Page 89 of The Secret of Emerald Cottage

Pastor Dave grinned while Chase performed removal on the squirming boy. “Reminds me of something Alan would’ve done as a kid. I’ll never forget the time we went to the drive-in movie to see a horror flick, and he and I were sitting in the front seat of his Dad’s Suburban with Marla between us and the rest of the guys in back. Poor Marla was scared to death anyway, but then Alan says something, and she looks over and screams bloody murder, scrambling into my lap so fast, I thought she was dating me instead of Alan.”

“What’d he do?” Cat asked, laughing along with the others.

Pastor Dave grinned and shook his head. “He shoved two yellow Dots up his nose—you know, those gummy-style candies?—scaring the pejeebers out of me, too, because it stretched his nostrils so much, it made him look like a monster.”

Monster. Molly’s pulse stuttered.

“You’re a monster … and I’m going to …”

Pastor Dave smiled, gaze suddenly faraway once again. “I remember how hard we all laughed, until our sides ached, all except Marla, that is. No, she was totally wigged out and smacked him hard, saying she was going to make him pay.”

“You’re a monster … and I’m going to …”

Molly caught a harsh breath, the rest of the words from her dream suddenly crystal clear. “Make you pay.” She swallowed hard.“What did Alan do?” she asked quietly, the memory of her most recent nightmare sending icy prickles across her skin.

“Aw, he just told her to chill out like he always did, and trust me—she did. Climbed over the front seat to sit in back next to Greg for the rest of the night, giving Alan the cold shoulder.”

“Pastor Dave”—Molly glanced up, face suddenly somber—“when Greg disappeared, I know the police were suspicious of the Lads, but were the Lads ever suspicious of each other?”

Pastor Dave shook his head adamantly. “Absolutely not. We were a brotherhood until college, and would have continued that way if Greg hadn’t disappeared. Which is why all of this has been such a shock.”

She tipped her head with a potent gaze. “Did you or Pete … well, you know … ever suspect Alan when we found the picture of his belt? After all, if anyone had motive, it was him since Greg and Marla were so close the summer before college, right?”

Pastor Dave blinked, lips parting in surprise. “How did you know about that?”

There was little joy in Miss Lilly’s smile. “Oh, Muriel spilled the beans, of course,” she said with a stab of her turkey, “because I think she may have had a soft spot for Greg. Deep down, I always felt she’d rather see Marla marry for love than money like she did herself, but her husband was dead set on Alan, of course. As were Alan and his parents, so he got the girl in the end.”

“Yes … yes, he did,” Pastor Dave said, his gaze suddenly far away before it resettled on Molly. “Despite their tiffs, Alan and Marla were good together back then, Molly, as they are now. Sure, they have their disagreements, but they always seem to make it work, even with the strain of his high-profile career. Then, of course, there’s the added pressure of being a Supreme Court nominee.”

Molly hesitated, not sure why she felt the need to pursue this with her pastor, other than she couldn’t seem to get the nightmare out of her mind—or Alan’s role in it. Her gaze flicked to Sloan’s and back, grateful for the almost imperceptible nod he gave, assuring her she wasn’t alone in these unsettling suspicions she’d harbored about Alan. Sloan had admitted as much after she’d told him about her dream, assuring her he planned to continue the investigation quietly despite the assumption that Pete, Roy, and Harley had been the culprits behind the mystery of Emerald Cottage.

Like her, Sloan harbored an uneasy feeling that Alan was the most likely suspect. As close as Pastor Dave was to Alan, then and now, maybe—just maybe—he was too close to see what she and Sloan saw. Too close to see something Molly had been wrestling with ever since her dream—that somehow, someway, maybe Alan was involved. Molly fought a shudder.

Not only in Greg’s death, but possibly in Roy’s and Pete’s too.