“Did the nephew have a family?” Lila asked.
“No,” Daisy answered without hesitation, a little too quickly. Like it was a conversation she didn’t want to have and needed to shut it down as fast as she could. “He didn’t. He was very young when he...” She swallowed. “The house actually belonged to William’s twin brother. When he passed away, it was passed to his brother’s only son, who… was also lost to William. Losing both his brother and nephew was a huge blow to William. The house was the one thing of theirs he couldn’t let go of.”
“Did he ever rent the house out?” Lila asked, then quickly covered. “I mean, if it’s stood empty for as long as Brian has known, that’s quite a while to have an entire house in such a popular development just stand empty.” She glanced at the house. “Especially when I assume it could fetch a pretty good rental price.” She looked back at Daisy. “Or AirBnB even.”
“Not that I’ve known,” Daisy told her. She smiled nostalgically. “William rented his own house out once to one of his closest friends’ only daughters. The woman was like a daughter to William While he lived and worked in… Tampa I think it was. Herented his house to them.” Her smile grew. “A lovely couple with the sweetest little girl.”
Eve’s pulse quickened. “Little girl?”
“Yes, she was always smiling, happy, and so friendly. She used to play with my son, Paul.” She glanced at Brian. “Paul was Brian’s father.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Eve said.
“Not at all. It’s nice to talk about him and remember the good times.” Daisy checked her wristwatch. “Oh goodness, is that the time? I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to get to the fair.”
“Of course,” Eve said. “We should be going as well. Thank you so much for the tour.”
“Thank you for bringing Brian home,” Daisy said warmly.
Brian walked them to their car. “I’ll see you later?” he said to Lila. “To take you to the cove?”
“Definitely,” Lila said, her smile genuine.
They pulled away from Circle Pond.
Once they were on the main road, Lila turned to Eve. “Well, that was interesting. Do you think Mom was the little girl who played with Paul?”
“I’m not sure,” Eve said. “What I am sure of was that Daisy was lying through her teeth.”
Lila’s eyebrows rose. “Why do you say that? And which part was she lying about?”
“Honey, before I decided on surgery, I wanted to be a psychiatrist and specialize in behavioral analysis,” Eve said. “I studied body language, micro-expressions, speech patterns. I could tell right away, the moment I asked about the empty house and William’s nephew, that Daisy was uncomfortable. She gave a well-rehearsed answer. Something she’d said before, probably many times. The part about William’s friend’s daughter staying at William’s house? That seemed truthful but was also very rehearsed. I could see it in her face.” Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. “But everything about the nephew felt like Daisy was reading a script.”
“So what are you thinking?” Lila asked. “That William’s nephew was Mom’s father? Or maybe he was the man who tried to kidnap Mom when she was staying at William’s? Or...”
“I’m not sure about any of that,” Eve admitted. “But I know the one truthful thing from that conversation was about her son, Paul, playing with the little girl. That memory was real.”
“Can you teach me how to check body language?” Lila asked.
“Of course,” Eve said. “And this will be the best time to teach you.”
“Why?”
“Because I think it will be a good thing for you to know when people are holding back or not being truthful,” Eve stated. “What I’m getting from that conversation with Daisy is something happened in that development when your mother was eight that no one wants to talk about, and William doesn’t want your mother remembering.” She glanced at Lila, who was looking at her intently.
“And you think it has something to do with William’s nephew and Mom?” Lila guessed.
“Yes,” Eve admitted. “I don’t think we’re going to get the truth from William. He’s spent all these years covering it up and ensuring your mother doesn’t remember.”
“We could try to get into various county records?” Lila suggested. “Property deeds, death certificates, that kind of thing?”
“I don’t want you to hack anything, Lila,” Eve stated firmly.
“I wasn’t going to hack,” Lila protested. “Most of that stuff is public record. We just have to know where to look.”
Eve thought for a moment, then smiled. “I have an idea.”
“What?”
