I leaned back and sighed. Of course. My family was famous now, and not in a good way.
I nodded as my gaze dropped to the ground.
“That must be hard,” she said. “For you. And her kids. I mean … your grandkids.”
“Yes. It is. It’s like drowning.” The words spilled out before I could stop them. “Just to wake up underwater again. Like that Bill Murray movie in which the day repeats itself. Only, we just drown. Again and again. Nothing else.”
My eyes burned.
Goddammit, Nicole. Not now.
She nodded.
“If it means anything,” she said, “I don’t think she did it. Your daughter, I mean.”
My head snapped up.
“Do you know anything?” The plea was raw. I was clearly begging.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I couldn’t talk to the officer in front of Billy, but I also don’t really have much. I woke up that night and heard Billy and John arguing in the kitchen.”
Her jaw tightened.
“John showed up out of the blue after more than two years of absence. Borrowed Billy’s truck. I hate it when he does that. It’s never for anything good.”
Her eyes drifted to her son. He’d found a friend and was racing him down the slide, both boys laughing hard. For a moment, warmth softened her face. Then it was gone.
“When I walked into the kitchen that night, John was there. Covered in blood.”
My stomach dropped.
“They stopped talking the second they saw me. Something bad had happened. I could feel it. Billy told me to go back to bed. So I did. I’m scared of John. But Billy …he’s too soft to cut ties with him. Says we need the money.”
“Do you have his phone number? Or address?”
She shook her head.
“Anything else you remember from that night?”
Another shake. Slower this time.
“No. Nothing specific. Think he lives in Florida. Or North Carolina. I’m not sure. But I know he did something really bad that night.” Her arms tightened around the baby. “There’s something wrong with him. He’s the kind of man who could kill someone and then go watch a game at a bar, cracking jokes.” Her eyes stayed on the playground. On her son. “I begged Billy to cut ties with him. But he brushes me off.”
My hand reached for her arm.
“I’ll put him behind bars,” I said. The words came out steady, even though I felt so lost. “I swear it. Soon you won’t have to be afraid of Myers anymore.”
Something flickered in her eyes. Small. Fragile. Hope, maybe.
All of this made me so angry. What kind of idiot husband lets a man like Myers anywhere near his kids? And leaves it to his wife to keep them safe?
“I don’t know if this helps,” she said, leaning forward as her voice dropped to a whisper. “But Billy told me that some developer is paying folks in cash for some construction job inNewburyport right now. John sometimes drives up for these kinds of jobs. They pay more than jobs in the South. And whenever John is in the area, he stays at the Seacoast Inn near Manchester by the Sea. The owner owes him a favor. Keeps a room for him, off the books or something.”
Seacoast Inn.
I knew the place. Rough didn’t even begin to cover it. Hookers. Drugs. Guaranteed bed bugs.
I nodded and rose.
