Nikki’s credit card showed no activity on Friday. If she’d gone anywhere that evening, she’d paid cash. The doors and windows to the house had been unlocked, but Delaney had said that was how they usually left them. A burglar could have walked into the house and come upon Nikki in bed, but there had been no reports of break-ins in the area. The neighbors hadn’t reported any unusual activity, no strange cars on the street. A couple of people had heard what they later assumed was the fatal gunshot sometime after midnight, but no one had been concerned enough to call the police.
That left Serena with the same questions.
If it really was murder, who did it?
And why?
Serena headed out of Nikki’s neighborhood. The Larsens didn’t live far away as the crow flies, but there was no direct route because of the railroad tracks separating the east side of Proctor from the west. She found their two-story home on a sprawling open lot on 4th Street. Through a marsh filled with cattails, she could see a lineup of brown CN railcars on the nearby tracks. An overlapping trill of birds filled the air. The Larsen house was larger than Nikki’s rambler, and the property included a triple detached garage and a large workshop with high doors. Equipment and vehicles dotted the green grass, including a motor home, two motorcycles, a vintage Oldsmobile in the process of restoration, an F-150 pickup truck and large flatbed trailer, and a snowplow attachment for the winter season.
When Serena rang the bell, Zach’s mother, Barbara, answered the door. She was an attractive brunette in her midforties. She had a trim figure and wore an untucked yellow blouse and tan slacks. Her smile was friendly, but she looked mildly curious to find a police detective on their doorstep. She led Serena into the living room and then went to get her husband, Ben, who was still having breakfast. As Serena waited for them, she noticed that the living room looked like a museum dedicated to Ben’s college days at UMD. There were athletic trophies, framed newspaper articles, photographs of a teenaged Ben Larsen in his Bulldogs uniform, and even an old helmet prominently displayed on a shelf next to a Wilson football.
Barbara returned to the living room with her husband. Ben didn’t look happy to have his morning interrupted. He was tall and still rather good-looking, as he’d been in his college pictures, but he’d put on weight over the years and had a protruding beer belly that looked hard enough to ricochet a quarter. He had black hair so thick and stiff it didn’t look like it would move in a windstorm. His sweatshirt bore a logo advertising Larsen Auto Repair, and his jeans fit snugly below his stomach. He wore unlaced work boots. He sat down on the sofa near the front windows, and his eyes landed on Serena’s breasts before he noticed her face.
“What’s this all about?” he demanded.
Next to him, his wife added with concern, “Is Zach okay?”
Serena smiled reassuringly as she took out her notebook. “Yes, Zach is just fine. This isn’t about him. I have some questions about something that happened a couple of years ago. The death of Nikki Candis. Delaney’s mother.”
Barbara Larsen’s face bloomed with surprise. “Nikki?”
“What’s there to ask questions about?” Ben interjected. “She popped herself.”
Ben’s wife shot him an exasperated look, and Serena got the feeling that looks like that passed between them regularly.
“I’m reviewing the file to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” Serena replied.
The man on the sofa checked his watch. “Well, is this going to take long? I’ve got to get to the garage. We’re backed up with jobs.”
“No, this shouldn’t take long at all,” Serena said.
“I don’t see why you’re talking to us,” he added impatiently.
“Obviously, because of Zach and Delaney,” Barbara hissed under her breath. Then she looked at Serena with another friendly smile. “We knew Delaney very well, of course. She and Zach were best friends from the time they were five years old. So naturally, I spent a fair amount of time with Nikki, too.”
Ben fidgeted in silence, his face darkening. Serena remembered the comment that Cat had passed along from Zach Larsen. Mrs. Candis never liked my dad. She thought he was crude.
“Nikki’s parents told me that something had been bothering her prior to her death,” Serena went on. “They didn’t know what it could have been, and Delaney won’t talk about it. But I understand that Delaney and Zach also broke up unexpectedly a week before Nikki’s death.”
Barbara nodded. “Yes, that’s true.”
“It sounds like Zach didn’t see it coming.”
“Not at all,” she replied. “He was completely blindsided. Zach really loved that girl.”
“Do you have any idea why Delaney ended their relationship?”
“I don’t. It’s still a mystery to me. Zach tried to talk to her about it, but she wouldn’t give him any reason at all. That was so unlike her. Delaney is such a sweet, smart girl. The whole thing makes no sense.”
“Did you talk to Delaney’s mother about it?”
“I tried to,” Barbara said. “I called Nikki to find out what was going on, but she wouldn’t talk to me either. I’m afraid I was pretty rude to her on the phone. I said Delaney had treated Zach badly and he deserved an explanation, and Nikki needed to talk to Delaney about it. At that point, Nikki basically hung up on me. But I could tell she was unhappy, too.”
“So you think Nikki was upset about the breakup?”
“Oh, yes. Very. I think Nikki liked Zach a lot.”
Serena flipped back through her notes. “I understand Delaney accompanied you on a camping trip a couple of weeks before Nikki’s death.”
“That’s right. We took our motor home up to Cascade River and pitched tents. Zach and Ben stayed in one, and Delaney and I stayed in the other.”
“Did the two of you talk?”
“Yes, of course. Delaney and I were a little like mother and daughter ourselves. She’d grown up around us. We chatted about everything. Sometimes it was a struggle for her, you know, because of her mother’s drinking, and I wanted Delaney to know that our house was a safe space for her.”
“You knew about Nikki’s drinking?” Serena asked.
“Oh, yes, she had a terrible problem,” Barbara replied. “Honestly, sometimes I was concerned about Delaney staying in that house. But Delaney was absolutely devoted to her mother. She wouldn’t hear a word against her.”
“Did Delaney talk about Nikki’s problems during the camping trip?”
“No, not that I recall. Not that weekend.”
“Were there any issues with Delaney and Zach? Arguments, disagreements, anything like that?”
“No, we all had a lovely time.”
“When did the trouble start?”
“Well, almost immediately after we got back, I guess. We arrived home Sunday afternoon. Zach and Delaney were giggling, kissing, couldn’t keep their hands off each other. I remember thinking that Ben and I needed to make sure that Zach knew the facts of life, if you know what I mean. Especially about protection. I was pretty sure that he and Delaney hadn’t had sex yet, but you could tell it was on the horizon. At fifteen, they seemed all grown up, and Delaney was such a pretty girl. Anyway, that’s why I couldn’t believe what happened next. On Sunday they were two teenage lovebirds, and then it all fell apart.”
“How so?”
Barbara frowned. “Ben drove her home on Sunday, and she was fine. After that, well, she just cut Zach out of her life. Us, too. I saw her at Nikki’s funeral a few weeks later, but she wouldn’t even talk to me. Then she moved to Mora to live with her grandparents. I don’t think I’ve seen her since.”