Page 125 of Taken Away

“And Walter points at Red,” Luke said.

“Fantastic.”

Luke flipped another page. “There was one other thing.”

Burke looked up. “What?”

“Walter kept circling back to Anne.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“How?” Burke asked.

Luke checked his notes. “He said everybody talks about what Anne did to Mabel.” He paused. “But nobody talks about what Mabel did to Anne.”

Scout frowned. “What does that mean?”

“I asked,” Luke said. “He wouldn’t elaborate.”

“What exactly did he say?” Burke asked.

Luke read from the notebook.

“Mabel wasn't always right—Anne got hurt too.”

“What kind of hurt?” Burke asked.

“Wouldn’t say.”

Burke stared at the table.

Mary Lou had practically painted Mabel as the victim. Walter seemed to be carrying around an entirely different version of the story.

Burke wrote:

MARY LOU: ANNE HURT MABEL

WALTER: MABEL HURT ANNE

Somewhere between those two stories sat the truth.

“What else?” Burke asked.

Deputy Sara Parker flipped open her notebook.

Luke looked up automatically.

Burke caught it and ignored it.

“What’ve you got?” he asked.

“Development company.”

Burke nodded. “Go ahead.”

“About four years ago, a group out of Asheville approached Mabel about acreage bordering the cattle operation.”

“Blackwood Estate?”