bring in. Do you know where Finn is?”
I swallowed. “H-he’s at my house. But he didn’t even know his father.”
“I’m not saying he’s guilty of anything, Jillian,” Liam said. “He was at Tom’s house, probably around the time Gannon was killed. He could know something.”
“You just want to talk to him?” I said. “You’re aware Candace has a theory about his innocence based on physical evidence?”
“You know me, Jillian. We’re friends. From what Candace has told me, that young man doesn’t have a serial killer bone in his body. Doesn’t mean we don’t need to talk to him,” Liam said. “I’ll drive, since I assume you don’t have transportation.”
“I drove here, so you can follow me. But can I speak with Tom first?” I said.
“You believe he’ll react rationally when it comes to Finn?” he said with a generous dose of skepticism.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to.
Liam stood and offered me a hand up. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
He helped me out of the chair and we went into the hall just in time to see Tom’s mother come into the police station waiting area.
She spotted me and ran past B.J. through the gate. I could tell she’d been crying.
Karen gripped my shoulders. “I need to tell what I know. I have to tell someone what he said.”
Twenty-Two
“Who are you talking about?” I asked Karen.
“The man who died. Finn’s biological father,” she said.
The interrogation room door opened and Tom appeared. Candace was right behind him.
“What are you doing here, Mom?” Tom said, walking toward us.
She looked up at Tom. “That man came to see me right after Hilary and Bob left my house this afternoon. I know I should have said something when I found out he’d died, but I didn’t and I should have and—”
Tom took his mother in his arms and she wept into his shoulder.
“Hey,” he said. “It’s all right. You’re here now. You can tell us, but first you have to stop crying.”
She blew into a tissue she’d been clutching and composed herself so quickly I wondered how truly tearful she’d just been. “When I found myself in my car on the way to the nearest bar I knew I was in trouble. I came here instead.”
“You need to call someone from AA, Mom?” Tom said quietly.
“No. I have to tell Candace everything I know. Please, all of you”—she glanced around at Candace, Liam and me—“you have to hear me out.”
Candace raised her eyebrows and I could read a hint of amusement in her expression. “Do I have to read you your rights, Mrs. Stewart?” Karen’s jaw sagged in surprise. “Oh, my sweet good Lord, no. This is just information you should have. Something I should have said right off the bat. I was so surprised to find out the man was dead, well—”
Candace put her arm around Karen. “Let’s go into this room right here and we can talk. There isn’t enough space to fit another person’s shadow out here.”
“Can Tom and Jillian stay with me? Please?” she pleaded.
“You need moral support?” Candace said.
“I suppose. See, whenever I go to AA, the room is full,” Karen said. “One on one is so very difficult for me. It’s not like I have a whole lot to say but maybe if I’d listened better to what the man was saying, he might not be dead right now.”
“Come on in here, then—all of you. Mr. Brennan, would you mind helping out, too?” Candace said. “Might as well make it like one of her meetings.”
“Be my pleasure,” he said.
While the rest of us took seats around the old table in the interrogation room, Liam remained standing in the corner, arms crossed.
Candace said, “What time did Mr. Gannon come to visit you?”
Karen started pulling her tissue apart. “Maybe two o’clock this afternoon? Maybe as late as two thirty?”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Tom said.
Candace stared over at Tom. “Have you decided to apply for police chief next year and need to try out your rusty interrogation techniques?” I was sitting next to him and placed a hand on his knee. I felt the tension in his body and it didn’t let up, even when he said, “I know, I know. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll shut up.”
Candace looked at Karen. “Since you’d already had an unpleasant meeting with Mr. Gannon where I had to pay a visit to your house, why did you even talk to this man?”
“He was different this time, Candace. Nice, even,” Karen said. “I let him in.”
I glanced down and saw Tom’s hand balled in a fist in his lap. Was he thinking about what might have happened to his mother after she let an unstable man into her house? Or did he think Karen had something to do with Gannon’s death?
“In the hall,” Liam said in a soft voice, “you mentioned you needed to tell us what he said. Is that what has you so rattled now?”
She nodded. “I could tell the man was troubled. Maybe not quite right in the head, though not in a vicious way like before. He kept saying he was sorry. He had to make things right. I’ve been in the ‘sorry’ boat on a rocky sea myself. I asked him what he wanted to apologize for and he told me no one would let him near his son, which didn’t really answer my question.” Karen looked at the ceiling. “He said—let me get the words exactly right—‘The phone call started everything.’”
I swallowed hard and moved my hand over Tom’s cold fist.
Candace, seated on my other side, leaned toward Karen. “A phone call from who?”
“Why Finn, of course. Who else could he be talking about?” Karen said.
Candace seemed to ponder this while Liam tried to clarify by saying, “The exact words were
“He was talking about Finn before, so I simply assumed he meant Finn. Then the man just got up and left. When I learned he was dead, I guess I was afraid for my grandson. But Finn would never hurt anyone. He’s had such a difficult time. Then Hilary called looking for Finn again—right after Deputy Rodriguez brought me home from Tom’s house.”
Tom said, “What did you tell Hilary, Mom?”
Candace sighed, but she didn’t interrupt with another warning.
“I didn’t tell Hilary anything—well, except about the body poor Jillian found,” Karen said.
“You never told her where Finn is staying?” Tom said.
“No. I knew you wouldn’t want me to. Besides, she hung up so abruptly and—”
Candace said, “You honestly believe Mrs. Roth has no idea Finn is at Jillian’s house? She’d already seen him there once.”
Tom cleared his throat. “Since I’m done giving my statement, I’m out of here.” He almost made it to the door, but Liam stepped in his path.
“I’ll drive,” he said, looking Tom straight in the eye. “We were about to head to Jillian’s to talk to Finn anyway.”
“We’ll compromise. I’ll follow you,” Tom replied.
“Wait.” Candace stood. “Call Finn. We need to ask him if his mother’s been there or called the house.”
I smiled at Candace, grateful for her sounding so in control, for not racing out of here as if the world was on fire. I took my phone out of my pocket with a shaky hand and dialed my landline number—and let it ring until the answering machine picked up. “Finn? If you’re there, could you pick up?” I waited and he didn’t answer. “Listen, if you get this message, I’m on my way home now.” I disconnected and looked at Candace. “Let me check the cat cam, too. Maybe he fell asleep watching TV.” With Candace looking over my shoulder, I saw that all the rooms on my feed—the foyer, living room, kitchen and my sewing room—were empty. No Finn, no Yoshi and not a cat to be
