“Her mother is minding the children,” Sandra replied. “I guess a true-crime TV show isn’t the best family vacation.”
Except in my household, Laurie thought, amused. She excused herself to make her way over to the Colby crowd of participants, pausing nearby to eavesdrop. She heard Jeff tell Kate and Meghan that it was “surreal” to see his planned wedding reception with Amanda re-created.
“It’s certainly a far cry from our reception,” Meghan said. “Margaritas and take-out barbecue in our apartment was more our speed.”
Laurie couldn’t tell if she sensed resentment in Meghan’s tone. If Kate was at all suspicious of Jeff and Meghan, or disapproving of their marriage, she didn’t show it. They sounded like three old friends catching up.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Laurie said, “but I wanted to introduce myself.” Meghan never had found the time to talk to Laurie directly, and she had only spoken to Kate on the phone. Meghan seemed to withdraw as both Kate and Jeff said they were excited about the possibility of discovering new clues about Amanda’s disappearance once the show aired.
Kate suddenly turned toward the entrance. “Take a look, guys. Nick hasn’t changed a bit, but get a load of our little Austin, all grown up!”
Kate leaned in toward Laurie to fill her in on the backstory. “Nick was always a ladies’ man, even in college. Austin was Nick’s sidekick, but very much in his shadow. A complete disaster with women, he was always coming on too strong.”
“Well, I don’t know about his success in the dating market,” Laurie said, “but I doubt he’s in Nick’s shadow in all respects these days. The two of them flew down here on Austin’s private jet.”
The men were making a beeline for their old college friends.
“La dee da,” Kate exclaimed, when Austin reached them. “A private jet, I hear. Who’d have thought that the Austin we knew in college would be doing that?”
“Careful, Kate,” Austin protested good-naturedly. “I can probably dig up some old pictures from when you stayed way too long at happy hour.”
Clearly these friends were used to good-natured banter.
Laurie noticed Nick nudge his friend Austin. “Heads up,” he said. “We may have some competition for female attention at the bar tonight.”
Laurie turned to see Alex walking into the ballroom. She felt a catch in her breath. His face was slightly tanned already, and his tuxedo fit him perfectly. Laurie immediately looked down at her own dress and was glad she had splurged on it. But she wished she had put on more makeup.
“You look beautiful, as usual,” Alex said as she walked toward him.
“And of course you’re the essence of the man about town.” As she spoke, she was aware of the instant warmth from the closeness of their bodies.
The last person to arrive was Walter Pierce, the family’s patriarch. Unlike his ex-wife Sandra, he marched directly up to Jeff and greeted him with a strong handshake. He even congratulated him and Meghan on their nuptials and wished them a lifetime of happiness.
As Laurie scanned her cast of characters, she couldn’t help but notice how the dynamic changed once Walter entered. Having said his hellos to Amanda’s former fiancé and their friends, he moved directly to his family, where he remained for the rest of the night. The exchanges she had heard between Sandra and her children flowed less naturally. Every member of the Pierce family now seemed to focus on Walter. Was his flight okay? Did he like his room? Did he need another drink? Even with everything that had happened, he was still the head of the family.
Were there ever children who didn’t care what their father thought of them? Laurie wondered. Then she answered her own question. No.
After ten minutes she went over to the lead cameraman.
“I just asked the wedding party and Sandra’s parents to stand together for a group shot,” she said. “We’ll close with that.”
As they lined up and faced the camera, it was clear that this was not a typical wedding photograph. The earlier polite veneer was gone. Jeff had his arm protectively around Meghan. Tears were spilling from Sandra’s eyes. No one was even attempting to smile.
Is it possible that someone in the wedding party could have hated Amanda enough to take her life? Laurie wondered. Unless the man in that grainy surveillance video or some other random stranger was the killer, it was highly likely that one of the people staring at the camera had killed Amanda.
But which one?
34
It was ten o’clock the next morning, and the cameras were ready to go in room 217 of the Grand Victoria. Jerry had chosen this room as the location to interview Sandra and Walter Pierce. He had learned that this had been their suite when they came to Palm Beach for their daughter’s wedding but ended up searching for her instead.
According to the plan Laurie had sketched out with Alex, Sandra would speak on camera first. Over the last five years, she had become the public face of the search for her daughter. She was the one who appeared on television regularly, pleading for the public’s assistance.
Noticeably nervous, her hands clenched, Sandra settled in on the love seat across from Alex’s chair. She was wearing a turquoise linen blouse and white slacks. It was the same outfit she’d been wearing when she found out her daughter had disappeared. She told Laurie she could never bring herself to get rid of it.
She took a deep breath and nodded toward Laurie, indicating she was ready.
Alex began by asking Sandra to describe the moment when she first realized Amanda was missing.
“I think I felt it in my bones the second I walked into the lobby. I saw Jeff, Meghan, and Kate gathered at the front desk, and I could tell something was wrong. And then Jeff said Amanda was gone, and I felt the ground disappear beneath me. Everyone else was worried, too, but also certain there would be some good explanation in the long run. But not me. I just knew something was dreadfully wrong.”
“Was there a moment when those fears felt most confirmed?” Alex asked.
She shook her head. “That might be the worst part of not knowing what happened. I was numb, stunned, bewildered. But the moment when Amanda’s disappearance really kicked in was when the police asked for her laundry to give to their canine team. The idea of dogs tracking my baby’s scent…” Her voice trailed off.
“In the early days of the search,” Alex said, “many in the media referred to your daughter as the Runaway Bride-”
Sandra began shaking her head scornfully before Alex finished the sentence. “It was terrible. There were stand-up comedians guessing how long it would be before she showed up drunk on a dance floor in Miami. My daughter is not some flighty, whimsical girl in a wedding veil. She is tough and smart.”
“I notice you’re speaking of her in the present tense,” Alex said.
“I try to, yes. It’s my way of saying I won’t stop fighting for her, ever. She’s out there-somewhere, Amanda Pierce is out there, whether alive or not-and she wants to be found. I’m as certain of that as anything I’ve known in my entire life.”
Alex looked to Laurie to see if she had any notes to give him before they moved on. She did not.
“Sandra,” Alex said, “if it’s okay with you, we have asked Amanda’s father to join you in the discussion.”
Less than a minute later Walter entered the room, clearly uncomfortable, and sat next to Sandra on the love seat. Laurie noticed that even though there was plenty of room for them both to sit comfortably, Walter chose a spot close to his ex-wife. She warmly gave his knee a gentle pat.
Alex began, “Walter, many of our viewers will recognize Sandra. Initially, you were in front of the cameras, too. But after about three months, from what I can tell, Sandra seemed to take the lead in the continuing search efforts. Are you as convinced as she is that something terrible happened to your daughter the night she disappeared?”