Fifteen minutes later, Katie sat on the bench in the garden by the hospital. She’d asked Beth to meet her. Beth had beat here there and looked worried.
“What did you find out?” Beth asked.
“I don’t have any proof, but I’m starting to think maybe Christopher did have something to do with your mom’s death.”
Beth shook her head. “I don’t know, Dr. LeClair. I think he was really in love with her. They were very happy together.”
“A friend said something interesting to me the other day,” Katie said. “He told me to follow the money. At first I thought it meant to figure out who benefits, and that still may be the case. But what if this whole thing revolves around money?”
Beth nodded. “Okay.”
“One person in this situation with a lot of money is Christopher. What if your mom found out something that threatened his business?”
“Like what?”
“I’m starting to suspect that your mom thought Christopher had a sister. She had a copy of Jack Riley’s will scanned into her computer. I didn’t think much of it at first, but the wording was unusual. He didn’t leave his business to Christopher by name. He left it to ‘any surviving children or grandchildren.’”
“Isn’t that pretty standard? You want to protect unborn children in case you don’t get around to making another will?”
Katie nodded. “But this will was dated twenty years ago, when Christopher was in his thirties. I doubt Jack Riley thought he’d have any more children at that point.”
“I suppose that’s a little strange, but is it worth killing my mother over?” Beth asked.
“I think the research she was doing about the color-blindness was because she suspected that Jack Riley had had an affair, and there was another child of his out there.”
Beth’s eyebrows rose. “That would cause some trouble.”
“Yes, it would. I think that your mom confronted him, and he either didn’t believe her or had always known and had covered it up. But if anyone started demanding DNA tests, he could lose at least half of his business.”
“But Sylvia Riley only died two years ago. There wasn’t any mention of another child in that will.”
“Maybe she didn’t know.”
Beth gave Katie a skeptical look. “More likely she knew and wanted the secret to die with her.”
“Did you know her?”
“I only met her once, and that was enough. She made me nervous, like she was judging every word and gesture.”
“I’ve heard she could be . . . difficult.”
“That’s probably not a secret she’d write in her book. Do you know who the other child is?”
“I have an idea,” Katie said. “Apparently, Jack Riley was color-blind.”
“Oh, like Todd,” Beth said.
Katie nodded. “It’s an X-linked trait. The mother can pass it on to her children if she carries the gene. Even if she herself is not color-blind.” Katie waited for her to make the connection.
“You think that Todd’s mother is really Jack Riley’s daughter?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“So that would mean Todd is his grandchild. And he should have inherited some of the business.”
“Yes, if it’s true.”
“You think Christopher killed her to cover up the fact that Jack Riley may have had more heirs?”
Katie leaned back against the bench and looked up at the trees. “This is all supposition. But your mother was researching color-blind genetics and had some articles on Christopher’s parents and the Talbots.”
“Wow. If it’s true, not only will Christopher lose some of the business, but so will Dan. I’d be more inclined to think Dan did it.”
“Maybe, but he wasn’t in town that evening as far as we know.”
“Right. But Christopher was out of town too.”
“That’s what he says . . .”
“I don’t like any of this, Dr. LeClair,” Beth said. “I feel like everyone I know is a suspect. I’m not sure who to trust.”
“I agree.”
“I think we’re going to need more than a few old newspaper articles and web searches to convince Chief Carlson to look at Christopher. They’ve been friends since elementary school.”
“You’re right,” Katie said. “Let me do some digging on my own. Maybe I can get us some proof that we can take to the chief. But in the meantime, you should turn this in to the police.” Katie handed the laptop to Beth.
Beth hugged it to herself and shivered. “I don’t even want to think that Christopher did this.”