Page 42 of Whispers Left Behind

“I’ll refrain from asking any questions until you give me a full explanation as to what took place last Wednesday night.” Kinsley then met Douglas’ stare. “Not a word from you, Mr. Glynn. Am I clear?”

“Yes.”

It was obvious that Douglas wasn’t thrilled with Louise’s decision to speak with Kinsley, which meant that she needed to hear the woman out before he changed her mind.

“We didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” Louise said as she clasped her hands in her lap. The tissue could be seen peeking out between her fingers. “I didn’t want to be a distraction in the investigation. You see, I found out last Wednesday that my father has lung cancer. To hear that he could die…well, I realized that I was being petty. Had been for years. He always put the farm above his family. He still does, and it took me a long time to understand that I can’t change him. I called Rachel, and I asked her to meet me in Halliday. We arranged a time, but I didn’t want to tell her what we had discovered over the phone.”

Douglas reached out and covered Louise’s hands with his. His touch appeared to give her the strength to continue her version of events. Kinsley kept her promise to remain silent during the recollection.

“Rachel and I met at the front entrance gate. I explained what I had learned while at dinner. I suppose I should clarify what happened earlier that day. I ran into an old family friend at the restaurant. She works at my former doctor’s office, and she asked me how I was doing,” Louise said as her voice became softer with emotion. “I knew then that something was wrong, so I went along with the conversation. Audry let it slip that the oncologist my father was referred to happened to be the best in the state of North Dakota. She even went so far as to say the oncologist specialized in lung cancer.”

“We left the restaurant right afterward,” Douglas added on as he kept ahold of Louise’s hands. Kinsley arched a brow to remind him of her warning, and he quickly finished what had been on his mind. “Louise called Rachel while we were on our way home.”

“When I met Rachel at the farm, I explained everything. She was, of course, upset. She talked me out of confronting Dad, stressing over and over that she believed he would tell us abouthis diagnosis when he was good and ready. If I hadn’t driven away…”

“I’m having difficulty understanding why you didn’t tell me the truth last Wednesday night.” Kinsley couldn’t help but think that Louise’s story fell short. “Why would you lie to the police, Ms. Baird?”

“I had nothing to do with my daughter’s murder, Detective Aspen.” Louise had straightened her shoulders in defense of her actions. “Nothing. If you had known that I was the last one to see her alive, you would have wasted time on me or…”

Kinsley was beginning to understand Louise’s thought process. She was concerned about Douglas.

“What time did you meet Rachel at the farm?”

“I suppose it was a little before eight o’clock,” Louise replied as she quickly shifted, the abrupt movement causing Douglas to release her hands. She reached into her purse to retrieve her wallet. Before too long, she was holding out what appeared to be a receipt. “I had to stop at the gas station. I spotted Rachel’s car at the intersection, but I didn’t notice anyone following her. As a matter of fact, I was able to pull out behind her and follow her through town to the farm.”

“Who drove away first?”

“I did.” Louise’s voice had dropped to a whisper. “If I had known—”

Louise leaned back in her chair, unable to finish her sentence. Once she had composed herself, she diverted the conversation to her son-in-law.

“Sebastian and Jack have to be the ones who murdered my daughter, Detective Aspen. Three million dollars? Why would he take such a policy out on Rachel’s life?”

Kinsley had posed the same question to Sebastian Hanson’s lawyer. He had taken his brother’s advice, and there would no longer be any interviews without legal counsel present. Ananswer had been supplied to her this morning, and she could only assume such a quick turnaround had been at the behest of said representation.

“I spoke with Tobias this morning, as you well know. He mentioned that you have known about the policy for a while. It’s also my understanding that the life insurance policy was taken out a couple of years ago when your daughter and son-in-law first began talking about starting a family. Sebastian took one out for himself, as well.”

Kinsley paused when a man entered the waiting room. He didn’t even glance their way as he made his way to the small coffee station on the opposite side of the room.

“Ms. Baird, you were adamant that Sebastian would never have hurt Rachel, even with the knowledge of such a hefty life insurance policy. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Sebastian called me yesterday,” Louise revealed with a quick sniffle. “At first, I thought he was calling to check on Gage. Then my son-in-law went into the details of what happened this weekend. He admitted that he lied to Rachel about being sterile, and how Jack was going to tell her the truth. Sebastian lied to my daughter, Detective Aspen. He let Rachel believe something was wrong with her. Any faith or trust that I had for the man evaporated during that phone call.”

Kinsley took a moment to weigh Louise’s statement. It was plausible that her phone conversation with her son-in-law had panned out in such a way. The same went for the woman’s decision to omit the truth about being with Rachel last Wednesday, though Kinsley would reserve judgment until more of the timeline from that night was filled in.

“Mr. Glynn, were you with Louise last Wednesday night?”

Douglas and Louise shared a concerned glance.

“I was home. Alone.” Douglas snapped his fingers as if something had just occurred to him. “Our neighbor across thestreet has a doorbell camera. It has a direct view of our driveway. That footage will confirm that I didn’t leave the house with Louise.”

Unless the doorbell camera had been activated during the evening hours, there would be no footage to confirm the man’s alibi. And even if such confirmation could be determined by such a recording, Douglas could have exited the back of the house without being noticed by anyone.

“Did you purchase brakes for Gage?”

“Yes,” Douglas replied, seemingly confused by the switch in topics. “Gage asked if I could get him a discount through my company, and I said yes. He had to go out of town last week, and he didn’t have time to pick them up. Are you saying that…”

“We believe the accident was a result of high speed and the lack of pads on the brakes,” Kinsley revealed truthfully. Considering there was no evidence to the contrary, she would stick to the facts in the case. “I’ll have Officer Blake return your car keys when forensics is done examining your vehicle.”

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