A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery 2)

“Didn’t mention it. Her heroine was busy with her child and husband.”

“Have a date on that kid?”

Jack told him that Sylvia’s daughter was eleven at the time of the kidnapping.

“The books stopped about the time Janet arrived in Lachlan,” Sara said.

“No mention of finding a friend?”

“None,” Sara said. “Sylvia was trying to adjust to widowhood and asking herself what to do with her life since she’d lost her best friend. Her agent told me that book sold the best of any of them. Not spectacular, but it did well. The reviews were excellent.”

“But you said—” Kate began but stopped.

Chet turned to her. “Said what?”

Kate looked at her aunt. It was up to her to tell or not.

When Sara was silent, Jack spoke. “What no one wants to say is that someone posted bad comments on review sites. Really bad.”

Chet looked at Sara and waited in silence.

“Yes, there were some truly hideous reviews. Meant to hurt.” She said this with her jaw clenched, her hands in fists.

“I take it that you’ve had that done to you.” When Sara nodded, Chet squeezed her hand. “I think cyberbullying should be a whole new branch of the police force.”

Kate said, “As long as people support it, it will never stop.”

“So who wrote these bad reviews?” Chet asked.

“Different people,” Jack answered. “They really were vile. Said the author should give up writing, should never have started. They were personal attacks.”

“Could they have come from Mrs. Alden’s brother?”

“Maybe.” Sara was regaining her composure. “When I read them, my heart went out to Sylvia. I wondered...” She looked at Chet.

“If they caused her suicide? It happens. I’ve seen too much of it. The person feels like they’ll never recover. The suicide takes seconds but lasts forever.” He looked at his paper. “Anything else you know about Mrs. Alden that may have made her want to end it all? She lost her husband and her career was torn apart on the internet. Maybe she—”

When his phone rang, he looked at the ID. “This is probably info.” He went outside to answer the call and they watched him through the glass. From his expression, the news wasn’t good.

Chet came back inside, sat down by Sara, and pulled up an email. “It’s a time line.” He looked at them as though he dreaded telling what he’d just heard. “Four months after Sylvia Alden died, her daughter, Lisa, went to jail for eighteen months. Seems that in college she transported drugs. A dealer ratted on her and some other college kids in exchange for a plea deal. He got six months. The kids got one to three years.”

The four of them were quiet. More reasons for Sylvia to commit suicide were being found.

“That day in the restaurant, I bet she was crying over her daughter,” Jack said.

“Possibly,” Chet said. “Husband gone, vicious reviews of her books, daughter going to jail. It’s a lot. She may have felt so helpless that she couldn’t bear it, so she poisoned her own food, and got out of the whole mess.”

“Loneliness combined with age...” Sara didn’t finish.

Jack sighed. “Does this take us back to the beginning? No suspects, no motive?”

“I don’t think we can fully eliminate Mrs. Alden,” Chet said, “but it doesn’t look like she had anything to do with the kidnapping. I’ll do more research and try to find out where she was that day. Maybe she was there at the store and saw something. Maybe—” He broke off as he knew he was just trying to make them feel better.

“I’m not so sure about any of this,” Sara said. “Kate, if you get sent to jail, I’ll be waiting for you when you get out. I’m certainly not going to remove myself from life because I’m sad.”

“What about me?” Jack asked.

“I’d petition for you to spend your time in solitary. Half your dad’s friends were put in prison because they listened to him. Your life would be in danger.”