Nate put the badge in his pocket, got out of the car and went to the house. The door was unlocked. Billy Thorndyke was sitting in the living room, reading. The house was quieter than Nate had ever heard it. Even the outdoor sounds were silenced. No boat motors, no one yelling. Not even the birds were singing.
Nate didn’t have to be told that Terri was asleep. Jamie had sent a text saying that he’d spent over an hour talking to Terri and had given her some strong sedatives.
Billy put his book down and got up. “I made some spaghetti. Want some?”
Nate was too tired, too beaten up by the hideous day to do anything but nod, then he went down the hall to Terri’s room. She was asleep on top of the covers, still wearing her shorts, T-shirt and even her sandals. She was curled up, her knees nearly to her chin. She looked like a tall baby.
As he watched, she gave a little hiccup and he knew she’d been crying. He couldn’t imagine what she’d been through at finding out her mother had been murdered.
Nate removed her sandals, then her shorts, pulled the covers back and put her under them. She seemed to give a sigh of relief. He gave her a soft kiss on the lips, smoothed her hair back and left the room.
Billy had put a huge bowl of spaghetti on the dining table and a plate of several pieces of warm garlic bread dripping butter. A tall glass of beer was by the plate.
“I guess I’ll leave,” Billy said as he backed up.
“Sit,” Nate said as he began to eat. “How was she today?”
Billy sat at the table. “Quiet. Hardly said a word—except about you. ‘Nate will fix it.’ That’s what she kept saying.”
Nate looked at Billy. He was young, tall and he had quite a bit of muscle on him. Some of it was genetics, but Nate knew the amount of time he had to have spent in a gym. Deltoids like his didn’t come from mowing the lawn. Nate well knew the energy that heavy workouts used. He pushed the plate of bread toward him.
“Thanks,” Billy said, took a piece, then got up to get both of them another beer. “I hear you’re the new sheriff.”
“It’s temporary.”
“Frank wants to retire so maybe—” He stopped at the look Nate gave him. “Right. You want to hear about Terri. I guess you know that Dr. Jamie came by and they talked for a long time. He seems to know a lot about trauma.”
Billy paused, waiting for Nate to say something, but he didn’t. “Terri seemed to be less restless after he left. Can you tell me what you’ve found out?”
“I want to know what you did to Terri just before your whole family ran out of town in the middle of the night. As far as I can piece together, you did something really bad, then made her swear to tell no one.”
Billy’s fair complexion showed the blood that rose in his face. “Good deductions. I think maybe you should keep that badge.”
Nate’s look didn’t soften. He pushed his empty plate away, got up, picked up the beer bottle and motioned for them to go to the living room. He took the couch and Billy sat on the chair across from him. Nate waited in silence for the younger man to begin.
“You know Kris Lennon who owns the Garden Day florist?” Billy said.
“I’ve met her.”
“When she was still Crystal Wilkins and in high school, I... I got her pregnant.” He looked at Nate but he said nothing. “I wish I could say that Terri and I had a fight and were broken up and that I was angry. Or that I...” Billy took a breath. “But there was nothing like that. I was happy and in love and seventeen years old. I was driving home from football practice, it was raining and Crystal was walking in the road. She was
drenched, and she was crying because her dad had thrown one of his fits and said she couldn’t go to some dance. I stopped the truck, she got inside and I pulled over to the side of the road to listen to her. When I hugged her, it was purely to comfort her, but...” He shrugged. “Six weeks later I had to tell Terri that Crystal was pregnant with my child. It was the worst moment of my life.”
“And Terri’s.” Nate’s voice was hard, unforgiving.
“I made it worse by getting her to swear that she’d never tell anyone what really happened.”
“She’s kept that promise. She never even told Brody. You got that vow from her, then your whole family left town.”
“They wanted to protect me and our name. And they wanted the baby. But Mrs. Wilkins was encouraging her daughter to get an abortion. She never said so, but I think she was afraid of her husband. Rodney Wilkins was—”
“Yeah, I know. Banged up in an accident. Not mentally stable and he drank a lot.”
“More than that. He tended toward violence, but Kris and her mother hid it. Mrs. Wilkins was afraid that when her husband found out that I had...had impregnated his daughter he might...”
“Come after you with a gun?”
“Yes. My parents made a deal with Crystal and her mother. They would adopt my...my child and in return, they’d—”