“I’m fine.” She was clutching her purse with one hand, the door handle with the other, ready to be alone with her thoughts. Instead, she sagged back in her seat. “It’s just a lot to take in, you know? To find out the chief of police was willing to let my grandmother take the fall for something she didn’t do because he wanted to run for mayor one day. What kind of man does something like that?”
“The ambitious kind.”
Lizzy shook her head, unable to comprehend it. “Someone needs to know.”
“Who? Summers doesn’t have a boss, unless you count Cavanaugh, and I think it’s safe to say he’s not going to be helpful.”
“The governor, then. Or the media. Someone.”
Andrew looked away, his hands still on the wheel. “I get that you’re angry, Lizzy, but how many fights are you willing to jump into?”
“As many as it takes.”
He blew out a breath, slow and thoughtful. “Okay. But maybe take them one at a time. Focus on what matters right now.”
“I want to talk to the Gilmans.”
Something like a wince crossed Andrew’s face. “You’re probably the last person the Gilmans are going to want to talk to. Why not wait and see what Roger comes up with?”
“And if he comes up with nothing?”
“I don’t know. I’m just not sure dragging the Gilmans through it all again is a good idea.”
“I’m trying to find out what happened to their daughters. You don’t think they’d want to help me do that?”
“In their minds, they already know what happened, Lizzy. As far as they’re concerned you’ll just be trying to clear Althea. You should also know the Gilmans split up a few years back. Fred’s still around, but I’m pretty sure someone told me Susan moved away.”
Lizzy was sorry but not surprised. She’d heard about marriages unraveling when a child died. Wives blaming husbands. Husbands shutting down emotionally. It was hard to imagine going on when a piece of your heart had been torn away forever. But then the Gilmans didn’t have to imagine it. It happened.
“You don’t think I feel awful about what they went through? I was there to see Susan Gilman’s face the day they pulled her daughters from our pond. I watched her die inside as the coroner’s van drove away. But Althea’s dead too. And I’m all that’s left, the only one still here to care about her memory. Is that wrong?”
“No. It’s not. I’m just saying give it some thought. And if you do decide to talk to them, try to remember that their grief is different from yours. Maybe not as fresh, but every bit as raw.”
Lizzy nodded, grabbing for the door handle, then paused. “Thank you for making today happen, and for going with me. Even if nothing comes of it, it was kind of you to help.”
“You’re welcome.”
She watched from the top of the drive as Andrew pulled away. Maybe he was right. Maybe she should leave the Gilmans alone. What right did she have to tear the scab from a wound that was barely healed? Salem Creek had moved on. Perhaps it was time she did the same, just put the farm on the market and let it all go.
Evvie was in the kitchen when she came in, pulling something golden and fragrant from the oven. The smell of warm blueberries hung in the air. Lizzy looked at the pan on the stove and thought of Althea. No one made blueberry cobbler like Althea, but this one looked—and smelled—awfully close.
“You made cobbler,” she said, smiling at Evvie. “I love cobbler.”
“Your gran told me.”
“We used to pick our own blueberries, then come home and make a big mess. By the time we finished, my fingers and lips were blue. It’s my absolute favorite dessert.”
“She told me that too.”
She looked at the pan of gooey, browned goodness, then back at Evvie. “Did you . . . you made this for me?”
“Thought you might need a little pick-me-up after talking to that detective. There’s ice cream in the freezer.”
“Vanilla?”
“What else?”
Lizzy blinked back an unexpected rush of tears. It had been an emotional day, and her nerves were raw. “Thank you, Evvie. This was so kind of you.”
Evvie nodded, acknowledging the thank-you, but her expression was all business. “You going to tell me what happened?”
Lizzy went to the freezer and pulled out a half gallon of Hood vanilla, then grabbed two bowls from the cupboard. “He wasn’t what I expected. He’s . . . sincere.”
“There’s a word you don’t hear much anymore.”
“No, but it fits. He cares about the truth. Which is more than I can say for Summers.”
Evvie dished up the cobbler and handed the bowls to Lizzy, who added a healthy scoop of ice cream to each before heading for the kitchen table.
“He agreed to help,” she said, dropping into a chair. “He’s got two boxes of notes from the investigation in his spare room, and he promised to go through them again, in case he missed something. In the meantime, I’m thinking of talking to the Gilmans.”
Lizzy had expected a look of disapproval, but Evvie simply nodded. “You’ll have to settle for the daddy,” she said through a mouthful of cobbler. “The mama took off a few years back, and no one’s heard a peep from her since.”
“Andrew told me.”
“Can’t blame her. Word is Mr. Gilman’s no prize. Can’t imagine he’d be any better after what happened. And who’d want to live in a place where everything you looked at reminded you of what you’d lost? Not me, I know that. He’s still here, though. Lives over in Meadow Park now, the trailer park out by the fairgrounds. And I’m pretty sure he still works at Mason Electric.”
Lizzy spooned up a bite of cobbler, but paused before putting it in her mouth. “The detective doesn’t think I’ll get very far. Neither does Andrew. And I’m starting to think they’re right. Fred Gilman will take one look at me
