Page 93 of Every Deadly Suspicion

Betty reached across the table and gripped Hanna’s hand. “Oh, honey. He told you this?” Disbelief filled her tone, and Hanna didn’t blame her.

“The evidence doesn’t fit.” Hanna swallowed and tried not to sound as if she doubted her own story. “I saw that myself. After we found the oil drums, I reviewed the original case. If only I’d looked through the case sooner, I would have seen the inconsistencies, the holes. Maybe I could have...” Surprised, tears sprang to her eyes, and all the wasted years registered again.

“Stop, Hanna, don’t do this to yourself. If this is correct, there is nothing in the past we can change now.”

“I know.” She wiped her eyes. “But so much was lost. My mom was so angry my whole life, and it was drummed into me what a horrible man Joe was. He’s not just Joe to me anymore; he’s my dad. And I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to clear his name.”

Betty handed Hanna a box of Kleenex, and Hanna blew her nose.

“Why do you say that you won’t be able to clear his name? If this is the truth, it should be out there.”

“I don’t have any evidence. I can see that Joe would not have had time to kill two people and put them in the lake, but the crime scene is gone, all the main players are dead, and there is no physical evidence.” Hanna wiped her eyes again and composed herself. It helped that Jared put a comforting hand on her shoulder—his support fortified her.

“I hate to be devil’s advocate,” Betty said, “but what if Chase and Joe were working together?”

“The evidence doesn’t fit that either. Chase was injured by my father. Someone got rid of the bodies after Joe was arrested and Chase was in the hospital. Everett wants to place the blame on his father, Big Al. But what if it was Everett and Scott?”

Betty nodded slowly. “I can’t see Everett helping with something like that. I can, however, see Big Al orchestrating the whole thing.”

“Big Al?” Jared asked.

Betty nodded. “He was a difficult man. Your father had a run-in with him many years ago.”

“My father?” Jared looked perplexed.

“Big Al wanted your father’s farm. He tried to take advantage while your mother was sick. That’s why Ben lost his landscaping business.”

“I always thought that was because of my mother’s sickness.”

“Partly, yes. Big Al tried to bankrupt your dad. A few of us couldn’t believe it. He already had lost so much. Edda Fairchild organized a group of people to help your dad. We couldn’t save the business, but we made sure your father kept his farm.”

“I never knew this.”

Jared looked as stunned as Hanna felt.

“Neither did I,” Hanna said. “I thought Big Al died after the murders; Everett claimed he passed because of the stress.”

“No, he died just before the vote for the police department. He’d been sick since the murders. At least, that’s what we heard. He helped Everett form the PD here, mostly because he wanted control. I do believe the vote passed because he was dead. We trusted Everett, not Big Al.”

“Getting a history lesson here,” Jared said.

“You two were kids. Things were bad here before the PD was formed. Big Al’s money bought people and arranged outcomes. Chase was wild; we all knew Al kept him out of jail. Yes, I can see Al framing Joe. But not Everett. When Al died and Everett took over, everything improved. He was never as controlling as his father.”

“Still, Everett never set the record straight. Clearing my father will put the spotlight on him and Chase. Without evidence, it’s my word versus theirs, and I was just a baby when all this happened.”

Betty sat back in her chair and shook her head. “I confess, I always wondered about Joe’s confession. Chuck questioned Sheriff Peterson at the time.”

“What did Peterson say?”

“To trust him. He would never arrest an innocent man. Everyone knew Joe cooked meth. It was easy to convince people that Joe killed Blake and Sophia, and we should be happy that the killer was caught so quickly. We trusted him. Of course, Peterson was certainly beholden to Al.” She sipped her coffee, and to Hanna it looked as though she had more to say.

“Years later, Marcus published his book. He never claimed to have interviewed Joe, yet he had a lot of details. I always wondered where he got all the information. He seemed to know so much about Joe and how he operated.”

“Did you ever ask him?” Jared asked.

“Chuck did. Marcus gave a flippant answer about a reporter not revealing his sources. We never pressed him on it. Rather, we prayed. We have always prayed for Joe and for Chase and his family as well.”

“Some of it, I think, he got from my mom. I never read the book.”

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