Page 93

“Maybe tomorrow,” I said. “The task force left the office in shambles. Karen Maven called this morning. She said they’ll be clearing out by noon. I kinda want to put Humpty Dumpty back together.”

“Let me grab a jacket,” Dad said. I would have told him to take the day off for himself, but knew he’d refuse. He’d want to make sure he knew where I put everything. Though he wouldn’t admit it, I knew he was misplacing things more frequently. His efforts to hide it weren’t working anymore. But today, he was in a good mood. Things felt normal. I knew to cherish it while it was happening.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the office while several members of the task force walked out carrying boxes filled with items they’d taken from the Bell house.

I heard familiar voices coming from the conference room. As I walked around the corner, I saw Boone Sidney in profile, sitting at the table across from Dan Holland.

“Hey, Mercy,” Dan said. “We’re just finishing up. Why don’t you join us?”

It still felt odd being invited into my own conference room. But there would only be a few more hours of that.

Boone straightened in his seat as I walked in. We said our hellos and I sat beside him. “I didn’t know they were making you drive all the way up here,” I said. “Couldn’t you have handled all of this over the phone or Zoom call? I’m sorry, Boone, this whole thing has disrupted your life so much.”

Boone’s eyes darted away from mine. “It’s okay,” he said. “I wanted to get out of town for a while. Raven’s waiting for me at a hotel in Traverse City. We’re gonna make a mini vacation out of it. There’s not much keeping me back in Chelsea anyway. Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Boone blinked slowly. “Since the media has picked all this up, everyone in town knows Derrek’s my father. It’s all starting back up. I’m losing contracts left and right. I’m going to have to put the building up for sale at this rate.”

I felt heartsick. “I’m so sorry. If there had been any other way to deal with this without dragging you in, I swear I would have.”

“I know,” he said.

“Raven has to hate me even more,” I said. “Everything she predicted would happen seems to have come true.”

“It’ll blow over, son,” Dan said. Boone eyed him, perhaps not liking the overfamiliarity. But I knew Dan meant it from a good place. I also knew how much the developments in this case ate at him. He’d been wrong about Geneva. Mac told me Dan wasn’t sleeping. He felt that he missed something. In a way, he had. In addition to Derrek Sidney’s DNA at the scene, Landon’s had been found there too.

Three strands of hair with the roots intact had been found in the bedroom where he’d attacked Geneva. Dan had discounted it at the time. Among the items of clothing she packed that weekend was a hoodie belonging to her brother. No one had any reason to question it back then. Landon himself had never been questioned seriously.

“Boone and I just went over the letters we found at Landon Bell’s residence. The ones his father wrote back in reply. I wanted Boone’s take on things his father said. Some of these letters coincided with visits Boone was making to his father during the same time frame.”

“There’s nothing,” Boone said. “I didn’t know he was writing to anybody. I didn’t even know about the amount of fan mail he got until after he died.”

“What’s the current thinking on Landon?” I asked. “Do you think he’s telling the complete truth? That Derrek wasn’t even at Deadwater Lake that night?”

“So far, his story tracks. The DNA we had on Sidney was all concentrated to the areas Landon said it should be. The knit cap. The belt. We never found anything on any of the victims themselves. Nothing on any window or doorknob or any of the murder weapons. Taken together with Landon’s description and our earlier concerns about the divergent MO, it sounds right.”

“Your instincts about there being someone else involved were right, Dan,” I said. “You were just wrong about who it was.”

I wasn’t trying to rub anything in. I was actually hoping Dan would take it as a compliment. I meant it that way.

“Boone, I appreciate your candor and your cooperation,” Dan said. “And I’m sorry if I or anyone else made you feel persecuted by association for this. You’re a good man. And you’re nothing like your father.”

Boone thanked him, but his voice was hollow. Dan got up and excused himself.

“I really am sorry,” I said. “But you have to know, we never would have cracked this case if you hadn’t been willing to share those letters with me.”

“But that book had been sitting on my shelf for years,” he said. “I had no idea.”

“Everyone’s done the best they could with the information they had at the time. It’s going to have to be enough.”

“You’re being humble,” he said. “Mercy, what you did is incredible. These guys have been chasing their tails for twelve years. You finally discovered the truth in what, a month? It’s amazing. I don’t care who your dad is. It’s you people should be writing books about.”

“I owe you an apology,” I said.

He blanched. “Why?”

“Because I prejudged you. I jumped to the same conclusions that everyone else has. Every dummy who has pulled their support away from you. You don’t deserve it. What do you think you’ll do now?”