Tricia Yarbrough made a choked noise of disgust.
“Jesus H. Christ,” Mendez finally mumbled. He leaned back from the cards, as if their hate was contagious. He glanced up at me. “Any idea who's been sending these?”
“A member of the family is my guess. But I don't know who.”
“When I questioned your father-Bob Don Goertz, right?” Mendez rustled through his notes and I nodded. “He said he'd brought you here to meet the rest of your family for the first time. So you've never seen any of these folks before, right?”
“That's correct. I discovered last year that… Mr. Goertz and my mother had an affair and I was… the product. We've been getting to know each other and determine whether or not-whether I could accept him as my father.” My chest tightened. What the hell was wrong with me? I'd never spluttered while talking. “I believe someone in the family isn't very happy about me being recognized as a member.”
“Why would that be, Mr. Poteet?” Yarbrough asked.
“Please, call me Jordan.” Her face didn't waver, so I reckoned she'd keep relations nice and formal. “Anyway, look at this place. Uncle Mutt's loaded to the gills-his net worth is around ten million or so. I think someone's unhappy with me being a potential heir.”
“Ten million would be a lot to spread around the family anyway,” Mendez mused. Yarbrough gave him a sharp glance.
“Yes, it would be. If Uncle Mutt is of a mind to be equitable.”
“And killing you would make Mr. Emmett more equitable in dishing out the funds?”
Mr. Emmett? “I don't know.” I shrugged and rested my fingers against my eyebrows. “All I know is someone doesn't want me here. And my aunt died, unexpectedly, right next to me.” I lowered my hands, but I didn't look at Mendez or Yarbrough.
“If you feel you're in danger, Mr. Poteet, we can get you off the island,” Yarbrough said softly. “I've asked the others to all remain here at the house until our investigation's complete.”
“Thank you, but no. I'd prefer to remain with my-with Bob Don. I think he'll need me now.”
Mendez leaned forward. “You know, the lady might've simply had a heart attack. She'd just been told her only brother was terminally ill.”
I nodded. “And Uncle Jake's medication being gone? I suppose he'd just conveniently run out? It's digitalis-based. Doesn't that cause heart attacks?” I knew next to nothing about medicine, but I could connect Digoxin with digitalis.
“Even so-could be suicide. I understand Mrs. Throck-morton wasn't entirely stable.” Mendez sounded bored.
“Good Lord, Victor,” Yarbrough said. “I've known Lolly Throckmorton for years. She wasn't crazy.”
“She seemed to have serious mood swings,” I offered. “When we arrived, she seemed rather happy, in good spirits. But at dinner, she was belligerent, even abusive to the family.” Neither blinked at my announcement. “Still, to kill herself, in front of her family? That seems wrong.”
“I've ordered an autopsy.” Judge Yarbrough spoke after a moment's silence. “We don't have a medical examiner here in Calhoun County, so I'll have Lolly's body shipped to Austin. We could have the results by tomorrow.”
“And if poison's involved? How quickly could we know?” I challenged.
She shifted in her chair, perhaps a little uncomfortable with my directness. “Toxicology tests take longer to get- sometimes up to ten days. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Like Lieutenant Mendez says, poor Lolly may have just had a heart attack.”
“You said you'd known her a long time, Judge. Did you ever know if she had a heart condition?”
Yarbrough tugged at her bottom lip. “No. She never mentioned one. But I didn't know before tonight that Mutt-Mr. Goertz-was ill either. The Goertzes aren't a family to broadcast their private lives.” I detected a tinge of-pain? sadness?-in her voice, then she became all business again. “You said the deceased vomited on your clothes. We'd like them for analysis as well.”
“Of course.” Stomach contents, I thought. So she's not dismissing the possibility of poison. But I wondered how her apparent knowledge of the family might color her view of the case. Yarbrough looked tough and professional, though.
Mendez shifted gears. “So you're new to this family. Any impressions of them? What kind of people do they strike you as?”
I fostered a smile. “You both obviously know the Goertzes. How many people in your county are worth ten million dollars?”
Mendez didn't return my smile. He leaned back in the creaky leather sofa. “Just answer the question, please, Jordan.”
His use of my first name suddenly changed the air in the room-and I felt the need to vent and was glad Mendez had picked up on my frustration. “Fine. Something's wrong here. First I get these abusive letters. Then I get to sit through a dinner that's so thick with tension it's practically on the menu. Lolly verbally attacks the entire family, Mutt tells us he's dying, and Lolly drops dead.” I shook my head.
“I keep thinking this family isn't exactly knit together right. Something's off in the weave, so to speak. And Uncle Mutt-”
“Mr. Emmett's done lots of good works for folks in this county,” Mendez interrupted. His expression hardened. “There's no need to cry murder until we get the autopsy results. I assure you, if someone's murdered his sister, we'll find out who did it.”
“Even if it was a family member?” I asked.
“Especially if it was a family member,” Yarbrough interjected. “Thank you for your statement, Jordan.” She gathered her papers up and rattled them into order.
Mendez stood and gestured toward the cards. “I'd like to keep these for evidence.”
I nodded. “And I'll bag up my clothes for you.”
“Let me know if you get any more threatening messages, Mr. Poteet,” Mendez said. The interview was over.
I stood to leave. “One question-are y'all going to tell people my uncle's dying?”
Mendez's eyes met mine and I saw sadness in them. “Mr. Emmett's business is his own. Not mine, as long as he's not breaking the law.”
“Absolutely,” Yarbrough chimed in. Real pain flashed across her face briefly, as though news of Mutt's death was a physical prod to her. I wanted to ask Tricia Yarbrough what Mutt was to her-but I didn't.
I dabbed my tongue on my dry lips. What I was about to say might make me a traitor in Bob Don's eyes, but I couldn't hold my silence. “Tonight-at the dinner table- Aunt Lolly mentioned there'd been another murder in this family. Years ago, Bob Don's brother killed his wife. Did you know?”
Mendez's expression told me he hadn't. Yarbrough's told me she had. Neither commented-I saw Yarbrough give Mendez one of those I'll tell you later looks.
Dismissed, I left the room feeling just as ill as when I'd arrived. I went upstairs, pulled off my sour-smelling garments, donned a robe, and hurried back downstairs to the front porch. One of Mendez's investigators bagged my clothes and gave me a receipt for them. I could see a dark body bag being loaded on the Coast Guard helicopter. Lolly.
Mendez came up behind me. “One of my men will be spending the night here, Mr. Poteet.” He gestured toward a compactly built officer who stood near the porch swing, all spit and polish. “You let Deputy Praisner know if you need anything, all right?”
“Of course.” I paused. “Your leaving an officer here overnight suggests maybe you don't think Lolly's death was of natural causes.”
“Don't conjecture so much, Jordan. Leave that to us.” Mendez turned abruptly and went back inside. I stood for a moment, watching the helicopter in which they'd placed Lolly's remains.
Deputy Praisner fixed a baleful eye on me. I bade him good night and went back inside, desperate for a shower. As I passed Mutt's study I could hear his voice raised in anger, followed by Tricia Yarbrough's calm alto. Mendez spoke a few indistinct words, then Mutt railed again. I headed up the stairs, suddenly and tremendously tired.