The Last of the Moon Girls(29)
Lizzy’s admiration for Roger Coleman ticked up another notch. “You seem to have taken the case very seriously.”
“I took all my cases seriously, but I admit this one hit me hard. I know what it’s like to lose a child, but I never had to wonder what happened to my son. For better or worse, I knew. The Gilmans didn’t. And they still don’t. I can’t imagine what that must be like, to wake up every day and know my child was gone and have no idea how or why. It’s also why I agreed to talk to you. It struck me when Andrew told me you were thinking about digging all this up again that maybe the Gilmans weren’t the only ones who deserved answers.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
“Roger,” he reminded again. “I’ve got seventeen years under my belt as a detective, and in all that time there were only three cases I couldn’t close. This was one of them. I’m telling you this because I need you to understand that my only stake in all of this is getting at the truth, and that anything I may find is in that interest alone. I don’t work for you.”
“I understand. I’ll wait to hear from you. In the meantime, I was thinking of talking to the Gilmans.”
Roger’s face darkened. “You’re certainly welcome to try, but I doubt you’ll get very far. The last time I had contact, Fred Gilman nearly tore my head off, and Mrs. Gilman looked like a ghost. Not that I blame either of them. He wanted someone’s head on a pike, and she just wanted it to be over. They needed closure, and I couldn’t give it to them.”
“Maybe we can still give it to them,” Lizzy said quietly. “If I can just make them see that that’s what I want too, they’ll talk to me.”
“Maybe so,” Roger said, though he sounded less than convinced. “I was sorry to hear about your grandmother, by the way. She seemed like a good woman, despite what was happening in her world. I wish our paths could have crossed under different circumstances.”
Lizzy met his gaze squarely. “She didn’t hurt those girls, Roger.”
“You have no idea how much I’d like to believe that, Ms. Moon.”
“It’s Lizzy,” she corrected. “And I’m guessing it’s not half as much as I’d like to prove it to you.”
TEN
Lizzy was quiet on the ride back. She could feel Andrew’s eyes sliding in her direction now and then, but she was too busy digesting what she’d learned about Randall Summers’s negligent handling of the investigation to make conversation. And yet, in a perverse way, it gave her hope. She’d been operating under the assumption that the police had simply run out of leads, when the truth was the investigation had been quietly and deliberately quashed.
It was clear now why Roger had walked away from a nearly twenty-year career with the Salem Creek Police Department. She barely knew the man, but she’d seen enough to know he wasn’t the type to stomach collusion and blatant malfeasance, which was what Summers’s actions amounted to. Which was why she believed him when he said he’d comb through his notes in search of some previously missed clue. Not because he wanted to help her, but because he wanted to get to the truth. Because that was how he was built.
“Here we are,” Andrew said, as they pulled into the drive. “Home again.” He put the truck in park and turned to look at her. “You haven’t said much since we left Roger’s. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She was clutching her purse with one hand, the door handle with the other, ready to be alone with her thoughts. Instead, she sagged back in her seat. “It’s just a lot to take in, you know? To find out the chief of police was willing to let my grandmother take the fall for something she didn’t do because he wanted to run for mayor one day. What kind of man does something like that?”
“The ambitious kind.”
Lizzy shook her head, unable to comprehend it. “Someone needs to know.”
“Who? Summers doesn’t have a boss, unless you count Cavanaugh, and I think it’s safe to say he’s not going to be helpful.”
“The governor, then. Or the media. Someone.”
Andrew looked away, his hands still on the wheel. “I get that you’re angry, Lizzy, but how many fights are you willing to jump into?”
“As many as it takes.”
He blew out a breath, slow and thoughtful. “Okay. But maybe take them one at a time. Focus on what matters right now.”
“I want to talk to the Gilmans.”
Something like a wince crossed Andrew’s face. “You’re probably the last person the Gilmans are going to want to talk to. Why not wait and see what Roger comes up with?”
“And if he comes up with nothing?”
“I don’t know. I’m just not sure dragging the Gilmans through it all again is a good idea.”
“I’m trying to find out what happened to their daughters. You don’t think they’d want to help me do that?”
“In their minds, they already know what happened, Lizzy. As far as they’re concerned you’ll just be trying to clear Althea. You should also know the Gilmans split up a few years back. Fred’s still around, but I’m pretty sure someone told me Susan moved away.”
Lizzy was sorry but not surprised. She’d heard about marriages unraveling when a child died. Wives blaming husbands. Husbands shutting down emotionally. It was hard to imagine going on when a piece of your heart had been torn away forever. But then the Gilmans didn’t have to imagine it. It happened.