Vera sat in the chair next to the one Lancaster had claimed in front of his desk. The woman was tall, thin, with brown hair and a deep tan. She was a single mom with two kids and a full-time job to juggle.
“I spoke to her on Sunday afternoon, but I haven’t been able to reach her since.” Lancaster shook her head. “Look, I’ll be the first to say that Sandy is a little on the wild side. She hops from one guy to the next. Never keeps a job for long. But she is—was a good person.” She swiped at a tear that slipped past her hold.
“She was involved with Larry Parson frequently,” Vera suggested.
Lancaster smiled, sadness clouding the expression. “Those two never seemed to be able to get over each other. They would break up for a while and then end up back together. I always called him her addiction. She couldn’t resist him.” She turned to Vera. “That’s when I first realized something really was wrong. Yesterday afternoon I went to see Larry. It took me some time. I didn’t have his number or know where he was living since he got out of prison. Anyway, his friend Rhonda was there feeding his cat. She said he’d left for Tennessee because there was trouble with his brother. I knew then that Sandy was likely in trouble too.”
“When did Rhonda say he left for Tennessee?”
“Like at four in the morning or something.”
“Yesterday? Thursday.” Vera figured this would confirm Parson’s statement about when he left and arrived.
“Yeah.” Sandy nodded.
“Myra spoke with Rhonda Moore a little while ago, and Moore corroborated Parson’s departure time,” Bent said to Vera.
So it was official. Parson could not have attacked her and Erwin. He had nothing to do with any of this bad business. The man had merely been worried about his brother. His death only made the evolving circumstances more sinister.
Unless, she reminded herself, like Bent said, he came on Monday, did the killing and went back to wait for a call about his dead brother and ex-girlfriend. Vera just didn’t feel that one. But it was a viable scenario. Except ... why would he leave Alicia alive? Maybe the two of them had plotted the whole nightmare. Nah. Vera wasn’t buying that one either.
“When you spoke with your sister”—Vera turned to the woman seated next to her—“did she talk about how things were going here? Or why she and Seth came in the first place?”
Lancaster made a sound that wasn’t a laugh but something on that order. “She said plenty. Seth had gotten all these text messages from Alicia—the two of them were a couple off and on for years. Talk aboutaddictions, now those two were really addicted to each other. But it had been like two years or something since he’d heard from her the last time.”
Bent leaned forward and braced his elbows on his desk. “Did he have any idea where she was?”
“He knew she was somewhere in Tennessee and that she’d found this mega-rich guy to marry.” Lancaster did laugh then. “Poor guy. He probably had no idea she would never stay. I mean, Alicia’s a gorgeous girl, for sure, and she’s pretty nice for the most part. But she could never stay away from Seth. At least until this last time, and who knows how much longer that would have lasted. I guess that’s why he fell for whatever kind of setup this was.”
“Setup?”
Bent beat Vera to that one. She couldn’t wait to hear the answer.
“Sorry, I’m skipping around on you. So, about two and a half or three weeks ago, he started getting these text messages from Alicia saying that he had to come. She needed to see him. She couldn’t take this fake marriage any longer. Would he please come and rescue her because this guy was never gonna let her go. Sandy said she was even using a burner because her husband was watching every move she made.”
The story was a close match to Parson’s. Vera asked, “Did they do more than text? Did they actually have a phone call? Did they meet somewhere away from Fayetteville?”
Lancaster shook her head. “I don’t think so because if they had, none of this would have gone down.”
“How can you be sure it wouldn’t have?” Bent asked.
“Because when I talked to Sandy, she said the whole thing was effed up. Alicia claimed she had not sent any text messages. She insisted she had no idea why Seth was here. Sandy said she pretty much believed her because she seemed truly shocked and really upset that Seth had come. She was like tripping all over herself to explain to her husband what was going on. I guess on account of all that stuff in the text messages, Seth was worried that Alicia was just afraid of her husband and waspretending she hadn’t sent those messages. Seth wouldn’t leave until he was sure. But Sandy believed Alicia was telling the truth. She said Alicia even offered Seth big money to leave. Like a hundred thousand dollars.”
“But he wouldn’t go,” Bent guessed.
“He wouldn’t. Sandy said he was really worried about her and wanted to hang around for a while to see what was what. I guess Alicia’s husband was suspicious and decided the best way to figure out who these strangers were was to have a weekend alone together. I guess he didn’t believe Alicia when she said Seth and Sandy were just old friends of hers.”
“You’re saying,” Vera reiterated, “that Thomas Wilton set up the weekend at his cabin and he invited Seth and Sandy.”
“Yes. Alicia was horrified. She begged Sandy to talk some sense into Seth and leave, but he wouldn’t do it, so Sandy was going along with him to hopefully keep things from exploding. Didn’t help, I guess.” She dabbed at more tears.
“You’re certain”—Vera decided to go at the question from a different angle—“that Seth wouldn’t have wanted to try blackmailing Alicia. That he wouldn’t use his prior relationships with her in that way.”
“No way. He wouldn’t even have known where exactly to find her if not for the text messages.”
Though they had the burner, the chance of tracing it to a buyer was pretty much a big fat zero.
“We haven’t been able to locate next of kin for Alicia,” Vera said. “Do you know if she has any family?” Maybe they could check that one off their list.
