“You did.”
A becoming peachy undertone lit Alice’s skin. Hers was nota bitter face, as Genevieve had been expecting, considering what had happened to her son and husband. Alice’s wrinkles, furrows, and lines gave evidence of her years and her sorrows, yes. But she had a calm and perceptive demeanor.
“Gordon passed away more than thirty years ago,” Alice said to Mom. “Did you know that?”
“Yes. I was very sorry to hear it.”
“Sandra lives with me here and takes good care of me. Dawn works for the United States Postal Service. She and her husband have two boys. One’s a police officer and the other restores old motorcycles. We’re very proud of them.”
“As you should be.” For once, Mom resisted the urge to play a game of “my children are more impressive than yours.” She cleared her throat. “In addition to our desire to ... reconnect with you, we looked you up because we wanted to discuss something with you. The night of Russell’s death, actually. That’s what we’d like to discuss.”
“Oh?” Sandra said, the sound critical and mocking.
“We know the facts of what happened,” Dad told Alice. “I wish we’d shared them with you much sooner.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Sandra asked.
“Sandra,” Alice murmured disapprovingly.
“We didn’t share the details with you sooner,” Dad said to Alice, “because we were afraid.”
Alice considered that. “Go on.”
Mom told them about the relationship she’d had with Dad in college. Then about her relationship with Russell. She outlined the abuse she’d suffered at Russell’s hands, keeping the details clinical. No blame rang from them.
Even so, Sandra and Dawn stiffened. Genevieve didn’t blame them. Mom was speaking ill of the dead, and the dead was their sibling.
Dad told them about traveling to Camden to recruit for the Navy.
Alice listened with great concentration, as though her ears had been hungry for this information a very, very long time.
Mom and Dad took turns recounting the day of the murder.
At last, Dad described entering Mom and Russell’s home and his fight with Russell. Pain drew Alice’s eyebrows low.
After Dad explained her son’s final moments, a crushing quiet descended.
Alice shifted her gaze from Dad to Sandra. Finally she said, “Caroline was with you that night.”
Sandra held her mother’s regard for a long moment. Would Sandra confirm or contradict her parents’ story?
“Yes,” Sandra replied.
“And? Are they telling the truth?”
“I have no idea whether they’re telling the truth about the things that happened before I arrived. When I got there to take Caroline to Bible study, Russell was already dead.”
“Did you find everything in the house as they’ve just described?” Alice asked.
Sandra frowned. Gave a short nod.
“You helped them arrange things so that suspicion would fall on the Shoal Creek Killer,” Alice said, connecting the dots. “And then you took Caroline to Bible study, so she’d have an alibi.”
Dawn’s fingers crept up to cover her mouth. “Oh, Sandra.”
“If I had it to do over again,” Sandra told her sister, “I wouldn’t have helped them.”
“What happened afterward?” Alice asked Dad.
