Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

S hane went directly from the interview room to the sheriff’s office and knocked on the door before easing it open. Dawkins looked up a scowl already on his face.

“Got a minute?” Shane asked.

“Depends,” Dawkins replied, setting his pen aside. “Have you figured out why you’re spending so much valuable time chasing after the Colburn sisters when Timmons was your prime suspect as of this morning?”

Shane stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “He might still be. But there are gaps in the Colburns’ stories that I need to close. Missy Ann left me with more questions than answers, and now I need to talk to Raya. Ronnie, too.”

The sheriff leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “You think the sisters are involved?”

“I didn’t say that. At this point, I think they know more than they’re letting on. And if we don’t follow this thread, we might miss something important.”

Dawkins studied him for a long moment before sighing. “Fine. But don’t lose sight of Timmons. He’s still the one with motive, proximity, and opportunity. ”

Shane nodded, stepping out before the sheriff could change his mind.

In the interview room, Raya sat with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She looked like hell, her stringy brown hair hanging in her pale face. Of course she would—her parents who she depended on were swept away from her in an instant.

When she heard him enter, she lifted her head, and her carefully neutral expression faltered as Shane entered and slid into the seat across from her.

“Thanks for coming in, Raya,” he said, his tone casual. “I’ve got a few follow-up questions. Just want to clarify some things. So you know, everything we do or say in this room is being recorded. Do you mind if I read you your rights?”

“You did that the other day.”

“I know I did, but I like to just play by policy every time. It’s just procedure.”

“Sure,” she said flatly.

Shane read her rights, then started with easy questions, guiding her through her upbringing and family dynamics. Her answers were polite but clipped, until he brought up Missy Ann.

“She mentioned you two didn’t always see eye to eye,” Shane said.

Raya let out a short, bitter laugh. “Oh really? That’s what she said? Well, she’s always had it easy. The nice house, the divorce settlement that set her up for life. Meanwhile, I’ve had to scrape by.”

“But Missy Ann went to college, right? Built a career?”

“Yeah, well, school wasn’t for me,” Raya said, her tone sharp. “It was just a place for more people to judge me. I wouldn’t fit in like she did.”

Shane nodded, his expression sympathetic. “I hear you on that. I wasn’t college material, either. And what about Seth? You two were close once, weren’t you?”

Raya’s face softened slightly. “Yeah. We used to be. He’d help me with my car, stuff like that. But after he got with Erin, everything changed. It was like I didn’t exist anymore.”

A knock on the door interrupted the next question on the tip of Shane’s tongue.

“Excuse me,” he said, getting up. He opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

“Weaver, we have something new.” Sheriff Dawkins said. “Timmons came back with his lawyer and gave another sworn statement. It’s about how his DNA could’ve gotten into the crime scene.”

He handed the paper over to Shane, who read it and nodded.

“I thought as much,” he said, handing it back.

“Get back in there and don’t come out until you have something,” Dawkins said.

Shane nodded. “Will do.”

When he returned to the room, Raya was sitting still, scrolling through her phone.

“Okay, where were we,” he said, his tone shifting to casual curiosity. “Oh, about Seth. Did the two of you ever go into business together?”

Raya stiffened, avoiding his gaze. “Why does that matter?”

“Just trying to understand the dynamics,” Shane said. “Did you?”

A long pause stretched between them before she finally sighed. “Yeah. We tried to start a small auto repair shop. It didn’t work out.”

“What happened?”

“It went under,” Raya muttered .

Shane tilted his head, his tone still gentle. “Who took the hit to their credit?”

Her jaw tightened. “I did. The loan was in my name.”

“Why didn’t you just pay it off?”

“I didn’t have the money,” Raya snapped. “Seth was supposed to pay it, but he didn’t. He just ... left me to deal with it.”

Shane let her words hang in the air for a moment. “If he’d paid you what he owed, your credit would’ve been fine. Then you and Ronnie could’ve started your life together, right?”

Raya’s lip quivered, and she looked down at her lap. “Yeah,” she whispered.

Satisfied for now, Shane changed gears, guiding the conversation back to her parents, noting the shift in her tone when she talked about her mother.

“They were good to us,” Raya said, though her voice wavered. “But sometimes it felt like they liked Seth and Missy Ann more. They always got the big Christmas gifts, the good rooms on our family vacations. I got left out because I don’t have kids.”

“So you think they treated you unfairly?”

Her nod was almost imperceptible, her face suddenly small and vulnerable.

“And then Ronnie came into your life,” Shane said, his tone softening. “He gave you the attention you weren’t getting from your family.”

Her lips twitched into the faintest smile before she tapped it back down. “Yeah. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“How’d you meet?”

“Online. He was into gaming, and so am I. We just clicked.”

Shane smiled slightly. “What games do you two like to play? ”

She listed several, most of them violent strategy games.

“Do you keep any weapons around?”

Her smile faltered. She shook her head slowly. “No. We don’t have anything like that.”

Shane let the silence stretch before pulling out his notebook. “Your sister said that Ronnie helped your dad out with some of the renovations he was doing in the house. How did that go?”

She shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Ronnie doesn’t like that kind of work, but he did it. We needed the money.”

“Was he paid well for it?”

“Why? How is that pertinent to the case, Detective?”

Shane pushed his notebook closer to her side of the table and flipped to a photo of Seth’s body. “I need you to look at this, Raya. Does anything seem out of place to you around your brother’s body?”

Raya only looked a second then turned her head, refusing to look longer. “No,” she said quickly.

He flipped to the next page, showing Erin’s body.

“I’m really sorry but I need you to do the same with this one.”

She looked and her reaction was immediate—a quick flash of anger in her eyes before she looked away.

“What was it about Erin that bothered you so much?” Shane pressed.

“She didn’t bother me.”

“I’m pretty sure she did, Raya. That’s okay—everyone can’t be cozy close. Maybe Erin tried too hard to be close to your mom? Pushed you out of the way. It happens in a lot of families.”

Raya hesitated, then sighed. “She thought she was better than everyone. Seth was always doing things for her, like I didn’t matter anymore. It wasn’t fair. Them and their two kids and a dog. Cute house with a fence. Just the picture-perfect family like my mom has always wanted for all her kids. But I let her down. She was ashamed of me.”

Shane filed that detail away, then turned to the photos of her parents. Jane, discarded in the shed, her expression frozen into one of disbelief and fear. Willis, sprawled on the ramp with a rolled-up carpet atop him.

Raya visibly flinched when he turned to the autopsy photo of her mother, the body covered to the shoulders with a stark white sheet, on the stainless-steel table. So cold looking and void of life, but, yes, still recognizable.

What was Raya thinking behind her shuttered eyes?

“Raya, your mother will never rest until we figure out who did this,” Shane said softly. “Your parents deserve justice. Seth’s kids deserve to know why their mommy and daddy will never hug them again. Just think about Nicky and Britney. They lost their mom and dad—and their grandparents. Two innocent kids, their lives shattered forever in one day. Have you seen them? Tried to talk to them?”

Tears welled in Raya’s eyes, but she shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen them. But I didn’t ... I didn’t do anything.”

“Look at her, Raya. Jane’s death was brutal. What would she want you to do now?” He pushed the notebook closer, bumping her arm with it until she looked at her mother’s photo.

She winced and he saw her swallow hard before she looked away again.

“Maybe it wasn’t your idea,” Shane said, his voice barely above a whisper and as comforting as he could make it. “Maybe Ronnie came up with the plan, and you just went along because you were scared. These things happen, Raya. Sometimes two people come together, and they bring out the worst in each other. Apart, they’d never hurt anyone, but together ...”

Her hands clenched into fists, her tears falling freely now. “It wasn’t Ronnie,” she sobbed, then looked up, locking eyes with him. “It was me. I ... I did it. All of it. I killed them. I’m a monster.”

Shane sat back, his heart pounding as her confession spilled out.

Once the sheriff had told him that Timmons had admitted to putting the dog dung in the mailbox but stood firm he’d never been in the house and would take a lie detector test, that had said a lot. Timmon’s had most likely left his DNA on a piece of mail, then the mail was transferred to the kitchen counter, leaving a trace of DNA behind.

After Taylor’s urgent message to push Raya on the business venture with Seth issue, the rest was easy. That was the best part of playing detective—when all the puzzle pieces started coming together and you knew exactly what you were looking at.

He watched Raya intently and tried to imagine the slight young woman pulling the trigger repeatedly, taking out her family, one by one. If Missy Ann had not canceled and kept her son home, there probably would’ve been two more victims. Or, another thought, could her presence have done something to stop the blood bath?

They would probably never know.

With her head in her arms on the table, Raya keened now, sounding like a hurt animal. Shane kept his expression calm, letting her sobs fill the room. He felt no sympathy and it was a bit late for crying.

Suck it up, Raya, it’s time to face the music.