Page 87

“Please, however I can help,” Abernathy answered just genuinely enough, Avery might have been inclined to believe him. If she were the sort to take people at their word, anyway.

“When you were dropping off your children, was this the normal time you usually do so?”

“Yes, every Friday after school. My work hours are pretty flexible. Terry didn’t like driving and it meant I got more time with them.”

“What do you do?” Saga asked.

He looked sheepish. “I’m a partner in a law firm. They let me schedule around my kids. One of the perks of being a boss, I suppose.”

“I suppose,” Avery echoed humorlessly. Her distaste for false modesty was only rivaled by her distaste for lawyers. “How long has your wife had creeping thyme in the backyard?”

This question took both Saga and Abernathy by surprise.

“When we moved in. One of the first things she did was plant it. Said the work would be worth it. Wasn’t very practical, but it did end up being one of my favorite parts of the garden.”

“So when you separated, you let her have the house?” Avery clarified.

“It seemed only fair,” said Abernathy. “I needed to be closer to town, and she’d put so much work in it.”

“That’s a rather reasonable response,” Saga observed.

“I’m a rather reasonable man.”

“Chloe gave me the impression the divorce was pretty messy,” said Saga. “You’ve been separated for six years, but were only just able to finalize the paperwork?”

Abernathy’s oh-so-reasonable demeanor rippled, but instead of getting angry, he sighed. “Terry could be…difficult. I gave her the house along with a lot of other things I would never advise my clients to do so I could just be done with it.”

Saga’s face had never been a quiet one. Her expressions often did a lot of speaking before her voice could, and her current expression told Avery she was wondering what other inadvisable things Carson Abernathy might have employed to “be done with it.” “Such as?”

“Alimony, for one—not that she needed it. Theresa has had a ridiculously large trust fund since I met her. I know she’s barely touched it.”

“Did that make you angry?”

“Initially, but… I think it all went to the kids anyway. House is paid off, and she’s not really a spender…”

Seeing the increased unlikelihood that Carson Abernathy had found a dark relic to enact revenge on his wife and a complete stranger, Avery changed the subject. “Do you know of anything your wife might have buried in the backyard?”

The man blinked at the absurdity. “What?”

Was he stalling or truly confused? Avery elaborated, eyes trained on Abernathy’s expression for any shift or twitch of recognition. “Someone took a shovel and dug a few deep holes in the backyard last night. They appeared to be looking for something that may have been buried back there—do you have any idea what that might have been?”

Abernathy was utterly bewildered at the notion. So much that the only coherent thing he managed in response to it was simply, “We’ve never even had a dog.”

Avery tried another approach. “Do the names Betsey Paris or Luna Ravenwood sound familiar to you?”

His bewilderment continuing, he shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

“What about John Hingley?” Saga asked.

The man’s brow furrowed. It was possible that name had been slightly familiar simply because it had appeared in the paper, and so he took more time on it. “No,” he said at last. “I don’t think so.”

Avery’s last hope: “Did Theresa attend University College London by chance?”

A question he did know the answer to—his expression gave him away before he spoke. “Yes, but she didn’t graduate.”

A connection. Finally. It was thin—tenuous at best, but it was at least one similarity between their two victims save for their relative age and sex. A connection that also, even if indirectly, connected them to John Hingley. “Do you know why?”

Abernathy shook his head. “She only had two credits to complete too. I tried to encourage her to maybe look into a few courses she could take independently—get her bachelor’s if she wanted, but…” He sighed deeply. “Any time I brought it up, she’d bite my head clean off, if you know what I mean. I always got the feeling something happened while she was there.”