“Woody Hull,” I say, unable to stop myself. I’m remembering the time I went to his office. How small he made me feel.
“Just because Woody Hull was at the school doesn’t mean he had anything to do with those girls,” Harmon says.
“But this does,” Rudy says, grabbing another page. His voice falters the way it does when he’s proud of himself, a hairline crack in his joy. I wonder sometimes if my son will ever feel pure, unblemished happiness without doubting himself. “See here where she quotes him saying that thing about the list of missing girls in Noreen Bagley’s room? And then Ms. Rockwell dreams about the list, putting it up, taking it down. Something bothered her about it. I didn’t see it at first, but when I read it over I realized Ms. Rockwell took down the list before she showed the rooms to Hull so . . .”
“Woody Hull couldn’t have seen that list unless he’d been in Noreen’s room before,” I say.
“Exactly,” Rudy says, rewarding me with a quick, feverish glance.
“That’s not enough to accuse a man of rape and murder,” Bantree says.
“There’s more,” Rudy counters. “See how Ms. Rockwell goes to Mr. Haywood the next day. She suddenly decides to retire. She’s even picked out a fancy house in Portland. How does an unmarried schoolteacher afford a house like that?”
Rudy grew up hearing me complain about the low salary of a teacher; I’m briefly gratified to hear that something I said sank in.
“She could have had family money,” Officer Gough says.
“But she didn’t,” Harmon says. “Cora Rockwell was a wayward girl herself. She came from abject poverty.”
“Yeah, so what if she told Mr. Haywood that if he didn’t pay up she’d expose his nephew as a rapist and a murderer?”
“This is all conjecture,” Kevin says. “There’s nothing solid here to prove Woody Hull had anything to do with those girls in the fifties and sixties and nothing to tie him to Lila’s death.”
“Lila would have submitted her paper to him,” I say.
“He says she didn’t,” Officer Gough says.
“You can at least check to see if he has an alibi for the time Lila was killed,” Harmon says.
“I can,” Kevin says, rising to his feet. “And I will, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. He’s in his seventies and none too fit. I doubt he can even walk to the Point.”
Officer Gough gets up with him but she’s looking down at Rudy. “This was some pretty impressive detective work,” she tells him. “You should think about a career in law enforcement.”
I expect Rudy to roll his eyes or smirk but he instead gives the young woman officer a grateful look that makes me envious.
Before he leaves, Kevin turns and says to Rudy, “Lila sounds like an extraordinary young woman. I promise I’ll find who did this. In the meantime, I ask that you all keep this to yourself. And no more playing detective.” He looks from Rudy back to me as if he knows what I’ve been up to. “Whoever killed Lila could kill again.” He holds my gaze when he utters this warning, then turns and leaves.
Chapter Seventeen
As soon as Kevin Bantree and Officer Gough leave Harmon turns to me. “I was worried sick when I came down here and found both cars missing.” His face is ashen, deep lines carved around his eyes and blue shadows beneath them. He looks like he hasn’t slept at all.
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “When I saw that Rudy had gone I didn’t think. I just took your car and followed him.”
“How did you know where he’d gone?” Harmon asks.
“Yeah, Mom,” Rudy chimes in, his bloodshot eyes accusing. “How’d you know?”
“I tracked your phone,” I say, meeting his gaze. “I think your taking my car without asking merits a tracking.”
“And you didn’t think to let me know?” Harmon asks.
“I . . . I didn’t want you to be mad at Rudy.”
“Because that’s the immediate reaction of everyone in this family,” Rudy says. “‘It must be Rudy’s fault.’”
I’m going to point out that in this case he had taken my car without permission, but Harmon speaks up first. “You’re right, son. You’ve taken the blame for a lot that’s not your fault. I want you to know that I’m proud of the way you’re trying to find out who hurt Lila. She was a remarkable young woman and she deserves justice.”
Rudy nods and looks down, his hands gripped tightly in his lap.