He shook his head. “I didn’t see her hit anyone that day. But I stayed away as much as I could. Between my grandmother, my mother, and Monica, it was Witch City constantly.”
“That day?”
“I went to school. Fought with Levi Masterson.”
“Over?”
He leaned back and smirked. “Miranda Talley.”
“Oh?” Max asked. “Any particular reason why?”
“Yeah. Masterson was pretty wrapped up in her at the time. I may have said something about her ass back then.” His smirk was even bigger than Max’s. He looked at Jac, a smarmy expression on his face. Like she was supposed to be charmed by him talking about another woman that way. Sick. Some men were total idiots. “Levi got defensive.”
Jac refused to let herself react, though her eyes wanted to roll. Miranda would no doubt listen to this interview later. Her friend would get a kick out of Lesley’s comment, no doubt.
Miranda could be weird like that. The things that would embarrass Jac would just make Miranda laugh like a lunatic. Like the guy she’d had to kiss in the last Rowland Bowles movie. The one that was filmed in Masterson had had Miranda and another man—an up-and-comer from Hollywood—kissing in the back of the fairy crowd. Miranda had enjoyed the entire thing.
Jac was the one who’d had a speaking part, though. She’d always be immortalized as saying, “Run! Gretta, you must run!”
Because of the red hair. Rowland Bowles had loved redheads for that movie. Just about every redhead he’d been able to find had been scooped up for filming. Including her and Miranda.
“So you argued with Levi Masterson. Then what?”
Time to keep things on track. Before he derailed everything.
“I went to the junkyard for a few hours. I needed a gasket for my car, I think. This was fourteen years ago. What am I supposed to say?”
“What was your overall impression when you got home? Think. You may have seen something that can help us figure out who did this.”
“I don’t really care who did it. It’s been fourteen years, and she was a total witch to all of us. Ask Randi. No doubt Diane—she used to be Monica—told her all about it. She was always complaining to Randi about something.”
“Just answer the questions,” Max said. “You got home and…who did you see?”
“Junior. He’s Luke now. I don’t think he minded changing his name. He hated Luther. He was freaked out. He puked in the yard. I almost stepped in it. Stupid creep. Nerd became an accountant and married the first girl he slept with in high school. She’s not even that hot.”
“How old was Luke then?”
“Thirteen, I think. Maybe. He might have been twelve and Honey eleven.”
“Where was your mother?”
“Inside the kitchen. Crying. Yelling at Monica—Diane. Diane. Named herself after Princess Di.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“My sister didn’t want to leave. She and mom were really arguing. Mom said we had to go. That she wasn’t staying there, and neither was my sister. The two younger kids were in their rooms with trash bags already. They’d been told to get everything they wanted in those bags or it was being left behind. I walked in, and my mom threw bags at me and told me the same. Told me I didn’t have a choice. Told me to pack my stuff, then pack Marcie’s. I just tossed everything in the trash bags.”
“You were eighteen; you had a choice. You could have stayed.”
“No. My mom made it clear that I couldn’t. She was going to take my car, give it to Monica. Let her drive it to wherever we were going, even though Monica wasn’t old enough.”
“Which was?”
“We moved around for a year or two after that. Started off on her cousin’s place in Montana. The guy was seriously old, but he just let her move in. We stayed with him until he died. Then we took insurance money and left again.”
“What happened after that?” Jac asked. “Your father? When did he and your mother divorce?”
“My dad kept the younger five kids, and Mom left about eleven years ago when she had Pete’s kid. Didn’t want the rest of us. Dad and the kids stayed in Mom’s cousin’s house. Dad refused to leave again. He was tired of it. Mom wouldn’t get off his case after we left Masterson. Worse than before. She hooked up with some guy who had kids of his own. Stayed with him for years. Had another kid, too. That one’s like ten or so.”
“Lesley, who was with your grandmother last? Before she told everyone they had to leave?” Max asked.
“She stayed with Luke and Liv and Kayla—that’s Jenny now—all day. Marcie became Marnie. Mom didn’t want to confuse her too much, she said, when we changed our names. My mom got home about fifteen minutes before I did, I think. I’m not really sure. That’s how it usually worked. My dad was out on the road for a few days. He got home an hour after I did. I think my mom called him and told him to get his ass home. That’s all I know. I swear.”
“What about your brothers and sisters? We really need to find them. Can you help us with that?”
“Not really. Diane and I went our own way. Dad probably knows where the rest of them are at. None of us were really all that close to Diane. But she doesn’t know jack about this. We left three hours later. And never came back to Masterson County.”
They finished the interview, finally getting the names they needed. He didn’t have addresses, but he had names, at least. It was a start. But it wasn’t all that much more than Luther had provided.
Jac watched as the deputy led Lesley Beise away. He’d be driven to the jail two counties over on the assault charges. Carrie had also discovered a warrant for his arrest on the back child support. It wasn’t going to be an easy time for Lesley Beise, but he had cooperated with them. That would count
