“You recognized his voice?”
“No. It was something he said.” She closed her eyes and put her head in her lap, her fists clenched behind her neck. She felt queasy and sick and so angry. With herself and with Andy and with William. With everyone. She took a couple of deep breaths, then felt Nick’s hand on her back, rubbing in circles, slowly.
She sat up. “He said that William killed Lindy and he moved her body from her clubhouse to the school pool.”
“He could be lying—again—to protect himself.”
“No. He really believes that William killed Lindy.”
“What do you think?”
“William swore to me he didn’t. But maybe—maybe they’ve all been lying to me my entire life and I can’t pick the truth from the lies.”
“I’m going to have to talk to your cousin.” He almost sounded sorry about it. Or maybe that was just pity for her plight.
She nodded. “He’s family, but if he’s guilty, he needs to pay for his crime. Lindy—what about her? Why weren’t they thinking about her? We were all friends, how could they throw her body into the pool—I just—” She stopped.
“Max?”
“Andy said something else—he said that there was a car in her driveway and someone was in the house. Or something like that—definitely he said he didn’t know who was home, and that’s why he didn’t put her body in her own pool. He didn’t want her discovered right away.”
“What are you thinking? That there was someone else there?”
“Well, right now, based on what Andy said, either he or William killed Lindy, and Andy definitely screwed with all the evidence. But if there was someone else there, who was it? Andy didn’t recognize the car. Her parents were in New York. So who?”
She looked at Nick, her eyes wet, but she didn’t let any tears escape. She said, “Someone else was at Lindy’s house the night she died. Someone other than Andy and William.”
“Are you going to be able to accept the truth if Andy Talbot is right?”
“Right about what?”
“That your cousin killed your best friend.”
“He didn’t.”
Nick caught Max’s eye and she saw compassion as well as intelligence. He was looking at the case as an impartial investigator. He didn’t know Andy, or William, or Kevin, or Lindy. He was looking at the facts and the statement of a witness.
“William didn’t tell Andy he killed Lindy. Or even hurt her.”
“But Andy believed he did.”
“I know what you’re thinking—”
“I have to look at the facts, Max. You do too. If William is guilty, are you going to be okay?”
“What other choice to I have? But I owe it to William to find that piece of the puzzle. To prove, beyond a doubt, that he’s innocent.”
Or prove that he’s guilty. But Max couldn’t say it out loud.
Chapter Twenty-two
The last people who Max wanted to see were the members of her family, but she had to tell her grandmother what Andy’s accusations against William were. True or not, they were serious and were going to be investigated.
Eleanor wasn’t surprised to see her.
“Chief Clarkson told me that Andrew Talbot was arrested for assaulting you. I see that it’s true.” She reached up and touched Max’s face. Her caress was almost gentle. “What happened?”
“He hired someone, Grandmother. He didn’t do it himself.”
“Is this all about that girl’s murder?”
“Lindy. Her name is Lindy.”
“Lindy has cut into our family, even in death.”
“That’s not fair.” She hesitated. “May I come in?”
“Of course.” Eleanor seemed surprised that she’d asked. “Maxine, this is your home.”
She walked in and told her grandmother to sit. “I have something to tell you.”
Eleanor didn’t argue. She sat. “What’s happening, Maxine?”
“Andy accused William of murdering Lindy. He claims he found Lindy dead in her clubhouse and put the body in the pool to get rid of any physical evidence that may have implicated William, to protect him.”
Eleanor didn’t speak. Like Max, she always had something to say; but like Max, this was throwing her.
“You don’t believe that.”
“I don’t know.”
“Maxine! This is your family.”
“I don’t want to believe, but William lied to everyone, including the police when they questioned him about the last time he saw Lindy. It’s out of my hands.”
“Is this—because of you and what you do?” The disdain in her voice was evident.
“Grandmother, I don’t know where to begin. Andy has been acting suspicious from the minute I saw him. He’s been following me, and then he was about to board a plane to China after he hired a thug to steal Lindy’s diary. But that’s not all. Detective Santini got a copy of the anonymous 911 call that implicated Kevin. It was Andy. He made the call.”
“Nonsense. Someone would have recognized his voice.”
“It was muffled, he deliberately disguised his voice. It’s what he said, and I knew it was him. I asked him; he didn’t deny it. He intentionally framed Kevin for Lindy’s murder. Probably so the police wouldn’t dig into Lindy’s life, so they wouldn’t look harder at who she was sleeping with.”
“What? Who?”
“William! He admitted it to me when I confronted him about the ticket. It’s a mess, Grandmother.”
“Andy told you this, not the police.”
“That’s right.”
“He won’t accuse William.”
She sounded so positive.
“Get William the best lawyer you can.”
“Of course.” She said it as if it didn’t need to be said. “You shouldn’t have come back, Maxine. It seems you make a point of hurting the people you love.”
Max didn’t want to be upset about what her grandmother said, but that hit her particularly hard. She straightened her spine and said, “I’m not sorry I did.”
She didn’t know if she meant that. This truth, about her family, was hard to swallow.