Chapter 34
Wyatt surveyed the last of the shelves lining the wall. Nothing that shouted psycho. Just the usual tools and boxes of last year’s holiday decorations. He turned to see what Addy was up to. What he saw took him aback.
“Addy, I’m sorry.” He shook his head as he walked over to the grave Jamison had dug for his wife. “That’s just too weird.”
From her reclining position in the grave, she shot him an I-couldn’t-care-less-what-you-think look.
“Imagine, Wyatt. If she roused at all while he was covering her, she would look up into the face of the man she’d married—the father of her children.
When she’d first started to suspect things weren’t right, imagine going to sleep next to him every night. ”
Adeline reached up. Wyatt took her hand and assisted her climb out of the grave. Brushing the dirt off her backside, he considered giving her cute ass a swipe but she took care of it before he could put thought into action.
She moved over to the stairs. Walked slowly up, then backed down.
She examined each tread with her fingers on the second trip up.
“Henley said she fell down the basement stairs.” Adeline stopped about a third of the way from the top.
“Here we go.” She patted the tread. “This one’s been replaced. It’s a lot newer than the others.”
“Doesn’t mean he did it,” Wyatt reminded. “This is an old house. Could have just had a bad board that he replaced after her fall.”
She studied the rest of the treads, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. The treads aren’t that old.” She descended once more and ducked around behind the staircase. “Bring your flashlight under here.”
Wyatt joined her beneath the primitive stairs.
“Check the bottom of each tread, from one stringer to the other.”
Starting at the top, Wyatt moved the flashlight’s beam from left to right over each tread.
“Right there.” Addy pointed to the bottom side of the one that had been replaced.
The tread was just over his head, but not so far that he couldn’t reach up and touch the bottom of it.
“Check that out.” Addy pointed to where the tread sat atop the stringer on the right.
Wyatt focused the light’s beam there. He stood on tiptoes, reached up, and touched the markings on the stringer. The wood was marred as if something had rubbed against it repeatedly. Addy was right.
“He sawed the tread from the bottom until there was only a microscopically thin layer of wood on top,” she surmised. “The first time his wife stepped on that tread, that thin layer gave way, sending her headlong to the rock floor.”
Wyatt shook off the brutal images. “I’ll be sure to pass this along to Henley. The forensics folks weren’t likely looking for anything related to a prior fall.”
He checked the time on his cell. “We should get going. We can make the necessary calls en route.” Hattiesburg and Wiggins needed to be updated on Jamison. They finally had a break in the case. Whether it helped find Cherry Prescott and Penny Arnold alive was yet to be seen, but it was something.
“I want to walk through the house.” Adeline rounded the staircase and headed upward. “Just once.”
“Sure.” They had already broken the law, what was a few more minutes?
Wyatt watched her move from room to room, touching things, studying others.
She considered the Christmas tree at length, fingered an ornament that looked like something the son had made at school.
Wyatt’s heart thumped harder and harder.
How had he allowed these last nine years to get past him without making her listen? Without trying harder to get her back?
He’d pretended not to miss her that much. That he was too busy to care about a real social life. Just because he was thirty-two didn’t mean he needed to be married with kids or even dating steadily.
But he’d been lying to himself.
The one thing he had needed had been gone.
The worst part was she would be leaving again.
How would he ever live with losing her twice?
Wyatt’s phone vibrated, yanking him from the painful thoughts. He pulled it from his pocket. “Henderson.”
“Wyatt, you and Addy need to get back here.”
The tension in Womack’s voice chilled Wyatt’s blood. He turned away from where Addy was checking out a family photo album. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Irene . . .”
Wyatt’s heart surged into his throat.
“The bastard got to her just minutes before security could get into place. The doctors were already working on her when I reached the hospital. Wyatt . . . Jesus Christ. They tried everything they could.”
Womack’s voice quavered on the last. Wyatt tried to push the words he needed to say past his lips. Couldn’t.
“Goddammit, Wyatt,” Womack sobbed, breaking down. “She’s dead. Addy’s mother is dead.”