“Mr. Hilyard, I want you to look at a picture for me and tell me if you know who it is. I believe she might have been in your graduating class.”

  She slid the picture over to him and he studied it hard—perhaps waiting for his vision to focus in on just the one version of the picture rather that then two or three hazy ones he was likely seeing.

  “Yup. That’s Melanie. Melanie Paschiutto.” He then made a pfff sound with his lips and slapped at the picture. “Or, as everyone called her in school, Melanie Pashit-o. I believe she had my lovely wife to thank for that little nickname. One of her fine contributions to high school.”

  “So Lauren knew her?” Chloe asked.

  “Yeah, she did. Gave that poor girl hell in high school. You ever see that movie Carrie? The old one, not the new remade garbage. Carrie has her first period in the shower and the girls start chucking tampons at her. That’s the sort of stuff Lauren did to her.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “Other than being an evil bitch?” He frowned at this and choked back a sob. To make sure it stayed down, he gulped down some of his beer. It was getting close to empty, making him look over toward the bartender. “She wasn’t like that when we got married. She got pregnant and I think she understood…started to regret being so fucking mean to everyone in school. I don’t know…I think she still bashed people a bit during her little porch sessions with Claire or her tea and snacks with Tabby and Kaitlin.”

  “Do you know why Lauren was so mean to this woman?”

  “Because she wasn’t as pretty. She was odd. A little overweight. Acne. Hand-me-down clothes. It wasn’t just Lauren. Everyone picked on her. Lauren was just sort of the ringleader.”

  And she chose to go to her high school reunion? Chloe thought. What the hell for?

  But she was starting to think she knew exactly why she’d gone.

  “Would you happen to know where she lives?” Chloe asked.

  “Melanie? No. I don’t think I’ve spoken a word to her since high school. I think she went to community college and stuck around here, but I never spoke to her after graduation. Hell…I doubt I spoke to her at all in high school.”

  “Well, thank you for your time,” Chloe said. She got up from her chair and saw that Rhodes was looking at Jerry Hilyard as if the sight of him was breaking her heart. Chloe turned back to him and asked: “Can we give you a ride home?”

  He thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. “No. I know I’m drunk and that’s okay. It’s the most I’ve felt…the most that wasn’t sorrow or pain, that is…in two weeks. And it’s nice.” He smiled then, a smile that made Chloe want to weep. “It’s numbing. Don’t give a damn about anything. I just want to drink until I pass out and it all goes black.”

  He looked back down into his beer before draining it and showing the empty glass to the bartender. Chloe almost tried again but left him to it. On her way out, she passed by the bartender as he took Jerry his next beer.

  “Be sure you take care of him,” Chloe said.

  The bartender only nodded, indicating that he’d basically accepted that duty the moment the poor man had walked in. It made Chloe feel a little bit better but she realized as they walked back out to the parking lot that although she felt she was definitely on to something here, the sight of Jerry Hilyard had affected her deeply.

  It made her incredibly sad, but at the same time, more determined than ever to make sure she found his wife’s killer.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  It was three o’clock in the morning by the time Chloe and Rhodes had managed to get an address for one Melanie Paschiutto. The Barnes Point police department was poorly staffed at such an hour, most of the available manpower stationed on the town’s many back roads to watch out for drunk drivers.

  Rather than head out to speak with Melanie at such a ridiculous hour, they opted to get a room at a motel. Chloe fell asleep around 3:45, conking out the moment her head hit the bed. As was the nature of sleep, though, the final thought in her head as she drifted off followed her down and stuck to the darkness, not causing any dreams but keeping one thing in her subconscious, one thing to occupy her mind even as she slept.

  It was a thought of Jacob Koontz, standing beside Kyle Moulton. It was her past, which was gone, and what she had thought might be her future, equally gone. And as that image drifted off into sleep with her, she could not help but wonder which one—the past or the future—might be more significant.

  ***

  The alarm went off at seven o’clock. Chloe and Moulton worked well around one another as they dressed for the day. Hair and teeth brushed, somewhat energized by the three or so hours of sleep they’d had, they walked out into the morning. It was quiet and serene, Barnes Point offering a picture of its typical Sunday morning. Chloe wondered if Lauren Hilyard had experienced this on her last day alive or if she had slept through it, maybe snoozing off a few too many drinks.

  As they got into the car, Chloe called Sheriff Jenkins to let him know where they were headed and some of the suspicions she had. Jenkins offered his help, stating that Jason Morton’s refusal to give an admission as well as the lack of evidence was pointing to not only his release, but the eventuality of him no longer being considered the killer.

  Chloe drove out to the edge of Barnes Point, taking a two-lane road that was perfectly bordered with trees that seemed to go on forever. Quaint little houses were tucked within the forest, barely visible from the road. About six miles into this repetitious scenery, they came to the address they’d found for Melanie Paschiutto the night before. There was a single car parked in the driveway. A swing set and a tattered old Little Tikes tricycle parked along the edge of the sidewalk indicated that there was at least one Paschiutto child.

  They walked up to the front door, Chloe knocking lightly. Off in the distance, somewhere in the trees, birds were singing. She felt like they were in the middle of nowhere, the reality of Lauren Hilyard’s death on the other side of the world.

  A series of rapid footsteps came running toward the door. It opened slowly, revealing half of a small face. A little girl of about eight or so stared up at Chloe and Rhodes. When the girls realized she did not know either of these women, she stepped back and looked behind her.

  “Is your mother home?” Chloe asked.

  The girl nodded and the yelled: “Mom! Two ladies are at the door!”

  With her announcement made, she ran back into the house, leaving the door open behind her. Within seconds, a woman appeared. She was fussing with an earring as she approached the doorway.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, finally getting the ring into her ear.

  “Are you Melanie Paschiutto?” Chloe asked.

  “Yes, that’s me.” She eyed them both with skepticism. Chloe watched the woman’s reaction, fairly certain that was a degree of distrust in her gaze.

  “Do you have a moment to talk?” Chloe asked. She showed her ID, again looking at Melanie’s reaction. She was showing very little, as if she was moderately disinterested in the entire exchange.

  “FBI? What’s going on?”

  “We’re investigating the murder of Lauren Hilyard,” she said. Then, stretching the truth quite a bit, she added: “We’re meeting up with everyone that attended the high school reunion two weeks ago, hoping to get some answers.”

  She thought she saw the slightest reaction in Melanie’s expression. Alarm? Caution? For a moment, she looked like a woman who had kicked over an old log and discovered a snake.

  “That’s fine,” she said. “But I’d rather be quick about it. My daughter and I are getting ready for church.”

  “Of course,” Chloe said as Melanie invited them in. “Hopefully, it will only take a second.”

  Before Melanie had even closed the door behind them, she started talking. And she spoke quickly, making it clear that she was in a hurry and wanted them out of her house as soon as possible.

  “So what kind of stuff are you looking for?” she asked.

  “Well, we’re just getting reports from everyone in attendance, trying to find out if there was anything they saw or heard that night that might lend a clue towards why someone might want Lauren murdered.”

  The three of them were standing in the foyer. Apparently, Melanie was not going to invite them inside. Chloe took in the layout of the house; living room to the right, small dining room off of that, a hallway directly ahead. Melanie’s daughter was currently in that hallway, skipping into the bathroom at the end of it.

  “I don’t recall all that much,” she said. “Lauren was…well, she was not particularly nice to me in high school. So honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to her at the reunion.”

  Lie number one, Chloe thought.

  “Was there a group you stayed with that night? Anyone you might have had a conversation with?”

  “No. I sort of wandered from group to group. Lots of small conversations but nothing really meaningful.”

  Lie number two. Why would she be lying about such a thing?

  “Ms. Paschiutto, what are your memories of Lauren Hilyard in high school? How would you define her?”

  Melanie took a moment before she answered. As she did, her daughter started to hum a song behind her. She was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, keeping an eye on what was transpiring in the foyer.

  “She was deplorable,” Melanie said. She said it with venom in her voice, as if she were talking about some inhumane crime rather than another human being. “I daresay she was evil. Just mean to everyone that didn’t fit within her little circle. She…she was the type of girl I avoided at all costs.”

  She said all of this with a weird look of pride on her face. But that look of caution remained on her face.

  “Do you think she was so mean-spirited in high school that it might have given someone reason to kill her ten years later?” Chloe asked. “Perhaps over something sparked at the reunion?”

  If she had looked like a woman who had discovered a snake under a log moments ago, she now looked as if that snake had struck out at her. Her eyes went wide for a moment and she actually took a step back. She quickly regained her composure, though. Still, that split second was all Chloe had been looking for.

  “I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine that but…well, then again, she did some pretty vile things in school.”

  “Like what?”

  Melanie thought for a moment and then shook her head. I’m really quite sorry,” she said. “But we’re already running behind. I like to get Aubrey to Sunday school right when it starts at eight thirty and we’re already running a little behind.”

  “Sure, sure,” Chloe said.

  “Would you call us if you think of anything else?” Rhodes asked, handing Melanie one of her business cards.

  “Of course,” Melanie said, the relief on her face as clear as a vibrant painting.

  “Mrs. Paschiutto, I do apologize,” Chloe said. “I know this seems unprofessional, but do you think I could use your restroom?”

  Still overcome with relief, Melanie thought nothing of it. “No problem,” she said. “Right down the hallway there and…Aubrey! Can you hop out of there for a second so this nice lady can use the restroom?”

  Aubrey did as instructed. She smiled at Chloe as she dutifully stepped out of the bathroom.

  “Thanks so much,” Chloe said.

  As she started for the restroom, directly ahead in her line of sight, she hoped that Rhodes picked up on what she was doing. Within a few seconds, it was clear that she had. Rhodes started speaking softly to Melanie—small talk, about how nice and quiet it must be out here among all of the forest.

  Chloe made it to the bathroom and turned to see that Rhodes had positioned herself so that Melanie’s back was turned to Chloe. As for Aubrey, she had disappeared elsewhere in the house, heading toward the kitchen.

  Chloe quickly ducked into the living room area. She looked around but found the place absolutely tidy and well kept. A bible and a devotional sat on the small coffee table and a stack of kids’ movies sat in a neat stack on top of the old television. She hurried out of there and went back into the hallway. When she did, she nearly collided with Aubrey. The girl waved at her and when she did, Chloe waved back. It was clear the little girl wasn’t much of a talker, so Chloe risked seeming rude. She walked right past her and into the first doorway she came to along the hall.

  She walked into what was obviously Melanie’s bedroom. It was not nearly as clean as the living room. There were dirty clothes strewn here and there and a few books scattered on the floor. She started for the nightstand to see if there was anything to find there. It was then, passing by the books, that she stopped.

  She saw the cover of one of the books on the floor. It was tattered and had clearly been used quite a bit. It was a slim book with a glossy cover. The title read: Barnes Point High School 2009-2010.

  Sure…there was a chance that it was left over from a nostalgic trip down memory lane from having attended the reunion. Still, it seemed ominous to Chloe. She picked it up from the floor and opened it up. The first thing she noticed was that hardly anyone had signed Melanie’s yearbook. There were only a handful of autographs and messages in the inside cover and most of those were from teachers.

  She quickly flipped through the book, finding the senior class. She located Lauren Hilyard’s photo and was not at all surprised to find devil horns and inked fire coming off of her head. Over by the listing of her name, the word bitch had been scrawled. She flipped through the remainder of the book and saw Lauren again, posed with a boy under a picture labeled Most Popular. In the picture, Lauren’s eyes had been X’ed over repeatedly, so much that there were little rips in the paper. The words PRETTY IDIOT were scrawled across her shirt in black marker.

  As she reached the end of the book, something fell out of the back. It fluttered to the floor, landing at Chloe’s feet. It was an envelope, unsealed, stuffed with newspaper clippings. Chloe looked through them and found four clippings. They were all from the local paper and all about Lauren’s murder.

  A chill crept down Chloe’s spine as she looked to the floor and saw a few more books. There were a couple of hardback novels, but she also saw two more yearbooks, both from the previous years at Barnes Point High. She found Lauren’s pictures in all of them. Like the senior yearbook, all of Lauren’s pictures had been defaced. In the junior yearbook, every mention or picture of Lauren had been blocked out with a steady stream of the same word: die, die, die, die, die…

  She carried the books and newspaper clippings out of the bedroom and walked back down the hallway. Rhodes spotted her and Melanie’s gaze followed. When she saw the yearbooks in her hand, Melanie’s face went incredibly pale. For a moment, Chloe feared the woman was about to get sick.

  “You went into my room,” she said flatly.

  “I did. And some of the things in these yearbooks…they’re not exactly becoming of a lady that is getting dressed for church.”

  “You invaded my privacy…” Melanie said. Her eyes darted back and forth and her lips started to tremble as she tried to think of something else to say.

  “Ms. Paschiutto…we saw video footage of the reunion,” Chloe said. “You stared down Lauren Hilyard almost the entire time. And based on information we’ve gathered recently, we understand that she practically victimized you in high school…bullied you.”

  “She did. And…but…”

  “It hurts to be left out,” Chloe said. “It hurts even more when those that are leaving you out attack you for not being like them. It sucks to not be included…to be looked over and ignored, right?”

  Melanie made a strange movement with her head then, as if she were trying to nod and shake it in a no gesture all at the same time. Tears started to pour from her eyes. Coupled with the angry sneer that slowly started to creep across her mouth, it was rather terrifying.

  “Always looked over,” she said in a hiss. “By Lauren Hilyard and her whore friends. By my own husband when he slept with every other woman in town and left me to raise this poor little girl on my own. A darling little girl that is suffering the same things I went through. Bullied and ignored. Some little shit put chocolate pudding on her cafeteria chair the other day. There’s a little boy that pinches her and…”

  “Ms. Paschiutto,” Rhodes said slowly, calmly, “is there something you need to tell us?”

  She started to breathe harder now, backing up against the wall. “It never ends,” she said. “It stays in your head and it ruins your life and that bitch had the perfect life. Looks, money, a gorgeous husband that actually loved her, friends…and not a single regret about the menace she was in high school…”

  Chloe felt herself tensing. Watching and listening to Melanie Paschiutto in that moment was like standing in front of a tea kettle, waiting for it to boil. Only she felt that something much worse than hot water would come out.

  “Ms. Paschiutto, you can—”

  “She deserved it! She deserved it and it felt…ah, God help me…”

  She let out a wail as she pushed herself hard off of the wall. She came at Chloe quickly, flailing her arms as if she were being attacked by bees. She only got one swat in, trying to free the yearbooks from Chloe’s hands. One of them fell to the floor but by the time she tried to swat again, Rhodes caught her flailing arm and pinned it behind her back.

  Chloe stepped in to help but realized that Rhodes had it covered. When Melanie was pressed against the wall, she gave up. She sagged and started to weep as Rhodes applied the handcuffs.

  A sound from behind her caused Chloe to turn. The little girl—Aubrey Paschiutto—was standing there, a hand over her mouth. It occurred to Chloe that the look on her face was more than one of bewilderment. Aubrey was recognizing something, making some connection that perhaps her little mind wasn’t quite ready to handle.

 

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