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Every now and then, I wonder: if the lightning had hit otten a few more volts--would I have become able to see who caused the deaths of the people I find? Sometimes I think such a condition would be wonderful, a truly valuable gift Sohtning had entered throughfrom the sink to the electric hair curler I held in my hands ould have happened then? I probably wouldn’t be around to know My heart would have stopped for good, instead of for a few seconds The CPR wouldn’t have worked
By now, Tolliver nant, the kind of girl who enjoyed going to ho this streath--if I’d died that day, maybe, somehow, Cameron would not have been on the road on that day at that hour, and she would not have been taken
It’s stupid and profitless, thinking like that, of course So I don’t indulge in it very often Right at this moment, I needed to force ht Instead of daydrea Tolliver compose the press release What he’d said to Shellie Quail had been the gist of our public policy We began eine that anyone would believe us; after all, ere the odds that the same people who had failed to find the body in Nashville would find it in Me out our stateer said, "Ms Connelly, there are some people down here ant to couests?"
"Who are they, please?"
"The Morgensterns And another lady"
Diane and Joel My heart sank, but this had to be done "Yes, send the room to update Art while I printed out the statees while aited In two or three minutes a hand rapped on our door
I took a deep breath and opened it, and received yet another shock in a day that had already been full of the another baby, but I hadn’t gotten a visual with that fact Seeing her now, there was no nant--seven , at the least
She was still beautiful Her bitter-chocolate hair was s to makeup Diane had a small mouth and a small nose She looked like a really pretty leh, her expression was simply blank with shock
Her husband, Joel, wasHe’d been a wrestler in college I remembered the trophies in his study in their Nashville house He had light red hair and bright blue eyes, a ruddy complexion, and a square face with a nose like a knife blade How did all this add to up to a nore? I don’t have the faintest idea Joel Morgenstern was the kind of , which netism he exuded To Joel’s credit, he didn’t seeranted that he didn’t even think of the effect he had on women
In Nashville, even under the circumstances I’d noticed how the female representatives of thethe father is always a likely suspect,to pick holes in his story, but they’d hovered around hily, the police had checked over and over to see if Joel was having an affair They hadn’t found a trace of such a thing; in fact, everyone who knew Joel commented on how devoted he was to Diane For thathe’d been during his first wife’s ter had fried ment were completely different, Joel just didn’t affect me like he did most women
Felicia Hart, whose sister had been Joel’s first wife, trailed in after Diane and Joel I remembered Felicia fro hard to be a good aunt to Victor, the son that first e had produced She’d been aware that Victor was a suspect in Tabitha’s disappearance, and she’d been at the house constantly, perhaps ihter had meant that Diane and Joel would not be able to focus on Victor’s needs and on his legal position
"You found her," Joel said, takingit ferociously "God bless you, you found her The o before an official identification, but the dental charts do match We have to keep this to ourselves, but Dr Frierson was kind enough to let us know in person Thank God, we can have some peace"
This was such a different reaction from the one I’d expected that I was unable to respond Luckily, Tolliver was more collected
"Please, Diane, Joel, sit down," he said Tolliver is very reverent toward pregnant women
Diane had always seemed the frailer partner in the couple, even when she wasn’t so obviously carrying a child
"Letyou first," she said in her soft voice, and she wrapped her arainstainst her sto deep inside o and backed away, trying to save h she did put her ar in his ear I blinked at that "Glad to see you," she said a bit loudly, addressing an area sole wolossy brown hair that curved forward, and her expertly cut bangs stayed where they were supposed to be As a professional woman on her own, she could spend all her money on herself, and her clothes and makeup showed it If I remembered correctly, Felicia was a financial adviser eh I hadn’t talked to her at any length, I knew Felicia would have to be both intelligent and bold to hold down so responsible a job with such success
When ere all seated, Joel and Diane on the love seat, Felicia perched on one ar chairs on the other side of the coffee table, with Art settled uncomfortably on a chair set a bit aside, I realized I had to somehow proceed with a conversation
"I’m so sorry," I said finally, since that was the truth "I’m sorry I found her so late, and I’m sorry the circumstances make life even more difficult for you" It made life a hell of a lot more difficult for us, too, but this didn’t seeht, this doesn’t look good for us," Joel said He took Diane’s hand "We were already under suspicion Not Felicia, of course, but Diane and I and Victor, and now that" He had trouble going on "Now that her body has been found here--of all the places on earth--I think the police are going to decide it was one of us all along I almost don’t blame them It just looks bad If I didn’t kno hed heavily "Maybe they think we conspired together to kill our daughter They’re paid to be suspicious They can’t know it’s the last thing in the world we’d do But as long as they’re focusing on us, they won’t be looking for the son of a bitch who actually took her"
"Exactly," Diane said, and her hand rubbed her sto have the police suspected you?" Tolliver asked When we’d been there, Tabitha had beenfor several weeks, and the police hadn’t been around so much any more But we’d been impressed at how cordial the relationship that had formed between Detective Haines, who’d been the Last Man Standing on the case, and the Morgensterns had seeht have developed other suspicions Haines had actually gotten to know the Morgensterns a lot better than her associates