“I was doing yard work.”
“I was just making coffee.” She walked back to the kitchen, thankful that the house’s owner hadn’t reprimanded her for snooping. “We stopped by to ask your wife some questions, but perhaps it would be best if I asked you, considering the topic. It might upset her further.”
“Please tell me.”
“How well did you know Erik?”
“Not well. We thought he was Ondine’s boyfriend until they confessed to the lie two months ago.”
“So you didn’t know how old he was?” Bel cringed at the questions. This wasn’t a revelation she wanted to bring to this distraught family.
“No.” The man cocked his head. “Why?”
“We assumed Erik Prince was the same age as your daughter. He certainly looks young enough.”
“I don’t want to know where you’re going with this,” Mr. Triton muttered.
“Your daughter’s boyfriend is twenty-eight.” Bel tried and failed not to imagine how her dad would react to this news. “He started dating Ariella last year, meaning that he was twenty-seven when he first asked out your eighteen-year-old daughter.”
Mr. Triton didn’t move. He just stood there staring at her without a thread of emotion weaving through his features.
“We worry that?—”
Mr. Triton whirled on the counter and slammed a fist against the surface before collapsing forward. Bel shrieked at the sudden violence, shocked by how fast such a large man could move, and she hovered out of his reach as he heaved over the sink.
“A grown man.” His voice shook, rattling the kitchen with his rage. “A grown man put his hands on my baby! She was a child.” He jerked to a stand, and Bel feared he’d storm from this house and hunt Mr. Prince down himself.
“I realize this is upsetting,” she soothed, hoping to disarm his fury. “But unfortunately, it isn’t illegal. Eighteen is the legal age of consent, regardless of whether it’s tasteless.”
“He was a grown man,” Mr. Triton growled. “My daughter was sweet and innocent. She didn’t understand the depravity of this world, and that man… he violated my baby.”
“Ariella loved you very much, and she didn’t want to disappoint you. According to Ondine, she never let her relationship with Erik progress to a physical nature.”
“Thank God my girl had some sense, but what was a grown man doing with my teenage daughter?”
“We’re hoping you can help us with that.” Bel cringed again. How much more stress must she add to these parents’ lives?
“What?” Mr. Triton clearly noticed her hesitation. “You don’t…” He stumbled backward until his back hit the counter. “You think he killed her.”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Bel said. “We spotted him with Ondine… he seduced her much the way he seduced Ariella, and we’re wondering if it’s possible that she caught them cheating.”
“If he put his hands on my daughter, I will?—”
“Mr. Triton,” Bel interrupted. “I am an officer of the law. Please. Be careful what you say in front of me. I don’t want it to come back to haunt you.” She placed a comforting palm on his forearm. “Right now, Erik Prince is merely a person of interest, and I’m here to ask if you noticed anything that might help our investigation. Even if it’s small, did your interactions with him raise any red flags? Did he say or do anything that could point us toward evidence?”
“My little girl. He put his hands on my little girl.”
Bel was losing him.
“I was her father. How could she not tell me she was dating him… although I see why she hid it. I would’ve exploded if I’d known he was almost thirty… but why?” He looked at her with a plea in his eyes. “Why would my perfect princess date someone like him? She knew better. We loved her. We gave her everything. What point was she trying to prove with him? Was she punishing me? Wasn’t I a good father?”
“I think you were a great father. That’s why she didn’t tell you,” Bel said. “She loved you so much that she couldn’t endure your disappointment, but men like Erik—older guys who go for barely legal girls—they’re expert manipulators. They convince young women to fall in love with them, then twist their emotions to get their way. This isn’t your fault, and it isn’t Ariella’s either. It’s easy to fall for the handsome, sweet talker.”
“I want to strangle him.”
“Mr. Triton…” Bel warned.
“I know. I know.”
