Forty-Two

Bullshit, Marta thought.

She'd been at this long enough to know when people were lying to her. What made this worse, and far more complicated, was that this was her sister and brother-in-law trying to put something over on her. Okay, maybe there was some kernel of truth somewhere in what they'd told her, but something was off with those two. The way they were trying to send subtle signals to one another, trying to get their story straight without a word between them, Richard going onto his phone and deleting something, thinking she wouldn't notice.

She wanted to believe them. She didn't want to think her sister and her brother-in-law could, in any way, be involved in the death of Billy Finster. What possible connection could there be between them and the dead man, beyond the fact that he was once a student at the school where Richard taught? And yes, coincidences did happen. He and Bonnie could have had an argument, he could have gone off in her car, he could have been cut off by a dickhead in a Corvette and pulled over to the side of the road to cool off not far from where a homicide had been committed.

But it still sounded like bullshit to her.

The right thing to do, the professional thing to do, would be to withdraw from this investigation. Talk to her superiors, tell them that her sister and her husband might have some tangential connection to this case—that maybe they were witnesses who were, for whatever reason, reluctant to come forward—and, to ensure everything was aboveboard, another detective could take over.

That was certainly what she should do.

But Marta wasn't prepared to do that. Not yet, anyway. Just suppose Marta's instincts were wrong, that her sister and brother-in-law were being straight with her, imagine the fallout if Marta turned the case over to a colleague who turned their lives upside down. Good luck at the next Thanksgiving dinner.

Shit.

Heading for her car, she stopped halfway down the driveway and decided part of the story she'd been told could be verified right now. She went to the neighbor's house and rang the bell.

She had met Jack and his wife, Jill, a few times. They'd all been invited to a barbecue for Bonnie's birthday one time. Jack had asked her a few questions about her work, and Jill had seemed nice enough.

It was Jill who answered the door. It took her a second to place Marta, but once she recognized her, she smiled and invited her in.

"That's okay," Marta said. "Sorry to bother you, but—"

Jack appeared. "Hey," he said amiably. "Detective Harper. How are you today?"

She smiled. "Marta."

He smiled. "Nice to see you, Marta."

"What's up?" Jill asked.

"I wondered if I could ask a favor of you."

"Sure, yes, how can we help?" Jack asked.

"You know, of course, the kind of stress Richard and Bonnie have been under lately. The pressures they've been dealing with."

"No kidding," Jack said. "A terrible thing. But Richard really saved the day."

"He did," Marta said, and thought, Yes, he did. Which didn't make her feel any better about checking to see whether he had lied to her. "But not everyone sees it that way. You probably heard about the lawsuit."

"Ridiculous," Jill said.

"There's always people out there who can find a way of turning a positive into a negative."

"There's so many nuts," Jill said, nodding agreeably.

"So all I wanted to ask is, if you should see anything suspicious, anyone driving by too often, something that doesn't look right, don't be afraid to get in touch." As she was saying this, she was taking a card from her pocket and handing it to Jack. "That number, the second one, you can always reach me at that."

"Absolutely," Jack said, tucking the card into his shirt pocket.

"Of course," Jill said.

"That was really all I wanted to say. And to say hello." She smiled at both of them, then focused on Jack. "Did I hear right, that you're buying Jack's boat?"

Jack grimaced. "Oh, well, that kind of didn't happen."

"Oh," she said, feigning surprise. "Richard sold it to someone else?"

He looked uncomfortable. "I think there were some crossed signals. Richard offered to sell it to me, I said yes, and then Bonnie explained that the deal was off." He paused, then added, "She said Richard had made some impulsive decisions since what happened at the school, that he hadn't been thinking everything through. So that was okay by me. I didn't want to get into the middle of anything."

Marta nodded.

"That's too bad," she said, "but maybe it's for the best. They get a lot of use out of that boat in the summer. Listen, you folks have a pleasant evening."

Goodbyes were said, and the door was about to be closed, then Jill said, "There was something."

Marta stopped, turned around. "Something?"

"The other day. I think it was Friday? Although I could be wrong about that."

"What happened on Friday?"

"I was looking outside, from the living room window, watching for Jack to get home, and saw this man talking to Richard. I didn't really think about it at the time, but now that you say there might be people wanting to give him a hard time, well, that brought back the memory."

"What did you see?"

"He'd parked a pickup or something just down the street, and when Richard got home he came over and talked to him. Kind of pointing his finger at him a couple of times, and it didn't look like a very friendly conversation."

"What did this man look like? White? Black? Age?"

Jill tried to think back. "He was white, and in his twenties, I guess. A little overweight, dark hair. I wasn't close enough to get a very good look at him."

A vague description, Marta thought, that could fit any number of young men, including Billy Finster.

"How long did they talk for?"

"Five minutes? I had to go answer the phone at one point, and when I came back the man had driven off and Richard had gone inside."

"What about the truck? Did you get a look at that? A license plate number, maybe?"

"It was a pickup truck. White. With some rust on it. It never would have occurred to me to write down the plate number."

"Of course. Why would it?" Marta smiled. "Thanks very much, and you have a nice evening."

She went to her car, got settled in behind the wheel, and thought about how to proceed. After hearing about the boat transaction with Jack, Marta was ready to think she'd overreacted, that her sister and brother-in-law had leveled with her.

But that follow-up story changed things. Something was going on that Bonnie and Richard were not prepared to discuss with her.

She needed to talk to her sister again.

Alone.