Bright Girl: A Detective Murder Mystery Full of Suspense by Nancy Basile

Author:Nancy Basile [Basile, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Media Medusa LLC
Published: 2025-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Shelby and Erickson leaned against the hood of Shelby’s Rav 4. They’d stopped at Sheetz instead of Dunkin’ Donuts so Erickson could have apple cider donuts and pumpkin spice coffee. Erickson had scared her half to death because he’d squealed like a tween when he saw the Sheetz sign advertising the fall treats. Shelby sipped black coffee and munched on grapes, while Erickson chugged his flavored coffee and devoured his donut. She wondered what his yearly blood test results were like.

“We need to fill in some of these holes in Whitney’s timeline,” Shelby said. “When she left the party, who was still there? Did she see anyone on the way to the pool? Did someone give her a ride?”

Erickson swiped his forearm over his mouth. “True. But so far we have bupkis. We can only fill in the biggest hole in the timeline when we know who she met at the pool. And if we knew that,” he tilted his head to meet her eyes. “We’d know who killed her.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?” He took a swig of coffee. “You think she could have met with someone and then a different person came along and killed her?”

“Or she met with two someones.” Shelby watched a family rake leaves across the street. The parents raked gold leaves into piles, then the kids, their jackets flapping behind their little bodies, kicked through them, scattering their parents’ hard work. The parents didn’t seem to mind. “Although forensics didn’t show that.” She tossed her empty cup into the trash can. “I’m spiraling.”

Erickson licked his lips. “I get it. Happens to me every year during my fantasy football draft.” She glared at him. “Anyway, that pool was full of damp leaves and muck. Maybe there was more than one person, but the gunk and puddles destroyed the evidence.”

“No. Forensics would have known if more than one person was there with Whitney.”

He nodded. “Okay. Let’s stick with the theory that she met with only one person until we see or hear anything that leads us to believe otherwise. That will make it easier to narrow down our suspects and follow the trail.”

“Agreed.” Across the street, the children shrieked as their parents threw piles of leaves at them. “So, we’re solid on her timeline until she leaves that party.”

Erickson swallowed. “Bobby, Del, and Skye all agreed on the timeframe.”

Shelby crossed her feet at the ankles. “We haven’t canvassed the houses along the probable route she would have taken to get to the pool.”

Erickson turned to her, his eyebrows pulled together. “Everyone would have been asleep. Allegedly.”

“But if they have security cameras or smart doorbells or even—”

“Have you seen those bird feeders with cameras?” His entire face lit up. “They work like Ring doorbells. The bird shows up, the camera starts recording, and sends the video to an app on your phone.” He shakes his head in amazement. “Freakin’ awesome.”

Shelby waited a beat. “Then we should add bird feeders to the canvassing list, too.” She retrieved her notebook and pen from her pocket.

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