All Dressed in White Page 2

  Laurie was starting to regret the decision to hear this woman out. She needed time to finalize her presentation to Brett. What was it about Sandra Pierce that caused her to drop her guard and listen to her? She was on the verge of explaining she needed to prepare for a meeting when she noticed the button pinned to Sandra’s blazer.

  On the button was a photograph of an absolutely beautiful young woman. Her resemblance to Sandra was uncanny. A graphic of a yellow ribbon appeared just beneath the girl’s face. Something about the photograph seemed familiar.

  “You’re here about her?” Laurie said, gesturing to the pin.

  Sandra glanced down and, as if reminded, sunk a hand into her jacket pocket and retrieved a matching pin. She handed it to Laurie. “Yes, it’s my daughter. I’ve never stopped looking.”

  Now that Laurie had a closer look, the girl’s smile tugged at a distant memory. She hadn’t seen this particular photograph, but she recognized the smile. “You said your last name’s Pierce.” She hoped that saying it aloud would help her remember.

  “Yes, Sandra. And my daughter is Amanda Pierce. My daughter is the person the media calls ‘the Runaway Bride.’ ”

  4

  The Runaway Bride. Laurie remembered the case immediately once she heard that phrase. Amanda Pierce was a beautiful blonde bride, about to marry a handsome lawyer she first met in college. All of the plans were made for a luxury destination wedding in Palm Beach, Florida. And then the morning before the big day, she simply disappeared.

  If that story had broken at any other point in Laurie’s life, she knew that she would have recognized Amanda Pierce’s photograph instantly. She probably would have even recognized Amanda’s mother, Sandra. At another time, the story of a young bride who vanished into thin air just before her dream wedding would have been right up her alley. She knew that some people speculated that Amanda developed cold feet and started a new life somewhere else, away from her overbearing family, or perhaps with a secret paramour. Others believed that she and the groom had a late-night fight, leading to a violent outburst—“it’s just a matter of time before her body turns up.”

  But even though the story was the kind of thing that would normally draw her attention, Laurie had not followed the case closely. Amanda Pierce disappeared only weeks after Laurie’s own husband, Greg, had been fatally shot in front of their then-three-year-old son, Timmy. While Amanda’s face was being broadcast across the country, Laurie was on leave from work, oblivious to events outside of her own home.

  She remembered turning off the television thinking that if the bride hadn’t gotten cold feet, then something terrible must have happened to her. She remembered that she felt at one with the family and what they must be suffering.

  She continued to study the picture, remembering that terrible day. Greg had taken Timmy to the playground. She had given Greg a quick kiss as he left with Timmy on his shoulders. It was the last time she was to feel his lips warm against hers.

  Ironically, Amanda Pierce’s wedding was to have been at the Grand Victoria Hotel. Laurie remembered being there and Greg pulling her into the ocean despite her laughing protests that the water was too cold.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the office door, followed by Grace carrying a tray containing two cups of coffee and some of the pastries Laurie had purchased from Bouchon. Laurie smiled at Grace, noticing that she had opted to offer her favorite—the almond croissant—as a choice for Mrs. Pierce.

  “Can I get you anything else?” Grace wasn’t exactly traditional, but in the ways that mattered, she had good old-fashioned manners.

  “No, dear, but thank you.” Sandra Pierce managed to smile.

  Once Grace left, Laurie turned to Sandra. “I can’t say that I’ve heard anything about your daughter’s disappearance any time recently.”

  “Neither have I and that’s the problem. Even when she first went missing we suspected that the police were only going through the motions. There was no sign of a struggle in Amanda’s room. No reports of anything unusual happening on the resort property. And the Grand Victoria—that’s where the wedding was to take place—couldn’t be any safer. I could see the police looking at their watches and their cell phones as though Amanda was bound to turn up back home in New York, confessing to cold feet.”

  Laurie wondered if Sandra’s perceptions about the police investigation might be biased. Even from the limited television snippets she had seen at the time, Laurie recalled seeing teams of volunteers searching the resort property for any sign of the missing bride. “As I remember, there was a considerable effort to find her,” she said. “It was on the national news for weeks.”

  “Oh sure, they checked off all the boxes of what they’re supposed to do when someone disappears,” Sandra said, her tone bitter. “And we were also out there in front of the cameras every day pleading for the public to help us find her.”

  “And who was the we?” Laurie walked to her desk to retrieve a notepad. She could already feel herself getting pulled into Sandra’s story.

  “My husband, Walter. Or ex-husband now, but Amanda’s father. And her fiancé, Jeff Hunter. Really the whole wedding party was involved: my other children, Charlotte and Henry; two of Amanda’s college friends, Meghan and Kate; and then two of Jeff’s college friends, Nick and Austin. We handed out fliers all over the local area. At first, the search was focused on the resort property. Then we moved out from there. It tore my heart to see them searching isolated areas, canals, construction sites, and swamps around the coastline. After a month, they stopped looking entirely.”

  “Sandra, I don’t get it. Why did they call her the Runaway Bride? I could understand the police suspecting cold feet for a few hours or maybe even a day or two. But surely as time passed they must have shared your concern. What made them think your daughter would just take off on her own?”

  Laurie could tell Sandra was reluctant to answer, so she pushed further. “You said there was no struggle in her room. Was her suitcase missing? Her purse?” Those were the kinds of facts police used to distinguish between runaways and foul play. It was hard to run without money or identification, she thought.

  “No,” Sandra said quickly. “There seems to be only one thing missing from her wallet, her driver’s license. All of her clothes, her purse, her makeup, her credit cards, her cell phone—all of them were in her room. In the evening she often carried just a tiny purse with her room card, a compact, and lip gloss. That was never found. She could easily have slipped the license into it if she was planning to use the car. She and Jeff had rented a car at the airport. As far as we know, Amanda was the last one to use it when she and the girls went shopping that morning. There is a self-parking section on the grounds of the hotel. And that’s where they kept it.”

  Or, Laurie thought, she took her license and some cash and met somebody. Laurie now understood why so many people had speculated that Amanda had left on her own accord. She did have another question, however. “What happened to the rental car?”

  “It was found three days later behind an abandoned gas station about five miles from the hotel.”

  Laurie could see that Sandra’s mouth had tightened and her expression had become fiercely angry.

  “The police insisted on believing that she may have met someone at the gas station and gotten into a different car. The next morning, when the news broke that she was missing and they were showing her picture on TV, some woman in Delray Beach claimed that she saw Amanda in a white Mercedes convertible stopped at a traffic light around midnight the night she disappeared. She claims she was at a long light and got a good look at her. Amanda was supposedly in the passenger seat, but the woman remembered nothing about the driver except that he seemed tall and had a cap on. The woman was crazy, I know it. She loved the publicity. She couldn’t wait to get in front of a camera.”

  “Do you think the police believed her?”

  “Most of them did,” Sandra said bitterly. “One day outside the police station,
I overheard two detectives arguing. They were leaning against a squad car, smoking cigarettes and talking about my daughter like she was some character on a TV show. One of them was certain that Amanda had a secret boyfriend—a Russian billionaire and she’s off on some island with him now. The other guy was shaking his head, and I thought he was going to defend Amanda. Instead he said—I’ll never forget it—‘You’ll owe me ten bucks when they pull her body from the Atlantic.’ ”

  Sandra swallowed back a sob.

  “I’m so sorry,” Laurie offered, not knowing what else to say.

  “Oh trust me, I gave them an earful. There’s a detective still officially assigned to the case. Her name is Marlene Henson. She’s a nice woman but I can tell the trail is ice cold. Forgive me for being personal, Ms. Moran, but I came here to you specifically for a reason. You know what it’s like to lose a person close to you. And to not know for years why it happened or who was responsible.”

  Greg was killed by a single shot to the forehead while he pushed Timmy on a playground swing. The shooter had intentionally targeted Greg and even knew Timmy’s name. “Timmy, tell your mother that she’s next,” he had said. “Then it’s your turn.” For five years the only other thing Laurie knew about her husband’s killer was that he had blue eyes. That’s what her son had called him when he cried out, “Blue Eyes shot my daddy!”

  In response to Sandra’s statement, Laurie simply nodded.

  “Now imagine, Ms. Moran, knowing even less. To not even know whether the person you love is dead or alive. To not know whether they suffered or are out there, alive and happy. Imagine knowing nothing. I’m sure some part of you thinks I’m lucky. Until they find Amanda’s body, she could still be alive. I’ll never believe that she left of her own will but maybe she was kidnapped and is trying to get free. Or got hit by a car and developed amnesia. I can still hold out hope. But sometimes I think I’d be relieved to get that awful phone call telling me that it’s over. At least I’d know she’s at rest. I’d finally know for sure. Until then, I can’t stop. I’ll never stop looking for my daughter. Please—you might be my last chance.”

  Laurie set her notebook on the coffee table, leaned back in her chair, and steeled herself to break Sandra Pierce’s heart.

  5

  Laurie tucked a loose strand of hair beneath her ear, always a sign that she was nervous. “Mrs. Pierce—”

  “Please, call me Sandra.”

  “Sandra. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to not know what happened to Amanda. But our program is limited in what we can do. We’re not the police or the FBI. We go back to the scene of a crime and try to re-create the events through the eyes of the people who were involved.”

  Sandra Pierce was leaning forward, ready to defend her position. “That’s why Amanda’s case would be perfect. The Grand Victoria is one of the most famous hotels in the world. It’s a glamorous setting, and people love stories about weddings, and most of them can’t resist a mystery. I know I can persuade my family, including my ex-husband Walter, to participate. And I already called one of the bridesmaids, Kate Fulton, and she said she’d do whatever she could. I believe the two groomsmen will also agree. As for Jeff, I don’t think he would have the nerve to refuse.”

  “That’s not the issue, Sandra. First, our show is about cold cases. Cold crimes. You said yourself that the police have no actual proof that your daughter was a crime victim. Maybe you’re right, and she was taken away by force. But there’s no hard proof I am hearing that a crime was actually committed.”

  Now there were tears flowing from Sandra’s eyes.

  “It’s been over five years,” Sandra said passionately. “My daughter was a successful businesswoman. She adored New York City. There were no unusual cash withdrawals or credit card transactions before her disappearance and absolutely nothing since then. She loved her friends and her family. She would not put us through this kind of misery. If she didn’t want to get married, she would have broken the news to Jeff gently, and they would have gone their separate ways. Please, you must believe me on that—Amanda did not run away.”

  “Okay, but there’s still a second problem. Our show is called Under Suspicion for a reason. We focus specifically on crimes where the people close to the victim continue to live under the shadow of suspicion, even though they were never formally charged. Because Amanda is technically just missing at this point, no one has really been considered a suspect in any crime committed against her.”

  “Oh, I think Jeff Hunter would beg to differ.”

  “The groom? I thought you said he was right there with you and your husband, leading the search.”

  “He was, at first, and it never dawned on us to think Jeff was in any way involved in whatever happened to Amanda. But within a week of her disappearance, Jeff hired a lawyer and refused to talk to the police without the lawyer being there. Why would he need a lawyer if he hadn’t done anything wrong? Not to mention, he’s a lawyer himself!”

  “That does seem strange.” Laurie knew that innocent people hired lawyers for protection, but it had never crossed her mind to do so, even when she saw a few police officers eyeing her warily after Greg was killed.

  “And when Jeff went back to New York, some of the prosecutors tried to get him fired from his office because they were certain he was involved in Amanda’s disappearance. Even now, if you go online to those amateur cybersleuth websites, you’ll find many, many people who think Jeff fits your bill for Under Suspicion. They will definitely tune in to watch if you cover Amanda’s case.”

  Turning Sandra down was proving more difficult than Laurie had anticipated. She was now growing apprehensive, feeling her entire morning go to waste when she was supposed to talk to her boss this afternoon about potential new cases. Laurie had a list of three top contenders for the show’s next investigation but hadn’t committed to a top choice. She needed to pull her thoughts together.

  “Realistically, Sandra, boyfriends and husbands are always under the microscope to some degree when women go missing. But you said yourself that you don’t actually believe he was involved,” she protested.

  “No, I said at first we didn’t believe it. We actually felt terrible for him. But then the facts came rolling in. First, he hired that defense lawyer. Then we found out Jeff had money at stake. You see, Amanda and Jeff had a prenuptial agreement. Thanks to Walter’s business, our family—and Amanda, who worked for the company—had substantial means; Jeff, very little.”

  “I thought you just said your daughter’s fiancé was an attorney.”

  “Yes, and a very bright one at that. He graduated at the top of his class from Fordham Law School. But he didn’t have any family money, nor was he the moneymaking type on his own. Working as a public defender in Brooklyn, he made a third of Amanda’s salary, not to mention her wealthy family’s business. There was no question she would be the one to take the reins if her father ever retired. I hated the idea of a contract preparing for a divorce before you’re even married, but Walter insisted.”

  “What was Jeff’s reaction?”

  “As a lawyer, he said he completely understood. I was relieved when he happily complied. But then we found out that, in addition to the prenup, Amanda had also drawn up a will a month before the wedding. Walter was so worried about Jeff robbing the family dry if the marriage didn’t work out, but of course Amanda was free to write her will as she wanted. I think she was so upset at her father over the prenup that she wrote a will as a way to comfort Jeff. She left her trust fund entirely to him.”

  “And how much was that?”

  “Two million dollars.”

  Laurie felt her eyes widen. Sandra wasn’t kidding when she said the family had money. “So has Jeff collected on that? Or is it seven years until someone’s presumed dead?”

  “Yes, I understand that is the law. I suppose if her body is found, that jerk of a cop in Florida will win his ten-dollar bet, and Jeff will get two million dollars, plus considerable investment earnin
gs. Or I’m told that he could try to declare Amanda dead at any time and collect that way. If Amanda had canceled the wedding, he would have been left high and dry. No divorce settlement, and no inheritance, because Amanda would have changed her will immediately once she went back to New York.”

  “If he was engaged to your daughter, you must have known him well. Did Jeff seem like a dangerous person to you?”

  “No. We thought he was a wonderful choice for a husband. He seemed very dedicated to Amanda, loyal to a fault, in fact. But in retrospect, maybe we should have seen the signs. His two best friends, Nick and Austin, as far as I know, are still happy bachelors, always with different women. Birds of a feather flock together, as they say.”

  “You think Jeff was unfaithful?”

  “It certainly seems possible, given the timing with Meghan.”

  Laurie glanced at the notepad on the coffee table. “Meghan is the—”

  “Meghan White, the maid of honor. She was Amanda’s best friend at Colby. And they stayed very close afterward when they both moved to New York City. She’s a lawyer, too. Immigration law, in her case. Amanda and Jeff knew each other in college but never dated. Meghan is the one who actually reintroduced Amanda to Jeff in New York. I can certainly tell you she must have been very sorry that she did.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well, it turns out that Meghan dated Jeff before Amanda ever did. And once Amanda disappeared, she swooped back in. They waited barely a year before marrying. Meghan White is now Mrs. Jeff Hunter. And I think one or both of them murdered my daughter.”

  Laurie reached again for her notepad. “Let’s start all over again.”

  6

  Laurie and Sandra were still talking two hours later, when Laurie’s cell phone let out a little chirp. It was her alarm, alerting her that her meeting with Brett was in ten minutes.

  “Sandra, I’m afraid I have an appointment with my boss.” Brett was not the type of person who could tolerate being kept waiting. “But I’m very glad you flew all the way across the country to tell me about Amanda.”