Campbell looked at his father and Mason held his gaze, both contemplative in that unexpected moment of revelation.
* * *
HE FOLLOWED HISfather’s SUV to Harriette’s Café, which Mason had introduced Campbell to as a boy when his father was still on the force. They needed to talk about what Sidney Sedwick had confessed to. Or more precisely what he hadn’t taken ownership of. He had pointed the finger squarely at Bella’s father, Stuart Reston, as the person responsible for Lynda Boxleitner’s death.
In Campbell’s mind, this implication completely upended the belief that Wendell Braison had murderedLynda. Whether she was romantically involved with him too was immaterial. Given Sedwick’s role in supplying Reston with the thallium sulfate—in combination with his alleged infidelity with Lynda and possible blackmail on her part—it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that Reston, with much to lose in his marriage and position in society, might have chosen a deadly way out of his dilemma. And used Sidney Sedwick to achieve his goals.
Wonder how Dad is feeling about this sudden twist in a cold case?Campbell asked himself. He also couldn’t help but wonder if Bella had ever suspected that her father was cheating on her mother. If so, there was no indication that she had ever held it against him, typically speaking of Stuart Reston in glowing terms—similar to her grandfather, Malcolm Reston, and great-grandfather, Arthur Reston. Or maybe she simply chose to judge her father for the good contributions he’d made to Reston Hills and not the bad.
Campbell pulled into the parking lot and caught up to his dad as they went inside the café.
They took a seat at the counter, and Sarah Huffstetler quickly came over to fill their coffee mugs. “Hey, handsome,” she said with a big smile to Campbell.
He blushed. “Hey, Sarah.”
She turned to Mason and said, “And another handsome gentleman, too.”
“My father,” Campbell told her proudly.
“Hey,” Mason said, a small grin playing on his lips.
“Hi there.” Sally put a hand on her hip, studying them. “I can see the resemblance.”
“Not surprised.” Campbell smiled at her, then waited for her to leave them alone.
Mason watched as she walked away, then eyed his son. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Yeah, since you ask—I am seeing someone,” Campbell took the opportunity to reveal. “Only it’s not Sarah.”
Mason lifted a brow. “Oh?”
Campbell tasted the coffee. “Her name’s Stefanie. She’s a yoga and tai chi instructor in town.”And so much more, he thought. “We met on Founder’s Day.”
“Uh-huh,” Mason muttered thoughtfully, putting the coffee cup to his lips. “The same day that Mia O’Dell’s body was discovered?”
“Stefanie was the one who found her on the trail in the park,” Campbell noted. “We’ve been in each other’s lives ever since.”
His father nodded. “Good to hear. Hope this one works out.”
“Me too.” Campbell smiled when thinking about Stefanie. “I have a feeling she’s the real deal.”
Mason grinned. “Look forward to meeting her.”
“You will,” Campbell promised. He drank coffee and turned his thoughts to the visit with Stuart Reston’s former gardener. “What do you make of what Sidney Sedwick had to say? Are you buying any of it?”
“I have to admit, Sedwick’s bombshell sort of came out of left field.” Mason rested an arm on the counter. “I went to the greenhouse hoping to extract a confession out of him, two decades removed—not have Sedwick claim that it was Stuart Reston who used poison to kill Lynda, after having an affair with her.” Mason sipped his coffee. “When I did some work for Stuart, he seemed to be a bona fide family man who loved his wife. But looks can always be deceiving. Especially if Stuart wanted to present afalse picture for obvious reasons. Lynda wasn’t the same person I dated in high school at that stage. But she was still nice looking and she brought something to the table that might have enticed Stuart enough to go after her.”
Campbell finished his coffee and asked probingly, “So, where does this leave Wendell Braison as a suspect in Lynda’s murder?”
Mason considered this while closing his eyes for a moment, before regarding him and replying candidly, “It turns what I thought I knew about the man upside down. And turns my thoughts on Stuart right side up. Or, in other words, I’m starting to believe I had it all wrong that Braison killed Lynda—with Stuart Reston now taking up that position as a killer…”
Campbell was of the same view on Reston topping the list of suspects, though Sidney Sedwick’s word alone wouldn’t be enough to close the books on Lynda Boxleitner’s murder.
Nor did it tell Campbell who was responsible for supplying Mia O’Dell and Jasmine Roxburgh with deadly fentanyl in what amounted to serial murder, through one deliberate action or another.
* * *
THAT NIGHT, INher bed with Campbell, Stefanie was still reeling after being told about the suspicions that Bella’s father, Stuart Reston, had poisoned Lynda Boxleitner, his alleged lover. Stuart’s former gardener was apparently credible enough that both Campbell and his father, Mason Sawyer, were sold on the notion enough that Wendell Braison was no longer at the top of the list of suspects in Lynda’s murder.
