A few of the other young Calhoun + Calhoun agents said they hadn’t either. I quickly, excitedly ran it down for them. The Secret Santa was temporarily halted. Everyone sat listening, riveted. Even Dave came in from the kitchen to hear.

“Claudine Longet was from another planet,” said Captain Tiggleman after I’d finished my recap. “Simply being in her presence was both the most exciting thing that had ever happened to you and the most devastating, since you were likely never to have the chance to know her. I mean truly know her. I’m not even sure if Andy ever knew her. Or if she knew herself. She was like a promise of a promise that would never come true.”

“Do you think she meant to kill Spider?” I asked.

Mrs. Tiggleman tried to raise her eyebrows as much as her plastic surgery would allow, then sighed.

“I’m not sure. When you get to my age, if you’re lucky, you realize you can’t ever understand why people do what they do. Did she kill him? Yes. Had they been on the verge of a breakup? Maybe. Was she out of her mind that Sunday afternoon? Perhaps.”

“The diaries, right?” I asked. “The ones that were inadmissible in court. Supposedly they indicated her deep, deep unhappiness—”

“It would take more than a few diary entries expressing unhappiness to convince me she killed him with great intent,” Mrs. Tiggleman said, sounding like someone who had made a few diary entries of her own expressing unhappiness. “No, I don’t believe she did.”

“And Andy certainly didn’t,” said Mr. Tiggleman. “Which was good enough for us.”

“This town is full of crazy stories like that,” said Kevin. “There was Ted Bundy killing Caryn Campbell, then escaping from the Pitkin County Courthouse.”

“Then, after they caught him and transferred him to Glenwood Springs, he escaped again,” said Jack Alpine.

“Full of crazy stories like that,” Jerry said. “The murder of Nancy Pfister.”

“Yeah, that was awful,” Louisa said. “I mean, they found her in a suitcase.”

“It was a trash bag,” Rashida corrected.

“And of course the two murders that happened right on this very property,” Bobby Alpine said.

“Who could forget that one?” Steve chimed in.

“That’s right,” Mrs. Tiggleman said. “Jonathan Miller and that young boy. Don’t remember his name. I nearly forgot about that.”

“Who is Jonathan Miller?” I asked.

“It’s a horrible story,” Mr. Tiggleman.

“Very gruesome,” Jack Alpine.

I wasn’t looking at Claudine or Henry just then but I wish I had been. I wish I would’ve seen what their reaction was.

Claudine

Claudine sat in horror listening to various members of the group recount the Miller murders. None of them could remember the details exactly.

“A double suicide, wasn’t it?”

“No, the kid tried to kill the old man for money and the old man fought back.”