“A year—you went to the prom with Caitlin. I caught you two—” Her stomach rolled uncomfortably. “Shit, William.”
“I left Lindy’s bedroom at a quarter after twelve. We’d had sex, but she was preoccupied and we fought. She’d broken up with Kevin, I’d split up with Caitlin after the prom, I thought—well, I thought maybe it might work between us. I cared about Lindy, you know that. But—I don’t know. She said we were done. We were both going away to college, she said she wanted a clean break. She seemed angry with me about nothing. So I left.”
“And the ticket?”
“I paid it, didn’t think anyone knew about it. No one asked me about it.”
“Eleanor knows. So does your father.”
William couldn’t hide the surprise on his face. “How?”
“She knew the police kicked me off the Ames property less than fifteen minutes after it happened. Chief of Police Ronald Clarkson has been here for a long, long time. Since before my mother dumped me here over twenty-one years ago.”
“You’re not going to say anything, you promised,” William said as Max put the car in reverse.
“You know, William, that you and Lindy fought makes you a suspect. It would have thirteen years ago.”
“I didn’t kill her. I swear to God.”
She wanted to believe him. She could hardly breathe thinking he could have done that to Lindy.
“As long as you’re not lying to me, I’ll keep the information to myself. But if you’re lying, William, by what you say or don’t say, all promises are off.”
Chapter Ten
Max parked her rental across the street from Atherton Prep because it was technically in the city of Menlo Park and not Atherton. There was no street parking allowed in Atherton except in rare, designated areas. After her run-in with Grant and Sherman she didn’t want to tempt fate. And parking in the construction area after seeing the security in place, no way. She wasn’t even certain she wouldn’t be caught on camera along the west fence, except that she hadn’t seen any outside of the construction zone.
She took off her colorful scarf and slipped on the black blazer she’d worn to Kevin’s funeral. No reason she needed to stand out, considering that now she truly intended to trespass.
One of the benefits of having gone to school at ACP was that Max knew all the secret pathways. The school itself was a sprawling campus with six separate, architecturally attractive buildings. The two original buildings, which had been built more than a hundred years ago and renovated to maintain their old, early twentieth-century appearance, housed the administration offices and the English classes. The other four buildings, built over time from the late 1940s until the most recent state-of-the-art math and science lab that had been built during Max’s first year at ACP, highlighted the contemporary style of the decade in which they were built, while keeping details of the past.
The sports complex was on the opposite end of the campus, and that’s where Max was headed, but she hadn’t wanted to park near the construction entrance because of the security cameras she’d noted when she spoke with the project manager earlier. Instead, she walked along the bike path that wove around the perimeter. Max stayed on the side, among the elm and birch trees, until she reached the backside of the old gym.
She surveyed the buildings looking for security and found it—every door to the old gym was secured with a keypad. Definitely new since she’d graduated.
Max walked around the back of the gym to where a door led to a corridor connecting the other athletic buildings, including the locker rooms and the indoor swimming pool, where Lindy’s body had been found.
Max had come for one reason—she wanted to see how close Lindy’s backyard and clubhouse was to the pool. She walked from the pool house to the back fence. It was thick with trees, even though the grounds and foliage were well groomed. Fifty feet to the fence.
Max took out her cell phone and retrieved a map of the area. She pinpointed the Ames house and the school. A blue dot showed Max where she was standing, the wonders of GPS. It wasn’t accurate to the foot, but it was close.
The Ames property shared a rear property line with the school. The Ames’s vast backyard was on the other side of this stone fence.
Max walked along the ten-foot-tall fence. It would be difficult to scale and impossible to see through. Plus, she didn’t know if the Ames family had security on the fence, but she had to assume that they did.
She stopped walking and pictured Lindy’s clubhouse, her sanctuary, and where it was located in relation to the yard. She looked again at her map and walked back toward the pool house, then stepped away from the fence and looked up.
It was dark, the security lighting from the school building shining down, not up at the trees. But there was a structure there, surrounded by a dense group of redwood trees. The trees were so familiar, Max was certain she was right, but she needed to confirm her memories. It had been a long time since she’d been a regular visitor to Lindy’s clubhouse.
Max pocketed her phone and surveyed the area around her. No bright lights, no sign that anyone was around. There were several magnolia trees to the left, not directly behind what Max believed was the clubhouse, but close enough that if she got high enough, she’d be able to confirm she was right.
Climbing trees was like riding a bike, but unwise to do in heels. She slid out of her two-inch pumps and pulled herself up to the first thick branch. Her heart raced, exhilarated, reminding her of when she first became an investigative reporter. When she didn’t have the obligation of the cable show, when she didn’t have staff who depended on her, when she didn’t have any responsibilities to anyone, only to herself and her drive to learn the truth. She’d been reckless, brash, and free.