A Justified Murder Read online

  “If Janet had murdered him, I’d understand,” Sara said. “But not the other way around.”

  Kate looked thoughtful. “Maybe Janet and Carolyn were having the affair and Kyle—”

  “I’m the writer,” Sara said, “so don’t steal my job. But that isn’t a bad idea for a story. If—”

  “Bed!” Jack said and headed down the hall.

  Smiling, Sara and Kate separated and went to their own rooms.

  Four

  AT 2:00 A.M. the doorbell started again. This time it was accompanied by sharp rapping on glass.

  Again, Kate struggled out of bed and again her foot got caught in her pants leg. “Why should I bother?” she mumbled. “Why don’t I just go to the door in my T-shirt and undies? Better yet, I’ll stay in bed and let Jack and Aunt Sara handle it.”

  The doorbell kept going in spurts, like a siren warning of an approaching tornado. She grabbed a pair of sweatpants off a hook and pulled them on.

  As before, Jack was by the front door. In spite of the noise, he was leaning against the jamb, his eyes closed, half-asleep. Sara was sluggishly walking toward them. She’d put on a silky blue pajama set that looked like it was from a 1930s Carole Lombard movie.

  “Who is it?” Kate asked.

  “Three girls,” Jack said. “I know their parents but not them. But I’ve heard enough to know that they travel in a Mean Girl pack. Nastiest of the nasties. You know, it would help if girls didn’t become pretty until they reached twenty-one.”

  “Ugliness would have stopped you in high school?” Kate asked, yawning.

  Jack didn’t reply, but placed himself in front of the door, then opened it. He wasn’t going to let this batch run into Sara.

  Sure enough, three very pretty teenage girls ran in and slammed into him. For all that it was the wee hours of the morning, the girls were beautifully groomed: shiny, styled hair, so much makeup a circus performer would be envious, and clothes that could grace the cover of a fashion magazine.

  “Oh, Jack,” the middle one said. “You have to help us.”

  “Yes, Jack,” the blonde one said. “We don’t want to go to jail.”

  The last girl was looking at Kate. “Is this your girlfriend everyone talks about? I didn’t know you liked red hair.” She stroked her own dark locks. “I could dye mine if you—”

  Sara spoke up. “Is this about Janet Beeson?”

  “Yes,” the first girl said. She was the tallest and seemed to be the leader. “Sheriff Flynn told my father he wanted to talk to us at eight a.m. We don’t know what to say.”

  Jack was standing by the door. “How about the truth? Now that that’s settled, you can go home.”

  The girls didn’t move. The taller one started to cry in a way that didn’t mess up her makeup. The others followed her lead.

  Jack looked like he wanted to join them. “We have nothing to do with this case so there’s no reason for you to tell us anything, and certainly no reason for you to be here at two in the morning. Save your story for the sheriff.”

  “But everyone in Lachlan knows you solved the last case,” the tall one said.

  “Yes.” The blonde wiped her eyes—and didn’t so much as smear her three shades of eyeshadow. “You were brilliant.”

  They were nearly afloat in self-pity.

  “Come on,” Sara said tiredly as she led the way to the living room. “Tell us why Sheriff Flynn wants to talk to you.”

  The girls sat down on the couch, the tall one in the middle. “I’m Madison and this is Ashley and Britney.” She didn’t tell which was which.

  The blonde spoke up. “We weren’t very nice to Mrs. Beeson.”

  Jack was still standing. “Did you kill her?”

  The girls’ eyes widened in horror. “No,” Madison whispered.

  “Then there is no problem. Just tell the sheriff that you were rotten little snakes to a lovely old woman, then go home and start being nice to people. Everyone in town will appreciate that.” He half turned, his arm held out toward the door.

  The girls didn’t move. They just sat there looking at Kate and Sara with pleading eyes.

  “Jack,” Sara said, “could you get them something to—?”

  “No.” He sat down. “I don’t want this town to hear that we entertain guests all night long.” He looked in warning at the girls. “Do your parents know where you are?”

  They shook their heads.

  “Tomorrow I’m going to talk to them about putting iron bars on your bedroom windows.”

  “Fire marshal won’t allow it,” Madison said. “My dad already asked.”

  Sara gave Jack a look to shut up, then back at the girls. “Tell us what happened.”

  “It all started because Mrs. Beeson was...” Madison looked at the other girls.

  “Fat and boring.” The dark-haired girl couldn’t take her eyes off Jack.

  “And she was always watching us,” the blonde said. “It was creepy.”

  “From what I’ve seen of you three, you need watching,” Jack said.

  “Whatever.” Madison waved her hand in dismissal. “We didn’t mean for her to hear us.”

  “Or see us when we, uh...you know, acted like her,” the blonde added.

  Kate had been listening without speaking, but she was the youngest, so she had a better idea of what the girls had done. “So which one of you is the best at mimicking?”

  The one who was fascinated by Jack lifted her hand.

  “And you are?”

  “Britney,” she whispered. Everyone was quiet as they waited for her to speak. “I just pretended I was her, that’s all. She walked funny and she never said much and she...” Britney looked at her hands.

  “And poor Janet heard you making fun of her.” Sara didn’t conceal her disgust.

  Madison sat up straighter. “We told them all that we were sorry.”

  “And we paid for it,” Ashley said. “My dad grounded me for two whole weeks.”

  “Are you saying you did this in public?” Jack was aghast.

  “What media did you use?” Kate asked.

  Madison gave her a haughty look. “We aren’t stupid. We know that using the internet means it goes out to the world. We thought we were alone. Private.”

  “So where were you?” Sara asked.

  “We were on the stage at school, behind the curtain,” Madison said. “We’d told our parents to pick us up thirty minutes after the show ended so we’d have time to hang out. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten.”

  “We didn’t know our parents were there waiting for us,” Ashley said.

  “And why didn’t they turn off the video camera after the play ended?” Madison sounded as though everything was someone else’s fault.

  The adults were looking at them in openmouthed astonishment. Without a word, Jack got up and poured three gin and tonics. A G&T was the only drink Sara would take. He handed them to Sara and Kate, then sat down with his.

  “Could we please have—” Madison began.

  “No,” Jack said.

  Sara cleared her throat. “So. You made fun of Mrs. Beeson in a hateful way in front of the school’s video system. Is that right?”

  The girls nodded.

  Kate leaned forward. “Did it play live on the big screens in the auditorium?”

  They nodded.

  “How many people saw it?” Jack asked.

  “About twenty. Or so.”

  “And Janet was one of them,” Sara said.

  They nodded.

  “And all your parents did was ground you for a couple of weeks?” Jack’s tone told what he thought of that.

  “With today’s parents,” Sara said, “be glad they weren’t rewarded for being creative.”

  Britney’s eyes lit up. “My dad said I was smack on in