I settled in my usual chair, and he dragged his seat closer to mine and threw the blanket over both of our legs. I took a sip of tea. “Teatime with Emily wasn’t what I expected.”
“So you mentioned.”
“Bart wasn’t there, so small blessings, but Emily didn’t know they’d found Heather’s remains.”
“Seriously?”
“I think Bart assumed I’d tell her, but I didn’t. I’m still not sure that was the right call, but Bart was using me and I didn’t want to play by his rules.”
“Sounds like a Bart move.”
“Emily was more open than I expected and shared things I didn’t even ask about. She confessed that Bart was a terrible father, even told me she’d considered leaving him at some point but she’d stayed for fear he’d maneuver to get full custody.”
“Yeah, that was a good call,” he said, lifting his foot to rest it on the porch railing.
“I asked her about Heather, and she seemed willing to answer my questions. She didn’t approve of her either. In fact, she was the one who suggested they pay her off. She even wrote the check. According to her, Bart was surprised she left town for so little money. He’d expected to pay more, and she sounded like an opportunist. Which makes me wonder why she took so little.”
“The way you said that makes me think you have a theory,” he said, then took a sip of tea.
“What if she was working with someone else, with the hope of making more money?”
“And who would that be? To what purpose?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that she left for a shockingly low amount.”
“Only she didn’t leave. She was killed.”
“True,” I acknowledged.
“What if she agreed to leave but changed her mind?” he suggested. “And the person who killed her didn’t like that she’d decided to stay. Who would have wanted her gone?”
“Likely a lot of people. Emily and Bart.” Then I added, “Probably Wyatt.”
“Did he say he wanted her gone?”
I gave it some thought. “When he talked about it this morning, he didn’t give an opinion about it one way or another. Just stated that she’d left. Or so he thought. They’d broken up by then. He said it happened sometime after he was arrested.” I took a sip of my tea and turned to him. “In the nursing home parking lot, he told me he was engaged to her when he went to his parents to ask for the tavern.”
He frowned. “I don’t think Max knew that.”
“I don’t think anyone knew,” I said. “Abby didn’t mention it, and Ruth sure hasn’t. I think maybe she changed her mind after Wyatt came back empty-handed.”
“She really was a gold digger,” Marco said.
“Which is why it doesn’t make sense for her to leave for so little money.” Then I added, “If she even cashed the check. Supposedly she was waving it around at her going-away party. I asked Emily to look into it. When she has an answer, she’s going to call Max’s and leave a message for me to come to tea. Even if I still don’t want Max or Wyatt to know I went to see her, not yet. But it was better than asking her to call Hank’s house. I can only imagine what Bart would do if he found out.”
He nodded. “And you got her to talk about all of that without mentioning Heather’s body? She didn’t find that suspicious?”
“No.” I turned in my seat to face him. “The first two times I met Emily, she seemed like such a sweet woman, and I couldn’t understand why she was with Bart.”
“You say that like you changed your mind.”
I twisted my mouth to the side as I thought it over. “She still seemed sweet, but much more calculating than I expected.”
“I’m still surprised she admitted that she wanted to leave him, but like I said, she made a good call,” Max said. “He saw those boys as possessions, and he never would have stood for her taking them from him. Hell, I can’t even see him letting her go.”
“Like Floyd Bingham?”
He was quiet for a moment. “No, I don’t think he would have killed her. People were afraid of him and his power, but Emily had a way of softening his edge, just enough so people didn’t think he was a monster. He needed her.”
“He was really that evil?”
“Not evil, per se. There were just so many secrets and rumors about the favors. And of course, the murders and the strange, unexplained things goin’ on that people attributed to him, even if the sheriff’s department claimed they never found a link.”
“Thelma Tureen told me that her husband’s cousin went to Bart for a favor.” I told him about the whole episode, starting with the man’s DUI and ending with the way he’d burned the house down and then ultimately killed himself.
“Yep,” he said with a grim face. “That all fits with Bart and his favors.”
“When did the favors stop?” I asked and shivered a little from a chill.
“They never really stopped, I don’t think,” he said, leaning over to tuck the blanket around my legs. “But he lost most of his money and, along with it, his power. Plus, he got old. He just seemed to lose the things that lent him his air of intimidation. But I think he still grants and calls in favors, just not as often as in the past.”
“Emily said she was worried about what Bart was doing to Wyatt and Max while they were growing up. I think she was worried he’d break their spirit or make them into monsters too.”
“Definitely a valid concern,” he said slowly. “I’m just surprised she was so free with that information. Max always suspected she wanted to leave and take them with her, but he never knew for certain.”
“I wasn’t sure why she was telling me any of it. Maybe because she still thinks Wyatt and I are together?”
“You’re kiddin’,” he said in a flat voice.
“Wyatt never told her
