Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10)(24)

“What was her father insured for?” D.D. thought out loud.

“Half a mill.” Phil spoke up. “Thought you might ask.”

“Better motive for shooting him.”

“If you’re Mrs. Hopkins, sure. You thinking Evelyn didn’t do it after all? Her father’s death wasn’t her fault?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore.” D.D. gave up on pacing, leaned against the doorjamb. “There are too many strange coincidences here. A woman who may or may not have been involved in two fatal shootings in the past sixteen years. A victim who may or may not have had ties with an infamous serial rapist. It’s like this giant Gordian knot. I can’t figure out which string to pull first.”

“Conrad Carter doesn’t have significant ties to this community. No coworkers, no family, no electronic devices. Until the computer geeks can make some progress, there’s not enough string there to pull.”

“Which leaves us with Evelyn Carter. The quiet one, according to the neighbors.”

“She has a mom,” Phil said.

“Who just paid half a million cash to get her daughter out of jail. Good luck with that interview.”

“Evelyn has a job.”

D.D. nodded slowly. “Coworkers. Principal, fellow teachers. All right, let’s start there.”

“Let’s?” Phil asked, arching a brow at her use of the plural.

“Let’s,” D.D. repeated firmly. “I already worked one shooting case involving this woman. Like hell I’m missing something the second time around.”

Phil sighed. “Let’s,” he agreed.

—

THE PRINCIPAL OF Evelyn Carter’s school was more than happy to speak with them. Unfortunately, Principal Ahearn had nothing useful to say. She’d hired Evie four years ago. The woman was an excellent math teacher—did they know who her father was? The school was lucky to have her; the kids were lucky to have her. Evie was notoriously shy, of course. Pleasant but reserved. Some teachers—especially of the advanced math variety—could be like that.

Yes, Principal Ahearn knew Evie had been expecting. Best she could tell, Evie was very happy. Never in a million years would Principal Ahearn have expected last night’s incident. They were making counselors available for the students. Everyone was in a state of shock. There had to be some kind of logical explanation. Or maybe it’d been a terrible accident—

Principal Ahearn caught herself, flushed slightly.

“You mean the way Evie’s father died?” D.D. asked helpfully.

The woman turned redder. “Evie’s never mentioned it. But of course I had to run a background check before hiring her.”

D.D. found this interesting. “She was never charged in her father’s death. There wouldn’t have been anything in her background reports.”

“Well, not hers …”

D.D. got it. “Her father. You Googled her father. A famous mathematician, you’re looking to hire his daughter. Makes sense. You check out his Wikipedia profile, ending with how he died, accidentally shot by his teenage daughter in his own home.”

“Not many Harvard professors come to violent ends. And Earl Hopkins was considered to be one of the best minds in his field.”

“Did Evie know you knew?” Phil asked.

Principal Ahearn nodded. “It was one of those things. None of us ever spoke of it, but in this day and age of immediate access to information, how could you not? Every now and then, one of the students would figure it out and rumors would start flying. Evie herself … She never spoke of it. She showed up. She did her job. And she gave the best of herself as a teacher to her kids. Again, never in a million years …”

“Anyone ever threaten her? Try to make a big deal about what happened to her father?” Phil pushed.

“How could they? His cause of death was public knowledge. Tragic, absolutely, but not scandalous. Evie herself had been cleared of all charges. It’s a sad family history, one of those things people are bound to whisper about. But other than that?” The principal shrugged.

D.D. nodded. She wondered what it was like for Evie, trying to move forward with her life while being forever shadowed by such a dark past. The principal was right; thanks to the internet, nothing was secret anymore. And having chosen to go into mathematics, even as a high school teacher, Evie Carter was bound to be connected with her father. Did the fact that no one talked to her directly about his death make things easier or worse?

“What did you know of Conrad Carter?” Phil was asking.

“I didn’t. I met him once or twice at after-school functions. He traveled a lot. Sales, I believe.”

“Any sign of trouble in the marriage?”

“Not that I could see.” Principal Ahearn hastily shook her head.

“But you wouldn’t know, would you?” D.D. pushed. “You respected Evelyn, but you weren’t close to her.”

Apologetic shrug. “I wouldn’t say we had a connection. But I’ll miss her.”

“You’ll miss her.”

“Yes. I got a call, just an hour or two ago, from her mother. She said given the circumstances, Evie wouldn’t be returning to work.”

D.D. arched a brow. “Her mother quit her job for her? And you accepted that?”