Chapter Twenty-Two #2
"It's not William," Knox said, dismissively.
"I'll grant you, it does look like our dad had something to do with hiding the kid, and we don't know why.
We're working on it. But just because he’s mixed up with that doesn't mean he has anything to do with Lise’s stalker.
Anna Winters died a long time ago. Years before the stalking started. "
"Eight years," Riley clarified. "And at sixteen Lise was a dead ringer for her mother. The hair, the eyes—I've seen pictures.”
"That doesn't prove anything. It's a guess. You're trying to pull together random information—"
“That doesn't mean I'm wrong," Riley said.
"Doesn't mean you're right either. But if you want to play that game, maybe it's you," Knox said, evenly.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Riley asked.
"It means there were three different times over the last eleven years when you were in close proximity to Annalise just before she received a delivery of flowers."
Riley shook his head in disbelief. "No shit, Knox. She was one of my cases. I was keeping an eye on her. I was in close proximity to Lise more than three times over the last eleven years."
"True," Knox said. "But the three times I'm thinking of weren't part of her casework."
"You're wasting time," Riley said. "You know it's not me. This started way before I knew her, before I knew any of you."
"I know you've been in love with her for twelve years.
I know it was enough to get you to risk your job, more than once.
Looking back, maybe you signed on with us, maneuvered your way onto her case because you were already obsessed with her.
Maybe you've been in love with her a lot longer than twelve years. "
"Stop," I said, the word erupting from my mouth while my brain was still reeling from the accusations flying back and forth across the table.
"Riley is not obsessed with me. He's not in love with me.
Stop being an ass, Knox. None of us wants to think this is someone we know.
But he's right. It could be anyone. Have you looked in on Marissa Archer lately? "
Marissa Archer had been caught leaving pictures of my parent’s murders for us to find.
She'd started with Jacob, then moved on to Vance, and had finally been caught trying to break into Charlie's house.
We still weren't exactly sure why. When she'd been arrested, she told Charlie the real murderer was still out there, but as soon as her son and her lawyer got to her, she'd stopped talking.
The last I'd heard she was safely contained in a private facility for the mentally ill.
Aiden's voice was hard when he said, “No change. She's not talking. Literally. The last report was that she'd suffered a psychotic break and wasn't expected to recover. She's a dead end."
"So there's no way she's orchestrating flower deliveries from her padded cell?" I asked, only half kidding.
"No," Cooper said, shortly.
"Maybe it's Sloane," I offered, trying to lighten the mood.
"Wishful thinking," Gage muttered under his breath.
"I know, right?" I whispered back.
Riley shook his head at me, the side of his mouth quirked up in a half smile. "You don't want it to be Sloane,” he said. "She's planning to make you a ton of money."
"There is that," I agreed. "Anyway, if she was the stalker, she'd be after my twin, not me."
"Maybe if she was, Maggie would take her down, once and for all," Gage said.
Maggie did not appreciate the way Sloane tried to hit on her husband. Vance loved his wife and actively disliked Sloane, but it still bugged Maggie. It bugged me too, and Vance was my brother, not my husband.
"So what do we do now?" I asked. Joking aside, if we were going to look at people we knew, the suspect list swung from zero to more than I could count.
"I want to go back to the house," Riley said. "Lise and I were there yesterday, and there were pictures missing from the mantle. We didn't stay long." He shot a careful glance at me. "But I need to go back and look again. There may be more missing than just a few pictures."
"I'll go with you," Knox said.
"So will I," Gage said. "I was almost eleven when they died. I may remember better than Annalise what belonged where."
"Gage," I said, quietly, reaching out and taking his hand in mine. I squeezed his fingers, not knowing how to put into words what I'd felt being in that house again. The longing. The memories. The sense of a life interrupted, lost to tragedy and time.
I couldn't decide if I’d wanted to curl up on the couch in front of the fireplace or never set foot in the house again.
All these years we’d told ourselves Winters House was home.
And in a way, it was. Our fathers had been brothers and best friends.
My brothers and I had been running tame in Uncle Hugh's house since we could walk.
Aiden and his siblings had been the same in our house.
But Winters House wasn't really my home. That house in the woods with its shingles and stone—that was home, and it hurt to be there.
Low enough so only I could hear him, Gage said, "I haven't been in the house since I came back. I want to go. I want to see if I can help."
"You don't have to stay if it's too hard," I said, squeezing his hand again.
"I won't. I promise," he said. Gage was trying to make me feel better, but I knew he would stay no matter how painful it was. Leaning over, he kissed me on the temple and said, "I have to stay to keep Knox from riling up your boy."
"He's not my boy," I muttered.
Gage just laughed and got up looking at Riley and Knox in turn. "I have to get into the office later today. Let's go do this."
"Don't leave the house until I get back," Riley said to me.
I rolled my eyes in response. I wasn't going anywhere unprotected. Knowing the stalker had been in my parent’s home, had taken pictures off the mantle and who knew what else, had left me more freaked than usual.
Cooper, Aiden, and I watched the other three leave. As soon as they were gone Aiden said to Cooper, “You planning to take another pass through your father's files?"
Cooper gave him a long, steady look. The two of them had been friends almost as long as they’d been alive.
They were tight, but Cooper had been thrown by his father's presumed death and further messed up by learning that Maxwell had something to do with hiding my missing half-brother. I could understand. None of us were eager to start digging into our parent’s pasts.
They were dead, and we didn’t want to risk our happy memories. The truth was a pretty ideal. In reality, it could be ugly. And pointless. How much did I really want to know what had happened to them?
“I think I have to," Cooper said. "I missed William and Anna dating in college. It must've been a side note or something because I can promise you it's not front and center in any of the files or I would've known."
"We're all a little fucked up over our parents," Aiden said.
"Truer words," Cooper agreed. "But, Flynn is right.
We have tunnel vision. All of us. The harder we look for the baby Anna gave up, the more the search turns in on itself.
It's not an accident, and it's got my father's fingerprints all over it.
God knows I loved him, but Flynn's right about that too.
My dad was a twisty bastard. Good father.
Sometimes even a decent husband. But he had very specific ideas about loyalty and honesty.
We did not always have the same view of right and wrong. "
"Do you think he’s dead?" I asked Cooper. "Your dad?"
Cooper sighed. "I don't know. I want him to be alive, but if he is, and I get my hands on him, he’d better have a good fucking explanation."
I stood and pushed my chair back. "I'm going to my room to mess with my camera, start sorting through all those pictures. If Sloane’s serious about showing my work, I need to have some work put together for her to show."
"Lise?" I met Cooper's eyes. "Put the ring back on. Even in the house."
I nodded and left the dining room. I felt like I was on a treadmill and an invisible hand had just cranked up the speed. I was sprinting to keep up with no idea where I was going or what would happen when I got there.