Harper tugs on my sleeve and points to the garlic bread on my left side. I pass her the plate, and she holds up two fingers, looking to me for permission. It’s a lot of carbohydrates, and sometimes too much gluten upsets her stomach, but she’s been so picky about eating again that I let her have it before returning to my conversation with Dad.
“Savannah couldn’t believe that the police were looking at Mason as a person of interest in Annabelle’s death. She made a comment at the end that I found really compelling, though.” I take a sip of my wine. Dad chose the perfect cabernet sauvignon to go with the pasta.
“What’d she say?” He tucks his long hair behind his ears.
“It wasn’t just what she said; it was also how she said it,” I explain, remembering how she started playing with her necklace again before she brought it up while we were waiting for the server to bring the check. We’d already gathered our things.
“You know, if y’all are looking for someone with a violent history, maybe you’re looking at the wrong person,” she said almost underneath her breath as she slowly twirled the small beads between her fingers. Her head was tilted toward the table, but her eyes peeked out from behind her lashes at me.
“What do you mean?” I dropped my voice low and leaned across the table so no one overheard, even though the place was practically empty.
She shrugged nonchalantly like what she’d said was insignificant, even though it was huge. I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t elaborate.
“Are you talking about Genevieve?” I probed, unwilling to let it go.
She gave another flippant shrug and a half smile. “I’m just saying I wouldn’t be so quick to blame Mason. He’s not the only one who doesn’t respond well when threatened.”
Before I had a chance to ask more questions, the server arrived with our checks, and Savannah leapt up from the booth, cutting the discussion short.
I quickly fill Dad in on the specifics of the conversation.
“What did she mean by that?” he asks after I finish.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
Savannah hinting that her mom is more likely to be violent than Mason has got its hooks in me and won’t let go. I should’ve been in bed two hours ago, but I’m still glued to my computer and cyberstalking Genevieve. Detective Layne has been doing lots of digging with his team on Mason, but how much have they done on Genevieve? They think she’s just a helicopter mom lying to protect her son, but what if there’s something more?
They probably assumed they already knew everything about her because her life is literally an open book on the internet. She’s blogged about her struggles with Mason’s challenging behaviors from diagnosis until now. She gives these raw, eye-opening accounts of what day-to-day life is like with children like ours. I usually find that type of blog depressing because my life doesn’t center around autism even though my job focuses on it and my daughter has it. Genevieve must be like me that way, because her posts about Mason are interspersed with Instant Pot recipes and DIY decorating tips. There are other posts filled with stuff that’s surprisingly funny. She has a #mommybloggersbreakfacebook Friday series that has hilarious videos of moms dancing with their kids. She posts some of the greatest memes too.
Interestingly, there’s almost nothing on her before she turned eighteen. She was included in all the pictures and articles about her family over the years, but there’s nothing personal about her except being listed as the middle child. At first, I figured her family was one of those wealthy families that don’t like bringing any attention to their children, but that isn’t the case. Genevieve’s older brother is featured in all kinds of places—local newspapers, TV, and all the big media spots. He was the star quarterback at Hillcrest and led their high school to back-to-back state championships. Alabama drafted him, and he became their golden boy until he tore his ACL sophomore year. There’s nothing about Genevieve’s younger sister, either, so maybe their family didn’t like putting the girls on display but didn’t worry about it with the boys.
All that changed once Genevieve turned eighteen and entered the Miss Alabama beauty contest, though. She hit the public scene full throttle and didn’t let up. I play the clips from the final competition and watch as she gives all the standard responses about ending world hunger and building orphanages in Africa as her goals for changing the world and how she’ll use her influence if she wins the crown. The only difference between her and the rest of the girls who made similar proclamations is that she went on to try to do just that. I don’t know anyone else who made those promises and went on to follow them up, but she did. She didn’t just follow up on them—she ran with them.
After her stint on the Miss USA tour, she signed up for a mission trip with Love Africa and spent the next year traveling throughout Uganda, helping build schools. Her fans adored her, and cameras followed her most of the time she was there. The pictures of her playing soccer with the kids are so good that they still use them on their website. Her trip was cut short when she was attacked by a wild boar while taking a small group of children to get water. Boars are extremely aggressive and unpredictable, especially when they have a litter of babies close like that one did. The children startled the boar, and it came at them. Genevieve stepped in between the boar and the little girl it was about to attack, beating it away with a large stick. Her fight landed her in the hospital with thirty-seven stiches in her calf that grew so infected they had to fly her back to the United States for emergency surgery. I replay the video over and over again, watching her disembark the plane in her wheelchair.