Page 54 of The Summer that Changed Everything
He had to do something. He couldn’t be discovered, couldn’t allow his family to be hurt. The question was... what? How could he get her to either think she had all the answers or give up and leave?
There had to be a way...
16
The Zampinos hadn’t moved. A plaque with their name hung in the entryway as proof. But Lucy didn’t recognize the woman who’d answered the door. With pure white hair and a walker, she was shuffling around in a pink fuzzy robe and slippers and had to be her eighties. Lucy assumed it was a relative who was now living with the Zampinos and suffered from dementia or something else that made it difficult to think clearly—because after acting as if she knew Lucy, even though they’d never met, she’d had her come right in and asked for help getting the TV on.
Lucy had said she’d give it a try, but the woman didn’t lead the way. She seemed to grow bewildered as she stood in the middle of the entry hall, as if she didn’t know what to do next.
After guiding her into the living room, Lucy was lucky enough to find the remote and put onIt’s a Wonderful Life.That seemed to satisfy her, because she sat and promptly forgot that Lucy was even there—or just didn’t care. Lucy had to ask twice if there was someone at home with her. Even then she couldn’t get an answer. When the woman finally looked over, she simply gave Lucy a blank stare.
Lucy wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when she knocked on the door, but it certainly wasn’t this. She hadn’t been highly confident that whoever she spoke to would let her in, but she’d thought by pleading her case, she might have a chance. The Zampinos certainly hadn’t been friends with the Clarks. During the trial, they’d sat apart, and Lucy understood why. One day, as everyone else was filing out of the courthouse, she’d heard Mrs. Zampino tell the commonwealth attorney how unfortunate it was that the Clarks hadn’t kept better track of their daughter.Aurora had no business coming to our son’s birthday party. It wasn’t as if she was invited. Lance was turning twenty-two. He and his friends were too old to be hanging out with a seventeen-year-old girl.
Vickie Zampino had been angry that Patti Clark’s laissez-faire parenting had landed her in the middle of a murder investigation. She and the rest of her family had had to allow their home to be searched, give statements to the police and endure speculation that they were somehow involved—at least during the days Aurora was missing and her body had yet to be found. And all they did was host a party!
It didn’t have to be thisway,she’d told the attorney. Then she’d glanced over and realized Lucy was standing close enough to hear her and cut the conversation short. As upset as she was with the Clarks, she wasn’t on Lucy’s side, either.
The TV blared so loudly, Lucy expected someone else to show up, but when that didn’t happen, she realized she might’ve caught a break. She left the old lady in the living room and wandered through the main living areas, discreetly filming in case the investigator needed it.
The kitchen was huge and had obviously been remodeled. She had no idea what it’d been like before, but now it had a built-in refrigerator, tons of cabinets, a farmhouse-style sink and a range with six burners—not to mention a large marble-topped island. The best part was the back of the house, which was almost exclusively glass, including the doors, and looked out on the river.
The security system beeped to signal that an exterior door had opened when she stepped outside, but that didn’t concern her. She’d rung the doorbell when she arrived, and that hadn’t drawn anyone, other than the woman who was currently watching a movie.
A labradoodle approached, wagging his tail as he followed her around the pool and barbecue area. She bent to pet the dog while making note of the size and layout of the yard. Then, still filming, she walked down the sloping lawn to the dock.
It was growing hotter and more humid as the morning progressed. Lucy pulled her blouse away from her moist skin as she looked up at the dark clouds gathering in the sky. It was about to rain, but she didn’t hurry back inside. She knew she might never get the chance to see this place again.
She took more video from the riverbank. Aurora’s body had been found in the Potomac, though farther down, snagged in a copse of trees. But perhaps her body had been tossed in the water here and the current had carried it away...
“Hello? Can I help you?”
The umbrage in the voice startled Lucy. Sliding her phone into her front pocket, she turned to see Vickie Zampino speed-walking across the yard. Although the lines in the other woman’s face showed that she’d aged since Lucy had seen her last, there was no gray in her blond hair—probably because she dyed it—she had a deep tan and was wearing a tennis outfit.
“Lucy!” she exclaimed. “I’d heard you were back in town, but... what are you doinghere?”
“I... I knocked,” Lucy stammered. “A woman let me in.”
“My mother doesn’t know any better.Icertainly wouldn’t have done the same. What is it you want?”
Already tense, Lucy felt rooted to the spot. “I was hoping to talk to you about what happened here fifteen years ago.”
Her eyebrows snapped together. “Nothinghappened here. That was established at the trial. All we did was have a birthday party. Everything else happened off-site, and I don’t even want to remember it.”
“I can understand why, but I can’t shove it out of my life quite so easily.”
At her response, the other woman blinked and the lines in her forehead smoothed. “I realize it must’ve been hard for you.”
“It still is,” she said. “But I came back here anyway, because I don’t believe it was my father who killed Aurora Clark.”
“I know it must be a terrible thing to face—”
“And yet I’ve faced it with the Matteos and accepted it, Mrs. Zampino. I’m telling you this case is different.”
Distress once again tightened her face. “Youmustbe mistaken.”
“I’m not!” Lucy was done quibbling over it. “And if Iamwrong or deluded, then this won’t come to anything. But if you could just be so kind as to humor me for a few minutes...”
Vickie’s stance softened. “Fine,” she said with a sigh. “What is it you want to know?”
