He ran his finger down her cheek. “It was a mug shot, so probably nothing I’d frame, anyway.”
A mug shot. Claire had always known there was something wrong with his mother. “Tell me about her.”
That muscle jumped in his cheek, letting her know he was as sensitive about the subject as ever, but at least he answered. “There’s not much to tell.”
“Who was she?”
He shifted onto his back. “Her name was Bailey Rawlings.”
“And she was—” she snuggled close, resting her head on his shoulder “—a counterfeiter?”
“Nothing quite so glamorous.” She could hear the dry note in his response to her teasing.
“A bank robber?”
“Far too creative. She was a hooker. And a drug addict.”
Claire leaned up to look into his face. “Well, there you have it.”
His lips pursed. “Have what?”
“Only something as powerful as drug addiction could make her do what she did.”
“That’s how you see it?”
“That’s how I see it.”
“You don’t think that’s too forgiving?”
The dry note was back. The anger he’d felt growing up had slipped deeper and deeper below the surface, but it was still there. “Forgiving her is the only way you’ll be able to move on.”
He studied her for several seconds, touched the end of her nose. “Does that go for you, too? If your stepfather killed your mother, will you be able to forgive him?”
She’d been thinking about Tug a lot—as they spoke to the police, as they drove to the hospital, as they waited for the doctor, as they checked into the motel and drifted in and out of sleep—and she kept coming to the same conclusion. “He didn’t kill her.”
Isaac adjusted his pillow. “Claire, I think you need to be prepared for the fact that he might’ve done just that. All the signs point to him. She was cheating. She’d inherited a lot of money, and he’d get to keep it. He loved her daughters and couldn’t bear the thought of losing them.”
“But whoever killed my mother also killed David. Tug wouldn’t do that. He—he couldn’t have lived that big a lie. I would’ve known it. Intuitively, if in no other way.”
“Come on,” Isaac said gently. “People surprise their loved ones all the time. He could do anything if he was afraid he might be exposed. My mother’s drug addiction was powerful enough to make her abandon her five-year-old. Fear of life in prison could certainly motivate Tug to resort to murder. Whoever’s behind David’s death must’ve had a chunk of change, and your father fits the bill there, too. Contract killing isn’t cheap. It’s not as if Les is some hood who’d do it for fifty bucks.”
“But that means he’s also the one who tried to barbecue us the night before last!”
“Not necessarily. Les Weaver could’ve been acting alone on that one. He’s tied into this now, too. If he’s ever caught, his own life could be on the line. We live in a capital punishment state.”
“What about Roni?”
“We’re back to the evil stepmother being behind it all?”
“She’s not evil. I mean, I’ve never viewed her that way.” But it was true that Claire had a stronger bond with Tug and that his betrayal would hurt far more, because she’d actually trusted him as much as a girl could trust a father. She’d always been a little leery of Roni because, as good as she’d been, she could never compare to Alana. “I’m just saying she had as much to gain as Tug. And now she has as much to lose.”
“You talked to Myles. He couldn’t confirm that April ever came forward with her story.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t. Myles didn’t even live in Pineview back then. It was Sheriff Meade she spoke to.”
“Then why isn’t it in the files?”
“Because he either didn’t believe her or—” she cleared her throat “—Roni paid him off.”
Isaac seemed skeptical. “So now we’re talking police corruption on top of everything else?”
“Not corruption, exactly. Just a favor for a friend he didn’t believe was guilty. Maybe he got rid of his notes because he thought April was an angry teen out to malign an upstanding citizen.”
“And in return Roni made a large contribution to his reelection campaign?”
“If you think things like that don’t happen here, you’re naive.”
“I know they happen. I just don’t think you should rely on April’s story without any evidence to back it up.”
Claire frowned. “Okay, then, what about Joe as a suspect? Maybe my mother tried to break up with him and he wouldn’t hear of it. They got into a huge fight that sort of…escalated, and he went too far.” She could easily imagine her sister’s claims that Joe had exposed himself as grounds for an argument. He might’ve killed Alana so she didn’t label him as a pedophile, which could’ve ruined his business as well as his marriage and resulted in his own girls being taken away from him.
“You don’t believe he spent all that time digging in the forest because he’s worried about you, like he said?”
“By admitting the affair, he could be hoping to cast more blame on Tug. Maybe he was afraid we were getting too close to the truth.”
“Or that could be the very reason he didn’t come forward at the time.”
“It wasn’t until he saw me talking to Carly Ortega across the street that he changed his mind. Could be he was nervous about what she was saying to me and it convinced him that he had to handle the situation differently this time around.”
Isaac made a clicking sound with his tongue. “I don’t know…?.”
Because he wasn’t aware of Leanne’s part in what took place, and she couldn’t tell him without betraying her sister. But…the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became. Joe had acted strange in the past. He hadn’t even acted all that normal at Peter’s. They weren’t about to let her go until she saw what they wanted to show her. That had spooked her pretty badly. What would’ve happened if she’d acted skeptical instead of devastated by the knowledge that her mother had been unfaithful? Would she still be walking around today?
“His brother definitely didn’t like that he was including me. He kept saying it was a risk. Like you said, he could’ve meant that more literally than I took it. Maybe Joe was making a last-ditch effort to throw us offtrack.”
“And here we’d decided he’s so noble.”
She nodded. This theory also offered an alternative explanation as to why he’d been so “kind” about keeping what Leanne had done to himself.
“Remember the inconsistencies David listed in the files?” Isaac asked.
Claire assumed he was about to bring up Leanne’s absence from school. But he didn’t. He’d never said much about it, probably because of what she’d already admitted to him. And Leanne was so young at the time he couldn’t see her playing any meaningful role in the mystery.
“He mentioned Joe’s lack of an alibi,” he said.
He was talking about David. “See? Joe had opportunity. And he was working very close to our house that day.”
Isaac rubbed his hands over his face. “I think it’s time to call my P.I. to see what she’s been able to uncover on Les Weaver. Hopefully, she’ll have details that’ll help.”
“You’re already expecting results? Have you given her enough time?”
“The way things are going, there might not be anything left of Pineview if she doesn’t come up with answers soon.”
Claire wanted to laugh, but it really wasn’t funny. Her house had been trashed, many of her personal mementos destroyed. His had been burned to the ground. She was estranged from every member of her family and was losing money every day she didn’t work.
Isaac was right. What would be left when this was all over?
With Claire out of town since the fire, Jeremy didn’t know what to do with himself. So many things were changing. He didn’t like it; it frightened him, made him jumpy.