“Only she didn’t leave. She was killed.”

“True,” I acknowledged.

“What if she agreed to leave but changed her mind?” he suggested. “And the person who killed her didn’t like that she’d decided to stay. Who would have wanted her gone?”

“Likely a lot of people. Emily and Bart.” Then I added, “Probably Wyatt.”

“Did he say he wanted her gone?”

I gave it some thought. “When he talked about it this morning, he didn’t give an opinion about it one way or another. Just stated that she’d left. Or so he thought. They’d broken up by then. He said it happened sometime after he was arrested.” I took a sip of my tea and turned to him. “In the nursing home parking lot, he told me he was engaged to her when he went to his parents to ask for the tavern.”

He frowned. “I don’t think Max knew that.”

“I don’t think anyone knew,” I said. “Abby didn’t mention it, and Ruth sure hasn’t. I think maybe she changed her mind after Wyatt came back empty-handed.”

“She really was a gold digger,” Marco said.

“Which is why it doesn’t make sense for her to leave for so little money.” Then I added, “If she even cashed the check. Supposedly she was waving it around at her going-away party. I asked Emily to look into it. When she has an answer, she’s going to call Max’s and leave a message for me to come to tea. Even if I still don’t want Max or Wyatt to know I went to see her, not yet. But it was better than asking her to call Hank’s house. I can only imagine what Bart would do if he found out.”

He nodded. “And you got her to talk about all of that without mentioning Heather’s body? She didn’t find that suspicious?”

“No.” I turned in my seat to face him. “The first two times I met Emily, she seemed like such a sweet woman, and I couldn’t understand why she was with Bart.”

“You say that like you changed your mind.”

I twisted my mouth to the side as I thought it over. “She still seemed sweet, but much more calculating than I expected.”

“I’m still surprised she admitted that she wanted to leave him, but like I said, she made a good call,” Max said. “He saw those boys as possessions, and he never would have stood for her taking them from him. Hell, I can’t even see him letting her go.”

“Like Floyd Bingham?”

He was quiet for a moment. “No, I don’t think he would have killed her. People were afraid of him and his power, but Emily had a way of softening his edge, just enough so people didn’t think he was a monster. He needed her.”

“He was really that evil?”

“Not evil, per se. There were just so many secrets and rumors about the favors. And of course, the murders and the strange, unexplained things goin’ on that people attributed to him, even if the sheriff’s department claimed they never found a link.”

“Thelma Tureen told me that her husband’s cousin went to Bart for a favor.” I told him about the whole episode, starting with the man’s DUI and ending with the way he’d burned the house down and then ultimately killed himself.

“Yep,” he said with a grim face. “That all fits with Bart and his favors.”

“When did the favors stop?” I asked and shivered a little from a chill.

“They never really stopped, I don’t think,” he said, leaning over to tuck the blanket around my legs. “But he lost most of his money and, along with it, his power. Plus, he got old. He just seemed to lose the things that lent him his air of intimidation. But I think he still grants and calls in favors, just not as often as in the past.”

“Emily said she was worried about what Bart was doing to Wyatt and Max while they were growing up. I think she was worried he’d break their spirit or make them into monsters too.”

“Definitely a valid concern,” he said slowly. “I’m just surprised she was so free with that information. Max always suspected she wanted to leave and take them with her, but he never knew for certain.”

“I wasn’t sure why she was telling me any of it. Maybe because she still thinks Wyatt and I are together?”

“You’re kiddin’,” he said in a flat voice.

“Wyatt never told her we broke up. She told me she’s been beggin’ him to bring me to lunch. Wyatt always tells her I’m too busy, and she said that Max backs him up.”

“Why would they both lie about that?” he asked, sitting up straighter.

“I don’t know,” I said, “but she told Bart and Wyatt that she likes me. She thinks I’m good for Wyatt, and she told Bart she’d leave him if he ran me off. Do you think that Wyatt or Max know that and are lying to protect me?”

He sat back in his chair. “Wow…maybe.”

“But none of that makes sense because Bart knows we aren’t together. He thinks I’m sleeping with you. He told me so today at the construction site.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Was he threatening you?”

“No, I don’t think so. More like he was trying to get me to admit it.” I paused, then added, “It surprised me to realize Emily’s manipulative too.”

He was slow to respond. “It stands to reason she would need to develop that trait to survive.”

My heart skipped a beat. “They all would, the boys included.”

He frowned. “I guess, although I’ve never thought Max was manipulative. He’s mostly ‘you get what you see.’”

“Mostly?”

“I suppose you can’t grow up in that house without being damaged somehow.”

“His drinking,” I said softly.

“Yeah.”

“It sounds like Wyatt was his mini-me until their falling-out,” I said. “He wanted to please his father. Which means he would have learned the art of manipulation at the knee of the master.”

“You think he’s been manipulating you?” he asked, but without the heat I would have expected.

“Yeah, I think he’s been manipulating me ever since he discovered my secret.”

He reached over and placed a hand on my lower thigh in support.

“He’s definitely been yanking me around all day. He wasn’t forthcoming with information. And when I confronted him with it, he claimed he didn’t want to tell me everything because he wanted me to form my own opinion.”

“That sounds like a bullshit answer.”

“No kidding.”

“He still cares about you, Carly.”

“Does he?” I asked, seeing him in a whole new light now. “Or does he see me as someone new to play with?”

“I think he sees you as someone new, someone who didn’t know him before or during his legal mess. You saw him with fresh eyes, and obviously liked what you saw.”

I started to contradict him, but I suspected he was right.

“I know he promised to tell you his secrets, but I would have been surprised if he’d actually followed through. He was raised with the mindset that knowledge is power, and giving you information would have leveled the power structure. At the moment, he holds the power. He ultimately decided not to pull you up to his level.”