Page 42 of The Summer that Changed Everything
She opened her mouth as though she’d explain. Ford was interested in hearing this answer, too. But then she shook her head. “I’d rather not go into it. Unless you need that information for some reason.”
“No,” Friedman was quick to say. “Forgive the intrusion. I am an investigator, after all. I was just curious how you were able to get by.”
“I managed,” she said. “But it was a bumpy ride there for a while.”
“I bet.” Friedman sounded legitimately sympathetic. “I’m sorry.”
Ford was sorry, too. By contrast, he’d been well taken care of, which only made him feel worse about how he’d treated her. He’d had so much more than she did.
“I’ll need to get hold of the court transcripts,” Friedman was saying. “But that should be easy enough. I’ve found that the key to solving almost any cold case is going to the effort of reading everything. I can’t tell you how many times the string that unravels the whole mystery can be found in witness statements or other documents that were sitting in the file the whole time.”
Ford thought of what Lucy had told him about Chief Claxton. “Will you be able to get hold of the files? Because we have reason to believe the police won’t be friendly to outside involvement.”
“I’m sure there were journalists, back in the day, who requested the information I’ll be after. I’ll start there. And if that doesn’t turn up the documents I need, I’ll submit a formal request to the department for their records.”
“And if that gets denied?” Lucy asked.
“It’s been long enough now that they’ll have a hard time justifying a refusal. With Ford’s name behind me, I doubt they’ll even try. If they do, I’ll threaten to go to the press and say they’re hiding something, blow this thing up into a big deal. That’s never a good look for a police department.”
Ford felt a bit awkward that Friedman had mentioned the clout of his name. Lucy had never had the benefit of anything like that. In fact, she’d had to deal with the opposite. “Sounds good. When can we expect an update?” he asked.
“Hard to say. The information gathering process takes time. Besides getting the files and going through them, I’ll need to talk to as many people who were involved as I can. Maybe someone will change their story or offer information they didn’t realize was important before. I hope that happens, because I’ll be honest with you, it doesn’t sound as if we have a lot to go on so far.”
“There is one other thing...” Lucy said.
Ford looked up at her in surprise.
“What’s that?” Friedman asked.
“Darren Clark came over last night.”
Ford stiffened. “Aurora’s brother? When? After I left?”
She had the good grace to glance away. “Before.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was trying not to draw you into this.”
That was true. She’d done her best to keep him out of it. “Did he threaten you?”
“No. That’s what I was expecting. I thought he was upset that I was in town, that... that he was coming over to tell me to go away and leave his family alone. But he wasn’t angry with me. He said he knew my father didn’t kill his sister.”
Ford felt his jaw drop. “What?”
“How would he know?” Friedman asked, eager to pounce on the possibility of greater proof.
Ford was grateful for it, too.
“He saw my father that night, said that he wouldn’t have had the time or the opportunity to kill Aurora. He also said my father was so drunk he wouldn’t have been capable of overpowering anyone.”
Friedman sounded excited when he asked, “Do you think Darren would speak tome?”
Lucy nibbled on her bottom lip, giving Ford the impression she was skeptical. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t know if he was just getting it off his chest, or if he’s truly willing to go head-to-head with his folks.”
“I can’t see him doing that,” Ford admitted.
“It might be worth talking to him,” Friedman said. “Ford, can you get me his contact information?”
