“It is,” she agreed, missing the state more than she cared to admit but content in knowing the time was right to relocate. She returned to the moment at hand. “I wish I had gotten to know her—the dead woman—and maybe… I don’t know, through one means or another, have been able to somehow help her avoid her fate—”He probably thinks I’m just babbling just for the sake of it and maybe I am, she told herself, still a little nervous about the situation.
“That would have been great,” he said in a gentle voice. “But unfortunately, these things happen—sad as that is—even though none of us ever want it to. Or can control it.”
“You’re right.” Stefanie wrung her hands. “Doesn’t make it go down any easier.”
“For you and me both,” Campbell assured her. “Know that I’ll do everything I can to find out who she is and how she ended up dead in the park.”
His hard expression told her he meant business. This was comforting to Stefanie, as she felt very much that no one deserved to be humiliated in death. Even if it came by one’s own hand, there would certainly have been a trigger to bring her to that point. And if there were nefariousreasons the life was taken away, there was further cause to get to the bottom of it and get justice for the victim.
“I’m sure you’re good at your job, Detective,” Stefanie told him instinctively. She looked over his shoulder at the deceased woman and the personnel from the Eckerslin County Coroner’s Office, who would remove the body. Gazing back at him, she said evenly, “I just hope she can be at peace when you have your answers.”
“Me, too.” Campbell reached into his pants pocket and removed a card. “We may need you to come in and give a formal statement. Other than that, if anything pops into your head—big or small—relating to this investigation, call me anytime on either number there…” He handed her the card.
Stefanie took a quick look at the info and nodded. “Will do,” she promised.
“Then I’ll let you get back to your Founder’s Day activities.”
She furrowed her brow. “Not sure I’m quite up to that,” she admitted, hardly in the mood for fun and frolic after what she’d seen. Instead, she intended to go home. “But thanks anyway.”
Campbell flashed her an understanding look and said smoothly, as if he could predict the future, “See you later.”
Stefanie couldn’t help but feel enthusiastic about the prospect of seeing him again as she watched the detective walk back toward the others on that side of the barrier.
She turned in the opposite direction, in search of Bella, to share the sad news with her.I almost hate to rain on her parade, Stefanie told herself, knowing how much Founder’s Day meant to Bella as part of her family’s legacy. But she would learn about the tragedy sooner or later—as would everyone who lived in Reston Hills—so there was no need to withhold it from her.
* * *
STEFANIE PULLEDBELLAaway from an elderly member of the Founder’s Day committee, wanting to be the first to bring her up to speed on the grim discovery as the one true friend she had in town.
“There you are,” Bella told her spiritedly. “I was looking for you to see what you thought of my speech—if you could call it that.”
“It was wonderful,” Stefanie said sincerely. “You would’ve made your grandfather and father proud.” Bella had lost her dad, Stuart Reston, earlier in the year to a heart attack, and her mother, Eloise Reston, years before that to colon cancer. Being without her own parents, Stefanie could very much relate to the pain of their absence in her life.
“Thanks for that.” Bella smiled. “Doing my best to keep their dreams alive and make my own come true, to one degree or another.”
Stefanie nodded, thinking of her own life and times. “It’s really all any of us can ask for.”
“So true.” Bella eyed her perceptively. “What’s wrong?”
After a moment or two, Stefanie answered straightforwardly, “A woman was found dead in the park…”
“What?” Bella cocked a brow. “Where?”
“On a trail by the river.” Stefanie sighed. “I was the one who discovered her—naked and no longer breathing—”
“So what happened to her?” Bella asked anxiously. “Was it suicide? Drug related? Or something even worse…?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Stefanie responded. “That will be up to the police to determine. Or Detective CampbellSawyer, more specifically.” She pictured him in her mind and wondered if he would need her to come in for that formal statement. Or if they might meet again under more normal circumstances. “He’s investigating the strange death.”
Bella reacted to this. “Campbell… Figured as much.”
“You two know each other?” Stefanie asked, but quickly realized this shouldn’t come as a shock to her—assuming that the detective was a local, unlike herself.
“We knowofeach other, is more like it,” Bella told her. “We both attended Reston Hills High School, but Campbell was a bit older, so we didn’t hang out together or anything. But his father, Mason Sawyer, was also a police detective for the Reston Hills Police Department and was friends with my dad. Campbell decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.”
“Hmm…interesting.” Stefanie fixed her face thoughtfully. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
Bella laughed. “I suppose that some things do tend to run in the family, if the will is there.”
