But he was, which meant he didn’t think it was important enough to ask right then.
“Who was BJ really? Question number one for Evelyn.” Max tipped her head to look at Witt. “Do you think she’ll answer?”
Witt shrugged. “Her reaction oughta be interesting.” Ahh, so that was his game, gauging reactions.
Okay, so BJ rolled into town a few months after Daddy found his new bimbo and a new job out of town. Romance sparked between the dumped wife and BJ, get this, Madeline’s Daddy’s newest lawyer at the family law firm. BJ had seemed enamored of Madeline’s kids and the idea of a ready-made family, but the relationship didn’t last long. Izzie hadn’t known why, but less than a year after that, BJ was married to the older, formerly spinster daughter, Evelyn.
“We have to find out why Madeline got dumped for the second time.” The brainstorm session was rolling right on through Max’s mind. She was hot and not from the sweltering room but from Witt’s thigh against her own. When had he inched closer?
Witt snorted. “I can see the look on the lady’s face when ya ask that one.” His eyes sparkled.
Her life didn’t seem as bad as it had half an hour ago. She could say exactly why. Witt. His closeness. His ability to make her stop thinking about herself.
“All right, smarty pants, what would you ask?”
“Just the facts, ma’am,” he quipped, undoing the top button of his black and red flannel shirt. Her favorite colors.
Just the facts, ma’am. Per Izzie. While Max sat stupefied in the cafe’s booth, Witt pumped out questions for Izzie. The woman answered every one, as if telling the story after all these years was her duty. BJ married Evelyn, but maintained a caring relationship with his nephew and niece by marriage. Too friendly in Cordelia’s case. Izzie didn’t know when the affair started. Max doubted Evelyn did either. Cordelia was a year older than Cameron, thirteen or so at the time of the nuptials. Dear BJ had been in his mid-thirties. What a disgusting thought. Max’s insides curled. Had it been sexual abuse? Had he forced himself on her, then coerced her to leave with him when his deed was about to be discovered? Not so, claimed Izzie. She’d seen those days, especially Cordelia’s last year of high school, as idyllic. Cordelia had been in love, Izzie had been sure. The blond beauty, said without an ounce of jealousy on Izzie’s part, had blossomed and glowed. She’d confided a secret boyfriend to Izzie, who had confided it to Cameron. Neither guessed who and wouldn’t have in a million years.
“So what makes a man give up his career and turn to a girl almost half his age?”
“Being married to a forty-five-year-old spinster.” Witt shuddered.
“That’s horrible and sexist.” Not that Max wasn’t a sexist, too, on the right occasion. She believed in spike-heeled pumps and using all the female assets to get what you needed.
Witt ignored the jab, gave Max a raised-brow look. “Evelyn’s not gonna give you a reason for that either.”
Right, so why BJ had done it wasn’t a good question. There were some missing facts, though. Per Izzie, by graduation day Cordelia was getting pleasantly plump. How the hell could someone hide that they were almost six months pregnant? True, Izzie said she’d worn baggy clothes and seemed self-conscious about her weight, used that excuse, but still ... Madeline Starr had been out of touch with her daughter’s life, or mired in her own unhappiness. Two weeks after school let out, someone confronted Cordelia. Madeline or Evelyn, maybe both, Izzie wasn’t sure. The only thing she did know about that skirmish was Cordelia’s steadfast refusal to name the baby’s father.
The whole town knew she was pregnant by then, but she remained mum. Rampant gossip speculated on the captain of the football team. Cheerleader Cordelia had dated him. Some thought it was a boy from Notre Dame. How BJ must have prayed she wouldn’t open her mouth. By the end of the summer, when her time was near, she disappeared. So did BJ. So did the cash in the joint checking account, Evelyn’s jewelry, and the contents of the safety deposit box. BJ believed in diversifying. Amongst the important papers had been one hundred thousand dollars in gold coins. BJ’s secret was out, when it no longer mattered.
Cordelia and BJ were never seen again. Neither was the gold. End of Izzie’s story.
“Here’s what we know.” Her heart raced with the thrill of the hunt. She pushed thoughts of Cameron, and Izzie with Cameron, to the back of her mind.
Witt watched her with deep concentration, eyes on her lips. A thrill danced across her skin. What was he thinking? Stop that, too.
She raised her thumb. “First BJ seduces niece.”
Eyes on the pulse at her throat, Witt nodded.
Max raised her index finger. “Niece gets pregnant.” Her middle finger rose to join the first two. “They disappear forever.” She put her forefinger beneath Witt’s chin and lifted until his gaze met hers. “Methinks they’re both dead,” she began.
Witt finished. “And Evelyn Hastings killed them.”
*