“Even Paul?”
He nodded. “Zephyr had taken ill and he was with him and the vet all day. So I went to the police.”
“The Wholesome police? Billy Ray?”
“His uncle Nate was chief at the time. But Billy Ray was part of the investigation.”
He went silent. Bailey gave him time, though the moments seemed an eternity.
Finally, he began again. “I was certain something bad had happened to her. An accident or something … then they found her car. Abandoned. Her phone and keys in it.”
“Like the others,” Bailey whispered. “The missing women.”
“I was frantic. Out of my head with worry. Desperate to find her. But then”—his voice hardened—“things came to light.”
“What kind of things?”
“Charges on her credit card, ones made to a Metairie hotel while I was out of town. And two days before she went missing, she withdrew ten thousand dollars from her own account.”
Her heart went out to him. It seemed pretty obvious what had been going on.
“She left all her things. But took the cash.” He paused. “To start her new life with whoever she had been seeing.”
Bailey curled her hands around the warm mug. “I’m so sorry.”
“You need to hear the rest before you decide what you believe. I don’t want to do this again.”
Speak now or forever hold your peace.
It made her feel weird. As did the way he held her gaze, almost as if in challenge. She cleared her throat. “Billy Ray, he said … that he and others think you—”
“Murdered my wife?”
He said the words with such bitterness, she flinched. “Why, Logan? What proof did they have?”
“Proof?” He laughed, the sound hard. “I was questioned by the police. Several times. And not just the Wholesome police. The sheriff’s office as well. They searched the house and barn, and found nothing. I had an ironclad alibi. But tongues continue to wag and the legend lives on. At least in Billy Ray Williams’s mind.”
“Last night, you said you lied to the police.”
His mouth thinned. “True and I fought before I left for that trip to Jackson. It was about something stupid, but when they asked I said everything was perfect. I denied arguing. I didn’t want it to get out. The Abbott family has been the source of so much gossip, I didn’t want my and True’s private business to be the talk of the town.”
And it had made him look guilty.
“Of course at that point, I had no idea I’d … never see True again.”
“And they caught you in the lie.”
“Yes. And no. As soon as I realized how serious it was, I came clean. But it turned out they already knew. A gardener had overheard us.
“And then there was Billy Ray, shouting from the rooftops that I was a controlling, abusive husband. He contends that when she told me she was leaving me, I killed her. And since his uncle retired in January and Billy Ray took over as chief, it’s become an obsession.”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s it.”
She couldn’t shake the feeling there was more, something he wasn’t sharing. The suspicion lurked there, at the edges of her consciousness, taunting her. Otherwise, why Billy Ray’s vendetta? Why his obsession with proving True had been murdered?
And then she realized the truth. It was so obvious, she should have seen it a mile off. Billy Ray Williams had been in love with True.
In some weird way, he still was.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“That Billy Ray was in love with True.”
He nodded. “I’ve wondered that for a long time, but didn’t know how that could be. They saw each other maybe a handful of times. It doesn’t make sense.”
The problem was, love didn’t have to make sense. It just was. She should know.
“Do you have to go to the city today?” she asked.
“Unfortunately. And it will be a late one. A city council meeting.”
“Oh.”
“I should get cleaned up.”
“How about some breakfast?”
“Sounds good. I’ll shower, then eat. Will you join me?”
She said she would, then he stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. “You never said what you were doing in the study.”
She stared at him a moment, then shook her head. “Mindless Internet surfing.”
“Gotcha.” He smiled. “Be back down in ten minutes.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Logan left for the city, and Bailey decided to pay Henry a visit. She hated the thought of him out there all alone, no one to talk to but Tony. Besides, she enjoyed his company.
Bailey navigated her SUV down the narrow, twisting drive to Henry’s cabin. The pine trees lining the drive were so tall and densely packed, little sun seeped through.
She had visited Henry once before, though that time she had walked, Tony leading the way. She hoped that this time, as she had then, she would find him on his porch, his ancient-looking chair creaking as he rocked.
No such luck, Bailey saw as she drew to a stop in front of the cabin. She climbed out, but before she had taken two steps toward the porch Tony began to bark. By the time she reached the door, he was pawing at it, the sound of his barks turning high-pitched and frantic.
She’d never heard him sound like that before and frowned. “Henry!” she called, rapping on the door. “It’s Bailey.”
When he didn’t answer, she peered inside. The front room was tidy. Her gaze landed on the rug. It looked like Tony’d had an accident in the house.
That didn’t make sense. He was completely housebroken. As long as she let him out when he—
He hadn’t been let out.
“Henry!” she called again. “It’s Bailey!” She tried the door. It opened and Tony darted past her. She watched as he reached the grass and lifted a leg.
A sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she stepped inside. It stank of dog urine and feces. She brought her hand to her nose and made her way deeper into the cabin.
This wasn’t right. The smell. The quiet. She should go for help. Call someone—
Tony barreled back inside and past her. He stopped at a doorway and looked back as if to say, “What are you waiting for?,” then darted through.