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You live in your own damn dream world, just like he does.
She blew out a breath then turned to go to Dad. It wasn’t in her to let him down when he needed her most. Even if he didn’t know he needed her.
* * *
ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED, Tony drove straight to Wakefield College, taking for granted that Matt would be at work. Would he arrive to find Matt already lawyered up? Remembering Beth’s fierce glare, he thought it likely.
The college, on a semester system rather than quarters, didn’t hold a summer session, but the admissions department would be busy. Summer was the season for kids between their junior and senior years of high school to tour colleges with their parents.
He had to park a distance away, by the tennis courts, and walk to Memorial Hall, the granite-block edifice with a bell tower that housed the college administrative offices. Like everyone else in town, he’d become accustomed to hearing the hours tolled.
The campus was noticeably deserted, although he saw a cluster of people moving between buildings across the broad lawn that, in another six weeks, would be filled with students reading in the shade of leafy trees or playing Frisbee or soccer in the sunny center.
The daylight basement level of Memorial Hall housed some offices, but probably not Admissions, he decided. No reason for the parents, who wrote the tuition checks, to see the basement, right?
On the first floor, high ceilings and wide halls led in three directions. He immediately saw a sign pointing to the right to admissions and financial aid offices. Inside Admissions, a young woman sitting behind a desk beamed at him. “How may I help you?” Before he could answer, her gaze lowered to his badge and weapon. The smile dimmed.
“Is Matt Marshall in today? I’m Detective Navarro.” Tony smiled reassurance. “He knows me.”
“Yes, I’ll just—” She jumped up and scurried to one of several closed doors with glass insets. After knocking, she cracked it open and talked quickly.
A moment later, she returned to the desk, and Matt appeared in the doorway. “Detective? Come on in.”
He wore chinos with knife-sharp creases and a polo shirt the same shade of blue as his eyes. He smiled, undoubtedly for the benefit of the receptionist and an older, rumpled man who stepped out of a second office and raised his eyebrows when he saw Tony.
Matt closed the door behind him and went around to sit behind his desk. “Have a seat.”
No attorney.
Tony sat. “I’m sorry to interrupt your day, Mr. Marshall, but—”
“The body is my mother, isn’t it?”
Beth hadn’t called, then. Because he had asked her not to or because she was mad at her brother after yesterday?
“Yes. I’m sorry. None of this is pleasant.”
“Pleasant.” Matt cracked a laugh. “I assume you’ve already told my father.”
“And your sister.”
“Beth.”
“That’s right.” It was easy to forget about Emily, although he couldn’t let himself. “I plan to sit down this afternoon to talk to your father at length, but I’m hoping you can give me some time right now.”
“Why not?” Matt made every effort to look relaxed; he pushed back his chair and crossed his right ankle over his left knee.
Tony wasn’t fooled. “You were old enough to be observant about the state of your parents’ marriage,” he began. “Or anything else out of the ordinary happening in your home at the time.”
“Out of the ordinary?” Matt looked incredulous. “Like what? Dad and I being best buds? Beth throwing temper tantrums instead of trying to convince everyone we were happy, happy, happy?”
Huh. That was a lot of anger to hold onto for so long.
“Even that long ago, you and your father didn’t get along.”
“No, we didn’t. Although I’m not sure he noticed. He lives in his own little world.” Color streaked his cheeks as he apparently recalled that Tony had overheard him saying much the same to his sister. “I didn’t mean what I said to Beth. I get frustrated with her constant defense of Dad. She refuses to acknowledge how…lacking he is.”
“Lacking in what way?” Not that Tony couldn’t guess.
