some cookies and orange juice and fever medication right before the final program ended, and she took a nap while her brother Junior then took over his turn on the TV.”
“Lesley stated that he got home at five forty-five. His mother was already home,” Miranda said. “He said he thought things had been going on for a while before he got there. So let’s just ballpark an hour or so. No one said Pauline left early, that day. Her shift ended at four thirty, and they lived about fifteen minutes away. Colleen, her supervisor, confirmed she left shortly after four thirty—with her lover. We’ve identified that lover as Jim Hollace.”
“Did any of the Beise children mention going into the barn?” Knight asked.
Miranda shook her head. He’d not once seen the woman refer to notes or her phone for anything. The information was all stored in that brain of hers. “The only one who mentioned anything about being outside at all was Lesley when he arrived home. Junior was throwing up on the lawn.”
Dr. Appell’s phone beeped. She looked down. “It’s Agent Jaclyn Jones.”
“And? Did she learn anything we can use?”
Miranda’s phone beeped next. She read the text quickly.
“Yes. Jim Hollace confessed to burying Helen’s body.” She looked back at the room’s occupants. “But he swears up and down he had nothing to do with her death. She was already dead when he stopped by to talk to Pauline. Pauline persuaded him to bury her mother in the barn.”
“But she was buried alive,” Dr. Appell said. “What does he say happened?”
Miranda texted her friend quickly. A few moments later, the answers came. “He doesn’t know she wasn’t dead when he buried her. Told Jac that Pauline said it had finally been too much that day. And that Helen deserved what happened to her.”
Knight snorted. “Sure, he doesn’t. And now we still don’t know what happened to Helen.”
“We’ll find out.” A look of determination went over Miranda’s face. “I say we round up all the players. It’s time to get to the truth.”
56
Pauline had a lawyer with her. Knight figured the guy for exactly what he was the instant they walked into the small interview room off the second-floor entrance. He hoped Miranda knew what she was doing.
Knight was just there to observe, after all.
Pauline looked at her as she sat at the table. “Well. What do you want?”
The lawyer hushed her quickly. “We’re here to help as much as we can. I will, of course, object to any questioning I feel is out of bounds.”
“Of course,” Miranda said warmly. She smiled at the attorney briefly. “We just have questions. We have Jim Hollace, Pauline’s former lover, in custody. He admits he buried Helen. And since she was buried alive, he’s technically our killer, isn’t he?”
The attorney paused for a moment. Knight got it—the guy hadn’t expected the sunny smile, or her words. He almost snorted. He had a feeling Miranda liked shocking people at times. He’d learned one thing though—Miranda Talley was good at reading people. She used that skill to her advantage. “Then what do you need from Pauline?”
“We need a timeline. You see, someone helped Jim. We’re trying to figure out who that would be. Pauline was at work that day until around four thirty, I believe?”
Pauline nodded. “I don’t know why you think any of my kids know what happened. Jim says he did it. Isn’t that enough for you people?”
“The full truth is all we’re after, Pauline. Don’t you want to know what happened to your mother?”
“Of course, I do. I thought…I thought she just left because she didn’t want to see me again…She hated my children, her own grandchildren. Well, I’ve had two more she never met. And have seven grandchildren, too. I’m doing so much better than she ever did.”
It took all he had to bite back a response. Hollace had been adamant in his interview that Pauline had known her mother was dead that day. That she’d handed him the shovel. If they let her ramble, she just might get around to confessing.
“Then tell us everything you remember of that day. You went to work…you came home for lunch…what happened then?” Miranda asked, completely calmly.
“What do you think happened? I had a bunch of sick kids at home and wasn’t feeling so great myself. Pregnancy didn’t agree with me then.”
“So you…”
“Gave my youngest some acetaminophen. Held her for a bit. She went back to sleep, and I dealt with the other three and their