Free A Reunion to Die For (A Joshua Thornton Mystery) by Lauren Carr

have to conduct an autopsy on Grace that he felt compelled to find out who killed the girl who had no reason for being on his examination table. That was why he had changed from his doctor’s robes and dressed down into jeans and a polo shirt to go to Steubenville to seek out the orange-haired girl posing with Grace for the picture found in her purse. Steubenville, Ohio, was out of his jurisdiction. Murder investigations were not in his job description, but Tad believed that rules were made to be broken.
    It was at the third bar frequented by young people that he spotted her. He guessed that he was on the right trail when he saw the name and logo of the establishment: Half-Moon. They matched the partial name and logo in the picture. He recognized the bartender as the bare-chested man hugging the two girls. In the late afternoon, the piece of beefcake was working his regular job of tending bar.
    Since it was a school day, most of the regular patrons were home living their public lives. That didn’t seem to have any significance for the girl with orange hair, who sat alone with her vodka and orange juice at the bar.
    “Hello,” Tad took a spot on the stool next to her. He gestured to the bartender for a root beer.
    The girl looked over the attractive older man and decided that he might be worth her while. “I’ve never seen you here before.”
    “First time.”
    “Ah, so you’re a virgin?” she quipped.
    “Not exactly.”
    As she took another sip of her drink, he observed a ring she wore on her right hand. The stone that resembled a ruby surrounded by rhinestones looked oversized. Has to be a fake, he thought, like the orange hair.
    He sipped his soda. “I’m from Chester.”
    “Really?”
    “I think we might both know someone.”
    “I don’t know anyone from Chester.”
    “How about the late Grace Henderson?” He waited for her reaction.
    It was slow to come. She asked defiantly, “Who are you?”
    “Medical examiner.” He showed her his badge. “Did you know that your friend was dead?” When she tried to slide off her stool away from him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
    “You have no authority here,” she objected.
    “One phone call to your police and I can have you taken into custody. Citizen’s arrest.”
    “For what?”
    Tad tapped her glass. “Underage drinking. You can talk to me here, or in the police station while we’re waiting for your parents.”
    “Her ID says she’s twenty-one, man,” the bartender interjected.
    Tad stood up. His attitude was sufficient to intimidate the man behind the bar.
    “It’s okay, Mitch.” She turned to the doctor and scoffed at his threat of arrest. “My parents don’t care. They’re home getting drunk themselves.”
    “Then you can sit in a cell until they sober up enough to come pick you up.” He pulled her alongside him toward the exit.
    She yanked him back before jumping back up onto the stool. “What do you want to know?”
    “Your name for one.”
    “Nicki. Nicki Samuels.”
    “How long had you known Grace?”
    “I met her this summer. We met at the swimming pool at the resort in Newell. Her parents never let her do anything. So I invited her to come along with me to the clubs. She sneaked out after her parents were asleep, and I’d pick her up.”
    “And do what?”
    “Hit the clubs. Play with the guys. Her parents didn’t even let her date. We had a good time until she decided to go get herself pregnant.”
    “She got herself pregnant? Did anybody ever tell you girls that it takes two to get pregnant?”
    “The dummy thought that Billy would marry her if she got knocked up.”
    “Billy who?”
    “Billy Unger.”
    “How did Billy take the news that he was going to be a daddy?”
    Nicki giggled. “He went ballistic, of course. He wanted her to get rid of it, but she wasn’t about to do that.”
    “And so someone got rid of both her and the baby,” Tad pointed out.
    “He didn’t kill her.”
    “What makes you so