She was eager to hear their reports. Normally, she was the one calling the shots in the office, but when it came to social media, she was almost oblivious. She barely understood the difference between a Tweet and a status, a like and a follow. But Jerry and Grace, just a decade younger, seemed perfectly at home in the virtual world.
As a convenient way to split the work in half, Laurie had asked Jerry to see what he could find about Jeff and his half of the wedding party, while Grace researched Amanda’s friends.
Jerry seemed more than happy to go first. “Jeff has a fairly small social media imprint, just a LinkedIn profile-that’s for professional networking,” he added for Laurie’s benefit-“and a relatively quiet Facebook page. But I have been able to confirm that he is still in close contact with both Nick Young and Austin Pratt, who are both more active online, and still very much BFFs.”
Best friends forever. Between Jerry, Grace, and her son, Laurie was fluent in slang.
“Austin and Nick are still happy bachelors on the prowl, while Jeff has settled down in Brooklyn with his wife, Meghan.”
Grace looked at Jerry as if surely he must have more to say. “Is that it? I wish my job had been that simple.”
“I also called the Grand Victoria. Want me to start in on that?” Jerry interrupted.
“One at a time, guys. Grace?”
“Well, since my people are more complicated,” she said with a pleased smile, “I’ll take them one by one. Meghan White, as mentioned, is married to Jeff. She has no Facebook, Twitter, nothing. Private. The other college girlfriend was Kate Fulton. She has four kids and lives in Atlanta. Her husband is the store manager at a Home Depot. There are some old pictures on her Facebook page with Meghan and Amanda, but, as far as I can tell, she has no current contact with any of the old gang. We’ve got Charlotte, Amanda’s sister, working at Ladyform here in New York. And her brother, Henry, is in Seattle. He’s co-owner of a winery, married with two girls, at least according to his online posts.”
Laurie was nodding. The three Colby men, all still in contact. Meghan now married to Jeff. Amanda’s family, scattered across the country. Kate the college friend, married with four children in Atlanta.
“Jerry, you heard back from the Grand Victoria?” she asked. Her biggest worry was that the resort might not let them film on the property.
“I spoke to their corporate office today. They’re eager to cooperate. Amanda’s disappearance was a public relations fiasco, so my impression is that they want to help however they can. They even maintained backups of all the security camera footage they provided to police.”
“Really? Is there a way we can see it?”
“They agreed to send it this week.”
The pieces were all falling into place. Jeff was still close to two of his groomsmen, and obviously couldn’t be any closer to Meghan. If she could just get him on board, they’d be all set. And if he didn’t say yes to Sandra, she had a plan to persuade him. Alex.
19
When Laurie walked out of her building at six o’clock, Alex was standing at the curb next to his black Mercedes. Right on time, she thought. I should have known it.
“I’ve been waiting an hour.”
“Sure you have!”
Laurie had known Alex for over a year now but could still feel herself react every time she saw him. A former college basketball player standing six-four, he still had an athlete’s build. He had dark, wavy hair, a strong jaw, and blue-green eyes that shone even behind his black-rimmed glasses. There was a reason Alex Buckley had become one of television’s most sought-after trial commentators, and it wasn’t merely because of his celebrated success in the courtroom.
She gave him a quick kiss. “I can’t believe my luck that you could join me.”
Alex’s official role on Under Suspicion was as its host. The skills he had gained at interrogation in courtroom cross-examinations were perfect for the show’s format. In previous episodes, his participation had not begun until shortly before the cameras began to roll. But since the show’s last production, three months ago, the lines between official and unofficial had become blurred where Laurie and Alex were concerned.
He opened the car door for her, then walked around to the opposite side and got in next to her. Before he could ask, she handed the driver Jeff and Meghan’s address in Brooklyn. “I may have mentioned that I always have time for you,” he said mildly.
“Oh, come on! I can’t remember the last time you left your office before six. I’m really surprised. How come you were available on such short notice?”
“This is what I get for dating a journalist-the third degree.” Alex laughed. “I did make a scheduled trial go away by getting most of the evidence suppressed.”
Dating. Of course we’re dating, she thought. There’s no other word for it.
“Well, I’m not surprised you won, and I’m grateful for the help,” she said, as he reached over and took her hand. It felt completely natural.
“Okay, Laurie, what’s going on in Brooklyn?”
“Do you remember the Runaway Bride case?”
Alex looked up briefly, scanning his memory. “Somewhere warm. Beautiful hotel. Florida?”
“Exactly. At the Grand Victoria in Palm Beach.”
“Whatever happened with that? As I recall, there were two theories at the time: either foul play or she got cold feet and took off.”
Laurie was realizing she was at a disadvantage for not having followed the story while it was hot. “Over five years without a word sounds like more than cold feet.”
“Nothing? No body ever found?”
Laurie was a journalist, the daughter of a cop, and the widow of an emergency room physician, but she still was not accustomed to Alex’s matter-of-fact approach to speaking about crime. “According to Amanda’s mother, there have been absolutely no new developments in all these years. I got the impression that police were divided-either she left voluntarily or was killed. But either way, they have stopped looking. It’s a cold case.”
“Meaning, right up your alley. And what’s in Brooklyn?”
“The would-be groom, Jeff Hunter.” Laurie quickly laid out the basic biography: Colby College, Fordham Law, a job with the Brooklyn Public Defender’s office since graduation. “This is when it gets interesting.” She told him about Amanda’s will, leaving her trust fund to her fiancé. “Amanda’s mother considers him our number one suspect.”
“Are you worried that because he’s a criminal defense attorney he’ll take the fifth, so to speak, and not do the show?”
“Exactly. Plus his wife’s a lawyer, too. Her name’s Meghan White. She practices immigration law, not criminal defense, but still-”
“Even if he’s willing, you’re concerned that she’ll try to stop him.”
“Or have her own reasons to clam up. Because here’s the thing: Meghan was Amanda’s best friend. She was also there at the Grand Victoria, so she’s a potential suspect, too. Marrying your best friend’s fiancé fifteen months after she disappeared? Seems a little quick to me. I thought since you speak their language, maybe you could help convince them to do the show.”
“I’m told I can be very persuasive. But do we even know if they’re home?”
“I left a message on both their phones. Obviously they talked to each other and then Jeff called me back. It took a lot of persuading, but he gave the okay for us to come.”
Alex leaned toward her until their shoulders touched.
“Palm Beach sounds like a good place to shoot, don’t you think, Counselor?” she asked him.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
20
The converted brownstone looked just as it had appeared when Laurie entered the address into Google Maps’ street-view function. It was a four-story walk-up. No doorman.