LIVING ON THE EDGE

CHAPTER: 29

Since Sharon did not have a suspect, she decided to search for information on Melanie and Nicholas. He was a bitter sibling with his own problems, but his anger about her teenage anguish may have been more about his temperament and less about how he truly felt about Adriana. Melanie, on the other hand, had worked hard to present a picture of complete stability and calm; however, she was very guarded when Sharon asked about her life, and she had once lived in the neighborhood where Adriana's body was found. At this point, everyone was a suspect, but Melanie and Nicholas did not really fit the profile of the suspects.

Nicholas did not have a motive unless it was bitterness, and the anger could simply be part of his temperament. Recovering from alcoholism was no small feat. If Melanie had a motive, it involved Chase, but a romance between Chase and Melanie was unlikely. It would have been an obvious avenue for the police to investigate. Even so, if it was a theory, it did not hold much weight. Basically, none of the information she had gathered so far really amounted to leads or suspects. She needed something reliable.

Melanie Jackson had been less emotional than Sharon had expected her to be, but in time, any grieving person learns to cope by pushing the pain into a tiny space in his or her heart. It was not that they were not upset and missing their loved one, it was more the fact that one cannot be actively mourning and still function successfully. Even so, it was strange that Melanie had lived in Eastern Maury County. The odds of her knowing more than she was willing to share were good. 

Tracking down address information online was not difficult, so she decided to embark on the mindless, easy task of tracing addresses. She started with Nicholas. He had lived in Sweetwater, Illinois, Huntsville, and Maury County. The most recent address was in Maury County, in the Western part, a nice and quiet neighborhood. A quick search of Nichols's social media revealed short, basic posts, such as, "So cold out here" and "Missing my girls. All four of them." He seemed to post every couple of months, but like Adriana, he did not really seem to be into social media.

Next, she decided to search Melanie's address history. She had lived on Dacosta Street when she was about sixteen. It meant she had moved there when she was about fifteen or so. Adriana would have also been sixteen then when she lived at Marshall Street. It was not exactly an age when most young people move out on their own. It was odd that both women had left home so early. Was it possible that the two had been liberated youths? Sharon thought. The address was mentioned as Maury County, but it was not the same as Melanie's.

Sharon pulled out the address book and verified that Marshall Street where Adriana lived and Dacosta Street where Melanie lived was just one street over. Also, the address where Adriana lived was adjacent to the alley where her body had been found. All that was interesting information, but not proof of anything other than the fact that both Adriana and Melanie had lived in Maury County.

Sharon went back to the list of Melanie's addresses. She had lived in Sweetwater, which had been a fashionable street then. Mid-sized homes, middle-class families, and a relatively low crime rate had made the area desirable for the city's successful residents. The fact that Melanie had moved to Maury County was strange. Perhaps she would have had trouble with her parents and went to live with an aunt and uncle, or a cousin.

Why would two sixteen-year-old girls who were not originally from the area be living in Maury County? It did not make sense to Sharon. Next, she pulled up Melanie's address and saw that it was within a one-block radius of Adriana's former residence.

The two women had both lived in Maury County, but that was about fifteen years ago. What did that mean? Was it possible that she needed to adjust the timeframe of the investigation? Sharon had planned on waiting to check in with the senior Davies's, but now it seemed imperative. 

Sharon placed a call to Adriana's parents. After four rings, the voicemail came on. She heard a soft male voice, tempered with a hint of confusion, whispering into her ear. "You have reached the Davies's. You leave a message and we will do our best to get back to you." Sharon left a message explaining who she was and asking if they could arrange a meeting. She repeated her phone number twice and disconnected the call.

After the call, Sharon considered vital searches of the web that would help her interpret information about Melanie. As a private detective, the internet is your friend. Sharon was registered with all the relevant social media and networking websites, and she considered which ones might have information on Melanie Jackson. She settled on a website that allowed old high school classmates to find one another. Melanie's name was listed in her class, showing that she had once registered and logged into the system. Enthusiastic reunion planners had scanned the yearbook and uploaded it to the website.

Melanie Jackson, it turned out had been president of one of the Club, and a teenage mom. She had a full page in the yearbook, but most of the page was taken up with photos of her daughter, Kiara. She appeared to have been a toddler by the time Melanie was in twelfth grade. Sharon remembered how cautious Melanie had been when she had asked about her past. Her daughter must be a teenager by now. Sharon clicked on another tab and googled Kiara Jackson. Results from a tennis tournament popped up first. A lean, small-boned girl with a bright smile, Kiara looked like a younger version of her mother. She had shiny eyes and thick, bushy hair pulled back into a cute bun like her mom's, but unlike her mother, Kiara's hair refused to be tamed. 

According to the results, she had finished second in the tournament and had gone on to compete at the state level. Another page showed Kiara at the statewide spelling bee and stated that she was a student at an all-girls college preparatory school. Sharon was familiar with St. Mary's where the tuition fees were steep. In fact, some colleges were cheaper. Was a paycheck for a stealthy 'hit woman' helping to fund little Kiara's education? It was far-fetched, but Chase had plenty of money to spare, and if he had wanted Adriana dead, it would have been easy to lure her into a trap with her 'best friend' Melanie. Of course, it would not make any sense to hire a police inspector to investigate a murder one had arranged. Sharon wondered just how much Melanie was earning in at the yoga studio.