1

“Good morning, Markie Browne, could you come on back?” Doctor Jonas Vespy invited.

Markie had done wonders with what she had been born with. God had not blessed her with an abundance of natural beauty but she had compensated nicely. Her radiance came from years of experimentation. Cosmetics and up-to-the-minute fashion had always been her passion. She appeared to have walked right out of the pages of a trendy magazine.

The rosacea that covered her T zone was completely invisible to the naked eye. A large jar of DermaBlend held a respected spot on her vanity. It covered all of God's little mistakes. Dermabrasion had taken care of the severe acne that had covered her as a teenager. Lasik eye surgery had given her the ability to wear contacts. Last but not least Botox injections had removed the laugh lines and crow's feet that had prematurely appeared one morning a few years ago.

Everything about her meshed. Nothing clashed. Her lipstick matched her finger nail polish; which was in the same color family as her blush. Her entire wardrobe revolved around a certain color family that worked well with everything from the color of her hair and complexion to her jewelry and cosmetics. She had a keen fashion sense and always dressed stylishly. There was never a hair was out of place or a wrinkle on a T-shirt. Her biggest accomplishment was that she looked natural. Markie never looked over done or even 'made up'. She looked completely pulled together and deceptively naturally attractive. This clean look was the reason that the phrase that entered people’s minds most often when they first met Markie was "well-scrubbed."

Markie had evolved from a plain Jane that most boys had cringed away from; that girl with the coke bottle glasses, severe acne, and a unabrow. She had picked up where genetics had left off. Taken what she had been born with and made the absolute most of it. She had squeezed every last ounce of attractiveness out of what she had been given to start with.

Doctor Vespy closed the door behind Markie. As Markie took a seat in a high backed chair the doctor went to his desk and turned on a tape recorder. He sat in his easy chair and picked up a bottle of cherry flavored water. “I must admit that I was a little surprised when you called me yesterday. And I was concerned with how you sounded. What is the problem? What’s happened?”

Markie took several deep breaths as if in an attempt to prevent herself from crying. “I’m sure you saw in the news. Jessie is dead.”

Vespy nodded gravely. “I was very sorry to hear about that. I don’t play favorites, but you five were my first group and I’ve always felt a special bond with you. A lot of groups since have collapsed, or fragmented, or just failed to click in the way that you five did. But you were strong from the beginning. And the fact that you are all still friends and were working together a year after the group finished is a testament to how well you clicked. I was so saddened when I turned on the news the night before last and heard about her murder.”

Markie produced a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes. “I still can’t believe it. This is insane. Jessie was only 25. She was the youngest of us! She had an entire life ahead of her!”

“She was the only other woman in the group. It is natural that you’d feel closer to her than to any of the others.”

“Well, I’m dating Matthew, so I’m actually closest to him-.” She eyed him suspiciously. “You still see him so you must know I’m dating him. You were just trying to remind me that I still have the other three to lean on and be with.”

Vespy smiled softly. There was no joy in it, which was understandable considering the subject matter. “You were always the one who was suspicious of everything I said and did because you feel manipulation. As for who else I see, you know that I can’t acknowledge that someone is a patient of mine even if you’ve heard it from someone personally. And I obviously can’t relate anything I hear in any other sessions. Nor can I ask questions or make statements that rely on any information I receive from any other sessions. You are my only information source while I am talking to you.”

Markie had heard the confidentiality speech many times during her group therapy and individual therapy sessions with Vespy. At times the man’s firm ethical stance was frustrating but most of the time it was reassuring. “Anyway, I’m not surprised that you think I’m here for grief therapy. I am grieving for Jessie, but that is not why I needed to talk to you. You are the only person I can turn to, precisely because of that confidentiality. You see, I suspect that one of the other three murdered Jessie.”

Vespy’s face was impassive. “What brings you to that conclusion?”

“I don’t know how much you heard in the news, but the killer was waiting for her in her house. She got home, talked to one of her neighbors who was cutting the grass for several minutes. One or the other of the Parkers are always out messing with the yard so Jessie has gotten to know them quite well. After the conversation, Jessie walked into the house. About a minute later she was running from the house, bleeding profusely. The neighbor called 911 but Jessie died before any help arrived. Whoever killed her had a key to her house. They let themselves in and waited for her. The police think that the killer intended to dress up the scene or do something to hide the fact that a key was used, but apparently Jessie resisted more strongly or sensed something was wrong and managed to escape the house after being stabbed twice. Since the neighbor was right there, the gig was up. So the killer had to leave immediately, apparently through the backyard and into the alley. Several neighbors heard a car race down the alley but no one had a chance to see it.

“Jessie bought this house six months ago with the money she made from selling her first screenplay. She has no family, and the four of us were her only close friends. The four of us had keys to her house, but we were the only ones she did this for. Therefore, it had to be one of us four. Which is why the police spent six hours yesterday grilling us separately. It had to be one of the four of us.”

“They’ve ruled out break in or her leaving the door unlocked?” Vespy inquired.

Markie nodded. “There was no forcible entry. And it was not a burglary gone wrong because it was not quite dark when she got home. A burglar would either break in during the day when people are at work or in the dead of night. Break ins between 6 and 10pm are extremely rare. Plus, Jessie was in the house about a minute at the most. The neighbor only had enough time to make one circuit of the yard before Jessie was back out. The killer had to be waiting right by the door. There wasn’t enough time for Jessie to surprise a burglar, get stabbed twice, and then run out of the house. That’s also asking for a burglar to have known she’d left her door unlocked, which would never happen as paranoid as Jessie was, and to have ruthlessly and instantaneously decided to go against every burglary dictum and turn a small time robbery offense into a homicide. The police focused in on us four. And even if they hadn’t, I would be because there is no other explanation. She had no boyfriend, and us four had the only keys and I KNOW that she didn’t leave the door unlocked.”

Markie sighed pitifully. “The problem is what do I do now? I don’t trust them now, but they are my only friends. How do I act? Do I risk losing the friendships of the two innocent friends by turning a cold shoulder on all of them? And, as I said before, Matthew and I are lovers. How can I see him tonight when I can’t rule out him being the one? It doesn’t help that he and I had this huge fight the night that Jessie died. We would have made up by now but this has gotten in the way. I don’t know if I can keep the promise of coming over to see him tonight.”

“Are you the only one who believes it was one of you four?”

That seemed to surprise her. “I don’t know. I’m sure it has crossed all of their minds. The police certainly seem convinced. I can’t think of anyone else it could be, and I’m sure that the other three can’t either.”

“Then they are all going through the same thing you are. They are feeling the same uncertainty and hesitancy.” Vespy assured her. “So maybe the best thing to do is to get everyone together and say what you’re feeling openly and honestly.”

“I don’t know. That would still feel like an accusation. I don’t think I could help feeling hurt if anyone else brought up being suspicious of all of us. We were all so close to Jessie. Accusing one of us of doing it is tantamount to heresy. I just can’t get my mind around this. It is unthinkable that one of us did it, but I don’t see how it could be anyone else.”

“And the police have ruled out Mrs. Parker herself?” Vespy inquired.

“Apparently. If they are investigating either Parker I don’t know about it. Of course, they wouldn’t tell me. But you’re right, Mrs. Parker is the only one who was around so a lot of what we believe to be true came directly from her.”

“How have things been between the five of you lately? What was your last day together like?”

“We’ve been okay. Jessie and I have always been close, especially since we’re the only two females. We talked every day just the two of us, in addition to the time the five of us spent together. I’m sure you know this from the others that you see, but I’ll tell you so that you can admit to knowing it. All five of us are working on a movie together.
“Jessie sold her script last year and that gave her the leverage to secure financing for a small project all of us could do together. Matthew, Luke, and I were the main actors. Jessie wrote the script and was producing, and John was the director. We were having a lot of fun on the set and the movie was going to be really fantastic. We were all so excited about it!” She seemed to remember that Jessie was dead and her visible excitement faded.

“I’m still coming to grips with her death.” Markie added solemnly. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

2

“John Reeves, can you come back?” Doctor Vespy asked.

John followed him, entered the office, and Doctor Vespy closed the door. As John took a seat on the couch the doctor went to his desk and turned on a tape recorder. He sat in his easy chair and picked up a bottle of Diet Pepsi. “I was surprised to hear your message asking to see me, John. How are you doing?”

“Jessie’s dead.” John sighed heavily.

Vespy nodded gravely. “I was very sorry to hear about that in the news last night. Are you having trouble dealing with your grief?”

“The police think that one of us did it.” John mumbled.

“What do you mean by ‘one of us’ ?” Vespy inquired professionally.

John eyed him suspiciously. “I’m the only one of us who came running to you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were seeing all four of us today.”

“You know I can’t break confidentiality, John.”

The patient nodded amicably. “Sorry. I’m not trying to trip you up. I’m not thinking straight. Jessie was murdered inside her house. The four of us who used to be in group with her and who are now all working on the same movie with her are suspects because only we had the key to her front door.”

“Do you think the police could be right?” Vespy asked.

“I know they are.” John returned. “I know who it is. The only question in my mind is what do I do about it?”

Vespy set aside his notepad and leaned forward, showing surprise for the first time John could remember. “You know who it is?”

“As much as it pains me to say this, I do. It’s Luke. He and Jessie were lovers. We always knew that he carried a torch for her, but I never personally thought she would return his feelings. But Matthew and I started noticing signs that she had a new boyfriend and Luke’s demeanor suddenly changed as well. Neither of them would admit it, but we knew that they were getting it on. Then Jessie told me the day that she died that she had broken it off with her new boyfriend. She still wouldn’t admit who it was but I know it was Luke. Jessie said that for her it had just been about sex but that her boyfriend had gotten way too serious way too quickly. Luke must have lost it and killed her in a fit of passion.”

“Slow down,” Vespy commanded. He rubbed his eyes and picked up his notebook again. “What kind of change in demeanor are you talking about?”

“He suddenly got very happy. He had been mooning after Jessie for two years, every since the five of us first met. He hadn’t ever been in a deep depression but there was a definite sadness to him. But suddenly that was gone. He was unburdened. At the same time Jessie suddenly couldn’t go out to dinner with me because she had other plans. She and I used to go out to dinner and to movies a lot. Purely platonic, of course. I’m still going with Kelly Morgan, who I was dating the last time I saw you last year. But Jessie and I liked to get together and talk once a week or so. Then, starting about a month ago, she didn’t have time for me. Which was fine. I missed her but I did this to her once when Kelly was going through some problems and she needed me around all the time. After a while Kelly got through what she was going through and I started seeing Jessie a lot more again. But the day before yesterday, the day Jessie died, she asked me if I was free sometime this week because she’d just broken up with her boyfriend and she wanted to talk to me about it. Tell me all about it. I said sure.”

“It doesn’t sound like you have more than circumstantial evidence that Luke was the boyfriend.” Vespy observed.

“True. But I’m not a jury. I’m just a private citizen so my necessary burden of proof is a lot lower. From what I observed, there is little doubt in my mind that Luke was her lover.”

“How have you been getting along with Luke?”

John seemed quietly amused. “In other words, are my feelings about him clouding my judgment? Well, it’s true that I’m not as close to him as I am to Markie and Matthew and I was to Jessie. But I liked him. I honestly can’t imagine any of us doing this to poor Jessie, but if it was one of us, then it was Luke. None of the rest of us had even a hint of a reason to kill her.”

“So apparently none of you had alibis?” Vespy prodded.

“Not as far as I know. We wrapped for the day around 5pm. We had been working late for a couple weeks so I decided everyone could use a break. I stayed at the set trailer looking at dailies until about midnight. As far as I know, no one saw me there.” He seemed to feel that further explanation was necessary. “The previous couple days we had been shooting the emotional center of the movie, when the protagonist discovers that her lover is married. I was using a hand held camera instead of a Steadicam because I wanted to illustrate the emotional unevenness the character was feeling. For the same reason I wanted to use a lot of cuts. That’s time consuming so I’ve been staying late to get a jump start on selecting the best takes and right cuts.”

“I think I followed all that.” Vespy replied modestly.

“Sorry, I’m using a lot of jargon. But anyway, I was by myself all night. Markie said that she went home and went to bed because Matthew and she had a fight and they were cross with each other. Matthew also went home alone and neither of them called the other. And Luke said that he was stressed out so he went to see a movie. The ticket clerk might remember him but the odds are against it. He didn’t interact with anyone there so it’s very unlikely that anyone else will remember him either. So none of us have alibis.”

Vespy raised an eyebrow. “On the contrary. If the four of you are equally suspects then none of you can realistically be charged. It doesn’t sound like any of you are more likely to have done it than the others. If they don’t find any forensic evidence then it is likely that none of you will ever be charged.”

John pondered that. “All of us have been in her house recently. We had lunch there five days ago. So forensics will prove nothing. But Luke’s relationship with her and the fact that it broke off the day before she died is damning. That makes him the most likely suspect.”

The doctor nodded. “Yes it would. But you have no proof they had a relationship. And if you tell anyone else what you’ve told me you risk damaging your relationship with Luke, and as a result, with Matthew and Markie as well. Plus you could throw the cloud of suspicion over a man who could very well be innocent.”

“Those considerations are why I came to see you.” John admitted. “I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s not my role to tell you what to do, of course.” Vespy acknowledged. “I can only guide you by pointing out possible consequences and maybe clarifying things in your mind. It’s up to you to make your decisions.”

John reflected for a minute and then said, “I’m going to have to dwell on it. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps she wasn’t seeing Luke. Perhaps someone else was her boyfriend. If so, that man would probably have a key. She gave her house key to people close to her as a sign of intimacy and so she could ask one of us to feed her cat when she was visiting her mother in San Diego. She’s given keys to past boyfriends when she lived in her old house. I don’t think she did since she moved but that could have changed if she felt close to someone. I didn’t say anything to the police about Jessie having a boyfriend because I was positive, and am still quite sure, that Luke was the one and I didn’t want to start anything until I had had time to think about it.”

“I think you made a wise decision. And I don’t think that it even falls in the category of obstruction of justice because you really have nothing solid that you can tell the police.”

“This is so tragic.” John stated, altering the topic from the murder itself to his feelings about the victim. “It still feels like Jessie is here with us. That I could turn around not be surprised to see her in the doorway.”

3

“Good afternoon, Matthew Hewitt, could you come on back?” Doctor Vespy invited.

Matthew was the best dressed of the three men who had comprised the male contingent of Vespy’s first group. When he wasn’t wearing a smart, perfectly arranged suit, he was wearing crisp pants (never jeans) and button down shirts. His beard and mustache were neatly trimmed and made him look like a 26 year old Abraham Lincoln. His nails were always cut (never bitten) and gleamed as if he actually spent time polishing them. Matthew wasn’t the most handsome man in the world, but he was one of the most smartly groomed and dressed to be found.

As far as time spent on physical appearance and making the most of what God and biology had given them, Matthew and Markie were perfect for each other.

Doctor Vespy closed the door behind Matthew. As this hour’s patient took a seat in a high backed chair, the doctor went to his desk and turned on a tape recorder. He sat in his easy chair and picked up a bottle of cherry flavored water. “I must admit that I was a little surprised when you called me yesterday asking to move your appointment up to today from next week. What’s happened?”

Matthew seemed heartbroken. “I’m sure you saw in the news. Jessie is dead.”

Vespy nodded gravely. “I was very sorry to hear about that. I don’t play favorites, but you five were my first group and I’ve always felt a special bond with you. I knew from the beginning that you were going to be a strong, cohesive group. The fact that you are all still friends and were working together a year after the group finished is a testament to how well you clicked. I was so saddened last night when I heard the news.”

“So was I.” Matthew admitted. “But the worst thing is that the police suspect one of us four committed this horrific crime. This is insane. None of us could have done this! We all loved Jessie! If anyone would be murdered it’d be John!”

“That’s an interesting thing to say.” Vespy remarked.

Matthew offered a tight grin. “I don’t think I’m serious about that. I’m just saying that he was really getting on our nerves, driving us. He’d make us do 25 to 30 takes of everything. I realize that this is the life of an actor. People think it is all glamour when in reality it is 16 hour days, 4 hours spent in makeup for special effects movies, and saying the same lines with the same level of emotion 20 times! Acting is as tedious as any other job. And like any other job, only the top 1% get paid anything you could live off of.”

“So John is a hard director to work with?”

“He stuck to the script so Jessie didn’t mind him. She was always in his corner. Even when she did some extra work a couple times he was easy on her. But he rode the rest of us like rented mules. But Jessie was his golden child.” Matthew seemed to realize that he was working up some venom and he softened. “Listen to me. I guess I was a little more annoyed with those two than I realized. John and Jessie were always a little closer to each other than they were to the rest of us. When you’re in a group of tight friends its hard not to feel jealous when two of them get closer still.”

“One could say the same about you and Markie.” Vespy noted.

Matthew’s countenance brightened with revelation. “That never occurred to me! That would be even more bothersome, I imagine, because she and I are lovers where John and Jessie are not. Luke probably especially felt left out. He was not as close to any of us as each of us was to one other.”

“Unfortunately for him, there wasn’t a Lisa or Laura in the group.”

Matthew regarded the doctor with confusion, not getting the mild joke. “So have any of them told you that they resent the closeness Markie and I share?”

Vepsy held up a cautionary hand. “You know I can’t reveal anything about any other patients or sessions.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Matthew regarded the doctor. “How do you do it, doc? What if all four of came in the same day? How could you sit there and act like you hadn’t heard anything about this before? How could you focus on who is in front of you and not reveal anything that anyone else told you? What if their stories drastically contradicted each other? What if you could deduce which of us was the killer from how our stories collaborated each other or didn’t do so?”

“I think that the time you are paying for would be better served if we focus on you rather than me.”

“Come on, man. Just this once, give me something. Satisfy my curiosity, because I don’t understand how you can do it. I don’t really want to think about Jessie anymore. I’d rather focus on something else.”

Doctor Vespy considered this, then set aside his notebook. “Allow me to make it clear that I am not admitting that any of your friends have been to see me today. So I am answering in a hypothetical way.

“It just requires that I focus completely on you and all of our sessions together. I don’t think about anything else. Not my cat, not my DVD collection, not my car loan, not any personal relationships, and certainly not any other clients. When you are in this room you are the only person I am thinking about. So if anyone else told me anything that might contradict what you say, it wouldn’t occur to me.”

“So if there was a conflict between what we said then you wouldn’t even think about it and accidentally reveal that you know more than I have told you.” Matthew supplied. “Man that would be hard. I couldn’t do that. If client A told me that the murder weapon was a hatchet and client B told me that it was a knife it would be all over my face.”

“I don’t believe that. You’re an actor.”

For the second time, Matthew’s face brightened. “Damn! You’re a master at forcing me to see the obvious today! It would be like playing a role. I can picture it now. I’m always trying to improve my craft, so I like to get inside people’s heads.”

Vespy indicated the tape recorder with a nod of his head. “Of course, after the session is over I have these. When I play them back later I could always notice contradictions then.”

Matthew nodded gravely, seeming to allow Jessie’s death fully back into the front of his mind. “Does confidentiality prevent you from reporting what you know to the police?”

“It would have to be an outright confession before I could call the police. It couldn’t be a deduction. If someone did confess a past incident of harming someone or an intention to harm themselves or someone else in the future I am ethically empowered, indeed, required, to call the police. Otherwise, no. I might add that before I called the police I would urge the person in question to do that themselves. Not only does it look better legally if you turn yourself in, it is the first step on the road to rehabilitation and coming to grips with what you have done. Only if they refused over the course of several sessions would I finally resort to calling the police myself. The only exception to this is if I felt that the client was in eminent danger of harming themselves or others.”

“Speaking of danger, wouldn’t that put you in danger? Confronting a cold blooded killer with the fact that you are going to tell the police?”

Vespy nodded soberly. “Perhaps. But don’t forget, I would only be in that position if the killer admitted it outright to me. He or she wouldn’t do that unless ready on some level to accept the consequences or seeking absolution that comes with punishment. Additionally, he or she wouldn’t even be in therapy if not seeking help.”

“You make a lot of sense, doc.” Matthew acknowledged.

“And you’re avoiding talking about Jessie.”

“I’m still coming to grips with her death.” Matthew added earnestly. “I can’t believe Jessie’s gone.”

4

“Good evening, Luke Spence, could you come on back?” Doctor Vespy invited.

Luke was a thin, energetic man. He moved like a dancer and looked like a martial arts expert. In reality, he was neither. He had excelled at gymnastics in high school and still worked out regularly. Luke usually dressed in loosely fitting, comfortable clothes, never anything that fit too tightly across the body. Nor did he wear any jewelry, not even a watch. It was as if he couldn’t stand for anything to be too close to his body. To extend that even further one had only to remember that Luke had been wearing his hair short since he was old enough to start needing haircuts. As further evidence of his dislike of anything close to his body Luke often didn’t tie his shoelaces but instead shoved them down into his shoes and walked with his shoes loose around his feet.

Today Luke was wearing a pair of jeans that was at least one size too big, no belt, an expensive looking but loose sweater, and a pair of worn sneakers. The shoelaces didn’t appear to be tied.

Doctor Vespy closed the door behind Luke. As Luke took a seat in a high backed chair, the doctor went to his desk and turned on a tape recorder. He sat in his easy chair and picked up a bottle of cherry flavored water. “I must admit that I was a little surprised when you called me yesterday. And I was concerned with how you sounded. What is the problem? What’s happened?”

Luke seemed on the verge of tears. “I never told you this in sessions, but I was in love with Jessie. And now it’s too late to ever act on it. She’s dead.”

Vespy nodded gravely. “I was very sorry to hear about that. I don’t play favorites, but you five were my first group and I’ve always felt a special bond with you. A lot of groups since have either not clicked, collapsed, or fragmented. But you were strong from the beginning. And the fact that you are all still friends and were working together a year after the group finished is a testament to how well you clicked. I was so saddened when I turned on the news the night before last and heard about her murder.”

“So was I. I was even more saddened when the police told us that the four of us are suspects. We are the only ones who have keys to the house, you see. And Jessie was murdered in her house. Of course you must know that by now, it’s been in the news and maybe some of the others have been to see you by now.”

“Because of confidentiality-.” Vespy began.

“I know, I wasn’t trying to glean any secret info out of you, Jonas. But I’m sure a couple of them have come to you for the same reason I have. Jessie had a lover and we all knew it. At least, I believe so. Maybe not Matthew or he would have done something about it, I guess. But I’m sure that John knows, he’s made a couple comments to me about how much in love Jessie looked. He didn’t want to come right out and say it any more than I did. Not that I think anything is wrong with it other than the infidelity, but neither of us wanted to talk about it.”

“What would be wrong with Jessie having a lover?” Vespy asked curiously.

“Oh. Well, her lover was Markie. I actually had more of a problem with the fact that Markie was Matthew’s girlfriend than I did with it being a lesbian relationship. When two of your friends are cheating with a third close friend, you really don’t know what to do. So I never said anything. The fact that it was two women made it even more difficult to say anything. But the way that John acted and the way he kept mentioning how much Jessie was glowing and how she looked in love and all that, I’m sure he’d figured out the same thing and just didn’t want to come out and say it. Once you say something out loud you inevitably have to act on it. I certainly didn’t want to act on it.”

“What makes you think that Markie and Jessie are lovers? That is a startling conclusion to jump to.”

Luke smiled grimly. “Never believed that you forming the group two years ago would lead to so much intrigue, eh? Well, at first I just thought that Jessie had a new boyfriend. As I said, I was ... am in love with her and so I was hyperaware of her every mood and behavior. I knew that she regarded me as only a friend so it didn’t bother me too much that she sought other men. I didn’t want to cross the line of revealing my feelings because that would change things between us. She would never feel comfortable around me again. We would drift apart. So I never acted on my feelings, even to be nasty to her when she was in a relationship. I’m a lot more mature than that. But I have to confess that I always felt a little hopeful after she dumped her boyfriend of the moment and while she was between lovers. Then my hopes would be dashed when I saw her with another man. She went through a lot of men so I think that’s why she was discrete about it. She was never a person to talk openly about when she’d met someone new and then when she’d dumped him. At least not to me. I usually found out from John first and then from Jessie later.

“But this time I actually saw them. Almost four weeks ago I went back to the set, we were filming on the New York City set at Paramount studios for a couple days, because I’d forgotten my laptop and on my way to our shooting location where I had left the computer, I saw it. The two of them were standing in a doorway, kissing. I quickly ducked behind a corner and waited until they passed me, giggling like school girls. They were walking closely and holding hands. Before they got out of sight I saw them kiss again. I have to admit I was shocked. But after I thought about it I realized that this explained a lot. This is why she wasn’t interested in me! This is why she was going through so many men. She was looking for something in men that was not to be found. And she finally found it in Markie.”

“If you were standing so far away so as not to be seen, and it was dark, how can you be sure who was kissing Jessie? Or that it was even Jessie?” Vespy probed.

“I heard Jessie’s voice clearly, so I’m positive she was one of the women. I couldn’t hear Markie but she was wearing the same dress she’d been wearing earlier. And it was her hair. I would know it anywhere. True, I got a quick glance and then ducked back around the corner. And when they passed by I only saw their backs. But it was them.”

“A kiss, even holding hands, doesn’t necessarily mean they were lovers.” The doctor pointed out.

Luke had expected this. “Ah, but when you factor in that Jessie had obviously gotten a new lover, had even hinted at it a couple times herself, you have to reach that conclusion.”

Dr. Vespy failed to completely hide his amusement at the fact that you had to reach that conclusion from the ‘evidence’ given before he said, “so you think that this provides a motive for murder?”

Luke seemed pained. “It’s the best one I can come up with. Nobody else had a reason. It’s crazy to think that any of us could have done it. But if one of us did, then it was probably Markie. Maybe they had a fight or something. I’m not going to tell the police my suspicions. Fuck that. I’m just telling you what is going on in my mind. I was actually hoping that you could poke some holes in it and convince me that it wasn’t her. I don’t love Markie or anything, but I adore her. She’s great. But nothing will bring Jessie back.”

“It’s not my role to give you my personal opinions, but I can tell you that I don’t think you have anything to go on. You’ve told me nothing but circumstantial evidence and glances at people’s backs.”

Perhaps reassured, Luke shifted the topic. “You know what pisses me off more than anything? This is insane that it does, but I guess we focus on the small things in the times of greatest emotional turmoil. But this murder didn’t get more than 30 seconds on the news last night. Jessie was a wonderful person, who brightened the lives of everyone who knew her. She was an adoring daughter who visited her widowed mother often. She was a gifted screenwriter who had already sold a script that was going to be made into a movie. And her tragic passing, a momentous event, is given the shortest amount of time on all the local news broadcasts. It is disgraceful.”

“Maybe the police are trying to limit the information the gets out. It makes it easier to catch a killer if only the killer and the investigators know certain details.” Vespy offered.

“I know that’s the truth. They aren’t even releasing which neighbor talked to Jessie and witnessed her entry into the house. The only reason the four of us know it was Mrs. Parker is because she’s friends with Markie and rushed to her and started spilling the story before the annoyed detective asked her to not talk to anyone about it. They wanted to keep it under wraps for at least a couple days. Markie told the rest of us that it was Mrs. Parker.” Luke smiled a humorless grin. “Might as well know who it is that is implicating the four of us.”

“If they’re trying to keep the knowledge from the killer, then Mrs. Parker really screwed up by telling one of you four, in the eyes of the investigators.”

Luke shrugged. “The attack happened so quickly after Jessie entered the house that the killer was undoubtedly watching from the window so he could get her as soon as she came in. Therefore the killer must have seen the two of them talking, so already knew which neighbor it was. And all of us know Mrs. Parker on sight. We’ve all talked to her.”

“It sounds like the way you are trying to deal with your grief is to focus on the mystery behind her death.” Vespy unearthed.

“This is so shocking.” Luke agreed soberly. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

SOLVE THE MYSTERY!

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