Or to Frank’s death.
This entire trip might have been a fool’s errand. Was she crazy for wanting the truth?
Ellis flipped open the folder and leafed through the pages. “They never had a strong suspect, to be honest, but a few people did catch their eye. The first adult was the swim coach, Martina Dowell. There was some scuttlebutt that Martina was having an inappropriate relationship with one of the teenage boys…one Alex Vaughn. Anyway, Alex was also kissing and flirting with Gwen and a few people pointed fingers at Dowell for the murder. However, she’s right-handed and your mother saw Martina enter her cabin at ten-thirty. So she was struck off the list.”
A myriad of emotions washed over Chase’s face but in the end disgust won out. “I do believe Coach Dowell was having a relationship with some of the boys. There was talk and I’d heard it even at my age but I don’t think she was a killer.”
Ellis’s smile was mocking. “And just what do killers look or act like? Some of them are the most mild-mannered people you’d ever want to know. They generally don’t wear signs.”
Bailey was still processing Ellis’s statement that Gwen was with Alex. It corroborated Pamela’s story.
“Was Frank Scott mentioned in that file?”
Shuffling through the folder, Ellis nodded, his gaze on the papers in front of him. “I remember that name. He made a statement to the police and there were others who mentioned him as well. Apparently, he and Gwen were making out near the lake and then they headed back to the camp. He went in to his cabin and she was not far from hers but she never made it. Technically Frank Scott was the last person to see Gwen alive.”
Nausea washed over Bailey and she had to press her hand to her mouth and swallow the bile that had rose in her throat. “He was a suspect then?”
She was shocked at how normal her voice sounded when her world was slowly melting into a big pile of crap.
Ellis held out a piece of paper to her but she couldn’t seem to command her arms to reach for it. Instead, Chase took it and quietly perused the contents before setting it on her lap. With shaky fingers, she lifted it into the light and began to read Frank’s statement of what happened that night so long ago. It was basically as Ellis had described it with more detail thrown in but it didn’t change the outcome.
“His cabin roommates vouched for him and said he was in bed by midnight and never left the cabin until morning. He was questioned and then removed from the suspect list.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Not very eloquent but the relief was real. The idea of her husband being a killer wasn’t a pleasant one. But she’d already figured out she didn’t know everything about him. She’d come to the conclusion that knowing someone didn’t mean knowing everything. There was always something hidden. Sometimes it was small and sometimes it was big and ugly.
“Who were the roommates that vouched for him?” Chase asked. “We might need to talk to them.”
More combing through the file but finally Ellis found what he was looking for. “Here it is. There were four people… Danny Ford, Alex Vaughn, Guy Eckley and Greg Nelson.”
“No one else?” Bailey asked faintly.
“Not that I can see. It was enough for the detectives to mark these boys off the list of suspects though.”
Bailey could feel Chase watching her – perhaps waiting for some sign of distress – but the welcome numbness was back and she didn’t fight the cold feeling as it spread through her extremities, all the way down to her toes.
“We’re planning to talk to Guy and Danny,” Chase said. “I’m also thinking we should talk to Gwen’s friends as well. Teenagers are notorious for not telling adults the whole truth. There might be more to the story that they didn’t reveal to the cops.”
Ellis set the file down on the coffee table. “Did you get a chance to talk to Stephen Baxter? Or did he kick you out on your ass?”
“We talked to him,” Chase retorted. “He actually gave us some good information that jives with yours. That’s why we need to speak to some of the kids that knew Gwen, that were her age. I wasn’t part of that crowd so there’s only so much I can do.”
“I’ll leave this file tonight and tomorrow but then I need to get it back to the station before anyone realizes it’s gone.”
Chase laughed and shook his head. “Why would they even be looking for it?”
Grinning, Ellis shook his finger at his friend. “Because you’re about to stir up a hornet’s nest on this old case. You’re fixing to ask a sitting United States Senator about a murder twenty years ago and whether he was involved or perhaps covering for a friend, are you not? Shit like that gets people’s attention and that’s what pushes the brass to yell at the rank and file like me. Then we go pull these ancient, dusty files and see if anything’s changed. That means that folder needs to be back in the file room before you start pissing off every millionaire and billionaire that ever went to that summer camp. Money equals power and influence. They can shut you down before you even get one question answered. I have a feeling from looking through this file that’s what happened back then and I doubt any of these families want to revisit this. They had the power to make this all go away.”
Chase reached over and patted Bailey’s knee. “What my old friend is trying to say is we have an uphill climb ahead of us. There may be people that don’t want this murder solved.”
Ellis nodded. “You better have a strong stomach because this is going to get ugly, and real fast too.”
“Rich people don’t scare me,” Bailey said, resolve in her tone. “I won’t let them deter me from the goal here which is the truth.”
Snorting, Ellis stood and moved toward the front door. “Whose truth would that be? If I’ve learned anything in this job it’s that the wealthy can buy their own facts. Ask Chase. He can tell you the same.”
Bailey lifted her chin. This man didn’t know anything about her and was making more than a few assumptions. “You don’t know me very well if you think I’ll just run back to Midnight Blue Beach with my tail between my legs.”
Ellis’s eyes widened and then a smile spread across his face. “You’re right and I humbly apologize. I don’t know you at all. But I think there’s some information in that file you might want to read. It’s about Midnight Blue Beach. Interesting stuff. It’s late so I’ll bid you both goodnight. Chase, I’ll call you tomorrow about getting the file back.”
Bailey frowned and reached for the thick file, her curiosity piqued. Why would her hometown be mentioned in the file other than that it was where Frank grew up? It wasn’t even an important detail, let alone interesting.
She was paging through the file when she heard Chase’s voice. “Should I make some coffee?”
“A whole pot. I think we’re going to be up late tonight.”
Chapter Seventeen
Bailey reread the page for the third time but was having difficulty truly comprehending what it was telling her. It was too strange and frankly farfetched to be real.
“The Evandria Council,” she said slowly, scouring her brain for any previous references in her past. Surely if what this paper said was true then Frank or someone else would have mentioned this before now.
“You’ve never heard of them?” Chase asked as they sat at the kitchen table poring over the file. They only had a short time to review it all. “Really? I thought everyone had but that it was some sort of urban legend, like cutting out people’s kidneys and leaving them in a bathtub full of ice in a hotel.”
What in the hell is he talking about?
“Pardon? Who is getting their kidneys cut out?”
“It’s just a story. A guy meets a pretty girl in a bar. They go back to her hotel room and have another drink. He gets sleepy and blacks out. When he wakes up the next morning he’s sitting in a hotel bathtub with ice. He’s had surgery and they took a kidney. You’ve never heard that urban legend before?”
Bailey shook her head. “Apparently I didn’t need the moral lesso
n not to pick up strangers in some bar. So you’ve heard of the Evandria Council? Who are they?”
“A powerful and secret organization. I’ve heard they’re part of the Illuminati, but who really knows except its members? And that’s assuming that the Illuminati actually exist in the first place. Many people – including myself – think that’s an urban legend as well. Anyway, it’s an old group of wealthy people and they have their own rules and hierarchy. I never knew it had a stronghold in Midnight Blue Beach but then I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to. Supposedly they’re serious about keeping their organization under wraps.”
“How could I have lived in that town all these years and never heard about this?”
“Because it simply may not be true. The detective who put together this report added this information because he was told by one of the kids that their parents were in the Evandria Council and that parent was an attorney who showed up while we were all being questioned by the cops. I do remember that guy, believe it or not, and my parents couldn’t figure out how he knew to come in the first place. But that doesn’t mean he was part of some conspiracy. Personally, I don’t prescribe to all that tinfoil hat bull. The wealthy are powerful, that’s true, but I don’t think they are plotting against the government or some shit like that.”
Bailey wasn’t much into conspiracy theories either but it still felt strange that she’d never heard of this organization. “So how did he know to come after Gwen had been killed?”
Chase shrugged. “I’m guessing one of the kids snuck up to the office and called their parents. I snuck out as well to see Gwen, remember? It wasn’t all that difficult. The adults were all distracted.”
The explanation made sense and she didn’t want to make a mountain out of what was essentially a molehill. “I’m going to call Willow and Peyton. Tell them what we’ve found and see if they’ve ever heard of this Evandria-whatever. Peyton’s family has lived in Midnight Blue Beach all her life so if anyone would know about it, it would be her.”
Chase nodded and smiled. “Good idea. I’m going to keep reading these statements and reports. Afterward we can fire up the laptop and see what else we can find out about the Evandria Council. If it’s a secret, it’s on the Net.”
“And every crazy theory right along with it,” Bailey laughed. “Do you mind if I use your back porch for the call so I don’t disturb your work?”
Plus she wouldn’t mind a little privacy for this.
“Help yourself. Do you think they’re going to want to come up here?”
Bailey was pretty sure they’d have their bags packed and be on their way before the sun came up. “They wanted to come with me but I persuaded them to stay there, so I don’t think there’s any doubt they’ll head here immediately.”
She was surprised they hadn’t already. Settling into a chair, she scrolled through her contacts until she found Willow. If Peyton wasn’t there as well, they could always conference her into the call.
Willow picked up after two rings. “We’ve been waiting for you to call.”
“Hello to you too,” Bailey laughed. “I don’t suppose Peyton—”
“She’s here. We’ve been drinking margaritas and waiting for you to call. I’ll put you on speaker. What’s happening up there?”
“We talked to Gwen’s brother Stephen and he says he knew our husbands but he wasn’t part of their group. Apparently they were like most teenage boys and were quite…active if you know what I mean when it came to their love life.”
Willow snorted through the phone. “Sounds like my Alex.”
“My Greg too. He liked to have a woman in every city. I think it made him feel secure.”
“About Alex… When we read through the file, it seems he was having an affair with the swim coach that summer at the same time he was romancing Gwen. They even questioned the swim coach about killing Gwen out of jealousy.”
“That sounds like Alex, may he rest in peace. He had a zest for life.”
Thank goodness neither woman seemed surprised or bothered by the revelations. If anything, they were amused by their late husbands’ youthful antics. Bailey filled them in on the rest of what they’d learned, finally bringing up the Evandria Council.
“Have you ever heard of it?”
There was silence on the phone and then a long, heavy sigh. Peyton. “I have. Greg was a member. I found out sort of by accident the night before the wedding. They threw him a bachelor party and all the men had lapel pins that matched. I asked Greg what it meant but he quickly changed the subject. When he came home drunk later I asked again. This time he answered in a half-ass way. He said it was the Evandria Council. A club. Then he passed out. When I asked him about it a third time in the morning he said it was like a fraternity or brotherhood. I didn’t ask anything else as I didn’t think it was a big deal. I guess it is, though.”
Greg had been a member. Interesting.
“Willow?” Bailey asked. “What about you?”
“Alex was too,” Willow admitted, reluctance in her tone. “He never told me. The only reason I know is that when I was dancing every now and then some big spenders would come into the place and throw around high dollars. When I was new, another dancer told me that the men had just come from an Evandria Council meeting and that I should be nice to them. One night Alex came in with them. The rest is history, of course.”
If Alex and Greg were members it was almost certain that Frank had been. Politely, Willow and Peyton didn’t mention the obvious that was staring all of them in the face.
“You never asked him about it?”
“I assumed it was something like the Freemasons and he wouldn’t be able to tell me anyway. He never mentioned it and it never came up or was important.”
Another dead end. Fantastic. Maybe Senator Ford or one of Gwen’s friends could shed some light on whether Frank had been a member and if so, what did membership mean? Did you get a lapel pin and dinner once a month? Did they make donations to worthy causes or just play poker and get lap dances?
Willow and Peyton filled Bailey in on what they’d found – or not found – in their own local investigation. As far as they could find Greg, Alex, and Frank hadn’t communicated or done business with each other after they left summer camp that year. But of course, if they were all members of this super-secret-no-girls-allowed club then they might have met up on the sly.
“So do you still want to come up here? Or do you want to stay down there and investigate this Evandria Council?”
“There,” both women said in unison, giggling following as Willow said, “Jinx. You owe me a Coke.”
Peyton cleared her throat. “Seriously, it sounds like it’s time for us to come up there and lend a hand. The more of us there are the more quickly we can talk to not only Gwen’s friends but also our husbands’. I remember that Greg had a college buddy that lived in Washington D.C. Maybe I can look him up and ask him about the secret council thing.”
In the meantime, Bailey and Chase would continue their snooping in Williamsburg. She wanted to know more about this organization and Frank’s past, including Gwen.
“I’ll call now and have the jet gassed up for us. We’ll leave early in the morning,” Willow said. “Where should we meet you?”
They decided Willow and Peyton would rent another car and meet her at the hotel. They would call her when they arrived. She disconnected and rejoined Chase in the kitchen.
“Their husbands were members so I’m guessing Frank was too,” Bailey said as she sat down at the table. Resting her chin on her hands, she searched her memories from their early marriage. She simply couldn’t remember Frank having regular meetings at the same time or even him mentioning anything remotely like that.
Chase looked up from the file, his brows drawn together. “Listen, that whole Evandria Council thing probably is a red herring. Yes, the file mentions it but that’s all. They didn’t pursue it as a lead because I’m guessing it wasn’t important. If you have a room full of people who love S
tar Wars for example and one of them ends up dead, it doesn’t mean that George Lucas was in on it. It’s probably just a coincidence.”
Bailey groaned and slapped her hands over her eyes.
Not another coincidence.
Except that this one looked plausible. Of course, a bunch of rich kids who went to the same summer camp every year would be involved in the same extracurricular activities. Really, it was almost a given. Time to get back to the real work. Talking to Gwen’s friends.
If anyone knew a teenage girl, it would be her teenage friends.
It was after one in the morning when Chase and Bailey called it quits. There was more to review but by then they were yawning and cross-eyed. They needed sleep and maybe some bacon for breakfast. Chase offered her a spare room but she wanted to be taken back to the hotel. She tried to call a taxi but Chase insisted on driving her home. He wasn’t enough of a gentleman not to be thinking about another kiss but he wasn’t so bad as to send her into the dark night in a cab.
Pulling up to the front of the hotel, Chase put the car into park and escorted her upstairs, ignoring her protests that she was fine on her own and she didn’t need a bodyguard.
“Do you have a high crime rate around here?” she joked, key card in hand as they approached the door to her room. “Should I be scared and checking around corners?”
“We don’t and you shouldn’t, but my mother would have boxed my ears if I didn’t see you to your door. It’s the right thing to do.”
She gave him a smile and slid the card into the slot, the door light flashing green. “Then I thank you and your mother. And thank you for getting me in to talk to Stephen Baxter. Without you I know I would be spinning my wheels.”
“It’s all about who you know around here.” Chase leaned in, the fragrance from her shampoo swamping his senses. The kiss from earlier was still fresh in his mind and he wanted to do it again as soon as possible. Preferably right here and now. A goodnight kiss to hold him over until tomorrow. The more time he spent with Bailey the more he liked her. Straightforward, honest, smart, and pretty darn good looking too. Frank Scott had been an idiot to ignore her. “I’m glad we’re working together on this.”
Wicked After Midnight (Midnight Blue Beach Book 1) Page 11
