“You did. Really. I don’t like my sister. Nora’s rigid and judgmental and mean. You were always more of a sister to me than she ever was.”
“Nora used to rat us out for breaking the rules. Like when we snuck out and took Brooks’s car to San Francisco for the day.”
“Neither of us had our license.”
“We had a blast.”
“I was grounded for a month.”
“A month? I was grounded for two.”
“They like me more.” He gave her a wistful smile.
“Tell me what you and Lindy were fighting about the night she died.”
“I told you—I wanted to go public with our relationship.”
“Weren’t you dating Caitlin?”
“Not then—we’d broken up after prom, remember?”
“Why’d you and Caitlin break up?”
He didn’t say anything.
“William, you know, this will all come out eventually. If you can’t tell me, you’re only going to make everything worse. Let me help you.”
“Caitlin was clingy—I wanted to end it before college. So I told Caitlin we needed time apart. She was cool with it, and then she started dating what’s his name, um—”
“Peter something.”
“Right. He was at Stanford.”
“She wanted to make you jealous.”
William dismissed that. “I told Lindy that I was going to break up with Caitlin, and when she and Kevin broke up I thought she was ready to be with me. Because Lindy and I knew when we left for college, that would be it. But, she was mad about this other girl I dated for a while. It wasn’t serious, I swear, and it was over, but she wouldn’t let it go.” He rubbed his eyes. “I wasn’t always faithful.”
“You still aren’t,” she said. He looked stricken, but Max knew that finally, now was the time that William needed to turn his life around. “I love you, William. I always have. You’re going to get through this, and you need to make some changes. Like firing Minnie.”
“This has nothing to do with that.”
She didn’t know what to say to make him understand, maybe he never would.
He stared at her, his eyes pleading with her. “Do you believe me, Max? Do you have the faith in me that you had in Kevin O’Neal?”
What was she supposed to say? No? Yes? I don’t know? She wanted desperately to believe William. But she didn’t understand him. She didn’t understand why he cheated on Caitlin, why he had slept with Lindy when she was dating Kevin, and all the other girls he’d been with in high school and presumably in college. She didn’t understand why he was sleeping with his secretary, and why he didn’t see that he was becoming just like Brooks.
But she knew him, and he was gentle. Could he strangle Lindy with his hands? Never showing regret? Never questioning where Lindy’s body had been found? Not say anything when another man was tried for her murder?
The William she knew might have—might have—killed Lindy if he snapped in anger, but it would have been an accident. The perpetual silence would have eaten him up. He was a mess now, knowing what his best friend had done, what his best friend believed about him. That Andy had destroyed evidence because he thought he was protecting William. If he had killed Lindy, he would have been a far worse mess thirteen years ago.
There was another car, an unfamiliar car, in the driveway.
“I believe you, William,” she said before her brain decided to say it.
Then he started crying and Max didn’t know what to do. She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him.
*
Max drove by Kepler’s and found Jodi working. “Do you have a minute?” Max asked her.
“You have news.” Jodi looked hopeful.
“Yes, I have some information. Let’s get coffee.”
They walked next door, but because of the chill in the air, they sat inside the coffee shop. After ordering coffee and a muffin, Max said, “The police know that Kevin didn’t kill Lindy.”
Jodi looked at her skeptically. “I don’t understand.”
“They don’t know who killed Lindy, but they found the anonymous caller who placed Kevin at the school the night she died, and he lied. Detective Beck has been removed from the investigation. I don’t have all the answers, but his name will be cleared.”
Tears were streaming down her face. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything.” Max sipped her coffee because this second part was going to be harder.
“Who did kill her?” Jodi asked.
Max considered telling her, but that would simply start even more rumors. She didn’t know what would be in the press tomorrow, if anything, about Nick’s investigation into William and Andy, but that was something she would deal with tomorrow.
“The police are questioning several people, and when I know for certain, I will tell you. But I don’t want to spread a rumor that might not be true.”
“I—I guess I understand.”
“Did you know that Kevin was dying?”
“Dying? What do you mean?”
“I found the storage unit with all his files that were missing from his apartment. Inside, he’d written me a letter and said to tell you he’s sorry, but it’s better this way because he’d have been dead by the end of the year.”
“No.” She closed her eyes, her bottom lip trembling.
“Jodi?”
“He was sick, but everyone gets sick.”
“Was he seeing a doctor?”
“A couple of times, because he was losing weight.” Jodi stared at Max with damp eyes.
“I don’t have his autopsy report, only the preliminary was in his file. As family, you have a right to the report. It’ll tell you if he had any underlying medical conditions.”