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Renae nodded as if Kerri’s explanation seemed plausible. She went on, “Brendal has always been the chosen one. At church and at school.”
For a moment—a single moment—Renae allowed Kerri to see and hear a hint of jealousy. Then she banished it and smiled. “I guess when your daughter is as beautiful as Brendal and, my word, as intelligent, it just makes sense that she always rises to the top. You certainly can’t blame a child for being all she can be.”
A lone nod seemed an adequate response. “Tori told me what a terrible time Brendal had been giving Sarah recently. I know that must have been difficult for her. Sarah is such a sweet, kind girl.”
A cloud of uncertainty passed over Renae’s face before she could stop it. “You know how girls are at this age. All those hormones.” She made a tsking sound. “I don’t know how any of us survived it.”
Kerri pinned on a sad smile. “It really is a difficult stage.”
The silence went on for a beat or two too long.
“I’m certain you know Sarah would never hurt anyone, not even someone who had been unkind to her.”
“Never,” Kerri agreed. “She and Tori are very much alike in that. They are too kind and far too sweet to hurt anyone.”
“Tori hasn’t mentioned the issues she was having with Brendal of late?” Renae reached for the spoon again and added sugar to her cup. “A lot of the children are talking about it. Sarah has been very worried about her.”
“We’ve discussed at length how hurtful bullies can be.” The answer wasn’t really an answer, more an avoidance of the question since Tori hadn’t mentioned any such issue. In fact, she’d said Sarah was the one on the receiving end of Brendal’s recent attention.
Renae picked up her cup of tea. “Young girls do like their secrets.”
Kerri somehow managed a vague tilt of her head. “Tori learned a hard lesson last year about keeping secrets, even the seemingly harmless kind.”
Renae only smiled before sipping her tea.
Again, Falco’s words reverberated inside Kerri. “I’m glad the girls were able to give coherent statements after what they went through.”
This was straight-up fishing. Kerri hoped like hell it worked.
Renae shook her head with the same weariness and sadness she’d been wearing since she’d opened the door to Kerri. “Sarah can hardly remember anything. She said it happened so fast. Everything was just a blur. Of course, she’s never experienced any sort of trauma like this.”
“As a detective, I’ve tried to impress upon Tori the importance of paying attention to the details. You’d be surprised how much happens in a split second that we don’t see if we’re not paying attention.”
Renae set her cup aside. “I’m sorry. I really should check on Sarah now. We’ll have to talk again soon.”
Rather than push more questions at the other woman, Kerri followed her back to the door. Renae opened it, but Kerri hesitated before leaving. “Maybe the news will be better next time. Tori and I sent flowers to the hospital. As soon as Brendal is well enough, we’re planning a visit.”
“Brendal can’t have visitors yet, but Sarah and I visited her parents yesterday. They’re holding up as well as can be expected.”
Kerri had known Renae wouldn’t be able to let the comment pass without a comeback of her own. “That was very thoughtful of you.”
They said their goodbyes, and Kerri headed for the street.
How the hell had Renae and Sarah managed a visit with Brendal’s parents? Kerri gave herself a mental kick. What was she thinking? The two families attended the same church and Dr.Talley likely knew everyone in the hospital. Did Sykes and Peterson know about the visit? No wonder Renae hadn’t returned her calls. She was too busy making sure her daughter was in the clear.
Aren’t you doing the same thing?
Kerri refused to consider her investigative attempts to be the same as Renae’s obvious steps to set the stage for her daughter’s innocence.
By the time Kerri reached the sidewalk she was mentally kicking herself. Of course Sarah was innocent, and so was Tori. This situation was getting to her, making adversaries of longtime friends.
Tires squealed as a car screeched to the curb in front of her.
“What the hell are you doing here, Devlin?” Peterson shouted out the driver’s-side window as he lowered it.
Damn.She was caught.
Sykes was out of the passenger-side door and striding her way. “You know better than this, Devlin,” he reminded her. “This is interfering with an investigation.”
