The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(22)

The deeper she’d dug, the more like a lucid dream her entire childhood had felt.

She took a careful breath and pulled herself back to the present—back to what really mattered. “You knew her.”

She didn’t frame it as a question, but her mother answered it anyway. “I had seen her around town from time to time, and it was brought to my attention that her relationship with her father was . . . problematic.”

Problematic. What a careful way to phrase it. Eden frowned. “He hurt her?” If there was the slightest chance there were other suspects beyond Elysia, why the hell had Zach sent her out here? She pressed her lips together. You’re looking for a way out, and you know it. Zach had his reasons, same as you . . . though he had better explain them tonight.

Domestic violence doesn’t explain the presence of the tattoos. Remember that, even if nothing else is true.

“He was abusive, yes. She often wore scarves despite warm weather, but that could be one of those teenage fashion statements.” Martha waved that away. “I wasn’t sure until one of my men witnessed Michael raising a hand to her.”

There was so much pride in her tone, it didn’t take much to connect the dots. “Your man stepped in. Brought her back here.” Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

“Yes to both. We offered her a place to stay without any conditions—no, don’t look at me like that, Eden. I know what you think of me, but there truly were no conditions. She was in trouble so we gave her shelter.”

And made a very public display of their charity to new members. Martha never did anything without reason, and Eden highly doubted she’d started with Elouise Perkins. “You wrote her a recommendation letter.”

“I wrote her several.” The kettle began to whistle, and she poured the boiling water into the waiting cup. “You’re sure you don’t want any?”

“I’m sure.” She didn’t exactly think her mother would poison her, but the myth of Persephone struck a little too close to home. It might be silly to think that eating on Elysian ground would be enough to trap her here, but Eden was feeling particularly superstitious at the moment. Best case, it represented a white flag she had no interest in offering. Worst case . . . well, there was a murderer on the loose, wasn’t there? The MO might not match, but she wasn’t about to take any chances.

Martha stirred some honey into her mug. “Where was I? Yes, the recommendation letters. I offered her a place in Elysia, of course, but she was determined to attend college.”

“Of course you did.” Eden didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of her tone. “Do you know which college she chose?”

Martha gave her wide eyes. “I’m surprised you and that lovely sheriff don’t. She was planning on attending Montana State.”

Since she had a feeling Zach already knew that, she let the passive-aggressive comment go, though it rankled. A lot. She’d known she was on a need-to-know basis, but her pride stung at showing up here and having her lack of information thrown in her face. “I don’t suppose you know when she left?”

“Ah, let’s see.” Martha closed her eyes, a habit she had when trying to remember something. “I believe school started on the seventeenth. The last I saw her was . . . September second. Yes, it was the second. Abram was kind enough to give her a ride to the bus stop so she didn’t have to walk.”

By her count, the suspect list was just adding up. Abram was on there solely because of personal bias, because he’d been all too willing to torment her at her mother’s command when she was younger. She was inclined to add Joseph to the list simply because she despised him. And her mother . . . well, Martha was the puppeteer. It was impossible to imagine that anyone in Elysia breathed wrong without her say-so. “How kind of him.”

“It was, yes.” Martha said it without a hint of irony.

Eden started to say that she doubted Abram had done a kind thing in his life, but she stopped herself before the words left her lips. Insulting him wouldn’t get her anywhere, no matter how true it was. She cleared her throat. “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Eden. As much as I’d like to be able to tell you I know exactly who killed her so they can be brought to justice, it simply isn’t true. If you’re looking for the criminal here, you’re looking in the wrong place.”

Either she didn’t know about the tattoos or she was a really great liar . . . which Eden already knew to be true. She recrossed her legs, hating that this meeting was creating more questions than answers. But then, she’d known the only way she was going to get real information from this place was to snoop on her own. She’d bet her last paycheck that Martha had rehearsed how this little tête-à-tête would go before she’d agreed to Eden coming out here in the first place.

I need a chance to get some more alone time with Beth.

It wouldn’t be today, though. Which meant she had to smile and play whatever game was necessary to be allowed back.

“Tell me what’s new with you, baby.” Martha took a careful drink of her tea. “It’s been so long since we talked.”

For good reason. She set her hands in her lap, digging her nails into her palm. “I spend a lot of time working. Traveling for work. Training for work.”