Page 57 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

Sam took a look at the framed photos of young adults that hung on the wall. “Another day, another love seat.”

“Don’t cross the middle line,” Freddie said, pointing to it.

“Don’t worry. I’m not buying what you’re selling.”

“My goods aren’t available to you.”

Before she could express her lack of interest in his goods, they heard footsteps coming toward them.

The man who’d greeted them had his arm around a woman who was nearly a foot shorter than him. “This is my wife, Stella.” He helped her into a chair and hovered close by, as if waiting for her to fall out of the chair or something.

Stella had short, spiky gray hair and funky purple glasses. Her face was red and puffy from crying, her hands trembling in her lap.

“We’re so sorry to disturb you at such a difficult time,” Sam said.

“I can’t imagine who could’ve done this to Pammy. She was…” Stella broke down into sobs. “She was the best friend I ever had.”

“How did you meet her?”

“Her Molly was in kindergarten with my Jimmy. The two of them are the best of friends to this day, and so are we.”

Damned that present tense that people used to refer to recently murdered loved ones. It made Sam sad for them every time.

“I can’t believe she’s gone. How can she be gone?”

“We’re trying to determine what might’ve happened to her. Did she tell you about problems she was having with anyone in her life?”

Stella was shaking her head before Sam finished asking the question. “Things had been so good for her lately. Molly made a smooth transition to college, the boys are doing wonderfully in high school—both are great students and star athletes. She and Bob were always that couple you loved to hate—still so in love after more than twenty years together.”

Sam hoped people would say the same thing about her and Nick when they’d been together twenty years.

“Her business was thriving after years of hard work building it from nothing,” Stella added. “Her clients said the nicest things about her. The testimonials are on her website.”

“How about her other friends? Was she having any issues with them?”

“Not at all. I’ve been awake all night trying to come up with something that might explain this, but there’s nothing.”

“Is it possible that something was happening that you didn’t know about?”

“Highly unlikely. We told each other everything, even the difficult things.”

“What were some of the difficult things she told you about her life?”

“Bob had a health scare three years ago with prostate cancer. He was treated and is doing well now, but there were a lot of challenges associated with that treatment, including impotency. We talked about that. They also went through a rough patch with Lucas when he was a sophomore and fell in with a group of kids that Bob and Pam didn’t care for. They got through every challenge that came their way by pulling together.”

“Tell me about these kids they didn’t care for.” It wasn’t much, but it was more than she’d had coming in.

“I don’t know much about the specifics. They were kids Lucas met through a job at one of the local restaurants, and they didn’t care for the influence they had on him. He started to blow off school and miss practices. He’s got the potential for a full ride to a Division 1 school through football. They weren’t about to let him mess that up.”

“How did they address the issue?”

“By making sure he was so busy with work, school and sports that he didn’t have time to hang out with friends who were leading him astray. I thought they managed it in a very clever way—they got rid of the friends without making a huge scene.”

Sam made mental note of that for the case, and for her own information should she ever need such a strategy with her own kids. She hoped she never would.

As fast as the possibility of troubled kids in Lucas’s life had materialized, the lead had fizzled. If there was no big scene or fight, Lucas and his friends probably wouldn’t have noticed what his parents were doing to separate them.

This case was pissing her off.