“I got my old job back. I’m working this case in conjunction with Coastal Investigations.” She hesitated, then said it anyway. “Your check did the trick. Thank you for that.”
“Hah, glad to hear I’m still worth something! I like that you don’t mince your words, Angela. That’sexactlywhat I want, for you to say it like it is, no matter what you find out about my granddaughter.”
Angie let the judge’s misuse of her name slide this time, especially after hearing Gudrun’s explanation that Jilly Monaghan was losing her memory. “But I’ve got a few questions before I proceed,” she said. “We can do it over the phone if that works?”
“Fire away.”
“There’s a photograph among the files you gave me. On the back it says, ‘The three amigas.’ Who—”
“Jasmine’s closest friends. Those three were tight. Mia Smith went all the way back to grade three with Jasmine. Sophie Sinovich made a threesome of the group from their first year in junior high. The three attended UVic together.”
“Are Sophie Sinovich and Mia Smith still around?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about them in years.”
“So you wouldn’t know if they married and whether they’re using married names?”
“No.”
“What about the other women on the river trip? Anything you can tell me about them or their whereabouts before I start a search?”
“Rachel Hart lives in Metchosin with her husband, Doug. I don’t know where their daughter, Eden, is, or where any of the others are now. There was a septuagenarian on the trip. She’s probably dead by now.”
“So Eden is Rachel Hart’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
“And to confirm, the documentary was quashed by sponsors and never aired?”
“Correct. My son-in-law, Rahoul Gulati, threatened to sue the sponsors if they aired the footage in any way, which resulted in them spiking the project. Rahoul did not want Rachel Hart or her sponsors sensationalizing Jasmine’s death or capitalizing on it. I figure Rachel would’ve turned it into some adventure drama doc if she’d had half a chance.”
“So what happened to the raw unedited footage Rachel Hart shot? Did you ever see any of that?”
“No. Rachel offered to compile a montage of Jasmine’s final days along the river for her parents, but my daughter, Kitt, declined. She felt it would be too painful. Kitt had a really rough time of it all.”
“How did you come to have such an old granddaughter?” Angie said. “Jasmine was twenty-five years old twenty-four years ago. That would have made you—”
“Kitt was my husband’s daughter from his first marriage. I married my husband, Logan Blackford, after he’d been widowed for some time. He was quite a bit older than me. I was thirty-one on my wedding day. Kitt Blackford was twenty-three years old when she technically became my stepdaughter. It was a rocky period for both Kitt and me. But we grew closer over the years. Even more so after Logan died.”
“So for the record, Jasmine was not a blood relative of yours.”
“She was my granddaughter, blood or no. I doted on her as a baby. She was the child I never had, never could have. I’m the only family Jasmine has left. It falls to me to ensure she’s laid properly to rest in memory, with her parents.”
“I understand.” Angie started her car and put on her windshield wipers as rain came down more heavily. “Two more questions, if you don’t mind. To your knowledge did Jasmine ever dislocate her left shoulder?”
“Not to my knowledge. I saw the mention of shoulder scarring in the pathologist’s report, and I feel Iwouldhave known about such an injury if it had been at all serious. The coroner did ask me about it. But no, I cannot recall any shoulder injury.”
“Okay, and did Jasmine ever give birth?”
“I also saw the mention about the post parturition scars. No. She’d never given birth.”
“Would you have known if she had?”
“Of course. I was close to Kitt. She was close to Jaz. Kitt would have known.”
“Would Kitt have told you? Even if it was something Jasmine might have told her mother?”
The judge hesitated. “Possibly not. But you know, I’ve thought about it, and I can honestly recall no period in Jasmine’s life where she looked pregnant or where she disappeared for any great length of time that would have allowed her to have a baby and give it away. But people keep secrets, I know this. I’m also aware from the pathologist’s report that post parturition pits are not unequivocal evidence that a woman gave birth. This is in part why I hired you, Angie. I don’t know those answers, and I need you to find it all out and tell me.”
