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“Who the hell are Iris and Harvard?”
She picked up her cell and the card lying next to it and called Lana Walsh. The woman finally answered after the third ring. “Hello.”
Judging by the devastation in that one word, she had been crying. “This is Sadie Cross. Did your husband show up?”
There was a sniff, and then the other woman cleared her throat. “No. I was just on my way out the door to file a missing person report.” She exhaled a shaky breath. “At this point it’s the only thing I know to do.”
“You should,” Sadie agreed. The urge to ask her about this Iris and Harvard burned on her tongue, but the jury was still out on the lady. Better to work it out with someone she trusted. “I’ll ... ah ... call when I have something to share.”
Besides, she had an idea already about both Iris and Harvard.
Devlin Residence
Twenty-First Avenue South
Birmingham, 9:50 a.m.
Sadie wasn’t surprised to see Falco’s Charger at Devlin’s house. The two were partners and friends, maybe closer than either of them realized. Devlin had gone through hell the past few days. Not to mention somescrewed-up shit the past year. If anyone deserved a strong shoulder to lean on, it was her.
Falco was a good guy.
For the most part.
Sadie knocked on the door and waited. She hadn’t called before coming. It was a bad habit of hers. She liked catching people off guard even when it wasn’t necessary. Responses were more honest when a person wasn’t expecting whatever showed up.
As she knocked again, she considered that some scumbag attorney had called and left her a voice mail saying her father wanted to see her and permission had been granted for her to visit him today. Sadie rolled her eyes. Like she wanted to bother.
Well, maybe she did. There were questions she needed to ask. For her own peace of mind. If he could fill in more of those missing fragments, she would be relieved if not exactly grateful.
The door finally opened, and Falco gave her a nod. “Hey, Cross. Come on in.”
Sadie followed Falco to the kitchen, where Devlin sat at the island drinking coffee.
Devlin gave one of those same nods Falco had given. “Morning.”
“Coffee?” This from Falco.
“I’m good.” Sadie scooted onto a vacant stool. She placed the envelope holding the folded spreadsheets on the counter. She looked from Falco to Devlin. “The Myers case is closed, I hear.”
Most people would probably have asked Devlin how her kid was, but Sadie figured the detective would get around to that in the course of giving her answer to the question asked.
“Sykes and Peterson have some follow-up and reports to finalize, but, yeah, it’s pretty much done.” Devlin set her mug on the counter. “Billings, the head of the school, came forward this morning and confirmed what Sue Grimes shared with him last year. So, it’s over for us, yes.”
“Alice Cortez,” Falco chimed in, “a.k.a. Isabella Osorio—is the one who caused Brendal Myers to fall down the stairs. She leaned toward the girl, making threats with some crazy chants, and Brendal tried to step back and ultimately fell.”
Tension sifted through Sadie. So the kid’s identity had been confirmed. “I remember Eddie—Eduardo—saying once that his daughter had behavior problems. Too bad I didn’t remember sooner.”
Devlin said, “Cora Cortez stated that Isabella had issues. The problems started when she was a child. She killed small animals. Chickens, cats, dogs. She couldn’t have pets.”
The memory of waking up with a bloody, headless chicken in her bed zoomed into vivid focus in Sadie’s head. She flinched and banished the image. That was one piece of her memory she could have done without recalling.
“The problems became so bad they had to send her away,” Devlin went on. “Even members of the family’s household staff were afraid of her. They called her a witch. Cora Cortez said she had crosses all over her house because she was terrified of Alice. A truly twisted little girl.”
Sadie wondered if Eddie could have helped his daughter—if Sadie hadn’t killed him. She blinked.Not going there.
“Yes,” Devlin said, “to answer the question you didn’t ask, Tori is fine. It’ll take some time to put this behind her, but she’ll get there.”
Sadie nodded. “Good to hear.”
