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“You still think Aaron did it?”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m here.”
“What about the men who hunted down Aaron and his family?”
“Only Beau Grainger left now, and he must be pushing eighty.” Tucker met her eyes. “They thought they were doing the right thing.”
“Report says you were shot in the break-out.”
“An accident. And I mended.”
“You seem pretty forgiving.”
His face tensed. “Every town has a tipping point. Todd was dead, people were angry, scared. Thought their kid was going to be next. They’re trusting you to protect them. To make the right call.” He shook his head. “I made the wrong call.”
Barbara decided to change tack. “What do you know about Nathan Bell?”
“What do you want to know?”
“He was Todd Danes’s friend, right?”
“One of them. Odd kid. Came to live with his grandparents in that big old house after his parents died.”
“So Nathan didn’t grow up in Deadhart?”
“No. Arrived out of the blue one day. Most folk didn’t even know Helen and Greg had a grandson.”
Barbara tapped her chin with her pen thoughtfully. “When did Nathan arrive in Deadhart?”
Tucker’s forehead creased. “Summer of ’98. I’d been here three years.”
“So a year before Todd was killed.”
About the same amount of time Nathan had been back in Deadhart now. And another boy was dead. Those coincidences were stacking up.
“I know what you’re thinking, Detective,” Tucker said. “But Nathan had an alibi. He was home all night with his grandparents when Todd was killed.”
And relatives never lied for their loved ones.
“Were you surprised to hear he was back in town?”
“A little. Aside from Todd, he never had many friends here. Also, Nathan knew that Todd had been meeting Aaron. A lot of people blamed him for not saying anything.”
“Maybe he’s back because he wants to make amends.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“In towns like Deadhart, there are generally two kinds of people—those who never leave and those who never come back. I always figured Nathan for the latter.”
He had a point. Barbara sure as hell never intended to go back to the town where she grew up. But now she was curious about something else.
“Mind me asking, sir, how come you never left Deadhart?”
“I’m here for good, or bad.”
“But you’re not a native?”
