Chapter 2
Detective Jessie Hubbard was saddenned to get the call. He had known Bianca Montgomery a little this last year. After the death of her daughter Miranda Bianca had started a charity in Miranda's name. The Miranda Montgomery memorial center, among other things, had been a refuge for abused women and children with nowhere else to turn. Sometimes abusive husbands and boyfriends made threats against Bianca, thus detective Hubbard had helped. Tonight Bianca had been hosting a fundraiser for the center at the Pine Valley Inn. But a cleaning lady had found Bianca's body in one of the rooms. When Jessie got there the local security guards were maintaining order and getting statements. Jessie still wanted to question a few of them alone himself. He saw Erica and Kendall, Bianca's mother and sister. They were both crying, but still avoiding each other. Erica and Kendall didn't get along, but Jessie would've thought they could put that aside for this. They had after all both loved Bianca. Zach was trying to comfort Kendall, their marriage problems weren't exactly a secret but that seemed irrelevant right now. The same was true for Ryan and Greenlee, for all their disagreements Greenlee seemed to take her cousin's death hard. Her estranged husband Ryan and her father Jackson were helping as best they could. Jamie and Maggie stayed together, but seemed to be avoiding the others, as if they weren't sure they belonged in this group. The security guards said that JR and his estranged wife Babe had been seen at this fundraiser, but were nowhere to be seen now. Jessie wondered if they could've murdered Bianca. Or had someone else killed Bianca, and hurt those two as well. Another thought occurred to Jessie. Tonight marked exactly one year since Bianca's daughter Miranda died in childbirth. He couldn't discount the possibility that Bianca Montgomery had taken her own life. This was not going to be an easy case.