so anti-government. “Are you still married to Pauline?”
He rubbed his mouth, then spit on the ground near his feet. “No. We split some ten years back. No. Twelve. It was twelve. Meg was a baby then, still in diapers.”
“Do you know where she is?” Children left trails out there. At least, they should in today’s world. No one was completely off-grid anymore. “Your children?”
A guilty look flashed over his face. “I… Look here, I’m only telling you this because your grandma was a good woman. Kind and all.”
“Still is. Going strong at the diner and inn. Finally starting to turn things over to us girls, but it’s so she can do other things, she says.”
“That’s good to hear. She was always good to my Monica. A real good influence on her. I…never said it, but I appreciated that.” He stared at her for a long time. Miranda stood, just patiently waiting. And waiting.
He sighed. “Look, I took the four younger girls and my youngest son and left. Older two stayed with their mother.”
“Where are they now?” Four? Well. Apparently, there had been more Beises born since then.
“Girls are…” His face showed momentary confusion. “Megan was born after we left Masterson. Honey goes by Olivia now. I remember.”
“You just changed her name? Can you tell me why? Why did you change yours?”
Heat hit his cheeks. “We just…did. Pauline didn’t like the Beise name anymore. She made us change everybody’s. First and last. It was easier just to give in to what she wanted in front of her. Pauline…could be pushy when she wanted something. She took care of all of it.”
“Why did you take the younger children and not Monica?” Ten years ago, Monica would have been eighteen. It was possible she hadn’t wanted to go. Monica or Junior, who would have been sixteen or so ten years ago. And if Luther had kept all the kids with him—why hadn’t Pauline fought it? There was more going on then what he was saying. “Luther, we need to find everyone. We have a lot of questions.”
“What kind?”
“Helen.” She watched his eyes for any reaction.
Luther just shook his head. “Haven’t seen her since we left. Even before. I hadn’t seen her in a few days. I had taken a job hauling cattle for Old Ben Tyler a week before. When I came home, Pauline had everything packed and was in a fit. Said her mom finally kicked us out, and we had to be gone that night. Said her mom had taken all the savings we had as back pay on the rent. But we were never behind. I just figured the old witch had finally cracked and stolen what we had. Someone had been stealing from our cash savings for years. Always figured it was her.”
“So you just left the property behind? Didn’t you keep your money in the bank?”
“Didn’t have much choice on the property. That’s why we changed our names. So we could avoid her mama filing against us in small claims. Pauline said her mother threatened to sue us for the damage the kids did to the house. It was my house; not hers. She went to stay with a third cousin, and we moved out that same night. With three puking kids, Monica all mad and crying, and Lesley practically in shock. Hated what that did to my kids.”
That was not the explanation Miranda had been anticipating. But he’d just handed them a seriously strong motive for him killing Helen. Him—or Pauline. “Luther, Helen Caudrell didn’t move to a third cousin. Our resources tell us she didn’t have a third cousin.”
“No one liked that old witch. Evil, she was. Pure, pure evil. I hated leaving my kids with her when I drove loads, but it was the only choice we had, considering we needed the money I could bring in using my Dad’s old semi. With the baby coming soon, I was trying to save some money, I remember. So we could put Marcie and the baby in daycare instead of leaving them with Pauline’s mother.”
“Why? What would she do?”
“She believed in slapping the kids around. Spare the rod. I never did much agree with that.” He narrowed a glance at her. “I never once laid a hand on any of my kids. Not once. Even when they no doubt deserved it for sassing. But Pauline and Helen—they’d hit first, lecture later. It was one of the main reasons we split. Pauline wouldn’t leave Junior alone. Always on