Page 38 of 4th Silence
The migraine looms larger. “He was nine, Mom.”
“I mean, once he was grown?”
“That he didn’t take all this to the police suggests he’s scared one of his parents did the deed. We need to look into all of these angles.”
“Good job with the interrogation and getting his story to fall apart under scrutiny.”
Her compliment makes Meg smile. I just rub my temple. “The lingering question is whether that’s because he was young and his memory is faulty, or because he’s covering for someone.”
“Mary,” Meg and Mom say at the same time.
Where Mom bursts through doors, Matt carefully picks the locks. He taps a thumb on the table, brow furrowed. “We should also consider the possibility of a departmental cover-up. This is D.C. and an influential family—we’ve all seen it happen.”
“True.” Mom scribbles some more. She loves a good conspiracy theory involving law enforcement.
I stare at the whiteboard. “Criminal psychology 101: People rarely tell complete lies when a partial truth will do. They mix fact with fiction. Real emotions with misdirection. Alex could be protecting his mom or dad by emphasizing certain aspects of the story while downplaying others. Phillip can’t defend himself anymore.” I pause. “And Alex isn’t technically blaming him. He’s defending the man, while also planting the idea that he’s guilty.”
Matt nods, sorting through possibilities. “But his belief in his father’s innocence could be genuine, even if misplaced.”
Meg jumps up and goes to the board, grabbing a marker. “I don’t buy it. He’s using his father as a scapegoat, but it’s got to be Mary. Think about it. She had means and opportunity.”
“No motive,” Matt says, “Unless it was an accident, and there were dozens of others in the house that night that also had means and opportunity.”
“No motive that we know of,” I correct. “What if it has to do with that dumb purse? Tiffany played with it, spilled a drink on it, tore it, or somehow damaged it. Mary got mad and lashed out.”
Mom snorts. “That’s a stretch. Killing the girl over something so trivial?”
“That bag was worth a lot, even back then,” Meg says. “A rare designer bag, given to her from her husband as a Christmas gift to make up for some of his slights. Maybe Mary was drunk, saw the damage, and shoved Tiffany. She fell and whacked her head.”
“Or Mary smacked her on the back of the head when Tiffany was running away.” It’s an ugly scenario but possible. “She didn’t mean to kill her, yet managed to hit her hard enough that she did.”
We sit in silence, the only sound my mother’s pen scratching across a page. “Alex didn’t answer my question when I asked what he thinks happened,” I muse. “Instead, he told us what he wants us to think might have happened.”
Meg taps the whiteboard. “I say we narrow our focus to Mary.”
Blinders are never good in any investigation. “We can’t rule out Phillip and Gerry. To cover all of our bases, we need to consider Mallory, too. If Gerry was a playboy and a drug addict, maybe she’d had enough and confronted him that night. Tiffany jumped between her arguing parents and ended up dead. They covered it up.”
Meg circles the four names. “What’s next?”
“I’ve got to interview Mary,” Mom says.
“That’s not going to happen.” I sip my cold coffee. She glares at me. I glare back. “Gerry is our next play. We track him down and get him to talk about his family. See if he points a finger at Phillip or Mary. Or even his ex-wife.”
“We need to find the murder weapon,” Matt says.
That would be asking for a miracle. “If the police didn’t, I doubt we can.”
“You’re assuming whoever killed Tiffany wanted to get rid of the hammer, so they disposed of it,” Mom interjects.
“Wouldn’t you? They probably tossed it in the Potomac.” I go to the board and tap on HAMMER anyway. “First, we talk to Gerry and get his take on Phillip, Mary, and Mallory. Then, we establish if Mary’s purse had anything to do with it. If Gerry provides us with a lead or we acquire new information about that bag, we might have enough evidence for JJ to obtain a search warrant. Then we can look for the missing murder weapon.”
“Okay,” Mom says. “What do you want me to focus on?”
For a heartbeat, I’m stunned. She’s letting me take the lead? I blink, do a silent internal cheer, and regroup yet again. “You and Meg hunt down some of these other folks in the family and get them to collaborate or contradict Alex’s statements about Phillip and Gerry.” I point at myself. “I’ll talk to Janelle about revisiting the forensic evidence. She wasn’t the ME back then, but a second opinion on the wound might confirm if we’re on the right track about the hammer.” I then point to Matt. “You work your contacts at City Hall. Get property records for the Hartman estate, including anything on that safe room installation, tunnel, cottage, everything. We also need to know if the Hartmans owned, or still own, any storage units or secondary properties. Oh, and if you can figure out a way to talk to Mary’s daughter, Christina, about the bag without tipping our hand, do it. I feel like she might be a gold mine of intel on that family.”
“On it,” Matt says, getting up.
Haley walks in and hands me a courier envelope. “This just came for you.”
