thinking there isn’t that much, is there? Just her bags and what’s on the desk.”
“Do you want to start with the bags? Get it over with?”
“Sure.” It was as good an idea as any. Meredith quickly checked through the luggage, finding nothing but the expected clothes. Not feeling all that comfortable going through a dead woman’s clothes, she finished as soon as possible, leaving the bags where they’d been.
They moved to the desk. Sitting on top of it were the laptop and manila folders she’d noticed earlier. Tom reached for the bag on the desk chair, looking inside to see if it contained anything.
Picking up one of the folders, Meredith opened it to find a small stack of photographs. She lifted them out to look closer, recognizing several of the faces in the top one. “It looks like she brought pictures of all of you in college.”
She sensed him glance over her shoulder. “Yesterday at dinner Haley said she’d planned a slideshow. I think she’d intended to display it for everyone tonight or tomorrow. She asked me if I’d help her set it up.”
His voice had softened as he spoke, the words tinged with regret.
“If she did, maybe she had it on her laptop,” Meredith said, pointing to it on the desk. “These must be extras she printed out for people to look at, or ones that weren’t digitized.”
“I wonder if it’s worth checking her computer to see if there’s anything on it....” Opening it, he began to boot the device. She watched his fingers move over the keys, her gaze drifting over his hands. He had beautiful wrists, she registered, strong, solid, lightly dusted with fine blond hairs....
It hit her what she was doing and she almost shook herself. Get a grip already . She was actually ogling the man’s wrists .
She quickly looked down at the pictures in her hands, focusing on the image on top. Four young women with their arms around one another, heads pressed together, posed for the camera, their smiles wide and beaming. Three of them were easily recognizable. Rachel was second from the left, with Haley and then Jessica to her right. The fourth face wasn’t familiar.
“Password protected,” she heard Tom say.
Meredith held up the photograph for him to see. “Who’s this?” she asked, pointing to the face on the far left.
A hint of sadness entered his eyes. “That’s Kim Logan, the fourth member of Rachel’s group. They shared an apartment off-campus the last two years of college. The four of them were as close as Scott, Greg, Alex and I were. It made kind of a nice symmetry when we used to hang out. But that ended when Scott and Rachel broke up. Rachel didn’t want to see Scott anymore, and they each kept their respective friends.”
Meredith looked at him in surprise. “Scott and Rachel broke up?”
Tom nodded. “Halfway through senior year.”
“What happened?”
“I never really knew,” Tom admitted, reaching for one of the other folders. “All I know is, when we got back from winter break, Rachel ended things with him. Scott never wanted to go into it, and I didn’t try to push him into talking about it. That’s not what guys do. I just tried to be there for him as a friend, which basically meant talking about anything else to keep his mind off it.”
“But they got back together,” Meredith noted.
“Last year, I guess. They ran into each other in the city, and evidently it was like old times. They started seeing each other again, and suddenly they were engaged. I actually found out from Scott that they were getting married before I heard they’d gotten back together.”
“So it was fast,” Meredith mused.
“Very. But it must have been right. Watching them the past couple days, it’s like no time has passed at all. Whatever happened between them, or whatever made Rachel break up with him, they seem to have gotten past it.”
“I wonder what it was.”
He shrugged. “Me, too, but I figure it’s none of my business. Kind of hard to imagine
“Do you want to start with the bags? Get it over with?”
“Sure.” It was as good an idea as any. Meredith quickly checked through the luggage, finding nothing but the expected clothes. Not feeling all that comfortable going through a dead woman’s clothes, she finished as soon as possible, leaving the bags where they’d been.
They moved to the desk. Sitting on top of it were the laptop and manila folders she’d noticed earlier. Tom reached for the bag on the desk chair, looking inside to see if it contained anything.
Picking up one of the folders, Meredith opened it to find a small stack of photographs. She lifted them out to look closer, recognizing several of the faces in the top one. “It looks like she brought pictures of all of you in college.”
She sensed him glance over her shoulder. “Yesterday at dinner Haley said she’d planned a slideshow. I think she’d intended to display it for everyone tonight or tomorrow. She asked me if I’d help her set it up.”
His voice had softened as he spoke, the words tinged with regret.
“If she did, maybe she had it on her laptop,” Meredith said, pointing to it on the desk. “These must be extras she printed out for people to look at, or ones that weren’t digitized.”
“I wonder if it’s worth checking her computer to see if there’s anything on it....” Opening it, he began to boot the device. She watched his fingers move over the keys, her gaze drifting over his hands. He had beautiful wrists, she registered, strong, solid, lightly dusted with fine blond hairs....
It hit her what she was doing and she almost shook herself. Get a grip already . She was actually ogling the man’s wrists .
She quickly looked down at the pictures in her hands, focusing on the image on top. Four young women with their arms around one another, heads pressed together, posed for the camera, their smiles wide and beaming. Three of them were easily recognizable. Rachel was second from the left, with Haley and then Jessica to her right. The fourth face wasn’t familiar.
“Password protected,” she heard Tom say.
Meredith held up the photograph for him to see. “Who’s this?” she asked, pointing to the face on the far left.
A hint of sadness entered his eyes. “That’s Kim Logan, the fourth member of Rachel’s group. They shared an apartment off-campus the last two years of college. The four of them were as close as Scott, Greg, Alex and I were. It made kind of a nice symmetry when we used to hang out. But that ended when Scott and Rachel broke up. Rachel didn’t want to see Scott anymore, and they each kept their respective friends.”
Meredith looked at him in surprise. “Scott and Rachel broke up?”
Tom nodded. “Halfway through senior year.”
“What happened?”
“I never really knew,” Tom admitted, reaching for one of the other folders. “All I know is, when we got back from winter break, Rachel ended things with him. Scott never wanted to go into it, and I didn’t try to push him into talking about it. That’s not what guys do. I just tried to be there for him as a friend, which basically meant talking about anything else to keep his mind off it.”
“But they got back together,” Meredith noted.
“Last year, I guess. They ran into each other in the city, and evidently it was like old times. They started seeing each other again, and suddenly they were engaged. I actually found out from Scott that they were getting married before I heard they’d gotten back together.”
“So it was fast,” Meredith mused.
“Very. But it must have been right. Watching them the past couple days, it’s like no time has passed at all. Whatever happened between them, or whatever made Rachel break up with him, they seem to have gotten past it.”
“I wonder what it was.”
He shrugged. “Me, too, but I figure it’s none of my business. Kind of hard to imagine
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