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“Eb wasn’t around to hold Hudson in check,” Memphis told her.“During that period of time when Eb went dark, he had no contact with his partner.He couldn’t keep him controlled.You see, I think Eb did that, probably far more than he realized.”
A muscle jerked along Eb’s jaw.
“Eb vanished because he was taking care of some family vengeance.He was off the radar, couldn’t be contacted, and Hudson used that time to get close to you, Naomi.As far as I can tell, Hudson had not allowed himself to get close to any woman, not since Mary Fontenot’s disappearance so long ago.Sure, he had flings.Hookups.But nothing permanent.Not until he met you.”
She kept thinking that Mary was the key.“When you came to me on my wedding day, you told me that you believed he’d killed her.”
“Yes.”
“Do you still believe that?”
“I…can’t be sure.”
What in the hell?She had to pick her jaw up off the floor.“You were so certain before!”
“So were you.You were dead certain that Hudson was innocent that day.”He rose from the couch.A ripple of strength.“And because you were so certain, I dug more.Deeper.Families are a bitch, aren’t they?”
She wouldn’t really know.She’d lost her family a long time ago.
The intensity deepened in Memphis’s eyes.“Did you know that Hudson’s mother died when he was seven years old?”
She nodded.“Yes, she was attacked during a mugging.”
“Hudson’s father died during a mugging the year after Hudson started working for the CIA.”
Her heart shoved hard into her chest.“That’s tragic.”
“Sure.It’s also convenient.”
Losing your parents was convenient?Uh, no.It certainly hadn’t been for her.It had been life-altering.Heartbreaking.
“And when I dug more…” Memphis continued because she was coming to see that he only operated in one mode—relentless.“When I dug more, I realized that maybe Hudson wasn’t guilty of the crimes in New Orleans that I’d tried to connect to him.The evidence was there.But the evidence could also be framed another way.Because…perhaps Mary wasn’t the first victim.Maybe the first victim had actually been murdered a long time ago.When our killer was still learning.Still honing his craft.Maybe that first victim had been claimed all the way back when Hudson was just a kid.If that was the case, then he wasn’t the killer I’d been after.He couldn’t be the killer.”
She shook her head.No, no, Memphis could not be saying?—
“Families,” Memphis murmured.“Like I said, I’m fascinated to see what traits are inherited and which ones aren’t.All those genes, spinning around and around and around.Where they’ll stop…well, who knows?Got a friend, Sloane, and she’s doing research specifically related to the children of serial killers.Some kids, of course, are completely normal.They’re horrified and embarrassed and so ashamed of what their parents have done.But others…others have their own dark sides that they try to hide.”
She couldn’t speak.
Hunter could.And he did.“You’re saying Hudson’s old man was the killer?You got it wrong?The father was the serial, not Hudson?Dude.You probably should have shared that sooner.Like, a lot sooner.”
“I’m saying…I got Mary’s death wrong.”Crisp.Annoyed.“Or rather, the identity of the man who abducted her.Mary’s body was never found.For that crime, I was looking at the son.I was focused on Hudson.I should have seen the father.”
Hudson didn’t kill Mary.Did he kill the others?Did he?—
Nausea rose.She slapped a hand over her mouth.
She could feel the watchful weight of the men’s stares on her.
“You said you trusted him,” Memphis recalled.“You said he was a good man.”
Tears pricked her eyes.You had to trust the man you were going to marry, didn’t you?
“So I dug deeper.With Mary…I don’t think Hudson was to blame.With the vics in New Orleans who vanished shortly after Mary—I think they can also be tied to Hudson’s father.But he’s dead.Hudson’s father is dead.Hudson is dead.It’s doubtful we will ever learn anything for certain.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong.Her lips trembled.The words wanted to burst out of her.
Who will believe me?