Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
Amanda rode shotgun while Trent drove them to Gerald and Stephanie Lane’s address. “By the way, thank you for the coffee.”
“You already said that, but you’re welcome. I’m glad you got it, and Detective Hudson didn’t steal it off your desk.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him, but I might have regifted it.”
“You gave away a Hannah’s coffee?”
“Well, Malone gave me these eyes…”
Trent laughed as he parked in front of a modest bungalow. “This is it.”
The front garden was full of overgrown hostas, and it brought back a memory of digging some up with her late husband. Getting those suckers out of the ground sure had worked up a sweat.
Trent rang the doorbell, and Gerald Lane came to the door wearing a gray T-shirt adorned with some baby spit-up. While those days were long gone for Amanda, she remembered them well. That sweet, putrid smell was her signature scent for months.
“Detectives Steele and Stenson?” Riley wedged into the doorway next to her father. He moved to the side to accommodate her.
“Hi, Riley,” Amanda told her. To Gerald, she said, “We’d just like a few moments of your time.”
“Ah, sure.” Gerald stepped back into the home with a protective arm around Riley. “It’s tragic what happened to Christine. When Riley told me, I was shocked. Still am, truth be told.” He spoke while taking them to the living room. “Sit wherever you’d like.”
Father and daughter sat on the couch together. The faint cries of a newborn baby traveled from another part of the house. They were desperate and strangled, as if the baby was still experimenting with their voice.
“She’ll be fine. Steph’s with her,” Gerald told them as if he expected they’d know who Steph was.
Amanda and Trent each dropped into a chair. There was room for one more on the couch, and another chair, but it was covered with baby toys. A playpen was in the corner of the room.
“I assume Riley told you everything?” Amanda wanted to ascertain they were on the same page.
“Christine was shot.” Gerald shook his head. “It’s unbelievable that someone would do such a horrible thing.”
And he doesn’t know about the tarp or that she was shot three times… “I imagine it would be hard to think of anyone hurting someone you loved.” She chose her words with intention, to gauge his feelings for his ex-wife.
“I loved Christine. We just weren’t meant to be a couple.”
Amanda noticed the past tense. “Then you stopped loving her at one point?”
Gerald shifted his gaze to Trent. When he faced Amanda again, Gerald’s expression was pained. “Never. I’ll always love her. She gave me Riley.”
Tears spilled down the teen’s cheeks, and she tucked into her father’s side. Again, he wrapped his arm around her.
“We understand you got divorced five years ago,” Trent began while taking out his notepad and pen.
“That’s right.”
“Did the marriage end amicably?” Trent held his pen over a blank page.
“I mean, it was rocky at first. Both of us had to figure out who we were apart. We were high school sweethearts. But we came to realize that we were better as friends than lovers.”
“Then you stayed in touch, even until recently?”
“We spoke sometimes. The most recent was a couple of months ago. Christine came by with some of Riley’s baby clothes and other things. That playpen was Riley’s.” Gerald gestured toward the one in the corner.
“Did the relationship you maintained with Christine bother your new wife?” Many families were torn apart and stitched back together in a different fashion. Stepchildren were a common reality in the modern world, and people made new relationships work despite baggage from previous ones.
“Steph and Mom got along,” Riley said.
Amanda nodded but looked at Gerald for confirmation. It would be best if Riley wasn’t here for this conversation, but Amanda wasn’t about to kick her out of the room.
“Riley’s right. Steph looked up to Christine, and she’s having a tough time with her death too.”
A woman with blond hair swept back into a loose bun stepped into the doorway of the living room, cradling a baby.
She was in her late twenties. Gerald had traded Christine for a younger model, but that assessment soured Amanda’s gut.
It made more sense why the woman would look up to Christine though.
She was older and had been through things that Stephanie hadn’t encountered yet. Like being a mother.
Gerald rushed up and cleared the remaining chair of the baby toys. “Here you go, sweetheart.”
“Thanks.” She sat down with the baby. “Hi, I’m Stephanie. I overheard Gerald. Christine’s death is hard to grasp. She was…” Her chin quivered.
Amanda gave it a few seconds before prompting Stephanie. “What was she?”
“Just such a nice, warm person. Active in the community and loved by everyone who met her.” She grabbed her baby’s tiny hand, letting the baby’s fingers wrap around her thumb. The intimate moment caused Amanda’s heart to pinch.
“How was she active?” Trent asked.
“She suffered an experience when she was younger.” Stephanie’s voice was low, and her gaze flicked to Gerald, who had returned to the couch. “Can I tell them?”
“Sure.”
“She was mugged at gunpoint when she went on a trip to NYC. She was in her twenties then?” Stephanie looked at Gerald.
“Twenty-two,” he confirmed. “Her sister still lives there.”
“We never knew that she had a sister.” Amanda remembered searching Christine’s background for familial contacts and hadn’t seen any siblings.
“Well, Lori isn’t blood,” Gerald said. “She was chosen family.”
“So she was mugged…?” Amanda prompted Stephanie to pick up where she’d left off.
“Yes, and she saw a therapist about it, and they helped her see she could use her traumatic experience for good.” The baby fussed, Stephanie swayed her, and soon after the child quieted again. “She volunteered with a local victims’ group and was a sounding board for people.”
“How selfless.” Amanda was impressed by how Christine had made the best out of an ugly situation.
When Amanda had lost her husband and daughter, she detested people saying there was a silver lining in everything.
To find one in the death of a loved one was near impossible.
But if she dug deep, she’d say that she discovered her strength and resilience.
Qualities that she’d have preferred remained secret if that meant she kept her family.
“Do you have any idea who did this to her?” Stephanie asked.
“Not yet.” Amanda saw that as the truth. “We were wondering if either of you might know if Christine had any enemies or a beef with anyone.”
“No one I’m aware of,” Gerald said. “But I wasn’t in regular contact with her.”
“She never mentioned anyone to me,” Stephanie offered.
“Or me, except for what I already told you,” Riley put in. “Did you talk with Spencer?”
Amanda met the teen’s eyes when she responded. “We have.”
“And?” Riley dragged out.
“And that’s all I can say at this time,” Amanda said, standing behind the sanctity of the investigation and in defense of her half-brother.
“Riley, you can’t think that Spencer did this.” Stephanie was drilling Riley with a look that was hard to read. Her eyes were softened out of concern, but there was also judgment in them.
“They were fighting. He has a temper.” Riley thrust out her chin and shook her head.
This was the first time Amanda witnessed any discord between Riley and her stepmother.
“It takes more than a temper to kill someone,” Stephanie said.
Riley wasn’t even turning the woman’s way anymore. Her eyes were fixed across the room, and from what Amanda could tell, on nothing in particular.
“It sounds like you might know Spencer,” Trent said to Stephanie.
“I’ve met him on a few occasions. He seemed perfectly nice to me.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong. You weren’t always around.”
Amanda felt Trent bristle from across the room. She recoiled. “You don’t think Spencer’s a nice person?”
“He has a temper. I told you that,” Riley spat.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not a nice person. He must have made your mother happy. They were together for some time.” That was Amanda keeping her emotions in check, sticking to the facts as she knew them.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“People do disagree sometimes,” Stephanie wedged in. “Even your dad and I fight. We can get pretty loud too.”
“She’s right, sweetie.” Gerald reached for his daughter’s hand. Riley pulled back and stormed out of the room. “You’ll have to excuse her,” Gerald said.
Amanda shook her head. “It’s fine. She’s going through a lot right now. All of you are. We appreciate your time and are sorry for your loss.” She stood to leave, and Trent followed.
She loaded into the passenger seat and did up her belt while Trent turned on the vehicle.
“Well, we can rule them out,” Trent said. “There’s no apparent motive for them, and they don’t seem to think Spencer killed Christine.”
“Nope. They also made it sound like Christine was an incredible person. She helped victims of crimes despite her full schedule as a real estate agent. Which brings us to our next stop…”
“Best Home Realty? You got it.”