on a swivel.
It had been placed right next to the window.
Right next to the window.
She closed her eyes and willed herself to try to remember that night so long ago.
She and Mercy had been sleeping in the one bed. The bed had been facing the window. It was open that night, she remembered, because it had been so hot that day. The house had no air-conditioning and their mother wanted her girls to catch the night breezes.
A sound had awoken Pine. She was a lighter sleeper than her ten-minute-older sister.
She scrunched her eyes tighter.
Come on, remember. The guy came through the window. You saw him. He took up all the space there. You have to remember.
She superimposed Daniel James Tor into that scene. It was him. It had to be him.
But then her thoughts took a jolt.
Could it possibly be? This had nothing to do with who the intruder was. It was all about how he had come into the house.
She looked at the door leading into the room.
Had it not been a man coming through the window, but the reflection of the intruder in the mirror right next to the window? Which meant he had actually come into their room through the door and not the window. That would explain the absence of any traces of a ladder.
That also meant the person had come through the house, and gone past her parents, who had been downstairs. Or was there another explanation?
She closed her eyes and felt sick to her stomach. It couldn’t have been my father who had done it. It couldn’t have been.
But that meant that the person who had taken Mercy, and nearly killed her, was most likely someone who knew her parents. Maybe someone who was smoking weed and drinking beer with them that night?
She leaned back against the wall as she heard footsteps on the stairs. A moment later Tanner appeared in the doorway.
“Just came to check on Roscoe and thought I’d see if you needed anything.” He looked around the empty room. “Figure out anything yet?”
“Yeah, I might have.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“Maybe. The only thing is: What do I do next to follow it up?”
“I guess solving cases like this ain’t easy.”
“None of it,” she said. “Not a damn thing.”
“You’re not thinking of giving up though, right?”
“If you really knew me, you’d never have to ask that.”
However, as Pine left the room, her words seemed surer than she actually felt.
On the short drive back to Andersonville proper, the thoughts were swirling rapidly through Pine’s mind. They were filled with both cautious hope and logistical tangles. The basic problem was, how many of the people that her parents had known while they lived here were still in the area? She thought she might have a ready answer for this, though. Agnes Ridley and Lauren Graham were both still here, but she regarded neither as a viable suspect. However, either or both of the women should be able to help her with whoever was still around Andersonville who had known her parents.
She called Blum and told her what she had possibly discovered. She arranged to meet her at the Cottage. Blum was going to find Graham so they could talk to her. After that, they would go to see Ridley.
Pine took a long, hopeful breath. After all these years, she had a possibility. Which means I have a chance.
Chapter 14
I’D HAVE TO THINK about that,” said Graham after Pine had asked her question. They were once more in the breakfast room at the Cottage. Graham was sitting across from Pine and Blum at one of the tables. She had on a light blue skirt, black sweater, and ankle boots. Her hair and makeup were perfect, if overly managed, thought Pine. But then what did she know about such things, really? She used mascara maybe twice a year and lipstick the same.
“I’d appreciate it,” said Pine. “I have a vague memory of some visitors and friends. I was going to ask Agnes Ridley as well.”
“Can I ask why you want to find these people?”
Blum glanced at Pine, who said, “Just standard protocol in an investigation like this. You never know who might have seen or heard something. It might seem unimportant to them, but it could be significant to my investigation.”
Graham nodded but didn’t look wholly convinced by this answer. “What about the poor woman who was found dead?”
“What about her?”
“Does anyone know who she is?”
“Not yet. We’re working on it.”
“You’re working on it?” said Graham in surprise.
“They