Scene Of The Crime: Who Killed Shelly Sinclair?

Daniel shifted positions in his chair, oddly disappointed that her eyes held nothing but professional curiosity about a crime. Of course, that was how it should be. A married woman shouldn’t be interested in the five years that had passed since a hot hookup had occurred.

“At the time of the murder, Bo owned the place that is now Jimmy’s Place. Bo and Shelly had been a couple since junior high school and it was just assumed that eventually they’d get married. They often met at the bench by the lagoon late at night before Shelly started her night shift working as the clerk in The Pirate’s Inn. When Shelly wound up dead it was only natural that Bo would be one of the prime suspects.”

“And from what I read in the file, his alibi was that he was at home sick with the flu on the night that Shelly was murdered.”

“And the last text message on Shelly’s phone was from Bo telling her he was ill and couldn’t meet her that night,” Daniel replied.

Olivia shuffled through the few papers that were in the file. “And no other suspects were pursued? All I see in here are interviews of Shelly’s sister, Savannah, her brother, Mac, their parents and a couple of Shelly’s friends. Is there anything more you can tell me that isn’t in this file?”

“Several things have come to light in the last couple of months. Shelly told some of her friends that she was in a sticky situation, but we never managed to figure out what that meant. While we were investigating the attacks on Shelly’s sister, Savannah, we discovered that Eric Baptiste had become friendly with Shelly right before her death, a detail we never knew during the initial investigation.”

Olivia held up her hand to stop him. “I’m already confused by names and incidents I know nothing about. Obviously you can’t completely update me in a brief talk right now.” She frowned thoughtfully. “What I’d like you to do is head up a four-man task force and focus efforts on starting this investigation all over again from the very beginning.”

“I’d be glad to do that. I always felt like Bo was an easy scapegoat and the crime wasn’t investigated right from the start. Is there anyone in particular you want on the task force?” he asked.

She shook her head, her dark hair shining richly in the light flooding in from the windows behind her desk. “You know the men better than I do and you know who you’ll work best with. I just want go-getters, men who want to work hard and close this case with a killer behind bars.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I want this cleaned up before I leave here.”

There was nothing of Lily in the hard-eyed woman seated across from him. “We’ll get it cleaned up,” he said, hoping his words of confidence would somehow soften her features.

They didn’t. Instead, in an effort to get a small glimpse of the woman he’d briefly known, he changed the subject. “I couldn’t help but notice the wedding ring on your finger. I’m glad that you found somebody important in your life.”

She stared down at the band for a long moment and then looked back at him, her eyes shuttered and unreadable. “I got married to a wonderful man, had a daughter and then last year he died. It’s just my mother, my daughter and me now.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” That’s what you get for trying to take the conversation to a personal level, he thought.

She frowned. “I’m not the first young widow and I won’t be the last. What’s important to me now is my family’s well-being and my work. And now, don’t you have a task force to pull together?” She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and glanced toward the door.

Daniel beat feet to the door and it was only when he was back at his desk that he processed what he’d just learned about her. She wasn’t married. She was a widow.

Although he was sorry that she’d lost her husband, he wasn’t sorry that she was single. Right now the night they had spent together was like a white elephant in the room whenever they were alone together.

Sooner or later he was going to bring it up. He was going to have to talk about it. Sooner or later, as crazy as he might be, he hoped that just maybe there might be a repeat of that night in their future.

* * *

OVER THE NEXT two days, the task force was pulled together and assigned to work from a small conference room in the back of the building.

Daniel had chosen Josh Griffin, Wes Stiller and Derrick Bream as his team. It was obvious the men had a good relationship and equally obvious, as Olivia had observed the deputies over the last two days, that Daniel was a natural-born leader. All of the men respected and looked up to him.

Olivia had spent most of the two days interviewing the deputies who worked for her and finishing up going through case files of crimes that had been handled by Trey Walker.

Daniel had been right; for the most part other than during the last couple of months, Lost Lagoon had been relatively free of any serious crimes. Oh, there had been the usual domestic calls and shoplifting... Petty crimes that had been resolved immediately.

She’d arrived in her official capacity on Monday morning and by Wednesday evening she had learned that everyone in Lost Lagoon seemed to move at a slower pace than anywhere else in the world. She’d discovered that the town was rich in pirate lore and that a new amusement park being built on a ridge just above the town had the business owners excited about new commerce.

It was after seven when she packed up to leave to go home. She’d already called her mother to tell her to go ahead and feed Lily and get her ready for bed.

She was surprised to leave the office and see Daniel at his desk. She’d assumed he’d gone home at four when he was off duty.

“I thought you’d have left by now. Don’t you have a family to get home to?” she asked.

He reared back in his chair, looking as fresh and alert as he had that morning. “No wife, no family and no desire for either. I’m a confirmed bachelor,” he said. “I assume you’re headed home?”

“Eventually, but before that I want to go to the scene of Shelly’s murder. I haven’t really gotten out and about town much and I just want to get a feel for where the crime took place.”

Daniel frowned. “I’d rather you not go there by yourself. How about I drive there and you follow me? I can give you a better idea of what things looked like on that night.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” she protested.

“You didn’t. I offered. Besides, it’s my job to assist you.” He stood as if it were settled. “I was ready to knock off for the night anyway.”

Minutes later Olivia followed behind Daniel’s patrol car toward the south end of town. They traveled on Main Street, and as she drove she glanced at the various businesses that lined the streets.

So far she’d only gone from the station to her home on the west side of town. She hadn’t ventured into the heart of Lost Lagoon. On one side of the street she noticed an ice cream parlor and made a note to be sure and visit it with her mother and Lily. Lily loved ice cream.

Lily. If she’d been conflicted at all about telling Daniel that their night of passion had resulted in a daughter for him, her conflict had been resolved when he’d said he had no desire for a wife or a family and that he was a confirmed bachelor.

She focused back on her surroundings. On one corner a shop held a large sign that indicated it was Mama Baptiste’s Apothecary and Gift Shop and further down the road was a two-story hotel named The Pirate’s Inn. In between were shops catering to tourists, a dress boutique and Jimmy’s Place where the parking spaces in front of the three-story building were filled with various makes and models of vehicles.

Olivia’s stomach rumbled as she thought of all the people inside enjoying a meal. She’d skipped lunch that day and although she knew Rose would have kept something for her to zap in the microwave for dinner, her stomach was ready to be fed as soon as possible.

While they continued on, the buildings ended and Main Street joined an outer road that she knew circled around the entire town.

Olivia followed him onto the outer road and then when he stopped and pulled to the curb, she did the same. On the opposite side of the road in the near distance was a row of bushes broken only by a stone bench.

Daniel got out of his car and she followed suit. Here the smell of the swamp was thick in the humid air. The scent of tangled musty foliage battled with a fishy smell, and the humidity was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Daniel joined her by the side of her car. “Bo worked the night shift at Bo’s Place and Shelly worked the night shift at The Pirate’s Inn. Before she went into work, Bo often sneaked away and the two of them would meet here for a few minutes before they each returned to work.”

“So Shelly showed up that night, but according to the message that she got from Bo, he didn’t come.” Olivia stared at the bench where a young, beautiful woman had spent the last minutes of her life. Who had met Shelly here in the middle of the night and strangled her to death then threw her body in the nearby lagoon?

They crossed the street. Beyond the bushes and the stone bench was a grassy area that ran from one edge of the swampy growth to the other side, and beyond that the lagoon water sparkled darkly in the waning sunlight.

“No evidence was found?” Olivia asked.

“The bushes on the left side of the bench were trampled down, indicating that the struggle occurred there, but we didn’t find anything in the way of evidence.” His voice held a wealth of frustration.

“From the minute I read this file, I’ve been haunted by her,” Olivia said softly.

“You aren’t the only one. I’ve spent two years with her ghost haunting my dreams, begging for justice. In the last year, Shelly’s sister, Savannah, kept her sister relevant by dressing up like a ghost and walking on the grassy area just in front of the lagoon.”

Olivia looked at him in surprise. “Really?”

“On Friday nights teenagers would gather and hide behind the bushes, waiting for the ghost of Shelly to appear. Savannah used a tunnel that runs from her backyard to the base of a tree.” He pointed to the right of the grassy area where a cypress tree rose up. “She’d wear some gauzy white dress with a flashlight tied to her waist beneath to give her a ghostly glow. She’d walk across to the other side where a cave led back to the tunnel that would take her home.”

“Why would she do such a thing?” Olivia asked, wanting to know all the ins and outs of this case.