"Before we start, " Andra asked, "Do you mind if I record this? It won't go any farther than Cameron and I. I just want to make sure I keep the facts straight."

"That's fine." He said nodding. He gave Andra a moment to collect her notebook and pen. Once she was settled she hit record on her phone and nodded in his direction.

Conrad paused for just a moment gathering his thoughts and then began to speak. "The first thing to understand before we get started is that Inglewood is a different kind of town. I have seen many strange things there. Do you know," he asked honestly, "that the murder rate in Inglewood is almost twice as high as other cities its size?"

Cameron leaned forward on the edge of the couch his interest piqued. "Why though?" He asked. "Why in Inglewood? What makes it different?"

"Son, I wish I could tell you, but I honestly don't know myself. My family and I had only lived in town a few years when Savannah died. My wife had sensed it before then. She said it just gave her a bad feeling. Bad mojo that's what she called it."

"When this thing with Savannah happened it felt wrong from the beginning. I couldn't quite figure it out. It was like having an itch you couldn't scratch. Knowing that none of this was right but the answer was just out of reach somewhere. I just couldn't figure out what we were missing." He ran a hand across his mouth and took a deep breath before starting again.

"We interviewed Savannah's friends, or what was left of them, and they all verified what you've already deduced from her yearbook photos. Something had been off with her for a long time, but whatever was going on, she never shared it. At least if she did, no one was telling us."

"What we do know was that she went out that last night with Greg Billings and Melanie Harlow Savannah's best friend." Andra who had been studiously taking notes sat up a little straighter at the mention of Melanie's name. "Wait, I remember reading about her. She replaced Savannah on the volleyball team after she quit."

"That's right," Conrad answered. "The two girls had been friends since grade school, but Melanie was always living in Savannah's shadow. Their friends seemed to think that Melanie had become jealous of Savannah over the years. Whether Savannah realized it, I'm not sure. What we do know is that when Savannah began to pull away from everyone Melanie wasted no time in taking her place. In fact, Greg and Melanie were dating at the time of Savannah's death."

"Dating?" Andra asked in surprise. "Everything I've read said that Greg and Savannah were together."

"Oh, they had been to be sure," Conrad answered. "They'd had an on again off again relationship since junior high. Sometime in the months before Donald died, they broke up for the last time. He and Melanie began dating shortly after."

"So let me get this straight? Greg and Savannah break up and he starts dating Savannah's best friend. Then several months later she agrees to be their third wheel at a party?"

Conrad gave Andra a bitter smile. " I know. It makes no sense but it seems that's exactly what happened. Greg and Melanie said in their respective interviews that they had convinced her to go out that night. Greg said he thought it would do her some good to get out for awhile. Numerous eyewitness accounts put Savannah in the car arriving with them that night."

The more he talked, the more anxious he became. Andra could see how hard it was for him to discuss this with them. Conrad walked back to his chair and sat down and then, running a hand across the back of his neck, he started again.

"All reports have them arriving at the party around eight. Once there, Savannah went off on her own. No one laid eyes on her again for at least forty-five minutes maybe longer. Everyone we interviewed who was present at the party agrees that when she did reappear  an altercation ensued between her and Greg."

"What were they fighting about? Cameron asked.

"No one seemed to know. All they knew was that when she left she was angry."

"And Greg?"

"All he would say was that he had been drinking and couldn't remember."

"Well, that's convenient." Cameron scoffed sarcastically.

"So then, who took her home that night?" Andra asked. "The papers only say that it was an unnamed friend."

"Yes," He answered. "I imagine they would. The girl's name was Jennifer Lewis. She was only sixteen at the time. The media would have had to protect her identity because she was still a minor. Jennifer stated that she dropped Savannah off at home just before midnight and, that as far as she could see, Savannah was stone cold sober."

"The problem is, there were kids at the party who swore that she had been drinking and was drunk when the argument broke out. The autopsy didn't help. Not because she hadn't been drinking, but because it had been too long and there would have been no alcohol in her system either way."

"Did anyone see her drinking?" Cameron asked.

Conrad was already shaking his head. "No. We couldn't find one witness that could attest to her whereabouts during the time she went missing. There were reports that she had a beer when she first arrived at the party but the people she had been closest with before everything unraveled insisted that it would have been out of character for her. They claimed she never touched the stuff, but even so, one beer right after she got there at eight should have been long gone by the time she got home at almost midnight."

Andra nodded. She was trying to process everything he was telling her, but she still had so many questions.

"Ok," She said looking back through her paperwork. "The articles I pulled said you thought she fell shortly after she got home. What made you think that?"

"Well," he told, her sitting back in his chair. "We were called in mid-morning the Monday after the party. When we showed up her mother, Gloria, was hysterical. Savannah's mom had been out of town on business. She worked as a consultant for a pharmaceutical company and they had some type of conference that weekend. She had been the one to find Savannah's body."

"Savannah was lying at the bottom of the stairs. There wasn't a lot of blood but she looked like she had been through the wringer. After the coroner's examination, it was determined that her injuries, although extensive would not have been fatal, had she received medical intervention."

Andra shivered at that. She couldn't imagine what Savannah must have been through and how scared she must have been.

"When we went upstairs," he said quietly. "The shower curtain was pulled back and her toiletries had been scattered across the counter as if she'd taken a shower. The quilts on her bed were turned back but the bed hadn't been slept in. We did find the jeans and blouse she had been wearing in the bathroom hamper. Also, she was wearing no makeup when we found her, yet Melanie had a picture of her from the party and she had done her makeup that night."

"So, obviously, Melanie and Greg were suspects?" Andra asked.

"Yes, absolutely." He said. "So was Gloria, and even Jennifer for a time."

"Wait," Andra said quickly, "how did Savannah's mom and Jennifer become suspects? I thought Gloria had been out of town."

"She was, but we had to look into it. Savannah's parents had been having problems in their marriage for years. Donald had come from a rather tight-knit and wealthy family. They had insisted on a prenup before they would give their blessing for him to be married. He and Gloria were in the process of finalizing the divorce when he died. Afterward, it came to light that he had recently adjusted his will leaving everything to his daughter. There was also a life insurance policy but, that too was in Savannah's name."

"Are you serious?" Cameron asked. "So his wife was left penniless but Savannah inherited everything."

Conrad nodded. "He even left her the house. It was all in some kind of trust, but when Savannah passed her mother got it all."

Cameron, looked at Andra, completely stunned.

"Why didn't that make her the prime suspect?" He asked in astonishment.

"Because there was video footage of her at the hotel where she stayed. Throughout the weekend she had been filmed everywhere from the hotel bar to the pool. Not to mention that the conference itself had been recorded by the hosts and she's in over half the frames. Her alibi was rock solid."

He stood, shaking his head and starting to pace again.

"Jennifer became a suspect because there were inconsistencies within the timeline she gave us."

"Inconsistencies?" Andra echoed.

"Well like I said, all accounts have her arriving around eight."

"Ok," Andra said. "So she arrives at eight, goes missing for close on an hour. She then fights briefly with Greg and heads home. Her house is what twenty minutes from the bluffs?"

"Close to that," Conrad added. "That would have put her home by nine-thirty or ten at the very latest."

"Instead she arrived home just before midnight," Andra answered.

"Exactly. We could never account for the two missing hours. Jennifer had a receipt in her car proving they picked up a to-go order from Mickey's Diner. After that, she said they rode around while Savannah cooled down. There were no cell phones to trace back then and with no witnesses, there was nothing more to pursue."

"After that, the leads just dried up. The higher-ups started demanding that we close the case. There were no leads no suspects and the town wanted it finished. So that's what we did, but I never stopped looking."

"What happened to the people who were cleared? Where are they now?" Andra asked.

"Well, the last I heard, Savannah's mother had been institutionalized. I heard several different versions of why, but I'm not sure what's true. All I know is that she was admitted a few months after her daughter's death."

"What about Greg and Melanie?"

"Melanie and Greg attended college together and were married sometime after graduation. Last I heard, she's a real estate agent and he's a trial lawyer. They live just outside Inglewood now."

"Just a shot in the dark here, but she was his alibi, correct?" Cameron said sarcastically.

"Yes," Conrad answered, "And he was hers. Apparently, after the argument between the two of them, Greg was so inebriated that Melanie took him back to her house to sleep it off. Her parents were out for the evening."

"So the person providing her alibi was unconscious for the better part of the evening by his own admission. Man, these two are real winners," Andra said, rolling her eyes.

Conrad continued. "I kept digging even after they forced us to close the case but nothing else turned up. There is always the possibility that she was drunk and fell, or maybe she just slipped but I don't believe that to be the truth. My gut tells me that something else is going on."

"For what it's worth, I don't think you're wrong," Andra told him sincerely.

"Thank you," Conrad said. "But, for once, I wouldn't mind being wrong. I hope you can use what I've told you. And if there is anything else you need my help with let me know."

"I will." She told him.

Andra stood and started to gather her things and Cameron stood with her.

"We have to get back." She told him. " I don't want to take up any more of your time. Thank you for agreeing to speak with us." She said as he walked them toward the door.

"It was my pleasure I just hope you can do something productive with it," Conrad said, stopping beside the small wooden table that sat in the entryway. He pulled open the drawer slipped a file out and handed it to her.

"You weren't the only one taking notes, young lady." He said, smiling. "These are my notes from when I was working the case. I'm hoping you can get some use from them."

"Thank you so much." She said taking his hand and squeezing it. "I will try my best to get her name back out there."

"I hope so." He said as they stepped out onto the porch. Waving one last time, they climbed into Cameron's Jeep and started back down the drive.

Andra was going through Conrad's notes before they even got out of the driveway. "So what do you think of everything he had to say?" Cameron asked watching Andra warily from the corner of his eye.

"I'm not sure. It's a lot. There are at least three people who could have potentially wanted Savannah dead and that's just the ones we know about. We still have no idea what sent her over the edge in the first place. If it had nothing to do with these three then our list of possible suspects just got longer."

"I'm also still struggling with the fact that Greg and Melanie were together and that Savannah would have voluntarily attended this party with them. It's a little on the strange side for sure. And if she did why were she and Greg fighting? There are so many questions and not even close to enough answers."

Andra was still flipping through papers as she spoke stopping to read some and giving others cursory glances as she flipped through. After a moment Cameron noticed that she had gone silent and there was a sheet of paper clutched tightly in her hand. He watched more than a little frightened as the color began to drain from her face.

"An, what's wrong?"

Dropping the papers onto her lap, she pressed both hands to her eyes like a small child playing peek-a-boo. "I need you to pull over." She said. "I think I'm going to be sick."