Page 110 of The Lies I Told
“Hear me out.” Her gaze didn’t waver. Either her worries were fueled by boozy paranoia, or she was batshit crazy.
“Are you drinking again?” It surprised me how much I was rooting for her sobriety.
She drew in a breath. “I had a slipup the other night. I drank a couple of bottles of wine. But I went to a meeting last night and today, I called my sponsor once, and I’ll hit another meeting tomorrow.”
I muttered, “Shit,” as I stared at her. No sense in asking how something like that had happened. Sometimes it just did. That was what made a lush so hard to love. But that didn’t temper my disappointment.
“Jo-Jo had Clare’s camera.”
“I thought we looked at all your cameras.”
“You looked at mine. Clare had a small one that was hers. Clare visited Jo-Jo hours before the party. She left her coat, and in the pocket was the camera.”
“And Jo-Jo didn’t tell me this why?”
“It was her private connection to Clare. She liked having a piece of Clare no one else did. The three of us were pretty tight at one point. Some called us the Three Musketeers.”
“She might also have let her killer go free.” The words tasted bitter as I ground them out.
“I know. And you can deal with her on that score later. For now, let’s deal with the bigger issue.” She had the focus of a dog with a bone.
“Which is?”
“You said the DNA of Clare’s baby did not match any of the males in her life. Around the time she got pregnant, I went to visit Brit atcollege and Clare stayed behind to attend an art show. I was supposed to go as well, but Brit talked me into staying in Charlottesville and shopping.”
“I remember something from the notes that I took at our interviews. Didn’t you get drunk while you were at your sister’s school and passed out?”
“That’s right.”
“Okay.”
“Clare used to like to take pictures. She always had this camera with her. I clicked through them and saw an image in mid-November of a guy who looked like David.”
“David? Did he live in the area about that time?”
“He was in college with Brit, which is an hour’s drive away. He said his family is from California, so he must have been visiting friends in the area over the Thanksgiving holiday.” She handed me the camera.
I clicked through the images. “You know that for a fact?”
“A theory.”
“Has David ever indicated that he saw Clare or you before her death?”
“He’s never said anything to me.”
I studied the rounded face of a man with dark hair. He was looking away from the camera, and the image was slightly out of focus, as if he were intentionally turning away as Clare clicked. I wanted to be excited but had been disappointed too many times. “This is all you have?”
“David met Brit at the hospital right after my accident. I’m in surgery, and he just happened to show up.”
“Random connections happen.”
Her eyes still turned a vivid shade of blue when she was angry. She ran long fingers over her shorn hair. “You once said that when facts appear connected, they generally are.”
“You’re correct. But coincidences do happen.” I walked to the kitchen counter and carefully set down my cup. “This picture is not enough for a warrant.”
She moved toward me, standing within a couple of feet. “I followed him last night.”
“What?”
