It was definitely possible that J.J. and Doug were having an affair. In our previous conversation, J.J. had mentioned that she was seeing someone whom she’d arranged to meet at her family’s cabin in the Adirondacks, but she hadn’t told me his name. I searched through my tote bag for my notes from my first conversation with Kelly. Yup, Kelly had said her husband was out of town the day Shannon disappeared. If they were having an affair, it shed an interesting light on the Baker/Claiborne family dynamics.
At the very least, Doug’s circumspect manner hinted that he and J.J. were doing something that they didn’t want anyone else to know about—perhaps sharing information about the case. If so, I needed to determine what it was.
I let five minutes pass before I knocked on J.J.’s door. I wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t suspect that I’d spotted Doug’s departure. I’d spring that information on her at the end, even though it was bound to piss her off.
It took three rings for J.J. to answer. She was fully dressed when she opened the door, in black leggings, ballet flats, and a long denim top, but her hair had a more tousled, bedheady look than I’d seen on her before. Of course, she could have taken to her bed in grief over the death of her friend.
“Yes?” she said warily, clearly remembering me.
“Hi, J.J. I’m so sorry for your loss. Do you have a minute?”
“I really don’t want to talk to the press anymore. I’ve had my name in the paperswaymore than enough.”
“What if we speak off the record? I’m not looking for quotes as much as for background that can help track down Shannon’s killer. I’m the reporter who found her body.”
“I thought it was the reporter from thePost Star.”
“We were together, but I was the one who received the phone tip.”
“Okay, come in.”
“Are your kids off doing kid things today?” I asked, trailing her into the quiet house.
“They’re with their father.”
Which meant she’d had plenty of privacy this afternoon.
Rather than taking me to the kitchen this time, she led the way to a spiffily decorated family room with cream-colored walls. The sofa was beige, covered in a nubby, suede-like material, and punctuated with ikat pillows in red, mango, and beige. A built-in unit featuring a flat-screen TV took up most of one wall, its low shelves neatly stacked with board games and DIY craft kits. I saw that J.J.’s real estate staging career definitely carried over to her home.
After dropping onto the sofa, she motioned for me to take the armchair facing it. Now that I was in better light, I could see that she looked spent, and not necessarily in a postcoital way. Her skin was blotchy and her eyes puffy, from either lack of sleep or crying, or both. All in all, she seemed less flinty today, too, softened a little by events.
“Thank you, J.J,” I said, “I really appreciate this. It must be such a tough time for you.”
She said nothing for a moment; instead, she stared hard at me, her eyes dancing a little as if there was a question in her mind itching to make an escape.
“How did Shan die?” she said finally, her voice catching.
“I don’t know. There’ll be an autopsy, of course, and the police will release certain details, but perhaps not all of them.”
“Do you think she suffered?”
“I don’t—”
“What if she wastortured? Orraped?”
“J.J., I’ve covered my share of homicide cases, and I know that friends and family often struggle with questions like that. But it’s best not to agonize over those details. Concentrateinstead on everything good that Shannon brought into the world.”
“You mean all the good that’s now beentrampledon? Noah and Lilly are going to be forced to live in this permanent horror show. I left Cody a message saying I’d pick them up anytime he needed help, but I can’t imagine how I can look them in the eye.”
“Let me get right to the point. I’ve been wondering if there may be a connection between Shannon’s body being left at a former Catholic retreat center and the fact that she became reinvolved in the church a few months ago.”
She frowned, obviously not sure what I was insinuating. Finally the point landed.
“You think someone from the church killed her?”
“I think it’s a possibility. Did Shannon ever mention anything strange that had happened to her at church? Something that unsettled her?”
J.J. shook her head hard. “Nothing.”
