“It’s beautiful up there, I imagine,” she said calmly.
“It was, indeed. He used to send us photos of it all the time.”
“And did you ever send those photos that he sent you to the coroner, to prove that he was up there a lot?”
“No.” She hesitated. “Would that have made any difference?”
“I can talk to him about it.” Kate noted Smidge’s name on the autopsy report.
“I’d appreciate it if you could. I really can’t stand to think that they all think my boy would commit suicide.”
“And I’m sorry. I know college can be deadly at times,” she said.
“Not that deadly. He had a new girlfriend, and he was planning on coming home right after the holidays. He was hoping to talk her into coming too.”
“Any idea what her name was?”
“Of course. It was Candy. He was really sweet on her.”
“Wow. When did he start going out with her?” Kate asked the question, as she checked the dates on the student’s death. It was only a month ago. “I don’t know. Honestly it’s all rolling into a nightmare of details that I don’t want to remember anymore,” she whispered. “He was so sweet on Candy, but he said that she was in with a bad crowd and that he would try to get her away from them.”
“You do realize that bad crowd was the same crowd hassling him, don’t you?”
“She was part of that?” Trent’s mom asked.
“Yes, she was one of the group.”
“I don’t think he ever would have gone out with her if he had known that,” she replied in shock. “I mean, they made his life hellish. Not just bad but unbelievably bad. I just can’t see him wanting anything to do with her because of that.”
“Maybe she kept it from him.”
“Yet, according to Trent, she wanted to get away from that crowd, like they were bullying her too.”
“I think they were. Yes, Candy’s mom also said something about Candy wanting to leave that group too.”
“Too bad she didn’t leave earlier with my boy, then my son would still be alive.”
“Candy’s dead, as well.” A few minutes later, Kate hung up the phone and sat here, her face buried in her hands, as she thought about everything. Then her head popped up, as she faced her team. “Candy’s body was found on the bike in the intersection. I only know that she had a bike, as we confirmed that with the university, based on a bike permit, and we found her other possessions in Paula’s dorm room, but I wonder if that’s all of it? Did Paula collect it? Brandon? If he did, what are the chances he still has something of hers? A souvenir, so to speak.”
“It’d be great if we found something with Brandon,” Rodney said, “but, since they were in a relationship, he’d have a logical reason for anything we did find.”
“I guess, but I do wonder how stupid he is.” Kate paused. “Or how overconfident.”
“He’s stupid for sure, but it doesn’t mean he’s that stupid,” Lilliana said. “Yet my vote’s for overconfident.”
“I know. And a warrant would help us find the gun and possibly some of Candy’s stuff. We’ve got so much going on here now, and, although it’s starting to break, we’re just not quite there yet.”
“I think we need to talk to Pamela and see what we can get out of her,” Rodney said.
Kate nodded. “Oh, I agree. I definitely agree with you there. Let’s hope that we can find her and that she will talk to us.” Kate stood, straightening slowly. “Man, this case is twisted.”
“They’re all twisted, one way or another,” Lilliana said. “It’s just a matter of carefully untwisting it so that we can figure out exactly what we’ve got going on.”
“And that’s the problem. There’s so much confusion.” Kate shook her head.
“Seems to me that you need to find this Pamela, ask her questions about all this,” Owen said. “Then go at this bully Brandon again and see if you can get a warrant for his house.”
“I wish I could get that warrant right now”—Kate sighed—“but that just won’t fly yet. We don’t have enough.”