“Do you have time to talk?” he asked after rolling his window down.
She looked flustered. “I was going to check on my grandfather before heading home.”
“It won’t take long. Just a few questions.”
She hesitated. “Okay, where?”
“In here. Out of the storm.”
They sat in the SUV while the rain clattered against the vehicle’s roof.
“So, what questions?” she asked, tucking a wet strand of hair behind her ear.
“It’s bringing things up in the past, things that will be painful to you.”
“I... I don’t understand,” she said, a sense of panic rising in her eyes.
“It has to do with your parents.”
“What about them?”
“They were the ones to find Alex after she was attacked.”
She stared at him blankly for a moment. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t know that?”
“No!”
“Your parents didn’t tell you?”
“I was at camp when they died in the fire. I’d been there all week. The police brought me home when it happened. It was awful.” She punched the dashboard. “I should have been there. I could have saved them.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that, Annie. For all you know, if you had been there you would have died, too.”
“Well, at least we would have died together.”
“I don’t believe that’s what your parents would have wanted.”
She looked out the window. “My grandparents took me in and finished raising me. But I never knew about my parents finding Alex. My grandparents never told me. I don’t even know if they knew.”
“So you knew about her being assaulted?”
“There were rumors, and I heard things from time to time.”
“She was also raped.”
Palmer’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “I didn’t know that.”
“And no one else in town told you about your parents finding her?”
“No. Who else knew?” she asked.
“Well, the police did, surely.”
“I can’t believe this shit.” She paused and studied him. “But what does that matter now? Whether I knew or not?”
“Alex got attacked and your parents found her. And from the timeline I looked at they found her pretty much immediately after she was attacked. Then, three days later they die in a house fire?”
“I must be very stupid, but I don’t see what you’re getting at.”
“I think they might have seen whoever raped Alex. They could have passed the man on the road, maybe he was running or driving away. The point is, it’s a lonely area. It was getting dark. There might not have been anyone else around.”
“But if they saw the rapist, why didn’t they tell the police?”
“That I haven’t figured out yet. I just found out they were the ones who discovered Alex and reported it.”
“So are you saying that my parents were, what? Murdered?”
“It’s possible.”
Palmer shook her head stubbornly. “I just don’t see how that could have happened. My parents were friends with the Silkwells. They would have told the police if they had seen a man running or driving away like that. And if they had, what would be the point of killing them to keep them quiet about what they had seen? The police would have arrested the person or at least talked to them.”
Devine knew she was probably right about that.
“The police report says the fire was started when a portable heater turned over and caught the drapes on fire.”
She nodded. “That’s what they told me, too. I remember that old heater. It wasn’t safe. Mom was always telling Dad to buy a new one. But...”
“But what?”
“Well, to tell the truth, my parents were going through some tough times financially. My dad had put all their savings into a business that went belly-up. And my mom had been recently laid off from her job. I heard them talking about maybe losing the house. I think they sent me off to camp before I started asking too many questions. But later I found out the check they’d paid my camp fee with bounced.”
“What happened afterward?”
“The bank foreclosed on the house. Luckily I could go and live with my grandparents. Turned out my dad had debts no one knew about. It was a real mess. I was left with nothing.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, then how did you open a business? You had to have some capital to do that. And I don’t think your grandparents had that sort of money lying around.”
Palmer now looked embarrassed. “I... Dak invested the money for me to open Maine Brew. We had been seeing each other and...”
“And he liked you and also thought you were a crackerjack entrepreneur?”
She snorted. “Yeah, something like that, I guess.”
“You also warned me not to let him get me drunk, that I might regret it?”
“I shouldn’t have said. If he ever found out—”
“He will never find out from me,” said Devine.
The panic in her expression eased as she looked at him.
“So why the warning?” he asked.
“We went out one night. I had too much to drink. And I woke up five weeks later and found out I was pregnant.”
“Did he rape you?”
“No, he didn’t,” she said firmly. “Dak... is not like that. But his not using protection wasn’t what I had in mind. But I was too effed up to think clearly.”
“And the baby?”
“I... went to a place...”
“Did Dak pay for that?”
She nodded.
“I was told that the Silkwell wealth had dried up generations ago. So where did Dak get the money to help you, pay for an abortion, and invest in all these other businesses? He said he had some financial backers in Boston. Do you know who they are?”
“He never told me. But he’s doing really well. He fixed up Jocelyn Point some and built that art studio for Alex.”
“He built it for her?” exclaimed Devine.
“Yeah, about two years ago. You didn’t know?”
He shook his head. “She never mentioned that.”
“Well, I told you that anyone who thinks they know Alex is lying. Same goes for Dak. He looks like a tatted muscle-head badass, but he’s actually quite sensitive.”
“And Jenny? Did anyone here really know her?”
“She was about ten years older than me, but I knew her. I can’t say I knew her all that well, but I was surprised.”
“Surprised? By what?”
“Well, the rumor is she was some sort of spy. You know, hiding things, poker face, pretending to be something she’s not. Well, with Jenny, she wore it all on her sleeve. I think she was the most open one of the bunch. So I don’t know how she made such a good spy.”
Devine offered to drive her to Earl Palmer’s house because the rain was still pouring down, and she accepted.
“You can just drop me off back here and I’ll take my scooter home,” Palmer told him.
A bit later he pulled up to Earl’s cottage and they ran through the rain up to the porch. She had a key and let them in. They searched the entire house but Earl wasn’t there.
“Do you think he went for a walk?” asked Devine.
She looked over at the front door. “His walking stick is against the wall. He never goes out without it.” She pointed to a peg on the wall. “And there’s his coat, and the reflective vest I bought him. He wouldn’t go out without those.”
“Where else could he be?” Devine looked out the window at the small studio. “Hey, I think I see a light from behind the curtains.”
“What? Really?” She sounded relieved. “He must be in there. Maybe he’s going through some of Bertie’s artwork. I told him it would help with the grieving process.”