other twin is nearly dead? It doesn’t take a genius to make that leap of logic.”
“Were other people making these kinds of allegations against my father?”
“Not that I heard.”
“So what was Vincent’s beef with my dad?”
“I don’t know. As I already said, I didn’t know the man very well.”
“And you broke up the fight?”
“Yes. I wasn’t going to let this guy kick your dad’s ass, especially on a terrible day like that. He had enough to deal with without that jerk Vincent doing what he did.”
“So you believed my dad had nothing to do with it?”
Myron said curtly, “I told you that before and I haven’t changed my opinion.”
“So did you remember the names of the friends you had over to your house that night?”
“No. It must’ve been nothing special or else I would remember. Do you recall who you were with on a certain night thirty years ago?”
“Yeah. I was in bed with my twin sister getting my skull crushed.”
Myron looked away.
“Look, if you were doing something, I don’t know, illegal, smoking joints or something, it doesn’t matter to me. My parents were smoking joints. And the statute of limitations will have long since passed.”
Myron shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I just don’t recall who it was. Now the next day, yes, I do remember that one.”
“Did you ever ask Vincent why he went off on my dad?”
“No, I broke up the fight. I didn’t consider it my job to ask him what his motivation was.”
“Did my dad have any other interaction with the guy?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Small town. You’d think they would have run into one another.”
“If they did, I never heard about it. After Mercy vanished, your mom and dad had little to do with anyone here. They circled the wagons. Barely left the house. Tim would come to work at the mine, but everyone knew his heart wasn’t in it. And then one day you all just vanished.”
“So you and Britta didn’t see much of them after Mercy was taken?”
“No. But we were supportive. Britta would make meals and bring them over. She even brought our kids over a few times so you’d have someone your own age around. But I don’t think you were interested in playing anymore. Or being a kid anymore.”
“That’s pretty insightful of you.”
“I lost both my children years later. It does make you think.”
“Anything else you can remember?”
“I’d give Tim a lift to work, bring him home, that sort of thing. We socialized a little, but your parents had no interest in partying anymore. It was like the light had gone out for them.”
Pine nodded and looked down at her boots. “I guess I could see that.”
“What do you remember from that time?”
“Hospitals, tests, doctors poking at me.”
“And your mom and dad?”
“I think when they ‘circled the wagons,’ they left me on the outside.”
“No, I distinctly remember that your mother barely left your side. She would have sat in the classroom at school with you if she could have.”
“I’m not talking physically. Physically, she smothered me. Emotionally, there was a wall that would never come down.”
“She was terrified of losing you.”
Pine looked up at him, holding his gaze for a few seconds before saying, “Well, we ended up losing one another anyway, didn’t we?”
Chapter 42
PINE WAS GOING THROUGH her little inventory of childhood mementos once more.
Carol Blum sat in a chair and watched her examining them on her bed.
She had filled Blum in on her meetings with Agnes Ridley and Myron Pringle.
“Do you think this Barry Vincent is significant in some way?” asked Blum.
Pine stopped fiddling with the mementos and said, “I don’t know. It’s just weird that no one can tell me much about him. He came here after my parents did and left town before they did. He was the only one to get into a fight with my father over it. Myron didn’t think that my dad even knew the guy that well. So why would he start throwing out all these allegations?”
“Maybe they had a private beef that only they knew about,” conjectured Blum.
“But if it was just between them it’s going to be really hard to find out what it was.”
“Did your mother or father ever mention him afterward?”
“Not that I remember. I didn’t even know he existed until I got here, and Myron mentioned his name.” She looked down at the items. “There’s so much I don’t know about my own family, Carol. My dad didn’t die where my mom said he