The first thing that Michelle noticed when she walked into the room was that the wedding photo was not where it should have been.
Sean happened to glance in a corner. He reached over and picked it up. “Why would he have put this in the trash can?”
“I’m getting a really bad feeling about something.”
Sean looked down at the photo. “Your mom’s dead. On the day of her funeral he chucks their wedding photo in the trash. What would make him do that?”
“Do you think Pam Dutton ever threw her wedding photo in the trash?”
“Because Tuck was screwing around on her? You think your mom…” He obviously couldn’t finish the thought in her presence.
“I’m just… I don’t know.”
“You sure you want to go down that road?”
“I want to get to the truth. Any way I can.”
“There are usually some telltale signs.” He added, “Other than wedding pictures in trash cans.”
Michelle was already opening the drawers of the bureau while Sean checked through the closet. A few minutes later Michelle held up some pretty revealing lingerie with the price tags still attached while Sean had pulled from the closet three new-looking outfits and a pair of spiky boots.
They eyed each other, but left the obvious thought unspoken.
They put the clothes back and Michelle led him to the small den across from the dining room. There was a desk in one corner. She started going through the drawers. She pulled out the checkbook and handed it to Sean. “My mom handled the bills.”
While Sean sorted through the check register, Michelle methodically examined the credit card statements.
A few minutes later she looked up. “There’s hundreds of dollars’ worth of recent charges for men’s clothing from four different online retailers. I didn’t see any stuff from those stores in the bedroom.”
He held up the check register. “There’s an entry here for a local golf tournament fee. Did your dad play golf?”
“No, but Mom did. So that’s not out of whack.”
Sean held up a piece of paper he’d pulled from the desk. “This is part of the entry form for the golf tournament. It’s fifty bucks per person, but the check was for a hundred.”
“So two people.”
“Michelle, the form says it’s a couples tournament.”
Michelle snatched the paper from him and glanced down it before laying it aside.
Sean looked uneasily at her. “Don’t you think your father could have easily found all this out? I mean, we did in about ten minutes.”
“My mom didn’t seem to work very hard to cover it up. Maybe she didn’t care. Maybe he didn’t.”
“Your dad doesn’t strike me as the type to meekly accept being cheated on.”
“You don’t really know my father, Sean.” She looked down at her hands. “And maybe I don’t either.”
“What’s going on here?”
They both looked up. Bill Maxwell was staring at them. He glanced around at the checkbook and credit card statements.
“What’re you doing, Mik?”
“Going through some of the bills. I know Mom took care of that and I didn’t want Dad to get messed up on something.”
She shoved the items back in the drawer and rose. “Dad left.”