Page 144 of Thick as Thieves

Lisa plowed on. “Rusty searched in my room. That left only Dad’s bedroom. It was empty. But what struck me then was that Rusty’s muddy footprints on the stairs and along the hall were the only ones in any part of the house, other than those there by the back door.

“Dad had come no farther into the house than just inside the kitchen door where I had last seen him, remorseful, wringing his hands, tears in his eyes. The bag of money at his feet. It was then that I began to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

Lisa seemed to lapse into the memory. Ledge and Arden glanced at each other. He asked, “What was Rusty’s reaction to finding him gone?”

Lisa roused herself. “He was like a man possessed. He pointed out to me that Dad’s car was still in the garage, that my car was in the drive. He kept asking how he could have gotten away. I didn’t dare mention the boat. But I did ask about Foster.”

“And their secret meeting,” Ledge said.

She nodded. “In that reeking ditch, Rusty had emphasized that we should act like virtual strangers if we saw each other. Why had he gone against his own advice and arranged to see Foster that same night?”

“How did he answer?”

“He didn’t. But it was like I’d given him an electric shock treatment.”

“He realized he needed to establish an alibi,” Ledge said. “He went to Crystal.”

“I didn’t know about that,” Lisa said. “Nor did I care. I just wanted him out of this house. He left with threats ringing in my ears. He warned me never to tell about any of it. He also said that if he ever discovered I was in cahoots with ‘my old man,’ he would kill me. Then he limped out of here.”

“What did you do after he left?” Arden asked.

“Collapsed where I stood. I tried to absorb the shock of it all and figure out what I should do. My first priority was to protect you from what had already happened, and from whatever might be coming. After pulling myself together, I cleaned up the floors and straightened things Rusty had disturbed. By the time you woke up, everything looked normal.”

“Except that Dad didn’t come down for breakfast. You sent me up to his room, knowing that he wasn’t there.”

“I kept waiting for him to walk through the back door and explain his disappearance.” She looked at the back door and gave a humorless laugh. “To this day, I’m still waiting.”

She took a moment, then continued. “You and I baked our cake and had our Easter dinner, but you were dejected because Dad wasn’t here. You asked to go to the cemetery, and I took you. Dad actually had gone the night before. There was a fresh arrangement of flowers on Mom’s grave. I resented that pathetic gesture.

“If he had loved her as much as he professed, if he loved us so much, why had he left me to deal with Rusty alone? When he did slink back, I looked forward to calling him a gutless coward to his face. You see, I was still under the delusion that his abandonment was temporary.”

She sighed. “On Monday, detectives from the sheriff’s office came. It was clear from the outset that Dad was suspected of both the burglary and complicity in Foster’s death. Can you imagine what it was like to be interrogated by Rusty’s father? I wanted to blurt out what his psychotic son had done to poor, spineless Brian Foster. But I was afraid that if I breathed a word, Rusty would make good on his promise to harm you. Based on what you’ve told me about recent events, I still have reason to fear that. As you do,” she said, looking over at Ledge.

After a time, Arden said, “They found Dad’s boat caught up in cypress knees in a narrow bayou. There was a manhunt. Helicopters. Search dogs. Where did he go?”

Lisa raised her arms at her sides. “How he managed his getaway remains a mystery.”

“Maybe he didn’t,” Arden said. “Manage it, I mean. Maybe he didn’t survive that night. In his haste to get away, maybe he fell out of his boat and drowned.”

Ledge reminded her that the lake had been dragged in search of his body.

“But only in the vicinity of where they found his boat, and around where Foster’s remains were discovered. Maybe Rusty caught up with him after all, killed him, and hid his body, never to be found.”

Ledge said, “It would have had to happen quickly, or his arrival at Crystal’s house wouldn’t time out.”

“And he was so badly injured,” Lisa said. “I think he would’ve lacked the strength.”

“Also,” Ledge said, “if Rusty had caught up to Joe, he would have reclaimed the money. He wouldn’t still be bitter over losing it.”

“He wouldn’t have hounded me for years.”

Lisa’s statement took Arden by surprise, and Ledge, too, it seemed. He said, “Fill us in.”

“I had made arrangements for Arden and me to relocate as soon as the school semester ended. This would have been almost three months after Easter, and still no sign of Dad. Days before we were due to leave town, Rusty came here to the house and repeated his vows of vengeance if he learned that Dad and I had plotted to screw him out of the ‘haul,’ as he called it.

“Then for several years after we were in Dallas, he would show up periodically and issue the same threats. But he could see how modestly we lived, at least until I married Wallace. After that, I guess Rusty gave up hope. He stopped the surprise visits.”

She reached for Arden’s hand. “Marrying Wallace gave me a sense of security, but I never forgot Rusty’s threats. I knew he hadn’t forgotten them, either. That’s why I was so adamantly opposed to your moving back here. I panicked when you told me you had interviewed him to do repairs.” She tipped her head toward Ledge. “I never wanted you to know any of this.”