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“Yes,” Bree agreed, which meant a death notification. A second one since she also had to notify Dani’s stepfather.
“Now, onto Sandy Lynn,” Rafe continued. “Jericho said everything he’s got is still preliminary, but he’ll keep digging.No criminal record. She won some academic awards and was runner-up in state cross country.”
“So, not a troubled kid. Not on the surface anyway.”
“Agreed. But Jericho and Ruby will find anything there is to find.” He paused and kept reading. “After high school, she attended UT in Austin on scholarship. No major declared, that might be standard, but she was taking a lot of courses that indicate she was going for a degree in business.”
Ironically, that’d been Tessa’s major, though Wade had heavily influenced that. Tessa had wanted to be a fashion designer.
“Jericho located some old social media archives,” Rafe went on, “and Sandy Lynn seemed like a typical teen, interested in boys and music.”
Bree reached the gates to the estate and stopped. This time, she kept the cruiser back from the security camera, though it was possible some sensor had already alerted Wade to their arrival.
“Not everyone apparently loved Sandy Lynn though, since there were some digs from other teens on her posts about her having her nose stuck up in the air. Some called her a fake pretty, pretty princess, whatever the hell that means,” Rafe added in a mutter.
“Interesting,” Bree remarked. She had no idea what it meant either, but it told her that Sandy Lynn had interactions with people who didn’t care much for her. Maybe one of them had killed her. “Are there photos in the archives?”
“Tons,” Rafe verified, “and Jericho included some. Here’s the one he found that was taken shortly before she disappeared.”
He lifted his phone to show her the perky—yes, perky—blonde who very much resembled Tessa. Same hair color, the eye shape was the same. It was obvious they had some DNA in common.
And that got Bree thinking.
“Sandy Lynn would have been a freshman at UT around the time Tessa was flunking out. It’s a huge campus, but I wonder if someone mentioned how much she favored Tessa.” She paused. “But maybe Sandy Lynn already knew Wade was her father and Tessa, her half-sister.”
“Maybe,” Rafe conceded. “Though Jericho looked specifically for any mentions on social media posts about her father, and there weren’t any. Still, her mother could have told her and asked her not to mention it.”
Bree considered that, too. Wade was rich and powerful, and Nancy possibly didn’t want to rock the boat with him. Or maybe she had done some boat rocking, and Wade had shut it down.
If so, that went back to Wade having lied.
Because even if he hadn’t believed Sandy Lynn was his child, he should have at least mentioned there was a possibility he’d had a second daughter. Wade had been a loving, indulgent father to Tessa, but Bree knew he could also be a hard-assed businessman. If Nancy had crossed him in some way, then maybe he’d cut both her and the daughter out of his life.
“That’s about it for now on Nancy and Sandy Lynn,” Rafe concluded. “But Wade might be able to fill us in.”
Yes, and Bree was about to drive to the gate when her phone rang, and she saw Davy’s name on the dash. She silently cursed and hoped there hadn’t been another emergency that required the fire chief.
“You’re on speaker,” she told Davy when she answered. “Rafe is listening.”
“Good. Because I might have something. Remember, I told you about that party where I saw Tessa shortly before she disappeared?”
“I do,” Bree confirmed. “You thought she might have been with Buckner.”
“Well, she was with him, and I have proof. After we chatted, I recalled the name of the person throwing that party and went searching on her old social media pages. Some of the photos were still there, including the one I’m sending you right now of Tessa and Buckner.”
Her phone dinged, and when the photo downloaded, she saw that Davy was right. It was indeed Tessa in a strapless gold party gown. Buckner had his arm slung possessively around her bare shoulders, and he was sporting that same cocky grin.
“They both look high to me,” Davy said. “Or drunk.”
They did. Both Tessa and Buckner had glazed eyes, and Tessa didn’t look too steady on her feet.
“I’m not sure the picture will help,” Davy went on. “But it does confirm Buckner and she were once together.”
“It does.” Though Buckner hadn’t denied knowing her. Still, this felt like more than a superficial, sex-only relationship that Buckner had made it out to be.
“Good. I hope it helps. Oh, and Rafe,” Davy added. “I need to say I’m sorry again for that one off I had with Tessa. It was wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened.”
Rafe glanced at her, and it was a reminder of how easy it was sometimes to give into the heat. To get carried away. Oh, yes, she totally got that.
