Family Sins(50)

“What will happen to them now?” Riordan asked.

Bowie touched his mother’s arm and answered for her, because he knew she wouldn’t.

“Mama took over the investment part of Daddy’s business years ago. She and Daddy’s clients will all be fine.”

Riordan eyed Leigh with renewed respect.

“That’s good to know. Meanwhile, as to why I came... Now that I understand the distance you kept between you and your family a little better, I want to know if you suspect any one sibling in particular. Is there anyone you think is capable of murder?”

She rolled her eyes. “Any of them. All of them.”

Riordan grunted softly. “Seriously?”

Leigh sighed. “Our father was a hard taskmaster. He never liked to fail, and he drilled that same fear into all of us. I guess if I had to pick one, I’d pick Justin.”

Bowie was surprised and let it show. “Your twin brother?”

Riordan frowned. “He’s your twin?”

“I’m older by a minute and a half,” Leigh said.

“Why Justin?” Riordan asked.

“He holds grudges, and he’s mean like our father was,” Leigh said. “Do you have any evidence against him?”

Riordan sighed.

“The evidence I have doesn’t point to anyone in particular, or I wouldn’t be here. Telling you that is highly irregular, as I’m sure you know. Normally we don’t admit there isn’t much of a lead to follow.”

Leigh’s hands curled into fists.

“You aren’t telling me they’re going to get away with this, are you?” she asked.

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Riordan said. “I’m hoping someone panics and gives up the guilty party, or the killer panics and makes a mistake.”

Leigh frowned.

“The only one who might panic is Nita, but unless it’s common knowledge among them as to who did it, the guilty one will never tell.”

“Why not?” Riordan asked.

“Because the others would turn him or her in just to get the monkey off their backs,” she said.

Bowie was stunned. He couldn’t imagine having that kind of relationship with family.

Riordan made a couple of notes and then moved to another topic.

“I need to ask you about paying off the loans on the property belonging to Stanton’s brother, and also his sister’s property.”

Leigh nodded, then glanced over her shoulder, a little concerned Jesse wasn’t back.

“Bowie, would you make sure Jesse is okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bowie said, and left the room.

Riordan could only imagine what it cost her emotionally to take care of a grown man with a child’s mind. Her situation strengthened his determination to solve this crime as soon as possible.

“Did you and Stanton know when you decided to pay off those loans that your estranged family was heavily invested in the resort, and did you know they owned the lending institution that bought up the loans from the local bank?”

“No, of course not. Like I said, I know nothing about them now. Nothing. We did it because Polly and Carl are living on the Cyrus home place, and because Thomas and Beth are living on the Youngblood home place. Stuff like that matters to us. People hit hard times. It’s not the first time the homesteads were ever mortgaged, but it was the first time the loans were called in. It was the abruptness of it that caused the hardship, and the new owner of the loans wasn’t giving anyone a break.”

The moment Leigh said that, her eyes welled with tears. She’d forgotten for a moment that there was no more “us.” She took a slow, shaky breath and looked away.

Bowie came back at a lope.

“I had to take a picture,” Bowie said. “You need to see what Jesse’s doing.” He was smiling when he sat down beside Leigh and handed her the phone.

The sight of her son happily sitting in the middle of the chicken yard hand-feeding peelings to the hens all bunched around him was exactly what she needed to see. She laughed.

“Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen him do that before,” she said. Then she leaned forward to show the picture to Riordan. “He’s going to be my saving grace in this heartbreak.”

Riordan grinned. “If you could bottle up that joy and sell it, you’d be a rich woman,” he said.

Leigh sighed. “I already am rich...in love and family.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Riordan said, as he handed the phone back to Bowie.

“Is there anything we can do?” Leigh asked. “I’ll do anything to get justice for Stanton.”

Riordan frowned. “No, ma’am. You do not put yourself in harm’s way. You have a family who loves you and a son who needs you.”

At that moment the back door banged, and then they heard footsteps.

“Speaking of that son,” Leigh said, as she got up and caught Jesse on the run long enough to pick a little chicken feather from his hair, then check the back of his jeans to make sure he hadn’t sat in chicken poop. “Go wash your hands, Jesse, then Bowie will get you a root beer.”

“Root beer!” Jesse cried, and loped toward the hall.

Riordan’s admiration for Leigh Youngblood rose even more as she sat back down.