Free On Shadow Beach by Barbara Freethy Page A

fresh eye, a different perspective, and the benefit of time. That’s the key in cold cases. Over many years, people often remember things. They feel free to speak out. I’ve already learned something that the police didn’t discover.”
    “What’s that?” she scoffed, sure that he was going to throw out some meaningless piece of information just to make her think she should get involved with his movie.
    “Two days before the murder, Abby and her friend Lisa were spotted sitting in a car outside their volleyball coach’s house around ten o’clock Saturday night.”
    “So?”
    “So their volleyball coach was a young, married man in his early twenties, Tim Sorensen. From what I’ve gathered, a lot of his female students hadcrushes on him.”
    “I knew Mr. Sorensen. He also taught biology, but I don’t understand what you’re getting at. You think he was involved with my sister?”
    “I think you should ask Lisa why she told the police that she and Abby never left her house that night.”
    “They were probably dropping something off—uniforms or the extra bag of balls or something. Where did you even get this information?” she asked suspiciously.
    “Kendra Holt.”
    “I don’t know who that is.”
    “She’s a local woman. At the time of the murder, she was having an affair with the man who lived next door to Sorensen, and she couldn’t afford to be placed at the scene. She got divorced a few years ago and now isn’t concerned about her reputation or her former husband. Ms. Holt also told me that it wasn’t the first time she’d seen the girls on the street.” He paused. “I’ve tried to get in touch with both Lisa Delaney and Mr. Sorensen. Neither one will talk to me. I also passed the information on to the chief of police. I’m not trying to take the police out of this, just to help them along.”
    “Lisa was Abby’s best friend,” Lauren said. “She was questioned thoroughly about everything that they’d done in the weeks preceding Abby’s death. I’m more inclined to believe her than some woman who was having an affair and thought she saw my sister in a car. Lisa and Abby weren’t old enough todrive, so whose car were they in?”
    “Good question. Maybe you should ask Lisa.”
    “I spoke to Lisa several times after Abby died. I asked her to tell me if there was anything that Abby was into that she didn’t want my parents to know about, and she said there wasn’t.” Lauren shook her head, disliking the doubts Mark Devlin was putting in her head. “If you’re suggesting that my sister was involved with a married man, who was also her teacher, you’re out of your mind. Abby was fifteen. And Lisa would have told me about Mr. Sorensen if there was anything to tell. You’re on the wrong track.”
    “It’s possible,” he said with a small, conceding nod. “I do have other suspects.”
    One of those other suspects had to be Shane. “I’m not interested in your theories.” She set down the rake and moved toward the stairs.
    “Even if one of them involves you?”
    She slowly turned. “What are you talking about?”
    “You were never really questioned, Lauren.”
    It took a moment for his words to sink in. Her jaw dropped in shock. “What the hell are you saying? Abby was my little sister! How could you think I had anything to do with her death?”
    “She was beautiful, popular, an accomplished athlete, a great student. Some people claim you were in her shadow, that you were jealous of her.”
    “I was proud of her.” Lauren refused to admit to any tinge of envy for her sister’s success. Sure,things had come a little easier for Abby, and sometimes that had been frustrating, but she’d loved her sister far more than she’d ever felt jealous of her.
    “There’s also the question of your alibi—it had a lot of holes in it. The librarian said she saw you enter the library, but she never saw you leave,” he said, his gaze never leaving her face. “But even if you had