She believed him. Still… “Maybe you were left behind once.”
“I don’t think so.” He shrugged. “The others would have bragged. Everyone wanted you then. You were cool and sophisticated and… unattainable.”
“I was withdrawn and traumatized,” she said evenly. “I was a rape victim.”
“I’m truly sorry. But it wasn’t me or the others. I’m telling you they would’ve bragged, especially Jared O’Brien.” He paused, sighed. “It could have been Granville.”
“Why do you say that, Mr. Davis?” Chloe asked.
“He was always the one in charge and we knew it, although no one ever said it. Everyone was too afraid of Simon to say he wasn’t the leader. But it was Toby Granville calling the shots. He picked the girls, the dates, the places.”
“But that doesn’t explain why you thought Granville did it,” Chloe said.
He closed his eyes. “I don’t want to say this.”
“Mr. Davis,” Chloe said harshly, “if you’re angling for a better deal, then-”
“I’m not,” he snapped. “Dammit. We always wanted to do Susannah, all right?”
Susannah tensed and Luke offered his hand. She grabbed on tight, listening now, because Garth had seemed to forget she was in the room, addressing Chloe instead.
“What stopped you?” Chloe asked him coolly.
“Granville. Simon would say ‘Not my sister,’ like he was protecting his turf. Turf, my ass. We always said Simon would do his own mother because he could. And had.”
Horrified, Susannah stared, barely registering Chloe’s warning glance.
“Are you saying Simon had a relationship with his mother that was inappropriate?” Chloe asked, still cool.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying, because that’s what Simon said. And he had pictures,” he added in disgust. “Simon didn’t care about Susannah. He only cared about Simon.”
“But still the rest of the boys wanted to choose Susannah,” Chloe said evenly.
“Yeah. Finally one day Granville pulled us aside one at time. Told us to stop asking. He said, ‘Susannah is taken.’ ”
“By whom?”
“By him. Toby Granville. It’s what we understood him to mean.” His shoulders sagged and he turned back to Susannah. “I’m sorry. We thought you were Granville’s. That you knew. When I heard you’d accused me, I was stunned. And that’s the truth.”
She was breathing too rapidly because there didn’t seem to be enough air in the room. And not a single word would come. Luke’s hand tightened around hers.
“I have a few questions, Mr. Davis,” Luke said. “First, do you know where your wife is hiding?”
“If I knew, I’d tell you. She could come and take my boys and I’m stuck in here. I can’t protect them. So, if I knew where she was, I would tell you to protect my children.”
“What about her friends?” Luke asked.
“She was tight with Marianne Woolf, but my lawyer told me Barbara abducted Marianne, too. She had a weekly hair appointment at Angie’s. You could ask Angie who she talked to. She said she had friends in Atlanta. She used to have lunch with them pretty frequently.” He gave them some names and Luke shook his head.
“Those are the names of clients we found in her computer.”
Garth shrugged. “She had lunch with clients often. That makes sense.”
“What kind of clients did your wife have?” Chloe asked carefully.
Garth looked from Chloe to Luke. “She had an interior design business.”
The man had been so deluded, Susannah thought. Had he not been such a monster himself, she might have felt a stirring of pity.
From the set of Luke’s jaw, Susannah could tell he felt absolutely no pity for Garth, either. Luke ripped off a sheet of paper from his note pad and, still holding Susannah’s hand, drew the swastika she wore on her hip. “Do you recognize this?”
Garth’s eyes flickered. “Yes.”
“Well?” Luke asked.
Garth looked at Chloe. “Before I say any more, I want a concession. I’ll allocute. But I want to be able to be sentenced somewhere close by, so I can see my sons.”
“Depends,” Chloe said. “We already know Granville had the symbol on his ring and on a pendant. Do you have anything different?”
“Yeah,” Garth said. “I do.”
Chloe nodded. “Then I can petition you serve your time more locally.”
“ ‘More locally.’ ” His lips twisted at her evasion. “Lawyers,” he murmured. “Gotta love us. I didn’t know Granville had a ring, too. But my wife had one. It was big, a man’s ring. I only saw it once. She said it had belonged to her father. I told her I didn’t want it in my house, that I didn’t think it was good for the kids. She agreed, said she’d get rid of it. I never saw it again.”
“Describe it,” Luke said.
“Heavy, silver, I think. Raised design.”
“How big was it?” Luke asked. “The raised part.”
“Size of a dime at least.” His eye narrowed. “Why?”
“Did you know,” Chloe asked, “that Kate had that design branded on her hip?”
His eyes widened in shock once again. “What? No.”
“What was the relationship between your sister and your wife?” Chloe asked.
His mouth fell open. “Are you saying they were… sexually involved?”
“No,” Chloe said. “Are you?”
“No,” he said, horrified. “They were like sisters. Barbara made Kate beautiful. She made sure she wore the right clothes, taught her to walk and talk. My God.” He looked sick. “My wife and my sister?”
“You are aware that your wife ran a prostitution business in which she peddled minor girls, aren’t you?” Chloe asked mildly.
“I read about the girls, yes…” His shoulders sagged. “I never knew before. I never knew what was happening under my own roof. Did she… Did she molest my boys?”
“We have no indication of that,” Chloe said. “The court will order counseling for them when custody is awarded. You’ve been candid with us, so I’ll be candid. We’ve had reports that your wife operated as a call girl up until your election as mayor of Dutton.”
Garth fell back in his chair. “What?”
“We found records on her computer. She took in as much as five hundred an hour. One of her former clients came forward to report she’d blackmailed him afterward. The names of the ‘friends’ she had in Atlanta match some of the names on her client list.”
Susannah looked up at Luke. He looked surprised, too.
Garth grew pale. “All that time…” he whispered. “She said she had an interior design business. My uncle Rob always said she was white trash. I should have listened.”
Susannah rubbed her temples. “Garth, I was looking through the yearbooks this morning,” she said. “There were only a few kids at Bryson Academy whose families weren’t wealthy. Barbara lived with her aunt, right? They were far from rich.”
“She was there on scholarship,” he murmured. “One of the teachers helped her get it. I can’t do anymore. Take me back.”
When he was gone, Chloe shook her head. “His wife sells children to perverts, kills his sister, and he’s most rocked by the fact she cheated on him.”
Luke tipped up Susannah’s chin. “Your mother and Simon. That was a shock.”
“But it explains a lot.” Her mouth curved bitterly. “Fine stock Daniel and I come from.”
“Sounds like your whole town is one big, festering Peyton Place,” Chloe said. “But they say wildflowers that sprout up in weeds are stronger than any rose.”
Susannah smiled ruefully. “Thank you, Chloe.”
Chloe stood. “I’m off to another heart-to-heart with an inmate. If you hurry, you might meet Daniel coming into the lobby on your way out.”
“Daniel’s here?” Luke asked.
“He got discharged from the hospital this morning,” Susannah said. “I didn’t know he was coming here, though.”