Free Slain by Livia Harper

died. She’s always been thin, and now she’s starting to look drawn, like a guitar string pulled to snapping.
    “Unfortunately, yes. This is the way it goes. They’re pressing everyone extra hard, not just Emma. Sounds like this Detective Boyer is known as somewhat of a bloodhound. They say she’s pretty relentless.”
    This is not making me feel better. Maybe I should tell them everything. Now, before this goes any further. Then I think of Jackson. I told him I wasn’t going to say anything, and I have to stick to that, at least until I speak to him first.
    “She’s already managed to narrow down the suspect pool considerably. It looks like there were only seven other people not in the two main rooms at the time of the murder: Chuck Rand, Pastor Pete, Hope Crowley, Paige and Michael Kent, Nicolas Lawson, and June herself.”
    “They don’t seriously think it could be someone in the congregation, do they?” Mom asks. “Especially one of the kids?”
    “That detective, that Boyer woman? She has a chip on her shoulder about religion. I can tell you that,” my dad says.
    “I’m getting the same sense about her, Pastor. But there were no signs of forced entry. So whoever did it either had a key, was already there, or got let in by someone who was.”
    “What about picking a lock?” Dad asks. “I’ve heard about some very sophisticated devices out there.”
    “It’s possible, but they’re not seeing any signs of it, so they’re pursuing what they have. Which leaves us with that list. Everyone else at the lock-in has multiple witnesses for their whereabouts because they were in groups, some playing basketball in the gym and the rest either playing Red Rover in the Youth Center or watching it.”
    I remember coming in at the end of the game, racing in feeling like I would burst with happiness. By then, June was already dead.  
    Mr. Graham says, “Pastor Pete, whom I’ve spoken with personally, was disciplining Chuck about some disturbance he had made shortly before.”
    “He lit his fart on fire.” It sounds stupid once it comes out of my mouth, and totally the wrong thing to say, but it’s true. They stare at me, not sure whether to chastise me or let it go. “Sorry. It’s true. I saw him do it. Then Pastor Pete and Miss Hope took him out.”
    “Yes. They took him to Pastor Pete’s office, after which Chuck and Pastor Pete had a discussion about his behavior, which each of the three verifies.” It was a dumb thing to do, but Chuck is always doing dumb things like that. I’m surprised he’s not caught more often.
    “There’s also Nicolas Lawson, the girl’s boyfriend. He says he was looking for June, whom he hadn’t seen since ten or so. Several witnesses report him asking about her whereabouts, but none can pinpoint exact times so he hasn’t been totally eliminated. However, I know the Lawsons personally, and I think it’s unlikely the boy is responsible.”  
    Everyone who knows Nicolas would feel this way. He may be a little on the know-it-all side, but he’s farm-boy innocent and soldier honorable, the kind of guy older girls want to mother and younger girls want to be protected by.
    “Which leaves Paige and Michael Kent, who were together getting cases of soda from the coffee shop pantry on the main level.”
    Paige. I didn’t even register her name on the list. And the fact that it is on there? It’s totally my fault. I’m the one who asked her to do that. Then I remember something else.
    “The police kept asking me about whether or not we were going swimming later,” I say. “Did your contact say anything about that?”
    “Yes. He did. Apparently the girl was wearing a swimsuit when she died.”
    “But I saw her. She was fully clothed. She was wearing a sundress and tennis shoes and—“
    “The swimsuit was under the girl’s clothing,” he says. “They’re not sure what to make of it. She may have been using it as undergarments.”
    Was she? Do I remember seeing her