Free Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton Page B

worked in other restaurants that were vandalized, and those places were completely trashed. I mean, windows broken, furniture smashed, walls gouged out, glasses and dishes shattered, everything. Some of those places had to shut down, as I recall.”
    Kelly rubbed the last fleck of sauce from the shiny metal while she considered what Jennifer said. “That’s something else that doesn’t add up. Like Mimi’s laptop.” She stopped her scrubbing and sat back on her heels, wiping her plastic-gloved hand on her jeans.
    Jennifer glanced over her shoulder. “What do you mean?”
    “Most vandals would have done a lot more damage, and they would have stolen Mimi’s laptop for sure. That’s easy money. But that didn’t happen here, and I’m wondering why.”
    “I told you. Pete was lucky.”
    “Maybe it wasn’t luck.” Kelly reached in and removed the wire racks from the fridge and sprayed inside. “What if there weren’t any vandals? What if one person did all this? That would explain the smaller amount of damage and overlooking Mimi’s computer.”
    “You think someone killed Tracy then did all this to make it look like vandalism?”
    “Maybe. Maybe the killer didn’t figure anyone could tell Tracy had been held underwater.”
    “I don’t know, Kelly. I’m not sure I can buy into that. I still can’t understand why someone would deliberately kill Tracy Putnam. An accidental death is awful and tragic, but murder? It’s horrible.” Jennifer finished wiping the end cabinet then stared off into space. “I wish I’d never told her about the shop.”
    “Jen, you can’t blame yourself for what happened to Tracy. It sounds as if there was a lot more going on in Tracy’s life than anyone knew.” Kelly paused. “Did she ever let on that she was having trouble with anyone? You know, a classmate or a boyfriend?”
    “If she was having trouble with anyone, she never said a word. But I remember her mentioning a guy once.”
    “Oh, really? Was he her boyfriend, you think?”
    Jennifer shook her head. “I don’t know. She just said she was seeing someone. Didn’t mention his name.”
    “Was he another student? Or maybe even someone from the office?”
    “She never said. In fact, when I asked about him, she clammed up. I figured she was super private, so I never asked again.”
    “Hmmmm. A mysterious boyfriend with no name,” Kelly said, replacing the wire racks onto the cleaned fridge shelves. “Did she talk about her family at all? Maybe they know something.”
    Jennifer gave the last cabinet a parting swipe with her towel before she pulled herself off the floor. “I think she was pretty close to her older sister. I remember her saying how much she missed their phone calls. Apparently her sister works abroad. I can’t remember her name, either. But she seemed to get along with her family all right. She didn’t have any horror stories to tell.”
    “Why don’t you check if your office has her family’s phone number,” Kelly suggested as she closed the fridge door and stood up. “Maybe you can call them and—”
    “And maybe we should let the police do their jobs,” Jennifer said with a smile, leaning against the now-clean counter. “I’m sure they’ll be all over that office first thing tomorrow morning asking questions. And the university will have all Tracy’s personal family information on record.”
    “You’re right, you’re right,” Kelly admitted with a sigh. “The cops will be on it. I can’t help it. I go on automatic sometimes.”
    “Sometimes?” Jennifer arched an amused brow.
    “Maybe that guy she mentioned is the killer.”
    “And maybe he’s not,” Jennifer said quietly. “Maybe that gang of vandals freaked out when they saw Tracy. If they were high on drugs, anything’s possible. Maybe it really happened exactly like the police said. A burglary gone bad.”
    Kelly stared at her friend. What Jennifer said made sense. Why, then, did she have trouble accepting that