Free False Front by Diane Fanning Page B

office.
    ‘Gunshot to the mouth in the parking lot of the high school. The police are certain the shot was self-inflicted and I think they’re right. When we dropped by the house with his gift and had a slice of birthday cake on Wednesday, Dylan seemed odd, morose, withdrawn. Wasn’t even excited when Seth handed him the keys to the old pick-up truck he wanted. But no matter what I think, no matter what the police say, Seth refuses to believe it.’
    ‘That’s pretty common. Denial of a suicide happens all the time.’
    ‘Yeah, I know. But he’s refusing to allow the funeral home to embalm Dylan’s body, saying he wants a full murder investigation first. Lily and I went over to the house to talk to Seth last night, to try to get him to accept what happened and stop calling the police and raising holy hell. By the time we left, though, Lily was convinced that Seth was right – some kid at school who’d been pushing him around finally pushed too far and killed him.’
    ‘And you?’ Lucinda asked.
    ‘I still think it’s a suicide. Seth showed us a snapshot of Dylan smiling and hugging his little brother around the neck that he said was taken the same day that his son died. He thinks that proves that Dylan was happy and couldn’t have committed suicide. But I think I read somewhere that people who kill themselves are often euphoric once they have a plan and are ready to follow through with it. Is that true?’
    ‘That’s sometimes the case,’ Lucinda agreed.
    ‘I told Lily that but she didn’t buy it. She’s been pestering me ever since to call you and ask you to please come up here, look at what happened and give your opinion.’
    Why don’t these things ever happen when I’m not in the middle of a fresh homicide investigation? ‘Ricky, I’m not sure of how quickly I can get up.’
    ‘The sooner the better, Lucinda. Martha is crying all the time.’
    ‘Martha?’
    ‘Seth’s wife, remember?’
    Lucinda cast her mind back to the few visits she’d made to her brother’s home over last couple of decades and resurrected a dim memory. ‘Vaguely.’
    ‘She wants Dylan laid to rest. She doesn’t believe it’s a suicide either but she wants her son buried first and worry about the rest later.’
    Kristen walked into Lucinda’s office and laid a piece of paper in front of her, whispering ‘Urgent,’ as she backed out of the room. Lucinda read: ‘Ted Branson at the regional forensic center wants you to know that he has emailed screen shots of deleted emails to you.’
    ‘Lucinda, are you still there?’ Ricky asked.
    ‘Yes, sorry, Ricky. I understand. And I get the urgency of the situation. I’m bogged down in a recent murder here. I’m not sure how open local law enforcement will be with me but I’ll make a call today and see what I can find out.’ She clicked the button for her email.
    ‘Can you come up here? Lily trusts you. She’ll believe you. And if you say it’s suicide, too, she should be able to convince Seth.’
    ‘As soon as I can, Ricky. I promise. As soon as I can. I’ve got to run now. Sorry,’ Lucinda said as she disconnected from the call and opened the email. Ted, her former partner in homicide and a one-time high school boyfriend, now worked in the computer analysis division at one of the state’s regional forensic labs where Lucinda had routed Candace Eagleton’s computer.
    His email read: ‘I couldn’t salvage complete messages but even with the missing pieces, the picture I’m seeing is pretty clear. Look over the screen shots and give me a call. I’d like to see if you come to the same conclusions as I did.’
    Lucinda clicked on the attachment and read the choppy string of communication from the most recent email to the earliest one.
    From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Glad to see you’ve come to your senses. I’ll see you at 9 tomorrow. Make sure you bring what is required. Do not
From: [email protected]
To: