you tell him about her?”
“So you want to know, too?”
He lifted the glasses a third time. “I was her friend as well.”
“But I don’t recall either of you trying to contact my mother after we left Andersonville.”
“I didn’t know where you had moved.”
“But Lineberry had kept in touch with my dad. And my dad knew where we were. All Lineberry had to do was ask.”
The glasses came down again. “Yes, well, I don’t know what to tell you.”
“So I guess you weren’t as friendly with my father as you said.”
“What are your questions?” he asked in a brusque tone.
“What were you doing the night my sister was taken? Britta said she didn’t remember.”
“Then why would I?”
“Do you?”
“I’d have to think about it.”
“So what about the next day? Run me through that.”
“I was at work.”
“When did you hear what had happened?”
“Britta called me at the office that morning.”
“What did you do?”
“I couldn’t leave the office right that minute. But I did get away early. Britta had already gone to the hospital with your mother. I went over to your house. Your dad was out looking for your sister. When he got back I saw him. That’s when that idiot Barry Vincent accused Tim of having done this awful thing. He went after Vincent and I pulled them apart. Nearly got beaten up in the process. Luckily, I’m a big guy. And I was lot stronger back then.”
Pine looked him over. He was a big man. Taller than Daniel Tor. And thirty years ago he probably was more muscular, and stronger, as he had just admitted.
“Why weren’t the police at the house to do that?”
“As I said before, I don’t know. I can just tell you that there weren’t any. It was only a bunch of gawkers.”
“Did they try to determine if anyone other than my parents were at the house that night?”
“Again, I don’t know. I only know that Britta and I weren’t there.”
“So where were you?”
“If you really have to know, we were at our house entertaining some friends.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that the first time around?”
“You were very blunt in your questioning. It turned me off, if you want to know the truth.”
“I always prefer the truth. Who were these friends?”
“Just friends. We had some drinks, smoked some pot, and that was that.”
“Friends have names?”
“They’re no longer in the area.”
Pine considered this as Myron climbed off the float, came over to the edge of the pool, and rested his arms on the coping. He said, “Now let me ask you some questions. What do you know about your parents’ backgrounds?”
“Not a lot. High school sweethearts in Kansas. Fell in love, married early, had me and my sister, and then at some point we moved to Georgia.”
“Really? Who told you that?”
Pine scrunched up her face. “They did, why?”
“Because your mother was a model starting at age sixteen. Milan, London, Paris. I doubt they went to the same high school and I doubt it was in Kansas. I’m not sure that Julia even finished high school.”
Pine couldn’t find her voice for a few moments. “Bullshit.”
“Come with me.”
Myron climbed out of the pool, toweled off, donned a T-shirt, and led Pine inside the house through a rear door and up to the second floor. He entered a room and beckoned her to join him. The room was set up as a small study. Myron tugged open the drawer of a wooden file cabinet, rummaged through it, and pulled out a magazine. He opened it to a certain page and handed it to Pine.
“Your mother treading the catwalk in London.”
Pine looked down at the open page and her mind seemed to flutter uncomfortably as her gaze settled on the tall, leggy teenager who looked remarkably like her.
“A surprise, I take it,” said Myron, who was watching her closely.
“Where did you get this?” demanded Pine.
“When your mom had been drinking or smoking pot, she opened up more than normal. She mentioned doing some modeling when she was a teenager. I was intrigued by that.”
“But that doesn’t explain how you came by this magazine.”
“This was long after they had moved away from Georgia. In fact, it was only a few years ago. I did some online research on her. There wasn’t anything there, but then I had a guy I knew who had access to the fashion world check into it. I gave him what I knew about your mom, including a picture I had taken of her when she did live here. It