Page 40 of Deadly Past

Will glanced briefly to the window where Declan and Wynona watched. “Sure, you can have a lawyer, but I won’t be able to help you if you lawyer up. You can bet Tammy is going to talk to us.”

Harvey didn’t take the bait. “Law-yer,” he said in a bored tone.

Will rose from his seat and gathered the file he had on the Kirklands. “Alright, I’ll get you a lawyer, but you’re making a mistake by not cooperating.”

Declan wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Maybe that Harvey would have had some remorse for what he’d done. “Let’s get out of here.”

Wynona didn’t answer as Declan guided her out into the hall and didn’t stop until they were standing outside the police station.

She quickly wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tight. “Those awful people.”

He held her while she cried and tried to tamp down the rage he felt for two heartless people who had destroyed so many lives.

Someone cleared their throat, and Declan spotted Will standing close. “Was Tammy willing to cooperate?” he asked Will.

Will shook his head. “No, but we were able to track down Harvey’s cousin who lives on the mainland. According to the cousin, she and Tammy were close. She couldn’t stand Harvey. I’m hoping she can give us some insight on what happened.”

“I want to listen in,” Wynona looked up at Declan. “I have to know what happened.”

He slowly nodded and glanced up at the snowy skies. “Maybe this Christmas will bring you the gift of answers you need at last.”

???

“Can you state your name, please?” Will clicked on the recorder and asked the middle-aged woman seated at the table the question. She clutched her hands together and wore a worried expression as she watched Will.

“Belinda York.” Her voice shook.

Declan couldn’t take her eyes off the woman. She looked like anyone’s mother, yet she might possibly hold the information of a decade’s old abduction case in her hands.

“Tell me how you know Tammy Kirkland.”

Belinda’s mouth thinned “She’s my cousin Harvey’s wife. . .and my friend.”

Will wrote something down. “You know why Tammy and your cousin are being held here. Do you have information about what’s happened?”

Belinda’s eyes filled with tears, and she dabbed them with her hand. “I do. And I should have never kept Tammy’s secrets for so long.”

Will glanced over his shoulder to Declan and Wynona hidden from view by the two-way mirror. “What secrets have you kept?”

The length of time it took for Belinda to respond had Declan wondering if she’d keep her cousin’s secrets after all. He gathered Wynona close, preparing for the worst.

“I think deep down, Tammy is scared of him, and I can’t blame her. Everyone is. He’s a mean man. Always has been,” Belinda said quietly.

“Scared of who? Please use his name,” Will stated.

“Harvey, her husband and my cousin, I’m sorry to say.”

“Why do you think she’s scared of him?”

“She told me once. She said Harvey didn’t want kids and he didn’t like hers.”

Declan’s stomach turned.

“What a horrible man,” Wynona murmured in a broken tone.

“When did Tammy and Harvey marry?” Will asked when Belinda was quiet.

“The baby was only a few months old when they wed. Tammy said the couple who lived next to them in New York was watching the girls for her while she went to work. She couldn’t leave the girls with Harvey because he hurt them.” She glanced up at Will. “Anyway, Tammy said when she came home from work one day, the couple and her girls were gone.”

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