Family Sins(17)

“You never saw her after that? Not even when you were home?”

Bowie shook his head. “I did drive past their place once, but the house was empty. I thought they’d moved away.”

“She moved into Eden to make it easier for her to take care of him.”

Bowie took a slow, shaky breath. “Where does she live?”

“On the street behind the hospital and fire station. It’s directly behind the helipad, a small white house with black trim. I think she drives a blue Ford Taurus.”

Bowie listened but said nothing.

“Are you going to go see her?” Samuel asked.

“I don’t know. There’s too much else going on,” Bowie said.

“Her father is dying, Bowie. She’s alone. The least you could do is stop by to pay your respects.”

Having said what he’d come to say, Samuel went back inside, leaving Bowie on his own.

In the space of one day, Bowie had learned of his father’s murder and Talia’s lie. It was a hell of a lot to consider.

*

Finally everyone had gone home, and Leigh was seeing to getting Jesse settled in his bed. Bowie could hear his mother explaining all over again why Stanton wasn’t going to come tell him good-night. Taking pity on the both of them, Bowie got up and went down the hall to Jesse’s room.

“Hey, brother,” Bowie said. “I’m about to head to bed and wanted to come tell you good-night.”

The grateful expression on Leigh’s face was hard to miss.

“Thank you,” she said, softly.

“Why don’t you go shower first, Mama? I’ll shower after you’re done.”

“Yes,” she said, then leaned over and brushed a kiss across Jesse’s forehead. “Sleep well, honey. Mama loves you.”

Jesse smiled.

“Love you, too, Mama.”

Leigh gave Bowie’s hand a squeeze as she walked past him and out of the room.

Bowie sat down on the side of Jesse’s bed. It was hard to look at him and know the injuries he’d suffered in battle had left him with the mind of a child.

“Do you want me to read to you, Jesse?”

Jesse nodded, and pointed to a stack of books on the bedside table.

Bowie saw one with a bookmark and guessed someone had been reading that one to him. He smiled when he saw it was a biography of Daniel Boone.

When Jesse was a kid in elementary school the class had studied Daniel Boone, and once he learned the famous frontiersman had been from Kentucky, he’d come home with a head full of dreams about killing bears and living in a log cabin and hunting for his own food. He played at that until he outgrew the pretend phase of youth.

“That one,” Jesse said. “Daddy’s reading it to me.” Then his lower lip quivered as tears suddenly rolled. “Daddy can’t read to me anymore. Daddy is dead, Bowie. Daddy went to heaven like my friends in the war.”

Bowie patted Jesse’s arm and handed him a tissue to wipe his eyes.

“I know, man. We’re all sorry. We’re all sad. But let’s read a little bit more tonight. Daddy would want you to hear the rest of the story, right?”

“Yes. I’m ready,” Jesse said, and turned over on his side and closed his eyes.

Bowie felt like crying all over again. Instead, he began to read. As he did, he heard the water come on in the bathroom down the hall and knew his mama was probably in the shower.

Bowie knew when Jesse fell asleep because his lips parted and his breathing settled. He set the book aside, taking care to mark the place, and made sure the night-light was on before he left the room.

As he was walking down the hall, he paused. His mother was still in the bathroom, and he could hear her crying. Sympathetic tears blurred his vision. His heart hurt. Without the experience of living with the love of his life, he could only imagine how she felt.

Immediately, he thought of Talia. He thought he’d gotten over her rejection of his marriage proposal—until today. At the time he’d had anger to help him move on. But if her father’s illness was why she’d rejected him, she’d only had the lie and the burden of her father’s future. Had she been able to move on, or had the deception and the years of tending her father broken her spirit? Samuel was right. He would have to go see her. But his first priority was to the family and finding his father’s killer.

*

Every light in the Wayne mansion was on. From a distance it appeared there was a party going on, but inside it was far closer to a wake.

They sat around the dinner table, glaring at each other, wondering who was to blame for the current disruption of their lives. Being under suspicion for murder was horrifying. They hadn’t yet been contacted or questioned by the county constable or the local police, but, as their lawyer had warned them, it was only a matter of time.

He’d ordered every one of them to make sure they had an airtight alibi for the time between eight and ten this morning, then ordered them all to keep their mouths shut in public and feign surprise that anyone had taken the accusation seriously.

The only two out of the whole family who actually had an airtight alibi were Nita and Fiona, because they’d been seen in and around Eden all morning. But they were part of the Wayne empire, and depending on what they knew and when they’d known it, it might not be enough to eliminate them from guilt. The sins of a family like theirs could be hard to live down.