Page 93 of Little Buried Secrets

“I hear your father’s pickup truck has been located,” I said. “The one you were driving the night you hit Margot.”

He laughed it off like it meant nothing. “Doesn’t mean anything. Lots of people own white pickups.”

I crossed one leg over the other. “I just had a long talk with your wife. She told me all about the day you tried to kiss Margot and how Margot had to fight you off. Did you know your wife was planning on divorcing you once Sebastian graduated from high school? That’s why she talked you into selling the property.”

“I don’t know what my wife thinks she saw happen, but if she is about to divorce me, it explains why she’d make up such a ridiculous story.”

“Do you want to know a story that’s not ridiculous? Blood and skin cells were found beneath Margot’s fingernails.”

“So what?”

“Each person’s DNA is unique to them, unless you’re an identical twin, which you are not.”

“I assume you’re telling me this for a reason. Get to the point, and then I want you to get out of here.”

“The point is … the coroner believes Margot scratched the person who attacked her before she died. When the doctor was treating your wound last night, he found scratch marks on both of your hips, scratches that drew blood, thanks to Margot’s sharp fingernails. You can sit here and deny what you did all you want. We both know you’re guilty.”

CHAPTER 40

Three weeks later

I was sitting in Foley’s office, talking to him about Margot’s case.

“Sean confessed to everything,” Foley said. “Didn’t have much of a choice, of course. The skin cells under Margot’s nails were a match. The blood sample we took from Sean was also a match.”

“Did Sean tell you what happened and why he did it?” I asked.

“According to him, Margot went to see Sean at the cabin the morning of the day she disappeared. Sebastian was at work at the time, and Sean was home alone. Margot told him she was meeting Sebastian that night to tell him about the kiss unless Sean came clean and did it before then. Sean drove to Sebastian’s work later that afternoon, planning to come up with some story to make Margot look like a liar, no doubt. But when he got there, he chickened out, and he left.”

“It’s possible he chickened out because it wasn’t the first time Sebastian had seen his father being inappropriate with women. He must have been on his way home, and he saw Margot.”

“Yep. He claims he was angry, and he hit her without thinking about it. Then he didn’t know what to do. My thinking is that he thought he’d kill her if he hit her hard enough, and he could have told everyone she’d darted into the road or some cockamamie story … that it was an accident.”

“But he didn’t kill her, so he needed a new plan.”

Foley nodded. “He scooped her up and put her in the truck before anyone saw what he’d done. He drove out by the trail where we found her, and at some point, she opened the door and jumped out. He took off after her.”

“I don’t even want to know what happened next, but tell me anyway.”

Foley leaned back in his chair, running a hand over his bald head. “It upsets me so much. I don’t even like thinking about it. Sean chased after her, and she tripped, hitting her head on a rock. She went down. He said she was still alive, and she tried to fend him off. That’s when he, you know, he forced himself on—”

“It’s all right. I know what he did next. How did she die?”

“After he violated her, he said she went unconscious and stopped moving. He said she died from the fall she’d had. I don’t believe a word of it. I think he cracked her in the head with a rock and killed her.”

“And he decided to bury her, right then and there.”

“Sean said he panicked. Then he remembered his father always carried a small shovel in the toolbox in the back of his pickup, so he dug a hole and buried her.”

“Why lay out her clothing the way he did?”

“He told me everything happened so fast, he didn’t have time to think. When he realized what he’d done, he felt awful.”

“Sure he did.”

“Look, I’m just telling you what he told me.”

“Go on,” I said.

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