Page 21 of Line of Sight

“Before he died… was there some indication anything was wrong? Maybe something on his mind?”

Sean stared at him in silence for a moment. At last he let out a heavy sigh. “Ever since the night of the ball, Brad has been on my mind. I’ve gone over the last three months we spent together again and again.”

“Why those months?” Gary asked.

“Because at some point during that time… he changed.” Sean frowned. “I haven’t mentioned it before because it couldn’t have anything to do with his murder, but now you’ve got me thinking.”

“In what way did he change?” Gary was no psychic, but right then his senses were suddenly alert, his body tingling.

Sean put his cup down. “He got… I don’t know… quieter. More thoughtful. He had trouble sleeping, not that he ever said a word about it, but he tossed and turned in the night. There were nightmares too, but when I asked him about them, he wouldn’t tell me.”

“Can you be more specific? Can you nail down the moment when the changes started?”

Gary had been about to ask the same question.

Sean studied his clasped hands. “Yeah. Early February, I think.”

“Did anything happen that February?” Gary scribbled a note.

“If it did, he never said. The only thing that sticks out is what took place the previous month. One of his friends went through a horrible time. His stepbrother died in terrible circumstances.” Another shrug. “Maybe his grief rubbed off on Brad.”

There was that tingling sensation again. The same murder they were presently investigating.

I don’t believe in coincidence.

Dan tilted his head to one side. “But you don’t believe that, do you?”

Sean raised his chin and looked Dan in the eye. “No. All Idoknow is up until that moment, we’d been making plans for after graduation. We were going to move in together. But suddenly he appeared distracted. I don’t know what was on his mind, butsomethingwas. Like I said, I never mentioned this to anyone because Brad’s mood change couldn’t have any bearing on his murder.” Sean stared at Gary. “Could it?”

Gary closed his notepad. “If anything else occurs to you, please let us know, no matter how insignificant you feel it is.”

“I will, I promise.” The phone rang, and Sean glanced over at the blinking light. “Oh well. No rest for the wicked.”

“We’ll let you get back to work.” They stood, and Sean walked with them to the main door of the hotel.

They headed back to the car, both of them silent. When they reached it, Gary paused, his hand resting on the roof.

“I think Sean and Brad were a good fit. I’d like to think they would have been together for a long while. They might even have gotten married when the law allowed.”

Dan’s brow furrowed. “The fact that Brad was murdered so soon after Scott’s death….”

“What about it? What do your senses tell you?”

Dan stared at him. “That the two events are connected. I just don’t know how.”

Gary shivered.

His detective brain was telling him the same thing.

Chapter Twelve

Thursday, February 2, 1995

THE NEWSPAPERSwere finally letting the story of Scott’s murder die a natural death—pun intended—and I hadn’t seen any of the party-goers with whom I’d shared such an interesting evening since that night.

All that changed today.

I walked out of the library—I did visit it occasionally—and ran into Greg Collins. I feigned ignorance and grinned.