The detective’s next stop was Jennifer’s mother’s house, which was in the same Columbia Heights neighborhood. Marie Nubers was far less emotional than Gillis, whom she was in the process of divorcing, but Johnson had a hard time believing the woman was capable of killing her sixteen-year-old daughter. Though, of course, he’d seen far more sinister things in his days.

She did admit freely her relationship with her daughter was strained, that she had an affair, and her daughter probably hated her.

Possible motive for the daughter to hit the mother in the back of the head with a blunt object, but hardly the other side of the coin.

Markus, Jennifer’s ten-year-old brother, was staying at friend’s house during the interview. Both Johnson and Cornish, both of whom had two younger sisters and who agreed it was the sibling’s reactions that were often the hardest to watch, were thankful for this.

When the two detectives entered the home of Megan Nubers, she was joined by her parents Ray and Joan. She was sandwiched between them on a blue couch.

The two detectives asked a few questions of Jennifer’s aunt and uncle.

Johnson asked, “So Ray, you are brothers with Marie’s first husband, John?”

“Correct.”

“And what happened to him?”

“He died in a fishing accident when Jennifer was four. She doesn’t remember much of him.”

“And he was good dad?”

“As far as I know. I was working in Ohio at the time and I didn’t see him all that much during that period. Part of the reason we moved back was to help Marie out with the kids after he died.”

“And John’s death, nothing suspicious?”

“No, freak accident with a marlin. Pulled it on board, thing harpooned him in the neck, bled out before they could get the boat back to shore.”

Cornish, an avid fisherman himself, couldn’t help but fight down a smile.

Johnson, attempting to cover for the snicker emanating from his partner’s throat, turned his gaze to Megan.

“When is the last time you saw Jennifer?”

Megan’s voice cracked as she told the detectives the last time she saw her cousin was 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 10, 1985.

“Does she have any other good friends? Or a boyfriend?”

“Not really. She pretty much just hangs out with me and my boyfriend, Derrick. Just last weekend all three of us went to the movies on both Friday and Saturday night.”

“Really, what did you guys see?”

“On Friday we saw Dune and on Saturday we saw Beverly Hills Cop.”

“How was that one? Eddie Murphy, right?”

“It was good. Funny,” she said with a forced smile.

“And Jennifer, you guys didn’t mind her being a third wheel?” Cornish asked, finally composed.

“No, not at all.”

“And this Derrick, he’s a good guy? He would never want to hurt her?”