TWENTY-FIVE

“I found a couple of the ex-husbands,” Livy told Portia the next morning. “Three, actually. Aaron Woods—Sheldon’s father—died in 1992. Liver cancer. Andrew Lewis is working for a car dealer in Pittsburgh. He’s happily married and has three kids. He may not be interested in rehashing that time in his life. Bob Davey is in Maine, works in a restaurant, but I’m not sure what he does there. I e-mailed the addresses, phone numbers, and pertinent data to you about two minutes ago.”

“Terrific. Thanks a million.” Portia turned on the computer and waited for her e-mail to appear.

“I haven’t found anything on the brother yet, but I’m searching under each of the ex-husbands’ surnames. It’s taking a while,” she said drily. “I have a few more avenues to explore, though, so let me get back to you on him.

“Great. Thanks.” Portia printed out Livy’s e-mail and reached for the phone. She called the number for the car dealership where Andrew Lewis was employed.

“I’d like to speak with Andrew Lewis, if he’s there,” she said when the call was answered.

“One moment, please. I’ll connect you.”

“This is Andy Lewis. How can I help you?”

“Mr. Lewis, my name is Portia Cahill. I’m with the FBI.”

The silence on the other end of the phone was long and drawn out.

“Mr. Lewis? Are you there?”

“I’m here. What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you about your ex-wife.”

“Which one?”

“Rhona.”

“Oh, wait. Let me guess. This is about that wacky kid of hers, right?” He blew out a breath. “Look, I’ve worked really hard for a long time to put her and that kid of hers out of my life. I have a nice wife, three really terrific kids…I don’t know Rhona anymore, haven’t had any contact with her in years.”

“I’m calling about her son, Mr. Lewis.”

“Yeah, well, like I said, the younger one, he was a wacko.” He lowered his voice. “I heard all about him. Read about him. All those little kids…Jesus, to think I lived under the same roof as him.”

“Not that son. The younger one, Teddy.”

“Teddy?” he repeated. “I don’t remember Teddy. Just the older one, Dougie, he was pretty quiet. Kept to himself a lot. And the younger one. There were only the two of them.”

“You lived with Rhona for how many years, Mr. Lewis?”

“Three. Craziest three years of my life, I don’t mind saying it. Rhona, she’s a trip. She’s one hot mama, let me put it that way.”

“Mr. Lewis, it’s come to light that Sheldon had been sexually assaulted as a child. Would you know anything about that?”

“Huh? He was…” There was a deep intake of breath. “Uh-uh. No, no. Did she say I was molesting her kid? Is she totally nuts? Christ almighty, she ought to know I never had time for anything but her. When I said she was a hot mama, I meant…”

“Sir? No one’s accusing you of anything. Rhona never said it was you, Sheldon never said it was you. I’m trying to find out when this occurred. If you say it wasn’t you, I believe you.” She did. His reaction had been so instantaneous, so genuine, she thought they could cross him off their list. “We’re just trying to get a feel for what it was like in that house, what the relationships were like. Between the two boys, between the sons and the mother…”

“Oh, I can answer that one. It was weird. Really, really weird.”

“What do you mean, weird?”

“Rhona wanted the boys to sleep in the bed with her when I was gone. I drove a long-haul back then, I was gone a lot. She used to call them her ‘little men.’”

“Thank you, Mr. Lewis. You’ve been very helpful.”

“I haven’t really told you anything, but yeah, you’re welcome. Now please, could you just not call again? ’Cause I wouldn’t want it to get out that I knew that guy that killed all those kids…”

The story was pretty much the same when she spoke with Robert Davey.

“Rhona’s a real nutcase. But she was one hell of a woman.”

“Why’d you get divorced, could I ask?”

“Rhona had a roaming eye. We’d been together four years before she found someone else, and I don’t mind saying they were four happy years for me. I really loved her. We’d have stayed together, as far as I’m concerned, if it hadn’t been for the fact that she was one of those women who are just never satisfied, know what I mean? Always looking out for someone better.” He cleared his throat. “I read about the trouble that boy of hers had ten years or so back. Well, I sure saw that coming.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never saw such a mama’s boy.”

“And the other two brothers? What was your impression of them?”

“Other two? No, no, there was only one other kid. The older one, I forget his name. Nice kid. I told Rhona she was setting herself up for trouble, the way she treated them.”

“What way was that?”

“She pretty much ignored the older one. Thought the sun rose and set on that younger one, though. I used to tell her, it ain’t right. You’re supposed to love all your children the same. That younger one, she just doted on him.”

“Mr. Davey, Sheldon has told psychologists that he was abused as a child. Do you have any idea of who could have been responsible for that?”

“Abused? You mean, like molested?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”

“I don’t know of anyone who would have…wait a minute, are you thinking it was me?”

“No, sir. I was just asking if you had any idea of who it might have been.”

“I honestly don’t know. Like I said, I was gone a lot of the time. Was Rhona sneaking someone in the house when I wasn’t there? You’d have to ask her that.”

“Anything else you can tell me?”

“No, ma’am. Just that Rhona, she sure did love those boys of hers.”

“Thank you, Mr. Davey. I appreciate your time.”

Portia put the phone down and looked out the window, studying the picture that had formed in her mind. Douglas—Dougie—was Mommy’s little man until Sheldon came along. Then Sheldon be came the favorite. He’d been a beautiful boy, Rhona had told her, an angel. So Mommy had favored her beautiful child over Douglas, and Douglas had come to resent it. He’d been an only child for several years, he’d had all her attention, all her love. Then along came Sheldon, and Douglas was no longer number one in Mommy’s eyes. Douglas reacted by keeping more and more to himself as he got older, leaving home at the earliest possible time. Years later, when Teddy came along, had he taken Sheldon’s place in Mommy’s heart, becoming the favored one? Had Sheldon resented Teddy so much that he’d killed him?

And what does that say about Mommy, Portia asked herself. Had she been playing a deliberate game with her sons, pitting brother against brother, playing their love for her against the love they had for each other, stirring up their jealousy until it erupted in murder?

What kind of mother would do such things?

She left the office almost on time and arrived at Miranda and Will’s townhouse a little after eight. She stopped at the grocery store on the way, picking up the ingredients for a real dinner. She’d been eating crap for the past week and her body was feeling the effects. She was tired, not sleeping well, and she was afraid that her last really good meal had been those crabs back on Dufree Island. She was tempted to call Jim, to invite him over to share the steak she’d just bought, but she knew he was preparing for his case in the morning. She knew, too, there was a damned good chance they’d end up skipping dinner altogether. At least, if she had her way, they would. Still, she’d debated with herself all the way home. Call. Don’t call. Call. Don’t…

“Hey, there you are.” Miranda stepped into the hall from the kitchen.

“When did you get back?” Portia hugged her sister to welcome her home. Just as well she hadn’t made that call to Jim after all. “Did you have a good time?”

“About an hour ago, and yes, we had a fabulous time, for the short amount of time we had. Did you speak with John? He’s been trying to get you for over an hour.”

“I have my phone with me.” Portia frowned and searched her bag for her phone. “I stopped at McKenzie’s Market on the way home…” She checked her pockets. No phone. “I must have dropped it in the car. Did he say what he wanted?”

“Just that it was really important.”

“I’ll run out to the car and take a look.”

Portia looked through the front seat, under the stack of paper napkins she picked up at a fast-food place and under the driver’s seat. The phone had fallen between the seat and the console. She had to slide the seat back in order to reach it. When she picked it up, she checked the missed messages, then listened to her voice mail as she walked back into the house. Two of the calls were from John, and one was from Eileen on his behalf.

“He needs to talk to you ASAP, hon,” Eileen had said in her always-calm tone. “It’s important.”

“Then why didn’t he leave a message?” she muttered.

She’d just come through the front door, and was about to speed-dial John, when Miranda came out of the living room, holding the house phone.

“It’s John,” she said, and handed Portia the receiver.

“John, sorry, I just got home and heard that you’d…”

“There’s been another one. I sent Livy out when I couldn’t get in touch with you—she’s already on her way to the crime scene, but under the circum stances, you need to be out there, too.”

“Where?”

“Kendall Road in Parker, right off Route Forty.”

Portia stopped in midstride.

“Portia? Did you hear me?”

“Yes.” Somehow she managed to get out the words. “I heard you.”

“Hang on and I’ll give you directions.”

“Never mind,” she told him. “I know where it is.”

“You do?” He paused. “It’s a Little League ball-field, Portia.”

“I know. I was there. Last night. Jim’s nephew was playing tee-ball there.”

There was silence on both ends of the line.

“I hope that’s just a coincidence, Portia.”

“So do I.” She swallowed hard. “What’s the victim’s name?”

“I don’t have the name, just the location. The local police called it in, said they’d gotten an anonymous heads-up that a body was there and that they were to call the FBI in.”

“I’m on my way.” Suddenly, she couldn’t wait to get off the phone and out the door.

“Portia, check on Jim’s nephew, why don’t you?”

“As we speak, John.” Her own phone was in her hand and she was dialing.

“Let me know.”

“Will do.”

When Jim didn’t pick up his cell, she tried his office. An unfamiliar male voice answered.

“I’ll see if Mr. Cannon is in his office,” he told her.

A moment later, Jim was on the line.

“Portia?”

“Jim, Finn…his friends from tee-ball…are any of them missing?”

“What? What did you say?”

“Are any of Finn’s friends missing?”

“I haven’t heard of any…wait a minute. What’s going on?”

“I just got called out to a scene where another boy has been found.” She could barely get the words out. “He was found in Kendall Park, Jim.”

“Jesus God. Let me call Dani…she might know. I’ll get back to you.”

“Jim, find out where Finn is.”

“That’s the first thing I’m going to do.”