“Are you sure you don’t want to keep this strictly within the family, Sandra?” the detective asked. Laurie detected a hint of a southern accent in her voice.
The entire Pierce family was gathered in the living room of Walter’s suite. Laurie suddenly felt all eyes on her and Alex, standing next to each other near the door. They were the interlopers.
“I want Laurie and Alex here,” Sandra affirmed. “Their show is the reason we may have finally found Amanda. I know they’re committed to helping us.”
“But they’re also reporters, Sandra. There are things we can’t divulge to the public without jeopardizing the investigation.”
“We’re not typical reporters,” Laurie said. “Anything you say in this room will remain between us for now. You have my word.”
“And unlike the police,” Alex said, “we have agreements with everyone in the wedding party to speak to us voluntarily. No arrests, no Miranda warnings. That could come in handy.”
Detective Henson looked one more time at Sandra and appeared satisfied. Sandra’s eyes were still bloodshot and puffy from crying, but she seemed ready to hear the details. Walter put his hand around her shoulder.
Her voice remarkably calm, Sandra asked, “Do you believe you have found my daughter’s body?”
“Allow me to explain the events that brought us here today. A phone call came into the station house last night, a few minutes before midnight. The caller’s voice was muffled. At this point we’re not even certain if it was a man or a woman. The caller provided specific information about the location of your daughter’s body. Of course we tried to trace the call but it came back to a phone you can buy and throw away.”
Walter pursed his lips. “That was over twelve hours ago. No one thought to tell us?”
“The department wanted to investigate first. I didn’t want to distress you if it was a crank call, but we acted on it immediately. The address the caller provided was for a parking lot across the street from St. Edward’s Church, which is two miles from here. We checked the records. That parking lot was being resurfaced at the time your daughter disappeared. The instructions were very specific regarding where the body would be found.
“We had GPR-that’s ground-penetrating radar-out there in the middle of the night. Based on what we saw on radar, we began excavation of the parking lot at sunrise and unfortunately did locate remains at that location. We’ll do further testing to confirm if they belong to your daughter, but we found these on the left ring finger.”
Detective Henson handed Sandra a photograph of two platinum rings: a classic Tiffany-style diamond engagement ring and a matching wedding band. The setting was caked in dirt.
“I think these are hers,” Sandra said. “The engagement ring was engraved. A and J-”
Detective Henson finished the phrase with her. “Semper amemus.”
“It means ‘Let us always love’ in Latin,” Sandra explained, choking back a sob. “It’s definitely our daughter. It’s my baby. It’s Amanda.”
Walter wrapped both arms around her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry to have to tell you this,” the detective said softly. “I’ll give your family some time alone. I’ve always hoped there might be a different ending.”
50
On the way to the hotel elevator, Laurie asked Detective Henson if they could have a moment. “Detective, there’s something you need to know about the wedding band that you found with Amanda’s body. Jeff told us that when he got back to New York, he couldn’t find the rings in his luggage. He said that with all of the distress over Amanda’s disappearance, he hadn’t realized they were missing.”
“I was wondering why she would have been wearing the band before she was actually married.”
“She wouldn’t have been,” Alex said. “And here’s the thing: both the bride and the groom’s rings were supposedly being kept in Jeff’s room safe prior to the ceremony. And one of Amanda’s friends just told us that Amanda seemed to be having second thoughts about the wedding. She said there was something she needed to find out before she made a final decision about whether to go through with the ceremony.”
Detective Henson raised her eyebrows. “Well, that certainly is interesting. Sandra already told me about the will. Now that we’ve found her body, Jeff will finally get his money without having to call attention to himself by asking a court to declare her legally dead.”
Laurie saw the pieces of the puzzle falling together. “If Amanda went up to Jeff’s room that night after their separate parties, she might have wanted to try on her ring-maybe as a test to see how she felt about it. If she changed her mind and decided to call things off, a fight might have ensued. Jeff could have killed her and buried the body without remembering to remove the ring.”
As usual, Alex was following her logic step by step. “When he realized his mistake, filing an insurance claim for the stolen rings after he got back to New York could have been a way to cover for the fact that her wedding band was missing. But he never filed a claim.”
The detective smiled. “I appreciate the information, but you should leave the police work to us.”
“Are you sure about that, Detective?” Alex asked swiftly. “Because we’re supposed to question your number one suspect in half an hour, and for now he has no idea you found Amanda with that ring on her finger. And rest assured, I’m going to ask him about that.”
51
Jeff looked handsome in a tan summer suit and plaid bow tie. They had asked him to wear something similar to what he had planned to wear for the wedding ceremony. He was showing Alex the beachside pergola where they were supposed to exchange vows in front of their family and closest friends.
“It’s a truly beautiful setting,” Alex observed. “I can’t resist asking about your somewhat unusual choice of footwear.”
One of the videographers moved forward with a handheld camera to get a shot of Jeff’s sandals.
“Amanda loved the idea of being on the beach for an afternoon wedding,” he said, reminiscing, “but was worried about wearing heels in the sand. She was thrilled when I suggested that we both wear flip-flops for the occasion and encourage our guests to do the same. Then she could change into her white satin Jimmy Choos for the reception.”
Laurie smiled conspiratorially to the woman who handed her the bottle of water she’d requested. Detective Henson had looked like the result of a casting call for a police detective when she was delivering the bad news to the Pierce family. But clad in blue jeans and an Under Suspicion T-shirt, she now blended right in with the rest of the crew. Alex had been the one to convince her that it was in the police department’s interest not to disrupt the production schedule. So far, the police had been able to prevent the news about the discovery of a body beneath the concrete of a parking lot from leaking to the media.
If Jeff was the one who called in the anonymous tip, he might know they had already conducted an excavation. But he would have no way of knowing for certain that they had located either Amanda’s body or the wedding ring. They still had the upper hand.
Jeff seemed comfortable in front of the cameras, telling Alex once again how much he admired his skills as a lawyer.
“We’ll see if you still like me when we’re finished here,” Alex said wryly. “Let’s start by getting something clarified upfront. You married Amanda’s best friend, Meghan, just fifteen months after you were supposed to marry Amanda. You must have known that was going to raise some eyebrows.”