t play football there.”
“Are your parents, family, still in Washington Township?”
“I’m an only child and no, right after I graduated high school, my parents moved to New York City. Dad walks to his law office and Mom loves being closer to the arts.”
“And what did you do after you finished Michigan?”
“After I graduated, I realized I wanted to work in criminal justice. I got a master’s at John Jay in Manhattan. I was on the police force in Waldwick for a couple years before I got the position in the Prosecutor’s Office. This past June I finished a grueling four years of going to Seton Hall Law School at night.”
“You sound very ambitious. What are you going to do with your law degree?”
“The first thing I’m going to do is try to pass the bar exam. After that, I’m not sure. But if I want to move up the ladder in police work, having a law degree will be very helpful.”
“Have you worked with families like mine, where a family member was murdered?”
“In the six years I’ve been at the Prosecutor’s Office, unfortunately, many times.”
“As a guidance counselor, I’m supposed to be a bit of an expert on coping strategies. I know how bad it is for me, but I can see that my father and mother are torn apart. I wonder if anything will ever bring them peace.”
“When the trial is over and justice has been served, that’s when the real healing will start.”
“I hope so,” Aline said. “They certainly helped me when I was going through hell.”
At the query on Mike’s face, she told him about losing Rick to a drunk driver.
“What happened to the driver who killed him?”
“He was found not guilty because a friend lied for him. Nobody saw the accident. We really believe that his passenger, who was his friend and who hadn’t been drinking, switched places with him before the police arrived. Other witnesses who were at the party said that when he left, and this was just a few minutes before the accident, he had been drinking heavily and he had been driving. And it was his car. But I guess the jury just wasn’t sure, and they let him off.”
“Sometimes those things happen.”
Aline hesitated and then said, her voice quivering, “Right now he’s married, has two kids and a good job on Wall Street, and is living happily ever after.”