Page 131 of Don't Say a Word

“No.” She clicked on her computer. “Nothing. No employment, his driver’s license still has his mother’s address on it, but she moved to Colorado after his arrest. Father not in the picture.I didn’t reach out to his mom, but he didn’t get a license in Colorado, so I don’t think he followed her there.”

“Don’t bother,” I said. “I’m pretty certain he’s dead.”

And killed within forty-eight hours of getting out of jail.

I needed a face-to-face with Desi Jimenez.

But I was getting a good idea of what was happening at the Cactus Stop and why Elijah was killed.

Chapter Forty

Margo Angelhart

When I pulled into the Cactus Stop parking lot, I saw a text from Angie.

School’s closed, but there’s a memorial service for Mrs. Clark on the football field at 3, open to the public.

I responded that I would try to make it, and reminded her to stick close to her friends.

The killer might think he got away with it. Observing those who attended the memorial might be productive.

I hoped King didn’t just tie up the murders as a slam dunk murder-suicide, but I honestly didn’t expect her to do anything else. Chavez, however, seemed more open-minded to the idea that Parsons was innocent.

Josie told me that preliminary time of death was between eight and midnight. The janitorial staff had finished cleaning the new building, where Parsons had his class, at 7:15 p.m. Thursday evening and locked up; the head of maintenance told police thatParsons was still in his room. They exchanged a few words, but nothing stood out as odd to the supervisor. They finished the administrative building at nine and didn’t see any other staff or students on campus.

Aside from the alleged suicide note, the argument that supported that he’d killed himself was that the campus was locked up tight and no one could get into any of the buildings without a card key. None were used after the cleaning crew left, until 6:20 in the morning when the school secretary came in.

There were ways to thwart the card key system. Someone could have been hiding in the building—you didn’t need a card to get out, according to Josie. Could a physical key unlock any of the doors? Or perhaps Parsons let his killer in.

I really hoped Rachel King was asking these same questions.

When I entered the Cactus Stop, only one person was in the store—a heavily made-up twentysomething female with dark hair and no name tag. But she was behind the counter so I made an assumption.

“Desi?”

“Yeah?” she said.

I put my card on the counter. “Margo Angelhart. We spoke on the phone the other day.”

The woman blinked. “I remember. I told you everything I know.”

“I’m not here about Elijah,” I said. “Have you talked to your brother lately?”

“Wh-what?” she stammered. “My brother?”

“Scott Jimenez.”

“Why?”

“I talk to my brothers nearly every day, what about you?”

“He doesn’t live here anymore. Why do you want to know about my brother?”

Why was she acting so nervous? Did she have something to do with his disappearance? That would really suck. I know, peopledidn’t always love their families, but it would really disturb me if Desi had killed him.

“In the course of my investigation, I learned that Scott dated a girl named Megan Osterman.”

Desi rolled her eyes. “She OD’d right over there, across the street,” she said with a flip of her wrist vaguely in that direction. “I told Scott she was a no-good addict, but he never listened to me.”