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“When we’re attempting to apprehend a killer? Yes.” Theo motioned to the empty chair next to Adeline, but she shook her head at the unspoken request. “I only have a few ques—”
“Mr. Neville, would you care to dance?”
Theo hesitated, weighing his options. Dancing with Adeline would provide a perfect opportunity to question her about Martin Kingston, but he wasn’t sure of her intention. Unless she didn’t want her supervisor to wonder why she was being questioned about two murder investigations.
Theo decided to indulge her.
“Of course, Ms. Murphy.”
Theo offered his arm, which Adeline took the moment she stood from her table. She paused long enough to brush off the white and gold confetti that had been more of a hindrance than a nice touch in the décor department. He’d spent a good five minutes during dinner picking off the small confetti snowflakes from the sleeves of his jacket.
The two of them stepped onto the dance floor. Theo rested his left hand on Adeline’s lower back while keeping a hold of her right hand so that they could maintain a proper distance. Such an intimate setting wasn’t usually conducive to interviewing a suspect.
“Your dancing skills are quite impressive, Mr. Neville,” Adeline complimented him. “I wouldn’t have expected a former FBI agent to be so…graceful.”
“My mother was an excellent teacher,” Theo revealed to put Adeline at ease. He could sense the tension in the grip of her hand. “My parents go dancing at least once a month. There is this jazz club in New York that has been around since the 1930s.”
Theo paused long enough to find the location of Sophia Delacroix. She was speaking with Michael Davis as if the two of them were on friendly terms. Theo had never thought to ask Sophia if she’d known the man personally.
“Adeline, we know that you are Martin Kingston’s daughter.”
Theo had been prepared for a reaction, and he was able to shift his movements with poise so that the falter in her steps wouldn’t be noticed by others. What surprised him most was that she didn’t pull away or attempt to leave the dance floor.
“I take it that you think Martin Kingston murdered those women? You wouldn’t have looked into his past so thoroughly to find any skeletons hidden in his closet otherwise,” Adeline surmised with interest. She finally met his gaze, but Theo didn’t detect disappointment. If anything, she appeared somewhat pleased with such a discovery. “Are you going to publicize this information?”
It was common knowledge that most serial killers were men, and Adeline had jumped to the same conclusion in this particular investigation.
Had she done so to take suspicion off her?
“We also know that Francis Delacroix is your mother.”
Adeline’s gaze immediately sought out Sophia, who was still immersed in conversation with Michael Davis. Theo began to put some pieces of the puzzle together, but he wouldn’t know for sure if it was the right picture until he received some clarification from Adeline. Before he could follow up with another question, she began to explain how she arrived in Harbor.
“I was adopted by a couple who lived in Vermont. I didn’t even know that I was adopted until my mother passed away,” Adeline revealed with disappointment. She pressed on, as if she hadn’t had anyone to speak to in years. “I was only fourteen years old at the time. My father…adoptive father…made it clear that he only went along with the adoption to appease his wife. She was the one who wanted a child, and he’d wanted to make her happy. With her gone, he became a shell of a man who resented me in his home. It took me a while digging through old boxes in the attic without him knowing, but I eventually found the paperwork that they filled out around the time of my birth. Included in the packet was a non-disclosure agreement. Of course, it didn’t have Martin Kingston’s name on the signature line…but there was the name of his law firm in the header. I left home the day that I turned eighteen and never looked back.”
“You figured out who your biological father was through the law firm.”
Adeline’s slight nod gave him his answer.
“I worked my way through college, earned a degree in education with a minor in the arts. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about my biological parents.” Adeline cleared her throat, as if the emotional toll of those years were still too heavy for her to carry. “Who were they? Did they regret giving me up for adoption? Would they want to meet me? Needless to say, I eventually caved and hired a private investigator. A cheap one, but he eventually came up with a name based on the law firm who drew up the adoption papers.”
“Why move to Harbor? Why not just introduce yourself to Kingston?”
Adeline lifted one side of her lips in self-derision.
“I moved here, hoping to find a place where I could fit in. It took me a good six months to work up the courage to meet my biological father, only to then be offered fifty-thousand dollars to disappear. By the time I was done defending myself, the offer had risen to one hundred thousand dollars. I didn’t take it, of course.”
“You stayed in Harbor,” Theo stated, hoping to prompt Adeline into divulging more information. She was nothing like the woman Brook and Sylvie had described, but then again, she had still been trying to keep her secret. “I’m surprised Kingston didn’t try to force you out of town.”
“What makes you think that Martin Kingston didn’t order me out of town?” Adeline asked wryly, her gaze drifting once more to where Sophia stood next to a chocolate fondue fountain. “I gave him my word that I wouldn’t say anything to anyone, and I’ve kept my promise. Martin made one mistake in our short conversation, though. He mentioned my biological mother’s name—Francie. It didn’t take me long to figure out that Francie used to work for Martin. I have yet to approach either Francie or Sophia, but...”
Adeline gave Theo her full attention. Her shoulders straightened, her grip became tighter, and her chin tilted in defiance.
“I won’t allow Martin Kingston to take them away from me, but I also know that he is a very powerful man. I need to be in the right position before I approach Francis and Sophia. In the meantime, I can still be near them.”
“Bella told her sister that she would find you staring into her cottage windows from time to time,” Theo said, wanting confirmation that he understood what had taken place back then. “Was it due to Bella’s working relationship with Sophia?”
“Sophia started working at the gallery a few months before Bella was murdered, and Sophia stopped by the cottage now and then. I found myself watching her mannerisms to see if we were anything alike,” Adeline reluctantly admitted. “I didn’t mean to cause Bella any discomfort. I realized that was exactly what I’d done one evening when Bella closed her bedroom blinds. Sophia had been by earlier to borrow a dress, and the two of them had been in Bella’s bedroom. Later that evening, I wanted to know if she was still there, so I looked over to find Michael Davis in Bella’s bedroom. Bella noticed that I was staring, our eyes met, and she got upset. I don’t blame her, but it wasn’t like I could tell her the truth.”
