Page 54 of Fatal Betrayal

She frowned at his far too insightful words. "I don’t need you to analyze me, Cooper."

"It's what I do. I can't help it," he said with a small smile.

"Let's talk about you," she said, eager to change the subject. "Are your parents still together? Are they happy in their marriage? What's going on with your sister? She must be all grown up now."

"Monica is twenty-seven years old. She manages a bakery and is perfecting her baking skills."

"Twenty-seven? I remember her at nine. She was a sweetheart, and she always liked to hang out in the kitchen and bake with your mom, so her job makes sense. Is she married?"

"Very single. My parents are still together. They seem happy enough. They've been through a lot together, that's for sure."

"Your mom was always so friendly to me, so welcoming. I loved being at your house for dinner. It was much more fun than mine. Your dad would tease your mom, and she'd turn red and laugh. It felt like there was a lot of love between them."

"There still is, but they both wrestle with a lot of guilt about Kyle."

"Do they still live in your old house?"

"They do. They should have moved away years ago, but my mom loves that house, and even when the neighborhood turned against us, she refused to move. She wanted to hold her head high and prove to everyone that they were wrong about Kyle. I'm not sure she ever achieved that, but she gave it a hell of a try." He paused. "Kyle killed himself in that house. Did you know that?"

She shook her head. "I didn't. I'm sorry, Cooper."

"My dad found him. My mom was out to lunch when it happened. My father blames himself for not realizing that Kyle was in a bad place. But Kyle had actually been doing better right before that day. Maybe he'd decided he was ready to move on, to let go, and that eased the pressure that was always inside him. We'll never know. He didn't leave a note."

Her heart went out to Cooper and his family and also to Kyle. He'd been a little odd, but he'd never been mean to her, and she knew he'd struggled to fit in, to find his way in the world. At some point, it had just gotten to be too much for him. Maybe that wouldn't have happened if she hadn't seen his car or pointed him out to the police. Or maybe it would have. She'd never know that, either.

Her work phone rang, and she picked it up. "Hi, Savannah. Have we gotten any leads from the press conference?"

"Yes. A lot. We're going through them. Some of them seem worthless, but that's par for the course. We did, however, get an interesting anonymous tip that Shana Grier, Neil's ex-wife, was extremely angry that Neil had a baby with Claire. Apparently, he'd refused to have a child with her. That was one reason they divorced. Then a few months later, Claire turns up pregnant. I put in a call to Ms. Grier," Savannah continued. "Her assistant told me she was out of the office until three."

Andi checked her watch. It was a little before one, so she had some time before Shana would be back. "I'll go to her office then. Text me the details."

"Will do. How did your meeting with Flores go?"

"One of his staffers, Tyler Holmes was driving Flores's car. Tyler is a friend of Daniel's, or at least knows him. But he's in class right now and won't be back at the gym until tonight. I'm going to head over to Solange's house shortly and see if she's heard from her son."

"I just spoke to her again," Savannah said. "She says Daniel left last night and hasn't come back since then."

"He didn't sleep there?"

"Mrs. Guerrero said no, but maybe you can get more out of her. I stressed that Daniel needs to get in touch with us as soon as possible."

"Okay, thanks for the heads up. Let me know if you get anything else."

"Will do."

She had a feeling the trip to see Solange was going to be a waste of time, but she didn't have a better idea, and maybe she could get more from the woman in person. Or maybe Cooper would be able to do that, since he knew her, and she might consider him to be more of an ally than an adversary.

"News?" Cooper asked as she ended the call.

"A tipster suggested Shana Grier was extremely upset with Neil for having a baby with Claire when he wouldn’t have one with her. What do you know about that?"

"Neil told me he never wanted kids until he met Claire, so I can't say the tipster is wrong, but I don't see Shana kidnapping Neil's kid."

"It's a long shot, but I'll talk to her later today. She's out until three." She paused. "I suppose you know Shana, too?"

"Not well, but we've met."

"Does she dislike you as much as she hates Neil? If so, maybe you should sit out that meeting?"

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