Sequins and Beads
Previously: Mark, Raj and Jeannie visit the Presidio Branch library.
Need to catch up on The Spring? Visit the chapter index here:
04:45 PM - Wednesday, November 5, 2014
US Park Police Office, Ft Winfield Scott, The Presidio
Paco was surprised to look up and see there was barely any light left outside. The tops of the Golden Gate Bridge towers still gleamed with the sunset, but within minutes the lights would be turned on. With everyone else gone or busy hunting sequins, he joined Owen and Steph in the small conference room to go through the pictures. After a few minutes, Fergus found them too and came over to him for a head pat before curling up next to his chair. All three were focused on their rolls, and flagged anything that looked like it needed a more detailed going-over. Most of them would be nothing, but you never knew. It was quiet in the small conference room, but they felt like they were finally making progress with a few key finds. Most of the pictures were the usual party fare: groups, selfies, funny faces, Charlie’s Angels poses…these all got more rowdy and wild as the party moved to the dark surroundings of Inspiration Point. Either people were moving too quickly or everyone was too drunk to stop and edit out the bad takes, and the bad takes were revealing. In the middle of them though, there was one photo of an interesting group: Vin Parisi, Dash Reilly, Tripp Hartman, and Tyler Shea standing on top of the “party rock” at Inspiration Point holding wolf masks in the air. The only one wearing a trench coat (due to his “flasher” costume,) was Tripp Hartman, but his was dark chocolate brown instead of the camel color seen on the wolf figure in Alexa’s photo roll.
Paco sighed, flagging the photo and then clicking forward.
The outside door slammed from down the hallway.
“Guys?” Mark’s voice called out.
“We’re down here!” Steph answered. Jeannie appeared in the door with small white goodie bags.
“Mark needed a new coffee so we stopped at the cafe at Spruce, and I thought everyone should have some of their famous cookies.” Jeannie explained, putting the goodie bags on the table. The rich scent of chocolate, butter, and sugar filled the air as all of them moved to pull apart the cookies and grab generous sections.
“I, of course, had to have my own.” Mark added, gobbling away.
“What’d you find at the library?” Owen asked.
“Books.” Jeannie quipped, her mouth full of cookie.
“And a tall, skinny figure in a hoodie on the surveillance camera.” Mark added. “The librarian didn’t see a face at all, but they had a navy backpack on.” Paco, Steph and Owen paused to look up at him, “the timing fits, and they headed over to the computer that Raj said was the one used to post to Alexa’s Pr3pSF account. But other than that?” Mark shook his head.
“Where did the hoodie go?” Steph asked.
“Out the front door, around the back and up the hill. We can only assume back to Academy Prep since it’s just a block or so away, but you never know. They could have shed the hoodie by the time they got there.” Jeannie explained, swallowing her cookie. “Did you guys find anything?”
Paco showed everyone the photo of the group on the top of the party rock, and noted that the color of the trench was incorrect.
“So, we’re still looking for a trench coat. Great.” Mark said sarcastically.
“Well, I found something else costume-related,” Steph offered, spinning her laptop around. On the screen was an awkward photo of Alexa in her orange butterfly dress pressed up against Jen Tyson in a blue sequined outfit. “Jen Tyson in blue sequins. Apparently she was a mermaid?”
“I guess that explains the blue ends of her hair,” Paco offered, remembering how Jen Tyson’s blonde hair looked dipped in different shades of blue and purple on Sunday morning.
“Yeah, it looks like she did that to blend in the mermaid wig on top.” Jen’s hair was an unnatural mass of purple, blue and pinkish waves, much larger than her real hair.
“What are they even doing?” Jeannie asked peering closely. Alex’s neck was bent upward at a steep angle, while a smiling Jen held her close. Steph zoomed in on Jen’s hand to show how close it was to Alexa’s face.
“Well, it’s a little hard to see, but I thought this looked a little too “girls gone wild” for high school, so I kept looking at it. Then I saw the little bottle. Look at Jen’s hand — she’s pouring a shot down her throat.” There was indeed the tip of a little bottle peeking out of Jen’s hand, poised directly above Alexa’s mouth. “Plus…it’s blue sequins. Maybe they won’t be correct, but if we could get her costume we could check?”
“The sequins in the spring had a black base,” Mark countered.
“But Amanda said they could have been dyed or painted, right? Maybe Jen’s blue ones have a black base? Plus, look at how she’s right up next to her — that’s how the sequins would have gotten into the feathers on the dress.” Steph made a compelling argument.
“Let me get Amanda up here.” Paco said, sending a text to Amanda.
“This brings me back to the question of why Alexa would trust Jen. Why would she let her pour a shot down her throat? Why would she then leave with Jen to follow her into the woods? Were they suddenly friends in a way no one knew about?” Jeannie asked the room. “I mean, if some girl were hooking up with my boyfriend for months, even if we were broken up, I definitely wouldn’t let her anywhere near me and mine.”
“I agree.” Steph said, looking at her friend. “Something was going on with them and it’s likely only Jen will know what it is.”
Amanda appeared in the doorway. “I hear you found more sequins?” Steph showed her the picture of the two girls pressed against each other and pointed out the shot being poured from Jen’s hand.
“Do you think those sequins could be the ones we’re looking for?” Mark asked her, taking a final bite of cookie.
“Well, the ones you brought me this afternoon are not a match to the ones in the spring water.” Paco was stunned. This was not at all what he wanted to hear. He looked to Jeannie whose own mouth was gaping.
“What do you mean?” He asked quietly.
“They sequins found in the spring water have a plastic base, while the ones you brought me from Tally Briggs are actually made of brass. I know I said the sequins were a higher quality, due to their coloration, but in this case, Tally’s sequins are too good. They’re too well-made to be the ones from the spring water.”
“Well, thank Lanvin for that.” Jeannie tossed out wryly, leaning back in her chair.
“The sequins on this top could be a match — if the blue was soaked off, it could be just what we’re looking for.”
“We’ll have to ask Jen for her costume to compare.” Mark said, looking at Jeannie. “We’ll pay a visit to her tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s the funeral.” Jeannie said simply. “Maybe she’ll be there and we can ask her then.”
“Okay, but don’t get too discouraged.” Amanda said, reaching for the last lump of cookie left at the center of the table. “I do have some good news about Tally’s sequins. Well, sequins and beads…”
“What do you mean?” Paco asked.
“Okay, remember the other day when you guys went out and retraced West Pacific to see if anything looked out of the ordinary?” Jeannie glanced at Paco.
“Yeah, what?”
“Well, that strand of beads and sequins you found? Those definitely match what was in Tally’s sample.” All of them were silent again. “Where did you say you found them?”
“At the base of those little steps in the Presidio wall right at Cherry Street.” Amanda took Paco’s laptop and started typing, bringing up a Google map of the area. She turned the laptop around to show them all, with everyone leaning in a little closer.
“Cherry Street is right here, and the party rock at Inspiration Point is right here — “ Amanda noted how close the two locations were to each other. “And Tally’s house is wayyyy over here, right? So, what are the beads doing on these steps?”
“She could have walked back to the party that way, I guess.” Mark offered.
“Or maybe she never went home to begin with.” Jeanie countered. “But why wouldn’t she just walk over to the party with everyone else? Why would she go this round-about way?” Steph scoffed from the other side of the table.
“I told you the tampon excuse was bullshit.”