As soon as the family liaison arrived, Alexa and the constable escaped the Tandy house. Constable Blume scowled at the various cars in the driveway. Mr. Tandy’s sedan was behind his patrol car, and the liaison’s car was next to them. “Gridlock,” he said.
Alexa wanted to get the hell out of Dodge. Mr. Tandy had called them worthless and liable. Misty blubbered harder. Then the husband accused them of causing his wife’s distress. He ripped the tissue box out of Alexa’s hand and thrust it at Misty. The daughter Susie stood immobile, hugging herself, her hands buried in her sleeves. “Aunt Leeny,” she cried over and over.
The family liaison’s name was Bridget Kies. She would be the conduit between the Tandys and police, and work to build their trust and respect.
Good luck with that.
“Mr. Tandy is a jerk,” Alexa said in the driveway. His accusations had smarted. Despite their failure to find Eileen alive, everyone—police, volunteers, SAR, tracker dogs—had worked hard on her behalf.
“People need someone to blame,” Constable Blume said.
“How are we going to get out?” she asked.
“Miss? Can I talk to you?”
Alexa turned. The daughter had followed them outside. She prayed Susie hadn’t heard what she’d said about her father. Foot-in-mouth again. “Sure,” Alexa said. “But can you get your dad to move his car? We’re blocked in.”
Susie sniffed and walked toward the sedan. “I can do it. I have my learner license.”
“Bet you’re a good driver,” Constable Blume said, “but I’ll move it. That way you can speak with Ms. Glock.”
Susie relinquished the keys from the front kangaroo-pouch pocket of her tie-dyed hoodie. She had her mother’s wide-set chestnut eyes and brown hair, but hers was styled in a bouncy way. A red splotch on her jawline looked inflamed, and she scratched at it while Constable Blume started the car. “Mum said you found Aunt Leeny.”
“I didn’t find her. A tracker dog did.” Was that too graphic? “Let’s get out of the constable’s way.” The driveway was gravel, with weeds sprouting here and there. Alexa walked toward the middle house and Susie followed. “I’m sorry about your aunt. Were you close?”
Susie buried her hands in her pocket. “Aunt Leeny is fun to hang with. She’s way cool. I mean, she was way cool. I was, um, like a daughter to her.”
Alexa hoped Benny and Noah would think she was way cool. But why would they? I’m eight thousand miles away. “Did your aunt give you driving lessons?”
Susie nodded. She was Alexa’s height, but several inches came from her platform tennis shoes. “How did you know? Why are you asking me questions?”
Fair enough. Alexa leaned down and yanked out a weed. “I’m not sure how your aunt died. The forensic pathologist is with her body. He’ll find out and let your family know.”
“But that man did it, right? Earl Hammer?”
Alexa wondered what was happening at the Chinese settlement. Had they caught him? “We don’t know.”
The teen kicked into the gravel. “Well, did she like, suffer?”
“I don’t know. I’m sorry. I can tell you really loved her, your aunt.”
“I didn’t think she was selfish. Mum did, but I didn’t.”
She pulled her right hand out and checked her nails. They were blue and chipped. Then she met Alexa’s eyes. “What will happen to Aunt Leeny’s car?”
Alexa kept her face neutral. What was the expression? Barely cold in the grave? “I don’t know. Hopefully she has a will.”
Susie kicked the gravel again. “On one of our driving lessons she said she’d give it to me when I graduated. It’s almost new.”
Before Alexa replied, Susie slouched away, her sweatshirt covering her short-shorts, her pale thighs and legs bare. Was she a distraught niece or a gravedigger?
In the patrol car, Constable Blume put a finger to his lips. “Repeat,” he said into the radio.
A voice replied, “Suspect spotted on Arrow River Bridge Trail.”
“They’re closing in,” he said.