Page 85 of Last Seen Alive
“The day after Claire saw her?” Brianna was trembling. “Was she murdered too?”
“Her death is certainly suspicious.” Amanda felt that was the truth yet also vague enough. “Do you think that Claire might have—”
“No,” she snapped. “Never. Claire wasn’t her biggest fan, but she wouldn’t have killed her. But Claire goes to talk to her and then she’s dead? Seems a little more than a coincidence to me.”
While it was impossible that Rita had killed Claire, it seemed rather apparent that Rita had been involved in the heist ring. Maybe Claire visiting her had panged her conscience or had her cowering in fear. Rita had built a pretty good life for herself. She had a nice home, a husband, children. She wouldn’t have wanted to lose it all, and she wouldn’t want to bring shame on them. Had she killed herself by tampering with her car? Or was the answer even darker than that? “You said Claire wasn’t her biggest fan, but did you sense Claire held animosity toward Rita?”
“I’d say more fear.”
“Do you know why?”
“Claire never got into that with me, but I think it factored into her going to Nebraska and running from there a couple of years after. Claire did say to me once, ‘I think they found me.’”
They…Was that Rita and the mystery man or also others with the heist crew they didn’t know about yet?
“And you have no idea who Claire might have been planning to confront?” Trent asked.
“As I said, no names. Claire said that was for my safety.”
As frustrating as it was for the case, Claire had probably made the right call for her friend’s well-being. “Did Claire have any boyfriends that you knew about?”
“Besides Logan? No. I’m why they even got together. I was trying to get her into a normal life. Guess I could have saved everyone a lot of pain by butting out.”
“What about any other men hanging around?” Trent turned the chair from the vanity around and sat down.
“Sure. At the gallery. One also picked her up to take her there a few times. He was good-looking, but several years older than Claire. Say in his early twenties when she was seventeen?”
Someone older, influential, possibly charming. “Do you know his name?”
“I don’t. I asked her, but she wouldn’t tell me. Told me even then the less I knew the better.”
When they left here, Amanda would call the gallery again if the list of employees wasn’t in her inbox. “When was this?”
“Not long after she started to work at the gallery.”
Amanda wondered if this man didn’t groom Claire to help him in the heists. She’d seen pictures of the younger Claire. She’d been pretty, and a few people told them how smart she was. Looks and brains would make her an asset. Also factor in her vulnerability from just losing her parents, and she was ripe for manipulation. “And all this was going on when you two lived with the Hamiltons?”
“Uh-huh. The Hamiltons never knew of course. Claire ended up getting a cell phone from the gallery people. They called at all hours. Claire was downright protective of that phone too. I never got my hands on it. Not for the lack of trying. Hey, do you think I could be in danger?”
“It is possible. But we need to know more,” Amanda said.
“While I what? Sit around and see if I’m next?”
“Do you have any reason to believe you’re a threat to who killed Claire?” Trent asked.
“They might have figured out that Claire and I were in contact, even though we were careful. You found me here.”
“We’ll get you protection,” Amanda offered.
“Okay, but I’m not hiding.”
A-plus for courage…“You and Rita weren’t the only people Claire saw in the days leading up to her murder.”
“Are they dead too?”
“No, nothing like that,” Amanda rushed to say. “Claire went to the Lawson estate. Does that name mean anything to you?”
Brianna’s expression went blank.
