“Yeah.” Sadly, I did. I’d done the same thing with Jake.
“We started gettin’ serious, but she wanted more…or more specifically she wanted me to have more. She wanted me to own the tavern, not just run it for my father.” He shook his head with a wry grin. “She had a way of bolsterin’ a man to do things he might not ordinarily do. So I went to my parents and told them I wanted them to hand over the bar. My father knew right away it had come from Heather and told me she was a gold digger. I admit, I suspected there might be some truth to it, yet I’d already started the battle, I figured I might as well finish it. I told him if he didn’t give it to me, I’d disown the entire family. I should have known better, because he told me fine. I was no longer part of the family. I stopped running the bar, cold turkey, on Heather’s suggestion. Show him how much he needed me. Only he never came crawling to ask me back.”
He pushed out a sigh, and his voice was tight as he said, “Deep down, I think I knew he wouldn’t. Maybe part of me was relieved.” He shrugged again and swallowed, refusing to look at me again. “Maybe I was tired of trying to make the old man happy. But Heather was startin’ to sweat. She saw me as the Drummond heir apparent and she didn’t want to wait for the old man to die for me to get what was comin’ to me. She started pickin’ fights, tellin’ me I hadn’t approached him the right way, that I needed to go back and plead for forgiveness. I was close to crawlin’ back to him just to get Heather to shut up, and then I caught wind that my father had sold my baseball to Earl Cartwright. The one signed by Joe DiMaggio that my grandfather had given me.
“I’d been drinkin’ far more than I should have, feelin’ plenty of regret, and I went to talk to my father. He said he was selling off my things since I considered myself too good for the family, only he wasn’t givin’ me the money. I went home and just got drunker. The next thing I knew, I was drivin’ to the garage and breakin’ in. I got my baseball back, and I drove Heather and me to Balder Mountain State Park, where we drank even more. The next thing I knew, I was arrested for a DUI and breakin’ and enterin’.”
“You must have been pretty hurt by his behavior,” I said quietly. “Every child wants their father to love them.”
He lifted his gaze to mine, his eyes glassy. “You of all people know we don’t always get what we want.”
I didn’t respond.
He shuffled his weight and sniffed, then looked at me with emotionless eyes. “My father had me followed and arrested to teach me a lesson. To bring me to heel. Only I wouldn’t fall into line. Heather was furious, and then scared, sayin’ my family was pushin’ her hard to lie to the sheriff about the drinking and driving and the break-in, with the hope of gettin’ me off. My father posted bail, but that’s the last favor I accepted from him. When I got out, I wouldn’t speak to them and refused their attorney. I told them I was done. Heather didn’t stick with me, which came as no surprise. She told me that my father had given her five thousand dollars to leave town and never come back. So she did. Or so I thought. Turns out she was murdered instead.”
I listened closely for any hint of sorrow or regret, but all I heard was weariness. Was he really that removed from her death? They’d had a tumultuous relationship. Maybe his feelings had changed after she “left town” and he’d realized he’d dodged a bullet. Or maybe he’d spent the past nine years getting over her. Then again, maybe he’d just learned to control his emotions and hide how he really felt. He was good at that. People were complicated too, and it could be some combination of all three. “Did you love her?”
“I did at one time, but when she left…” He shook his head and pushed out a breath, glancing down at his plate. “I was just grateful she was leavin’ me in peace.”
“Do you have any idea who murdered her?”
His gaze lifted to mine, holding firm this time. “Nope. None.”
“Who did she hang out with? I’d like to talk to them and find out if they knew of anyone who might’ve had a grudge against her.”
He shifted his weight. “She had a couple of friends from high school she kept up with. Mitzi Ziegler and Abby Atwood. I know Abby works at the Drum Veterinary Clinic. Last I heard, Mitzi lives in Ewing.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll start with them. How did you get along with her friends? I know you two broke up multiple times. Did they blame you for the breakups?”
“I don’t think so. They both seemed friendly enough. Still do. Abby brings her car to me, but then again, I have the only car repair shop in town, and our prices are cheaper than most places in Ewing. It might just be convenient for her to like me, you know what I mean?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So after we clean up here, do you want to drop by the animal clinic? Talk to Abby?”
I gave him a tight smile. “I agreed to help you, Wyatt, but I didn’t agree to let you ride along.”
“Ride along?” he
