“That’s absurd! They’re trying to get to the truth—whatever it might be.”
“Darren did not kill Marissa.”
Anne walked away from her and the argument, cradling Haley’s head against her shoulder. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re okay.”
Haley cried and twisted in her arms. “No!!”
“Maybe we should just go,” Anne said. She turned back toward Milo Bordain. “We should just go. This isn’t a good day for anyone. We can come back another day.”
“No!” Milo said, instantly contrite. “No, please don’t go. I’m so sorry I lost my temper. I’m just beside myself with everything that’s gone on this week.
“Don’t go. I have a picnic lunch all ready,” she said. “We’ll go down by the reservoir. Haley, don’t you want to go for a ride in the golf cart?”
Haley looked up at her. They were out of the shadows of the barn now. The apparition that had frightened her was gone, replaced by a person she had known her whole life.
“Should we go for a ride in the golf cart?” Bordain said, forcing a smile.
Still unhappy and out of sorts, the little girl put her head back down on Anne’s shoulder and murmured, “Mommy Anne ...”
The muscles in Milo Bordain’s square jaw tightened against her annoyance at Haley’s name for Anne.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Anne said. “Do you want to go for a ride and have a picnic?”
“The cart is right over here,” Bordain said, leading the way.
The golf cart, like everything else to do with Milo Bordain, was decked out elaborately, made to look like a Mercedes-Benz with the big logo on the front.
Anne got in and tried to set Haley on the middle of the front seat, but Haley crawled back into her lap and started to suck her thumb.
We should have gone, Anne thought. To hell with Milo Bordain’s feelings. Haley’s feelings were all that mattered. And yet, she couldn’t quite bring herself to tell the woman to turn the golf cart around and go back.
They drove through the field bordered by white fences and shaded by big trees. Shaggy red cattle watched them pass with only mild interest.
The reservoir—a grand name for a man-made pond the purpose of which was firefighting—shone like a blue jewel under the clear sky. Milo had sent her minions out earlier to make a picnic spot ready complete with a table and a red-and-white-checked tablecloth. A large wicker picnic basket sat on one end of the table with baguettes sticking up out of it and red and green grapes spilling over the side.
“You went to a lot of trouble,” Anne said.
“Oh, no, not at all. Nothing is too much trouble to make a nice event. All it takes is organization.”
And cheap hired help, Anne thought. She pointed at the table and leaned down to Haley. “Look, Haley, isn’t this special?”
Haley was unimpressed. She nudged a toe against the dash of the fancy golf cart and whined around the thumb in her mouth. “Mommy Anne ...”
“You really shouldn’t let her call you that,” Bordain said, irritated.
“If it makes her feel more secure,” Anne said, “there’s no harm in it.”
“You’re not her mother.”
“I know that. Haley knows that.”
“You’re not going to be either.”
Anne bit her tongue again, remembering what Vince had said at breakfast. Milo Bordain believed her son was Haley’s father. No one had told her differently.
“Haley knows her mommy is an angel in heaven. Isn’t that right, Haley?”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Milo muttered half under her breath.
We should have gone home, Anne thought again. This was a mistake. Why subject Haley—and herself—to this unpleasant woman? Just to be polite? Just to keep the peace? Her tolerance for this kind of social posturing was almost nil, and yet here she was.
Now they were stuck out in a field with Milo Bordain, and Anne realized, well away from the ranch buildings. Well away from the deputy who had brought them out here. A vague sense of unease stirred inside.
100
Vince went back to the SO to speak to Dixon in his office about what Gina Kemmer had told him.
“She said Marissa was involved with Bruce Bordain for about a year. At some point she says Marissa did get pregnant, but then she turned around and admitted that Haley isn’t Marissa’s daughter—or Bruce Bordain’s for that matter.”
“But she was blackmailing him?”
“Yes, but Gina said Marissa was done with it, that she had wanted Bordain to pay for what he’d done to her, but that it wasn’t worth the hassle to her anymore. She was tired of having to live under Milo’s thumb.”
“What had Bruce done to her?” Dixon asked.
Vince shrugged. “I don’t know. She said he killed her.”
Dixon’s brow furrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know. That’s when I got asked to leave,” Vince admitted. “Gina says there’s a lot more to the story. She claims they were trying to do something good.”
“For themselves?”
“For Haley. But Gina thinks Marissa was going to tell the Bordains Bruce wasn’t the father.”
“Four years of child support to a kid that wasn’t his,” Dixon said. “At the rate they were paying her, that’s about a quarter of a million dollars. I have to think that would be enough to piss off anybody—even Bruce.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“He flew to Vegas yesterday.”
“I’d call Vegas PD and see if they can’t sit on him for you,” Vince said. “If there’s anything to this, he’s a definite flight risk.”
“And he was willing to throw his own son under the bus for this,” Dixon said. “That’s cold.”
“I don’t know,” Vince said. “It’s like you said to him yesterday—that’s probably the best spin he could put on it. If the world thinks Darren got Marissa pregnant, that would dispel any rumors about him being gay.”
Dixon’s phone rang before he could even think about it. He hit the button marked Speaker.
“Sheriff, Detective Mendez is on line one. He says it’s urgent.”
Dixon punched line one. “Tony, what have you got for us?”
“Are you sitting down?”
“Yes.”
“We showed the photo array to the postal clerks.”
“Who did they ID?” Vince asked. “Bruce?”
“Milo.”
“I beg your pardon?” Dixon said.
“Milo Bordain. The clerk was adamant about it. I don’t know what to say, boss. I’m not sure what it means.”
Vince felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He was halfway to the door before Dixon could speak.
“Where are you going?”
“Anne took Haley to Bordain’s ranch.”
101
