"Could we speak somewhere more private?" Haley asked, glancing around at the crowded entry, where their conversation was beginning to attract curious looks.
"Of course," Brooke said quickly. "Let's go into the garden."
Brooke led them to a quiet, secluded corner of the museum's sculpture garden, which was adjacent to where the outdoor event was being held.
"What kind of new information?" Brooke asked again, her body stiff with tension.
"We can't discuss the details of an ongoing investigation," Matt said. "But we'd like to ask you about your relationship with Landon. How well did you know him?"
"We dated for a few months. Haley already knows our story." Brooke gave Haley a look, as if begging for intervention.
"Agent Lawson wants to hear it from you, Brooke," she said.
"It was a whirlwind romance," Brook said, turning her attention back to him. "An instantly perfect relationship. We just…clicked. Landon was different from the other guys. He was quieter. More serious. I liked that."
"You told me you were planning to move in together after graduation," Haley said. "I have to admit I was surprised to learn you were so serious, because Landon never mentioned you to me."
"Really? I thought he had. He said he couldn't wait to tell you about us." She paused. "Actually, I think he said you'd gone through a recent breakup, and he didn't want to rub our newfound happiness in your face. I guess he never had a chance to tell you." She took another breath. "I couldn't wait for graduation. I was excited to plan a future with Landon away from school."
"What kind of future?" he asked.
"Oh, you know. Living together. Taking a trip to celebrate graduation."
"A trip where?" Haley interrupted.
"Uh, well, Landon really wanted to go to Costa Rica. He'd seen a documentary about the rain forests and became obsessed with seeing them in person."
Matt noticed Haley stiffen beside him, her blue eyes sharpening. "Really? Costa Rica?" Haley questioned.
"Yes," Brooke said. "We thought it would be fun."
"Interesting," Haley commented.
Clearly, she found it more interesting than he did, but he'd follow up with her on that later. "Did Landon ever talk to you about his work?" he asked. "His research projects? Maybe something he was working on outside of his classes?"
Brooke's brow furrowed. "He did talk to me, but to be honest, I rarely understood anything he was saying. I was an English major, and his tech talk was way over my head."
"One of his friends said he was working on a personal project, and he would write down details about his research and his experimentation in a black notebook. He wrote so much, he had filled up probably six of them that year. Did you see him doing that?"
"Yes. He said he was working on stuff for his classes. I was surprised how much he liked to scribble in his notebooks. I preferred the computer."
"Did you see the notebooks after he died?" Matt asked.
"I don't remember." Brooke's gaze turned to Haley. "You cleaned out his apartment."
"I didn't see them," Haley said. "You were in his apartment when I arrived. I wondered if you had taken them or if someone else had been there before me?"
"I didn't take them," Brooke said. "And I didn't see anyone else come into the apartment. Are you accusing me of stealing something?"
"I'm just trying to figure out where his notebooks went."
"I have no idea. And what do notebooks have to do with him drinking too much?"
"That's another question I have," he said, drawing her gaze back to him. "Haley tells me her brother wasn't a drinker. Obviously, a sister might not know as much as a girlfriend. What was your reaction when you heard he'd fallen into a pond and drowned because he was staggeringly drunk?"
Brooke drew in a deep breath. "I couldn't believe Landon had gotten that drunk, because he wasn't a big drinker. Haley isn't wrong about that. But he was stressed out that week. He said he had some decisions to make, and he needed time to figure things out. I felt a little annoyed with his reluctance to confide in me. That's why I went away that weekend. But after what happened, I felt guilty. If I had stayed that weekend, he might not have died."
Brooke's emotion seemed genuine, the guilt in her eyes, the pain in her voice. But he still wasn't sure he trusted her, and he didn't know why. There was just something off.
