“That’s what Desiree said.”
“And you believed her?”
“I didn’t know what to believe. It was all a blur by then.”
“And the sheriff told you about Joe the next day?”
Atkins’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “I already knew he was dead, but I had to pretend to be shocked. It was the worst day of my whole life.”
“And what did the sheriff tell you about Joe?”
“He was sure that Desiree had killed him. I mean, he had no idea about Mercy living there. We told him we hadn’t seen or heard from Desiree.”
“So you lied to him and obstructed the investigation,” said Pine bluntly.
Atkins nodded, her features full of misery. “I . . . I suppose we did, yes.”
Pine eyed Len Atkins, who looked back at her mournfully. He slowly shook his head. “I think your husband would like you to tell the truth.”
Atkins glanced sharply at him. “I am telling the truth.”
Pine said firmly, “So your son’s body lay outside all night long and was untouched by animals? Not one bite taken out of him, according to the police.”
Atkins put a trembling hand to her face. “Please, stop. Please.”
Len grunted. Pine glanced at him once more. He was staring fiercely at his wife.
Atkins looked at him, drew in a sharp breath, and said, “Okay, we went over there . . . and saw Joe’s body. We had to. He was our son. We had to make sure. We didn’t know if Desiree was lying or what. When we saw he was . . . dead . . . we . . . we couldn’t leave our son out . . . out there alone.” She teared up again. “It was horrible . . . Len had his shotgun and he kept watch and scared the critters away . . . but . . . but the flies . . . they were all over h-him.” She let out a gush of air and took some time to calm while Pine and Blum waited.
Atkins wiped her eyes with her sleeve and said, “I met Desiree at the old Esso station, and drove her to Atlanta while Len guarded Joe’s body. The next morning he was going to call 911 from a pay phone and tell them about Joe without identifying who he was.”
“Why wait until the next morning?” interjected Pine.
“Desiree wanted time to get away. But then early the next morning, before I got back from taking Desiree, Len heard someone coming and hid. A man was walking his dog. He found Joe’s body and ran off, obviously to call the police. I got there about ten minutes later and Len told me what had happened. We drove back together to the trailer. When the police showed up later we acted all surprised.”
Pine studied her. “Did you look at the body closely?”
“It was our son, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Blum interjected, “We know this is hard, Wanda. But we’re trying to find Mercy. Anything you can tell us about what you observed that night will help.”
Atkins wiped her eyes and said firmly, “There was a knife sticking in my son’s back, and he was dead, that’s what I saw.”
“Anything else?” asked Pine.
“I don’t know. I was so upset.” She paused. “He . . . he had a lump and some blood on his head. I remember that.”
“Did you see signs of a struggle?” asked Pine.
“No. But I’m not sure what I would be looking for.”
“What did Desiree say actually happened? As detailed as you can recall.”
“That Mercy got away somehow. And Joe tried to stop her. And she attacked him. And stabbed him. And then ran off.”
“Where’d she get the knife?”
“Desiree didn’t say.”
“There was a gunshot,” said Pine. “On the surveillance tape we heard a shot.”
“I don’t know anything about that. Desiree never mentioned a gunshot.”
“Did Desiree have a shotgun when you saw her at the Esso station?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you where she was going? Are you sure you haven’t been in contact with her over the years? Not once?”
“No. I don’t want to ever see that awful woman again,” Atkins snapped.
“And then you moved away?”
“Yes. We sold Joe’s house. With Desiree gone, we were next of kin. We used that money to buy this place. Joe also had money in some bank accounts from his business. All of that came to us, too,” she added, shooting them nervous glances.
“I see.”
Pine rose, took out a couple of her business cards, and handed them to Atkins. “You think of anything else, or if you hear from Desiree, please call me.”
“I doubt we’ll hear from her after all this time.”
“Oh, you just never know, do you?”
CHAPTER
17
AS THEY DROVE AWAY FROM THE HOUSE, Pine said, “She was lying.”
“How so?” asked Blum.
“Desiree would never walk away and leave them all that money from the house sale and the bank accounts. If she was going to start over, she needed financial resources. I’m betting Wanda knows where she is and they keep in contact just in case someone like us shows up asking questions. And I think the shotgun Joe had was the same one that Len used to guard his son that night.”
“If you’re right, what are we going to do about it?”
Pine glanced in the rearview mirror. “If they are in contact with her, our visit must have really shaken up old Wanda. In fact . . . ” Pine suddenly pulled off the road, put the Porsche in park, and said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She climbed out and hustled back down the street. Before she reached the Atkinses’ home she cut through a stand of woods and came up on the rear of the property. She jumped over the chain-link fence and headed up to the back of the house. There was an open screened window that looked directly into the kitchen. As she peered through it, Pine had to suddenly duck down.
Wanda walked into the kitchen looking pale and distraught. There was a phone hanging on the wall directly across from Pine. It had enlarged number keys to help those with vision challenges. Wanda walked over to it. Pine pulled out her phone, turned the video recorder function on, placed it against the screen, and zoomed in on the phone’s numbers.
Wanda held up a small notebook, squinted at the open page, then put her glasses on and slowly punched in a phone number as she kept referring back to the page. She finished and waited. Pine kept her video recorder on and also listened through the screen. Thankfully, Atkins’s back was to her.
“It’s me, Wanda,” said Atkins into the phone. “Why am I calling? Well, I’ll tell you why. The FBI was here. Yes, the FBI was here asking questions about Becky. That’s right. Becky. They know all about what you and Joe did. And they’re looking for her and you! They know you’re alive and how you got away that night.”
At this point Wanda lowered her voice considerably and didn’t do much talking, just nodded her head. Pine put her phone away, retraced her steps, and a minute later climbed back into the Porsche.
She told Blum what had happened and handed her the phone.
“Get the number off there, call up the Bureau, and ask them to find out who that phone is registered to and to get a physical address for it.”