Chapter 42
After I banged a heavy fist on the stern a few times, Chris poked his head through the hatch. With a scowl, he said, "I'm not saying anything else to you guys without an attorney.” Then he added, "No. My dad's not here either. I still don't know where he is.”
"We’re not here about your dad," I said.
Chris's brow wrinkled with confusion. "Then why are you here?"
"I want to ask you about your sister."
His wrinkled expression continued. "Why do you care?"
"I'm trying to get to the truth."
"The truth is, Darrell York raped and murdered my sister. Somehow, the state thought it prudent to let him go. Now people are dead."
"You know that happened before our time with the department. I really don't know anything about your sister. I don't know what her hopes and dreams were. I don't know what motivated her. I don't know what her life was like."
"What does any of that matter now? Her life is over. None of her dreams came true. And nothing you, me, or anyone else can do is going to change that.”
"I think Sarah deserves justice, don't you?"
His mouth tightened, and he hesitated for a moment. “She will only get justice when Darrell York is dead.”
"What was she like?”
Chris took a deep breath and lost himself in a recollection.
His voice softened. "She was beautiful. I mean, she was my sister, but even I knew she was beautiful.
Though a lot of people couldn't see that.
They couldn't see her underneath it all. She was high-functioning. We really didn’t have terms for it back then.
But she was on the spectrum. Super smart.
Hyper focused. Shy. Awkward in social settings.
She got picked on a lot. But I think it was really out of jealousy.
She was way smarter than anybody in her class.
All the girls knew she was prettier, but she just didn't really know how to own that. You know?”
Chris frowned and hung his head.
"Did she have a boyfriend? Was she interested in anybody?”
Chris shook his head. "She didn't have a boyfriend, but she crushed hard on Wesley.”
“Oliver?" I asked with a surprised brow.
Chris nodded.
I shared a look with JD, then asked Chris, "Don't you think that's relevant?"
Chris shrugged. "How so?”
"He was a major prosecution witness.”
"So. A lot of people she knew were.”
"Did they ever date?”
"Not that I'm aware of." Chris thought back. "I think Wesley had a girlfriend at the time. I'm not sure. It was a long time ago." Chris paused. "I still don't see what that has to do with anything.”
I shrugged. "Maybe it's nothing. But all the prosecution witnesses are dying. You're aware that Landon Walsh was shot this afternoon."
His brow lifted with astonishment. "No. I hadn't heard.” He paused. Thoughts raced behind his eyes. "You don't think my father is involved in that, do you? I mean, what possible reason would he have to kill Landon?”
"We’ll have ballistics back soon enough.”
I thanked him for speaking to us.
Before we left, he said, "Sarah was really special. One-of-a-kind. Who knows? She could have changed the world."
We walked down the dock toward the parking lot.
Jack said, "Where are you going with this?”
"I'm not sure." I had a theory brewing in the back of my mind, but it hadn’t formulated yet.
We hopped into the Porsche and drove over to Sandpiper Point.
Darrell had been discharged, and Deputy Van Zandt was keeping tabs on him. Jacob Sweet was still at large. I was convinced that Darrell didn't have anything to do with this, but I still had questions for him.
Jack found a place to park, and we strolled the dock to the Freebird. I banged on the stern and shouted, “Coconut County!”
Lexi poked her head through the hatch a moment later. She looked at us with annoyed eyes. “What do you want?”
“How’s he doing?”
“He was doing great until you two showed up. Why do you keep harassing him?”
“I’m not here to harass him,” I said. “In fact, I don’t think he’s involved in the recent shootings.”
Her brow wrinkled. “You don’t?”
“Landon Walsh is dead.”
Her eyes narrowed at me. “Who’s Landon Walsh?”
“Can we come aboard?”