Dead of Winter (Cold Case Psychic #15) - Pandora Pine Page 0,37

diamond glittered on her left hand, as did a tennis bracelet. “It was a shock to hear from you, but not as big a shock as it was to hear it’s been thirty-five years since Skye was murdered.” Her eyes went glassy. Jennifer took a deep breath and seemed to be trying to compose herself. “She was like a sister to me.”

“Muriel Washington said you met in kindergarten?” Ten was taking in all of Jennifer’s emotions, along with her body language. He sensed she knew something about the case and was waffling over telling them what she knew. He was going to stick with the softball questions, hoping to earn the woman’s trust.

“That’s right.” Jennifer laughed. “The four of us sat together at the arts and crafts station. Who knew making spiders with cut-up egg crates and pipe cleaners would form a lifelong bond?”

Ten laughed along with her. He could feel tension radiating from Ronan and Jude. He hoped they’d give him a bit more room to keep going with his line of questioning. “It’s not often you’re still best friends in high school with the people you knew from early on in school.”

Jennifer nodded. “So many of those early friendships had fallen away by the time we got to high school. We all knew how special our bond was.”

There it was again, that thing Jennifer was hiding. Ten was going to need to come at this from another direction. “You’re lucky boys never broke up your friendship. My best friend in high school cheated with another friend’s man and it was Armageddon.” Ten rolled his eyes.

“Well, we had our share of boy drama.” Jennifer wore a wistful look. “Skye was interested in this boy…” She trailed off. One perfectly lacquered fingernail tapped against the table. “Kevin? Keith? Ken? Dammit, what the hell was his name?”

It was on the tip of Ten’s tongue to say Kyle, but he wanted to see if Jennifer came to the name on her own. He didn’t want to tip his hand that they knew about the high school football player.

“Kyle! That’s it. Kyle Danner. He played soccer or something.” She shrugged as if the name meant nothing to her.

Jennifer was oozing deception. She knew damn well who this boy was and in what sport he excelled.

“Skye wanted to run away with that boy. They had it all planned out.” Jennifer shook her head sadly. “The last I heard, Kyle spent some time in jail. I don’t know what for.”

Oh, Jennifer knew all right. Ten wasn’t buying this bullshit. Not for a second. “Did any of the girls have a crush on this guy too?” Ten grinned. “I swear, half my sophomore class was in love with Bobby Dean, the quarterback of our football team. We all wore his jersey to games. The boosters must have made hundreds of dollars on all the jerseys we bought.” All bullshit. There was no Bobby Dean, and the boosters only sold watered down hot chocolate at halftime.

“Now that I think about it, we all had crushes on him.” Jennifer shrugged. “You know how high school crushes go, you’re in love with a different boy every week.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Ten laughed. He finally had ahold of what Jennifer was hiding. She’d had more than a crush on Kyle, and had dated him after Skye’s death. Jesus Christ. There was one more thing niggling at the back of Ten’s mind. One more secret Jennifer hadn’t given up. “You think he killed Skye, don’t you?”

Tears cascaded down Jennifer’s cheeks, leaving trails through her foundation. “I never told another living soul. Not the girls. Not Skye’s parents. Not my mother. No one. There was something weird about Kyle after the murder.”

“Define weird.” Ronan chimed in. He was back in cop mode with a determined look on his face.

Jennifer shook her head. “It’s been so long, but I remember this like yesterday. He was nervous. On edge. I saw him drop a tray in the lunchroom once. His hands had been shaking so hard that he just couldn’t hold on.”

“Do you remember if the police ever spoke to him?” Jude asked.

“I don’t know. I mean, they spoke to me, Lisa, and Heidi. I’m not sure if they interviewed other kids too.” The look on Jennifer’s face intimated she couldn’t care less.

“Do you think Kyle is the killer?” Kevin asked, sounding a bit irritated.

Jennifer sighed. “I don’t want to say yes when I don’t know the answer, but Kyle was never the same.