See Me(146)

“What a wonderful show of solidarity and love,” Lily pronounced with a hug as soon as Maria walked up. “I simply can’t wait to meet each and every member of your wonderful family!”

Lily’s Southern-tinged Spanish delighted everyone she met, the same way it had charmed Maria, and as the relatives crowded around her and Evan, Maria pulled Colin away and stepped onto the back porch.

“How did it go?” she asked.

“I’ll need to put a final coat of paint on the wall, but the primer was able to cover up the spray paint. We got rid of everything broken, and set aside the stuff that might be able to be cleaned. I’m not sure there’s much we can do about your clothes, though.” When she nodded, he went on. “Did you hear any updates on Margolis? Or have you heard from Atkinson?”

“No,” she answered. “I’ve been checking my phone for messages all day.”

He looked around. “Where’s Serena?”

“She left a few minutes before you got here. She has that interview tonight, and she had to get ready.” Maria reached for his hand. “You look tired.”

“I’m okay.”

“It was more work than you expected, wasn’t it?”

“No,” he said. “But it was hard for me to keep my anger in check.”

“Yeah,” she said. “For me, too.”





After making the rounds with the family, Lily and Evan joined Colin and Maria at the table on the porch.

“Thanks for cleaning up my place,” Maria said.

“It was no problem at all,” Lily said. “And I must say, it’s an absolutely charming location. Evan and I considered moving downtown as well, but Evan insisted that he couldn’t imagine having no lawn to mow.”

“I don’t do that now,” Evan said. “Colin does it. I hate mowing the lawn.”

“Hush, now,” she said. “I was just teasing. But you should know that physical labor can be quite attractive in a man.”

“What do you think I was doing today?”

“My point exactly,” she said. “You cut a very appealing figure as you were moving furniture, you know.”

The door to the porch opened and Carmen came out carrying place settings for each of them, followed by several plates of food that occupied more than half the table. Not only had the kitchen been hopping all day, but most of the relatives had brought food as well.

“I hope you are hungry,” Carmen said in English.

It was too much food. Just like always. While Colin seemed to have expected it, both Evan and Lily looked overwhelmed.

“This is great, Mom,” Maria said, suddenly grateful for her mother’s wordless demonstration of love. “I love you.”





CHAPTER 31





Colin





A

fter dinner, Colin wandered out to the front yard, seeking some time alone. A pair of uncles sat in lawn chairs overlooking the street, nodding at Colin’s polite salute. Reflexively, he relived the destruction he’d seen at Maria’s house, trying to piece together its connection to Atkinson and Lester.

Lester and Atkinson had once worked together, and Lester had introduced Atkinson to his sister. And while Maria believed that Lester had been sending messages to her, Dr. Manning suggested that Atkinson was responsible.

It was uncanny timing that Atkinson had disappeared shortly before Maria’s stalking began. Presumably, Atkinson had slashed Maria’s tires, but which of the two had killed Copo? Lester shot Margolis; Atkinson removed the car from the bungalow and later trashed Maria’s place. Given the trove of information found on Atkinson’s computer, his involvement in Maria’s stalking seemed clear-cut, but certain details continued to bother Colin.

Dr. Manning had mentioned an argument between Lester and Atkinson and said they’d had a falling-out, but when had they regained each other’s trust? Which one was in charge? Why had Dr. Manning insisted that Atkinson was trying to frame Lester when it seemed clear they had to be working together? And if they were working together, why drive two cars to the Sanchez house the night Lester attacked Maria?

And yet… as Colin had cleaned Maria’s condo, he’d thought back on the earlier conversation with Detective Wright and realized that there was no evidence conclusively linking Atkinson to the trashing of the condo yet. There wasn’t any conclusive evidence supporting the idea that he’d slashed Maria’s tires, either. Despite the content found on his computer, Maria had never interacted with him or even seen him. She’d said all along that Atkinson’s involvement never felt plausible to her, which meant…

What?

Suppose Atkinson really had gone off to meet a woman. And what if Lester knew that Atkinson would be out of town? Lester could have planted the information on Atkinson’s computer and taken Atkinson’s car while he was away. Lester could have – as Maria had pointed out the night before – easily paid someone to slash Maria’s tires. Maybe even trash her condo. It would be the perfect setup… as long as you believed that Lester was capable of such intricate planning. Based on the behavior that Colin had witnessed at the bungalow and the way Wright had described Lester’s actions at the station, that felt unlikely. And since Atkinson had apparently driven Lester back to Shallotte after he’d shown up at the Sanchezes’, Atkinson had to have been nearby. They had to be working together, and Colin supposed that Lester must have been spooked by the sirens. Atkinson must have heard them, too, fueling his own panic, and he’d picked Lester up before racing the two of them out of the neighborhood. They would have been driving fast and possibly as recklessly as Colin had, but in the opposite direction…