Page 39 of The Missing Couple

“You’ll have to get in line,” Billie assured her.

They laughed together and for that one split second, Billie felt an instant of relief.

Silence lingered for a bit, then he remembered her other question. “As for Martin’s parents, they are hanging in there. They wanted to rush down here but I talked them out of it. They’re older and the stress is bad enough without being here.”

“Good point.” She sighed. “I remember how horrible it was after…my parents. The hoping and praying…”

Another stretch of silence. She picked at the salad she had abandoned. He watched her. There was something about the curve of her cheek…the shape of her lips. Funny how he thought of that with all that was happening. But she was different than anyone he’d ever met and he couldn’t help himself.

She glanced up. “If there’s something you want to ask, just ask.”

He didn’t think she was ready to hear what had been on his mind in that moment, so he moved on to something relevant. “At any time when you were looking into your parents’ murders, did any person—the sheriff, anyone—ever try to warn you off? Did you receive any threats or warnings like the one we found tonight?”

“No. Never. I had a good many people offer ideas on what happened but nothing that panned out.”

Billie sipped the tea. Cool, sweet, what wasn’t to like? “Can you give me a couple of examples?”

“The Russians,” she said. “Mr. Hodges, a World War II veteran, suggested my father had been a spy and had to be stopped because he’d learned something he wasn’t supposed to know.”

Billie had to hand it to her; that was one he hadn’t expected. “Certainly an interesting theory.”

“His family said he was never the same after the war. When my parents were murdered he was well into eighty and suffering from dementia. I just listened to whatever he had to say,” Charly explained. “I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”

Billie imagined her sixteen years younger dealing with all that having a family member—much less two—murdered entailed. He also decided then and there that she was the stronger of the two sisters no matter that Jen was the older one. Charly was brave and damned smart.

“I’m sure his family appreciated your patience.”

“They did. His older daughter, the one who took care of him, lives in one of the houses on the end of Bakers Chapel near the church. Mr. Hodges used to walk from one end of the road to the other every day. He was surprisingly energetic for his age. Sadly that was also the death of him. He was hit by a driver who left the scene. He wouldn’t have survived the injuries, but I don’t know how the driver just rushed away rather than calling for help. His daughter said she had worried that would happen but there was no containing him other than locking him in a room, and she didn’t want to do that.”

“Some people are cowards,” Billie said. “Only a coward would leave an elderly man dying on the side of the road rather than call for help.” The idea made Billie ill.

“Definitely a coward,” Charly agreed. “Another anonymous tip about my parents was that the killer was a former deputy my father had fired. Sheriff Malone investigated that one, but the man accused had an airtight alibi.” She shook her head. “Another one insisted it was a former lover of my mother’s, which was preposterous. Particularly since the supposed lover was Sheriff Malone.” She laughed. “My mama was not a fan of the man. She was certain he took every opportunity to undermine my father. Not to mention he was a lot younger than her.”

Billie chose not to point out that because her mother was older or had shown her dislike for Malone didn’t mean she hadn’t been involved with him. It was always easier to hate on a former lover. No reason to upset her by suggesting as much. There was also no reason to believe the murders of Charly’s parents had anything to do with Briana’s and Martin’s disappearances. Yet, anyway.

Charly shook her head. “I just know it had to be Kerrick who left that note.”

The discussion about her parents had obviously grown too painful or uncomfortable to continue. He hadn’t meant to go back into the subject just now, but the truth was that talking about her parents’ case was far easier than analyzing his sister’s.

“He would do something like that,” she went on. “And another thing—” she looked directly at Billie then “—how did he know Briana had bought the same beer he liked? He couldn’t have seen the beer clearly in that bag. And since he wasn’t in the store when she picked it out and paid for it, he had to have seen it after that.”

“You’re right.” Billie had already come to that conclusion, but he was restraining the urge to pounce on that one detail. “One of the things I’ve learned from the brilliant attorneys the agency employs is that when being questioned by the police or anyone else relevant to a case, never say more than necessary. Never offer information that could incriminate you. Kerrick Rogers incriminated himself. Either because he let his mouth override his brain or just because he wanted to sound like he knew more than we did. Whatever the case, it bears further investigation.”

“Do you think he’s realized his mistake?” Charly pushed her chair back, stood, picked up her plate and carried it to the trash can to empty it.

Billie followed and did the same. “If he’s smart it has crossed his mind.” They walked together to the sink.

As she rinsed her plate and fork, her gaze narrowed. “Maybe he sent the note to distract us from focusing on his slip of the tongue.”

Billie rinsed his plate, barely holding back a grin. “That would be my assessment.”

She stacked the plates and forks but left them in the sink and dried her hands. “I’m not sure I can wait until morning. I think we need to go question him right now.”

Billie shrugged. “Let him stew. If we’re right, by morning he’ll be even more out of sorts after worrying overnight.”

“Okay.” She set her hands on her hips. “What do we do, then?”

Loaded question. He exiled the thought. “Let’s talk about who else may have left that note.”