“Do you regret not taking her in?” Silas had never once asked him that question and it came as a bit of a shock that he chose to do so now.
“Weezer and I couldn’t have. Not because of the rumors and not because we were living in separate homes at the time. It wouldn’t have been the right environment for Tamsyn at the time. But I’ve never believed that Fred and Anna’s home was either.”
“Why do you say that? Is it because you don’t like Anna?”
Carter chuckled. “No. But it always struck me as odd why Fred and Anna did that. Fred is inherently good. He does a lot of decent and kind things for the people of this community. But he doesn’t go out of his way to do them.”
“And his wife only does them if people can see it and tell her what a wonderful person she is. She doesn’t do it out of the kindness of her heart; she does it for the attention.”
“Bingo.” Carter waved his finger. “We can all sit around and joke about Weezer cheating to get the Holiday Showcase. But no one stops her. Why? Because they want her to do it. Granted, my wife likes the attention, but she doesn’t do it for that. She does it because she’s good at it, and it’s one way to give back to the community. When she held the first meeting after the fire, Anna and Mrs. Cummings came in hot. Like scalding hot. They were all fired up and worried that Weezer was going to change everything.”
“But she didn’t. According to Claudia, she kept everything exactly the same, right down to the lineup of acts, the music, even the decorating ideas.”
“Because they were perfect and Weezer’s no fool. Why reinvent the wheel.”
“Claudia also told me that it was Anna who started making suggestions for changes once the meeting got under way, acting as if the ideas were Weezer’s, and not Claudia’s.”
“That was truly the funny part of the entire meeting,” Carter said. “Anna doesn’t know how to read a room, much less empathize with a young girl and all the questions that must have been swirling around in Tamsyn’s head when her mother went missing. That girl has always been reserved. Even as a toddler. She had to be because of her life circumstances. But she never came out of her shell until she moved out of Anna and Fred’s home.”
“For a man who doesn’t make assumptions, you’re making a lot of them about three people’s interpersonal relationships.”
“I’m commenting on what I’ve seen over almost thirty years,” Carter said.
“Okay. I’ll bite. Why do you think that is?”
“Tamsyn doesn’t trust easily. She never has. And with good reason. I don’t believe she’s ever truly trusted Anna with her emotions.”
“What about Fred?” Silas asked.
“Oh, she trusts him with a lot more than Anna. She values and respects him, or she wouldn’t have taken that job. But I saw the distance between them when Fred came to the house.”
“That could have been because Fred was questioning her boyfriend’s parents.”
Carter shook his head. “She had a few questions of her own for us when Fred left, and they were pretty tough ones too. That girl doesn’t hold any punches. No. The distance had nothing to do with her relationship with Noir. It goes deeper and it damn near broke my heart.”
“I’ve told you this a million times over the years, old man, you can’t save the world and you need to stop trying.”
Carter leaned over and butted out the cigar. “Not the world. Just my family and Noir loves Tamsyn. That makes her family.” He took his drink and stood. “We should get back inside. I want to take more of your money before I head home and face my wife about my cigar smoking. It might take the sting out of that lecture.”
Noir
“Hey, you.” Noir handed Tamsyn a mug of hot chocolate. “What are you doing out here, alone in the dark? I was worried about you.” He glanced around the vineyard. The crime scene tape was still draped across the fence and around a few vines, closing off the area. He wasn’t surprised that Tamsyn had wandered out here, only sad that she’d chosen to do it without him.
“I don’t know.” She gripped the cup and stared at the empty grave. It had been only a foot deep. “I had just meant to sit on the front stoop and get some fresh air.”
“It’s freezing out here.” He wrapped his arm around her, tugging her close, grateful she didn’t push him away.
She’d been distant for hours and he couldn’t stand the ache that it left in his soul.
“I can barely feel anything,” she said. “It’s like I’m not even here. Like none of this is real.” She turned. “I don’t understand Fred. The way he’s treating your parents. There isn’t enough evidence of anything to be so combative. There’s proof the body hadn’t been here long. I know that because I read the report.”
“I’m not sure you should be telling me that.”
“Probably not, but I won’t lose my job over it.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “The only issue is what your parents found in their china cabinet and the necklace. But no one knows about that. I feel like I’m missing something. My gut tells me that Fred is keeping something from me.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To protect me, I guess. But even that doesn’t feel right. I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m a grown woman. And a cop.” She sniffled. “My mother’s dead. Deep down, I accepted that a long time ago. There isn’t anything I can do to bring her back. All I can do is find answers. But how am I supposed to do that when one of the people I’ve believed my whole life was helping me do just that is possibly standing in my way?”
