Page 101 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“I’m sure.”

“She wasn’t exactly the model wife and mother.”

Which went along with what Brent had told her. Mom hadn’t spent a whole lot of time at home with her family, whether she was romantically involved with Brent or not.

All this information, and the chief wasn’t even consulting a notebook. “You must have an exceptional memory.”

He smiled, crinkling his wrinkles. “It was a big case, the first murder I worked as a detective. I took it very seriously. But also, I pulled up all the old reports last night after you left.” Smile fading, he continued. “I know your next question already. You want to know who our other suspects were. We looked at everybody in the college’s environmental club, but our focus narrowed very quickly to four people, the four people closest to her.”

He seemed to be waiting for Aspen to say something, perhaps to guess, but how could she know. She only knew…

Oh.

“You aren’t saying…” She leaned forward. “I only know about a few of my mom’s old friends. I’ve met Deborah Finley, and I know her husband, Dean, knew Mom back then. And Brent Salcito, the mayor. You can’t mean them. They’re still in town.They were never charged with anything, were they? I didn’t see any of their names in the papers.”

“Remember, we kept a lot of stuff back from the press.”

“Why?”

“A number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that they were kids. I mean, they were alltechnicallyadults, but they were twenty. Their parents lived in this town and had for generations.”

“You questioned them this morning?”

“Last night.”

At his nod, she let the truth settle. She’d seen Deborah at the library that afternoon. She’d already known about the incident on the mountain, but she’d claimed she heard it from Garrett.

Not so. She’d heard from Cote when she’d been questioned. Unless she’d already known. Unless she’d been the driver of the car.

Aspen was almost afraid to ask her next question. “You think one of my mother’s old friends ran me off the road? Why, though? What would they have to gain by hurting me?”

Another shrug. “If we knew the motive, it’d be a lot easier to nail down a suspect. I’m guessing somebody doesn’t want you poking the bear, as it were. The people who conspired with your mother to blow up that building have escaped judgment for a long time. They want it to stay that way. Maybe you won’t expose them—maybe you can’t. But you can start everybody asking questions about it again.”

“But you wouldn’t be involved at all if not for the fact that somebody broke into my house and then tried to kill me. Their actions are stirring the story up more than mine are.”

“I love irony.”

She wasn’t a fan at the moment.

She couldn’t imagine Deborah trying to hurt her. The woman seemed so kind and open. Maybe Garrett’s uncle, though. OrBrent, the man who’d bought her coffee and pastries a few days earlier.

Cote was patient as she processed everything he’d told her. She was ready to hear the rest. “Go on.”

Instead, he said, “I could use a cup of coffee. It was a late night. Are you up for a walk, or is it too cold for a Hawaii girl outside?”

Getting out of that small, stuffy room sounded good to her. “I’ve got my coat and gloves. I’ll be fine.”

Aspen zippedher jacket and was pulling on her gloves by the time Cote opened the back door of the police station for her. They stepped outside into a parking lot. The air was chilly, and the sun had already disappeared behind the tall trees all around them. It would be dark by the time they walked back, but she felt safe with the police chief at her side.

He led her across the lot, then up a narrow alley away from the main road.

“Let’s go back to what we know.” Cote’s pace was quick despite his girth. “My partner and I looked at the closest people to your mother. Deborah Davis—now Finley—was her best friend and involved with the environmental club on campus. The night of the bombing, she was at work. Seven people corroborated her alibi.”

“And Dean?”

“He was in his dorm room that night. His roommate can put him there.”

“So he wasn’t involved.”

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