Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“So, we jumped in,” Ricky said.
“We beat the ever-loving shit out of him,” Dominick added with a nod. “Then we kicked him out.”
I perked up. “I’m surprised he went.”
“We packed his bag, tossed his ass out, threw it after him, and told him if he ever came back,”—Nick swallowed—“we’d kill him.” His gaze met mine. “And we meant every word.”
My stomach sank. “But you didn’t kill him, right?”
“Nope, wasn’t us,” Nick assured.
I calmed myself. “What then?”
“We stayed home and took care of our mom for a while before heading out to camp outside and fish for the weekend,” Nick said.
“You didn’t think he’d return?” I asked.
“No,” Dominick answered. “He yelled that he was better off without us and planned to leave with his one true love. I really thought he’d taken off for Mexico or Canada. Mom was so much better off.”
I liked Nick’s mom, Sandrine, a lot. But I hadn’t known her back then. “You three were together all weekend?”
Nick nodded. “Yeah. It was a fishing weekend, and we caught a bunch of trout in between planning our lives without the asshole. Like how we’d help Mom and get jobs to make some money to pay the bills.”
Dominick nodded thoughtfully. “The only time we were apart was when Ricky disappeared to take his pretty pictures.”
Ricky punched his brother in the arm. “Shut up. I have talent, man.” He grinned. “I still take nature photographs and might start selling a few in the pawnshop in Silverville now that I have the garage up and running.”
Neither twin had noticed Nick stiffening, but I had. “Did you take off that first night after your dad left?” I asked quietly.
Ricky turned to me.
“No,” Nick said instantly.
Ricky rolled his eyes. “Yes. After these two fell asleep, I took my camera and caught some decent pictures of the moon over the river. It was a gorgeous night.”
Crap. “How long were you gone?” I asked.
He sobered. “Hours, probably. But honest, Anna, I stayed in the woods up Chalto Mountain and just took some night shots. I didn’t kill our jerk of a dad.”
I looked at Nick and then Dominick. “Did either of you know he’d left for hours?”
Dom shrugged, looking slightly more alarmed than Ricky but not as irritated as Nick. “Not at the time, but I saw the pictures after he had them developed. They were good.”
Nick cleared his throat. “We’re done with this line of questioning. As far as the police know, we were together all night.”
I’d circle back to the issue at a later date. “Your mom must’ve been terrified of your father.”
“Yeah,” Nick said grimly. “He’d beaten her down so far it got to the point she just didn’t know how to defend herself. She tried to leave him several times, but he threatened to take us away. At that time, she didn’t even have a job. She subsequently became an accountant.” Nick sighed. “I don’t want this to come back on her. I don’t want this to upset her. She’s so healthy and strong now. You just don’t know what it was like.”
I swallowed. I had no idea what it was like.
“She feels guilty,” Ricky said quietly.
“Why?” Nick asked, turning to face his brother. “None of it was her fault.”
Ricky shrugged. “She’s our mom.”
“Yeah, but he beat her more than us,” Dominick argued.
Ricky shook his head. “I’m not saying she should feel guilty. I’m just saying she does. I’ve reassured her plenty of times that we were all victims, we handled it, and he left. I thought he left because he was scared of us. I didn’t know someone actually killed the bastard.”
“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “I always figured he’d show up at some point. I’ll talk to Mom. She shouldn’t feel guilty. She shouldn’t let Detective Pierce think she feels guilty.”
I sat back. “I don’t know if I can defend all four of you. Can I?”
“So long as our stories remain the same, you can defend all four of us. We’re not going to turn on each other,” Nick said. “Besides, I mean it, Anna. None of us killed him.”
I nodded, but deep inside, I wondered. Maybe Sandrine Basanelli had more to feel guilty about than her sons knew. “All right.” I took out a notepad from Nick’s desk and grasped one of his shiny silver pens. “Was that knife yours, Nick?”
“Yep. Definitely mine,” he said. “I’m sure it has my prints and DNA all over it.”
Just terrific. “How did it end up with your dead father?”
“Hell if I know,” Nick muttered. “Wouldn’t be surprised if the asshole stole it. The knife was a good one.”
Wonderful. Just great. I kept back a sigh. “All right. Run me through the entire night and the rest of that weekend. Each of you.”
I was in way over my head.
Chapter 10
I walked back into my office, wishing I had worn my snow boots instead of pumps, although considering most of the sidewalk had been shoveled, my feet weren’t too cold. Oliver was on the phone, so I gave him a nod and turned into Clark’s office.