Page 19 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

FIFTEEN

Amanda and Trent passed Katherine heading into Central when they were leaving. She confirmed she remembered where Amanda’s desk was and kept walking while tossing out, “Good luck,” over her shoulder. And they just might need it.

When they showed up at the Tanner residence, three vehicles were in the driveway. None of them belonged to Crime Scene, so at least stuffy Vanessa Stuart had moved on. Amanda wasn’t sure she could keep her temper under control if she had to face that woman so soon after speaking with her.

Trent rang the bell, and the chime reached the front step again. The beautiful tune seemed to mock the tragedy that had struck the home’s inhabitants.

The door was opened by a woman in her late fifties. The gray around her temples stood out in contrast to her otherwise brown hair.

Amanda flashed her badge, as did Trent. “Detectives Steele, and Stenson. Would Vincent or Jean Tanner be home?”

The woman pinched her lips and backed up to let them inside. Voices in subdued chatter carried from the sitting room to the entry .

“I’m Pamela, Vincent’s mother.” She pulled her buttoned cardigan tighter around herself.

Hailey’s grandmother … Amanda’s heart ached for the woman. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Nothing could have ever prepared me for…” Pamela’s eyes welled with tears as she spoke, but her words were cut off as she was overtaken by a body-wracking sob. “If you’ll…” Pamela shuffled down the hall toward the back of the home, stranding them beneath the entry chandelier.

Amanda and Trent looked at each other, then both ducked through the doorway into the sitting room.

“Detectives?” Vincent got up from the couch and came over to them. “Did you find out who did this? Please, tell us you did.” His shoulders sagged when she shook her head.

“Not yet, but trust me when I say we are doing all that we can.” As she spoke, it wasn’t far from her mind that the sick person who killed Hailey had increased his victim tally to two.

Will there be more? Were there more? She had to squeeze that invasive thought out.

She cleared her throat. “We just have a few more questions for you and your wife.” She looked past Vincent’s shoulder but didn’t spot Jean in the room.

She did meet with three curious faces gazing back at her.

A woman and two men, all older than Vincent.

The couple must be Jean’s parents and the remaining person, Pamela’s husband. “Is your wife home?”

“She’s just lying down. I could get her, but I’d hate to wake her. She took some pills and probably won’t be much help anyhow.” Vincent then introduced everyone in the room, confirming they were his father and in-laws. “Please sit wherever you’d like.”

Amanda wished returning another time was an option, but this conversation would never be an easy one. “We won’t be long, but, Mr.Tanner, it might be best if we could speak with you someplace a little more private,” she said. “Say, the kitchen or dining room?”

Vincent glanced at his father, then nodded at Amanda. “All right.” He took them to the dining table, where he sat on one side, while Amanda and Trent sat across from him.

There wasn’t an easy way to bring up what was necessary.

She’d get to the point. “Fresh evidence has surfaced, part of which has us suspecting the person who took Hailey latched on to her months ago. Even going back to last fall or winter.” Consideration for Vincent’s feelings had her going with who took Hailey not who killed her .

It was also why she wasn’t going to disclose they suspected a serial killer was behind his daughter’s death.

The light dimmed in his eyes. “But you still aren’t any closer to finding who did this?”

“We wish we had better news,” Trent inserted. “But we’re hoping you might help.”

“I’ve told you everything.”

“Except that now we’re looking at a different timeline,” Amanda stressed. “Were there any new friends or acquaintances that surfaced in the fall? New employees at your company? Other people you may have had in your home?”

“We’re hiring interns all the time, but they have nothing to do with me. Human resources handle employees. No one from the office is brought into my personal life.”

“Yet, it seems Nick Potter was,” Amanda pointed out.

“The exception. We were friends before he came to work with me.”

“All right, so no employee has dropped off any papers after hours or other such things?” Trent asked. He had his tablet out now and was making notes on it.

“No. When I come home, I shut business off.”

“That can’t be easy when you’re the owner.” She had a hard time separating work from home, and she was a cog in the machine.

“It’s not, but it’s necessary and only fair that I be present with those I love.”

“Any new friends or acquaintances?” She hadn’t missed that he hadn’t answered this part yet.

He shook his head.

“Fair enough,” she said. “Do you know if your wife made any new connections?”

“My wife and I have open communication. If she had, she would have shared that with me.”

“And no workmen around the house going back to the fall?” She reiterated her question from a moment ago. They’d asked about maintenance people on their first visit but not with consideration to the revised timeline.

“It’s a rather new house, so no.”

“What about strangers to the door, offering to do yardwork even? One of them could have gotten into the house.” She felt like she was really grasping, but she had to do what she could to get Vincent thinking.

“I work long and unpredictable hours. Jean is busy with her friends and charities, but she never mentioned anyone. Mara might be the best to ask about laborers turning up.”

“We will be talking to her again,” Amanda said.

“Again? Then you already know that she has nothing to do with what happened to Hailey.”

“She’s not a suspect at this time. But what about new hobbies you and your wife may have taken up? Any exercise classes or new charity causes?” Thinking the killer was wrapped up in a goodwill organization sliced at her humanity, but evil knew no bounds.

“No.” Vincent didn’t meet her gaze, and his eyes had this blank quality to them.

He was probably consumed with guilt. Any respectable husband and father took the role of family protector seriously. But he had failed to keep Hailey safe, and that must sting, even if it wasn’t really his fault. “I’d like to ask about your parents?—”

“Don’t tell me you suspect they’re involved somehow?”

She gave him a tight smile. “Not where I was heading with that question, but do they live local?”

“Yes.”

“Do they ever come sit with Hailey or invite people into the home?” she asked, getting to the point of her interest in the older couples.

“They come over the odd time to watch Hailey.”

“When was the last time?” Trent asked.

“Last summer? Before that? I can’t remember. They’re usually here when Jean and I are home.”

“Okay, thank you, Mr.Tanner,” she said. “We’ll be in touch if we have any further questions or information to share.”

Vincent nodded but remained seated.

Amanda and Trent saw themselves out, and back in the car, Trent turned to Amanda. “Off to speak with Mara Bennett again?”

“Seems like the right next step to me.”