Page 156 of This is Why We Lied

Sara considered her answer. “I have a younger sister who’s got a daughter. She’s studying to be a midwife. My sister, not my niece.”

Jon’s mouth turned up in the hint of a smile.

“My father is a plumber. My mother does the bookkeeping and scheduling for the business. She’s very involved in civic causes, and activities at her church, which she often reminds me of.”

“What’s your dad like?”

“Well—” Sara was aware that Jon had a complicated relationship with his own father. She didn’t want to shame Dave by proxy. “He loves dad jokes.”

Jon’s eyes slid her way again. “What kind of dad jokes?”

Sara thought about the card her father had put in her suitcase. “He knew I was going to be in the mountains this week, so he gave me a dollar in case there were any deer parties.”

“Deer parties?”

“Yeah, it costs a buck to get in.”

Jon snorted.

“He wanted to make sure I had the doe.”

Jon laughed out loud. “That’s pretty corny.”

Sara thought it was pretty wonderful. If Jon had been unlucky, Sara had hit the jackpot. “Remember what I told you about Will. He wants to talk to you about your mom. He has some things to tell you.”

Jon nodded. His eyes were back on the ground. She thought about the young man she had met the day before. He had been so confident when he’d walked down the front steps of his family home. At least he’d been that way until Will had cut him down to size. Now, Jon seemed nervous and cowed.

As a pediatrician, Sara had witnessed the dualities in children. Boys in particular were desperate to figure out how to be men. Unfortunately, they often looked to the wrong men for their role models. Jon had Cecil, Christopher, Dave, and Chuck. Clearly, he could do worse than a creepy incel who was being routinely poisoned by his best friend, but you could also do a hell of a lot better.

“Sara?”

Faith was waiting for her on the viewing platform. She was alone. The lights were on inside the dining hall. Sara heard silverware clattering, the low hum of conversation. Everyone had been isolated up here for hours, watching guests being selected for scrutiny one by one. The kitchen staff had probably told them about the body in the freezer. Christopher was nowhere to be found. And then Dave had shown up like an atom bomb going off, and Gordon and Paul had not come down for drinks. Sara assumed they were all abuzz with theories.

She asked Jon, “Do you want to wait for me to go inside?”

“No, ma’am. I’ve got this.” Jon straightened his shoulders as he walked through the door. He was putting on his armor. Her heart ached at the sight of his fragile courage.

“Sara,” Faith repeated. “This way.”

Sara followed her up the Chow Trail. Earlier, Faith had caught Sara up on Christopher’s revelations while Kevin and Will secured the man in the boathouse. Now, Sara tried to catch Faith up on her end of the investigation. “Nadine called. The creek receded. They put two metric tons of gravel on the road. She’ll be here within the hour. It won’t be long before the news spreads that people can leave. They’re already talking to each other. Whatever you say to one person, you might as well say to all.”

Faith said, “Tell me about the autopsy.”

Sara couldn’t think in bullet points right now. “You mean about the pregnancy or—”

“What samples did you collect for the lab?”

“The sperm in her vagina. Urine and blood. I swabbed her thighs, mouth, throat, and nose, for saliva, sweat, or touch DNA. I collected some fibers—red, mostly, but some black, which isn’t consistent with Mercy’s clothing. There was some hair with the follicles intact. I took fingernail scrapings. I performed a—”

“Okay, that’s good. Thank you.”

Faith went uncharacteristically silent. She was clearly rolling ideas around in her head. Sara figured she would learn what was happening soon enough, which is exactly what happened when they made the last turn in the trail and saw Will.

He was studying the map Faith had marked up. Sara could tell from the weary expression on his face that something had gone terribly wrong during the interview with Paul.

She asked, “It wasn’t him?”

“No,” Will said. “Paul already knew that Cecil killed his sister. Gordon’s story matched his almost exactly. It wasn’t him.”