Page 109 of Trouble Comes in Threes

I stared at her in shock. “Who talked to you?”

“Not your husband,” she said with a snort. “Some big guy who talked real slow and had an attitude.”

I glanced over at Neely Kate and shook my head. I had no idea who she was talking about, but then again, I didn’t know all the deputies in the department.

“And you don’t know his name?” I asked.

“No,” she said, sounding forlorn. “I was in too much shock to remember it. He told me right before he said Harvey had been shot and was dead. Then he asked those questions, and I gave him the answers, but I was pretty out of it. He left before I could get it together.”

“Did he give you a card?” I asked.

“No.”

“Did they talk to your parents?” I asked. “Maybe your other siblings, if you have them?”

“Our parents are deceased, and we don’t have any siblings. It’s just been me and Harvey for the past eight years.”

And now she was alone.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice breaking.

She gave me a studied look, her attitude softening. “You meant it when you said you wanted to help me.”

“I did,” I said, then motioned to Neely Kate. “We both do.”

She was quiet for several seconds as she mulled over my statement. I hoped she’d tell me she’d changed her mind about talking to Joe, but instead she said, “I love my brother.” Her voice broke. “Loved.” She dabbed her eyes. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

“We really are sorry,” Neely Kate said. “We want to help you find out who did this. Right now, we’re trying to determine if there’s a connection between your brother and a couple of other people who were murdered this weekend too.”

Darlene gasped. “There were others?”

I shot a glare at Neely Kate. As far as I knew, Joe hadn’t released the ID of the second victim, but then again, we needed to find out if she knew of a connection. It would be difficult to do that without sharing some of what we knew.

“Unfortunately, yes,” I said. “Although it’s not public information. So I hope you’ll keep this to yourself until they make it public.”

Her head bobbed up and down. “Of course. If it helps find whoever killed my brother, I’ll take it to my grave.”

“Hopefully, it won’t take that long,” I said with an uncomfortable laugh. “We only know one of the other two victims’ names—Noah Parker. Have you heard of him? Do you know if he knew your brother?”

Her eyes narrowed for a second or two before she shook her head. “No, but then again, I didn’t know all his friends. Especially his weekend friends.”

“Weekend friends?” Neely Kate asked.

Darlene sighed. “His partying friends.”

“Noah Parker worked at Nimble’s Lumberyard down in Sugar Creek,” I said. “Do you know if Harvey ever went to that particular lumberyard?”

She released a short laugh. “I doubt Harvey had ever been to a lumberyard in his life.”

“What were Harvey’s hobbies?” Neely Kate asked.

“Besides partying?” she asked derisively, then ran her hand over her face. “Sorry. I’m not dealing with this very well.”

“Of course you’re not,” Neely Kate said reassuringly. “How could you be?”

“You deal with all of this however you need to,” I said. “And you’re not obligated to answer any of our questions.”

“If there’s the slightest chance you can find out who murdered my brother, then I’ll help you anyway I can.”

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