The Third Grave (Savannah #4) - Lisa Jackson Page 0,58

to shake him from his story. The play hadn’t worked.

In twenty years, his story hadn’t changed. Not one iota. But he was irritated, his face red.

“Look.” His gaze was laser sharp on Delacroix. “I don’t know why you all think I did it. Why? Why would I kidnap my sisters? And how? God, I just told you I didn’t even have a car!”

“Did Ashley have access to one?” Delacroix asked.

“I don’t know! Holy shit!” Owen glanced over to Wells. “I told you this would be a waste of time. I don’t know why I even agreed to do it in the first place. They”—he hooked a thumb toward Reed and Delacroix—“don’t listen. After all this time. It’s pointless. I can’t tell them anything I don’t know.”

“He’s right,” the attorney cut in suddenly. Looking directly at the detectives, Wells, no longer affable, said, “My client’s cooperated over and over again to the point that he’s nearly being harassed.” Before they could argue, he held up a hand, palm toward Reed. “I think we’re done here.”

Reed glanced at Delacroix. “We got what we came for.”

“Good! I need a break.” Owen shot to his feet and without a look over his shoulder walked out the French doors, reached into his jeans pocket and withdrew a crumpled pack of cigarettes and a lighter. His hands shook as he lit up. Through the glass Reed watched him inhale deeply, pacing back and forth in front of the panes, water in the swimming pool shimmering behind him. He was shaking his head, his lips moving as if he were having a conversation with himself.

Wells stood and rounded the desk. “He didn’t want to talk to you, thought it was a bad idea, but I convinced him to cooperate once more. I don’t think I can do it again, and really, I wouldn’t want to. He’s told you everything he knows.”

Reed silently agreed, though Delacroix seemed about to argue.

“If he thinks of anything else,” she said, handing Wells her card.

“I’ll let you know.” This time his smile was a little colder as he escorted them to the front door. “But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”

Only when they’d driven away from the house and through the rows of pecan trees did Delacroix turn to him. “You notice anything strange about Duval?”

“Such as?”

“Such as he didn’t so much as ask one question about what happened to his sisters. All he knows is what he’s read in the papers or seen on TV. Don’t you think it’s odd that he didn’t ask how they died? How long they’d been there? Why was there only two of them? What happened to the youngest?” She angled her chin up at him.

“Maybe.”

“And maybe he didn’t ask because he already knew,” she ventured, rolling down the window a crack, then closing it again.

Just like Morrisette.

He felt a little pang of regret, a sense of déjà vu that gave him pause, but dismissed it.

For now.

“He’s lying.”

“Lying?” Reed accelerated onto the main road.

“Yeah, I can feel it, y’know. He’s got secrets.” She chewed on her lower lip, the fingers of her right hand drumming against the window’s ledge. “It’s just not right, he’s holding back. I just needed to push him harder.”

“Any harder and he’d just clam up.”

She sent him a look. “Or come clean. There’s got to be a way. Probably through the girlfriend. Ashley Jefferson. She’s Duval’s alibi, so she’s the key.” She whipped out her phone. “Time to reset her priorities, I think. I’ll call. If I don’t get through, we’ll just run out there, right?” She slid him a smile as she punched in a number. “I’m thinking the mommy blog can wait.”

CHAPTER 14

Nikki couldn’t help herself. She drove out of town with the windows down, letting the heat of the day rush through the windows and blow through her hair. She’d felt cooped up, antsy, as if she were spinning her wheels.

As she stepped on the gas and passed a slow-moving sedan that was plastered with a STUDENT DRIVER sign, she thought about the story she couldn’t push aside, no matter how much her husband wanted her to abandon the project.

She knew that a lot of the answers to the Duval girls’ disappearance could be answered at the Beaumont estate, where the bodies had been found. She hadn’t been back since all hell had broken loose the last time she’d gone out there, and she felt that if she actually walked on the property she might gain