Chapter 48
When the cruiser pulled up just before ten, Anna was drinking her first coffee of the day, bone-tired, her head still thumping.
Caroline was already at school, but Mom was home and Dr. Burdett had arrived with more baked goods—scones this time—and was going to take Grandma out for a drive.
It was all too busy, and she wished she’d stayed in bed.
The sound of the car outside and the sight of both Todd and Sheriff Adams getting out, however, got her moving quickly.
Holy shit. She hurried to the door, but Mom was there first. Had Anna’s wonderings found roots?
Could Lucas have been involved with the murders after all?
Sheriff Adams was grave as he took off his hat, nodding at Dr. Burdett and Grandma, curious mice in the hallway, before turning to Mom.
“Sorry to disturb your morning, ma’am. We just need to follow up on something with Anna, if that’s okay.”
He didn’t look at Anna. Even Todd kept his gaze on the floor as if afraid to catch her eye. They both looked tired. Had they been up all night with this surprising twist in the case? Anna’s heart threatened to burst through her chest with anticipation.
“What’s going on?” Mom paled and gripped the front door handle as the men came inside. “Is this to do with the thing that happened at college? Has there been—”
“This is nothing to do with that,” Anna cut in sharply, shutting her mother down.
“Lord, but it’s hot. Can I get anyone some iced tea?” Grandma asked, forever a slave to politeness, hating strangers feeling the tension at the core of their family. “We could sit?”
“No thank you, but very kind all the same.” The sheriff graced Grandma with a polite smile before giving a pointed glance to Dr. Burdett, who very quickly picked up the hint.
“Actually, I should go and get a few things from the store before it’s too hot out there. I’ll come back to take you out in an hour or so, Evelyn.”
They waited for him to leave before the sheriff finally turned to face Anna. “We talked to Lucas. He has an alibi for both killings.”
Anna’s anticipation deflated. “Oh.”
“Lucas wasn’t even in town when Bonnie died.” Todd spoke quietly, as if he thought Anna so fragile she might shatter hearing his words. Why was he talking to her like that? “He was in Omaha. Working. He was there a few days. On a renovation project.”
“Lucas?” Mom was confused.
“You didn’t have to come out here to tell me.” Blotches came up red and hot on her neck, and sweat formed on her bra under her loose T-shirt. How was she going to explain this to Mom? “It was only idle curiosity about the case. You could have called. Or come into the diner.”
“Jesus, Anna.” Mom leaned back against the wall. “You thought Lucas killed those girls?”
“I didn’t accuse him. I asked if they questioned him, that’s all.” This was getting out of hand. “To see how wide the net went at the time.”
“Why is that any of your business?” Mom turned away and then back, exasperated. “Are you saying you don’t trust the police to do their jobs?”
“Girls died, Mom, and maybe it’s going to happen again. And,” Anna added, words heavy with sarcasm, “unsurprisingly, I don’t always trust the police to get the bad guys.”
“I wouldn’t have come out here just to tell you he had an alibi,” Sheriff Adams said, coughing a little. “But when we spoke to him, Lucas made a complaint of harassment.”
Anna’s throat was dry and tight, parched as the land outside. She wasn’t sure which came first, her realization of what he was going to say or his words. Oh god. “Against me?”
“He told us what you’d said to him.”
“That didn’t have anything to do with this.” She took two steps back, finding herself pressed against the closed basement door. Nowhere to escape to. “That was different.” Mom looked at her.
“What did you say to him, Anna?” A world of hurt in her contained tone. Her slim body stiffening, arms folded across her chest, protecting herself from her eldest child.
“It doesn’t matter.” Anna couldn’t return her gaze. “It doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“It does matter.” She had already figured out the gist of it. Mom could be a lot of things, but she wasn’t stupid. “What did you say?” Her breath caught. “Did you tell him to break up with me?”
“He was in our house, Mom,” Anna said quietly.
“At night. I couldn’t … I couldn’t have that.
” She looked at the rest of them, even Grandma, standing back, not having spoken a word.
“And what about the blood in the basement?” Anna held on tight to that last straw, one concrete thing that was not so easy to explain away. “What about that?”
Sheriff Adams let out a long sigh, weary. “You’ve been through a lot, Anna. Not least finding Jamie dead in the motel pool like that. I can understand why you’re looking for meaning in things.”
“What did you say?” Anna’s head pounded some more, confusion making her frown.
“Jamie wasn’t in the pool. He was in the motel room.
On the floor. Like he crawled out of the bath.
He was…” Her words drifted off, and she was barely aware of the sheriff and Todd staring at her as a wave of dizziness made her unpleasantly nauseous.
Or was it the pool? Suddenly she wasn’t so sure.
Her mental picture of Jamie dead on the carpet didn’t feel so secure anymore.
Sunlight. Water glinting. Throwing herself into the water to pull him out. Getting home still wet and fighting with Mom. The memory solidified. “Of course. Sorry. The pool.” What was going on with her? How could she have gotten so confused? “I’ve only just woken up.”
“What blood in the basement?” Mom cut in, still a step behind, and Anna refocused her attention on the sheriff.
“This house could be where the girls were murdered. You have to admit that. When the swabs come back, if it’s Lila’s or Bonnie’s blood, then you’ll know that—”
“It’s your blood, Anna.” Todd’s words were low, but in the aftermath, the moment’s silence was deafening. Anna stared at him, perplexed.
“What do you mean, it’s my blood?”
Todd looked down at his feet, awkward. “Every sample I took yesterday was a match. It was all your blood. You’re in the system. The results came back straightaway.”
Mom looked at Anna, disgusted. “So your grandmother was telling the truth. There was a policeman in the basement.”
Anna couldn’t speak, her mom’s words barely penetrating. It couldn’t be her blood. There had to be a mistake. Shards of coal glittered in the corner of her eyes as her chest constricted. It wasn’t possible.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Anna.” Mom’s tether to her sympathy finally snapped, her patience gone. “I can’t do this anymore.”