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He scrubbed his head with his hands, the handcuffs rattling with the movement.
“She just vanished. I looked down for one second so I wouldn’t trip over a limb. She was gone.”
He yanked on his binds.
“I searched for an hour. All I found was a daisy pin she never took off. I didn’t know that giving it to the police would shoot me up to the primary suspect.”
In a case like this one,everyonewas a suspect . . . even if the authorities didn’t advertise that fact.
“Tell me about before. How well did you know her? Her family?”
“The day I moved in I dropped a shirt on the driveway when I was unloading. She ran up to me with a huge smile and the shirt in hand. Alex, her dad, came over after her. Offered help. Invited me over for a beer. We had a barbecue that night at their house.”
Sounded like a picture-perfect scene.
“Instant friendship?”
“Yeah. He invited me to join his flag football team. Shel, his wife, baked stuff for me at least once a week.”
I’d never lived in a community like that where people were friendly and helped out their neighbors. The couple who lived next door to me never even acknowledged my presence the few times I’d seen them outside over the years. If they’d brought me baked goods, I’d have probably trashed them. They were strangers. They could be crazies. Or their cat could’ve helped them cook.
Hell, if it weren’t for Dixon, I wouldn’t have any friends.
“Was there ever any strain?”
“Never.”
“Just the three of them? Or are there other children?”
“Shel’s sister’s kid lives with them. He’s fourteen. The sister is constantly in trouble. Drugs, I think.”
“Why do you think that?”
He hesitated. “I overheard Shel tell her she wouldn’t give her any more money.”
“But that’s it? You don’t know what the money was for?”
“No.”
“The other child, tell me about him.”
“Quiet. Skinny.”
“How did he interact with the family?”
“Speaks when spoken to.”
“Did you ever notice any animosity toward Dara?”
“No.”
“His name?”
“Christopher.”
“Did you ever meet Shel’s sister?”
“No.”
