“About Cole, about what he did to me.”
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
“My own mother wouldn’t believe me,” she said bluntly. “I don’t know… Over the years, I thought maybe I was making it up. I did so many drugs then, lots of bad stuff. I wasn’t thinking straight. It was easier to just think that I made it up.”
Lena knew what she was talking about. You lied to yourself in degrees just so you could get through the day.
Jeffrey asked, “Did Abby tell you she was seeing somebody?”
Terri nodded, saying, “Chip,” with some regret. “I told her not to get mixed up with him. You’ve got to understand, girls don’t know much growing up on the Holy Grown farm. They keep us secluded, like they’re protecting us, but what it really does is make it easier for all the men.” She gave another humorless laugh. “I never even knew what sex was until I was having it.”
“When did Abby tell you she was leaving?”
“She came by on her way to Savannah about a week before she died,” Terri said. “She told me she was going to leave with Chip when Aunt Esther and Uncle Eph went into Atlanta in a couple of days.”
“Did she seem upset?”
She considered the question. “She seemed preoccupied. That’s not like Abby. There was a lot on her mind, though. She was… she was distracted.”
“Distracted how?”
Terri looked down, obviously trying to conceal her reaction. “Just with stuff.”
Jeffrey said, “Terri, we need to know what stuff.”
She spoke. “We were here in the kitchen,” she began. She indicated Lena ’s chair. “She was sitting right there. She had Paul’s briefcase in her lap, holding it like she couldn’t let go. I remember thinking I could sell that thing and feed my kids for a month.”
“It’s a nice briefcase?” Jeffrey asked, and Lena knew he was thinking exactly the same thing she was. Abby had looked in the briefcase and found something Paul didn’t want her to see.
She said, “He probably paid a thousand dollars for it. He spends money like it’s water. I just don’t understand.”
Jeffrey asked, “What did Abby say?”
“That she had to go see Paul, then when she came back, she was leaving with Chip.” She sniffed. “She wanted me to tell her mama and daddy that she loved them with all her heart.” She started to cry again. “I need to tell them that. I owe Esther that at least.”
“Do you think she told Paul she was pregnant?”
Terri shook her head. “I don’t know. She could’ve gone to Savannah to get some help.”
Lena asked, “Help getting rid of the baby?”
“God, no,” she said, shocked. “Abby would never kill her baby.”
Lena felt her mouth working, but her voice was caught somewhere in her throat.
Jeffrey asked, “What do you think she wanted from Paul?”
“Maybe she asked him for some money?” Terri guessed. “I told her she’d need some money if she was going off with Chip. She doesn’t understand how the real world works. She gets hungry and there’s food on the table. She’s cold and there’s the thermostat. She’s never had to fend for herself. I warned her she’d need money of her own, and to hide it from Chip, to keep something back for herself, in case he left her somewhere. I didn’t want her to make the same mistakes I had.” She wiped her nose. “She was such a sweet, sweet girl.”
A sweet girl who was trying to bribe her uncle into paying her off with blood money, Lena thought. She asked, “You think Paul gave her the money?”
“I don’t know,” Terri admitted. “That was the last time I saw her. She was supposed to leave with Chip after that. I really thought she had until I heard… until you found her on Sunday.”
“Where were you last Saturday night?”
Terri used the back of her hand to wipe her nose. “Here,” she told them. “With Dale and the kids.”
“Can anyone else verify that?”
She bit her bottom lip, thinking. “Well, Paul dropped by,” she told them. “Just for a minute.”
“Saturday night?” Jeffrey verified, glancing at Lena. Paul had insisted several times that he was in Savannah the night his niece died. His chatty secretary had even backed him up. He said he had driven to the farm on Sunday evening to help look for Abby.
Jeffrey asked, “Why was Paul here?”
“He brought Dale that thing for one of his cars.”
Jeffrey asked, “What thing?”
“That Porsche thing,” she answered. “Paul loves flashy cars- hell, he loves flashy anything. He tries to hide it from Papa and them, but he likes to have his toys.”
“What kind of toys?”
“He brings in old beaters he finds at auctions and Dale fixes them up for a discount. At least Dale says he’s giving a discount. I don’t know what he charges, but it’s gotta be cheaper to do it here than it is in Savannah.”
“How often does Paul bring in cars?”
“Two, three times that I can think of.” Terri shrugged. “You’d have to ask Dale. I’m in the back mostly, working on the upholstery.”
“Dale didn’t mention Paul came by when I saw him the other night.”
“I doubt he would,” Terri said. “Paul pays him in cash. He don’t report it on the taxes.” She tried to defend his actions. “We’ve got collections after us. The hospital’s already garnishing Dale’s wages from when Tim went in last year. The bank reports back everything that goes in and out. We’d lose the house if we didn’t have that extra cash.”
“I don’t work for the IRS,” Jeffrey told her. “All I care about is Saturday night. You’re sure Paul came by Saturday?”
She nodded. “You can ask Dale,” she said. “They stayed in the garage for about ten minutes, then he was gone. I just saw him through the front window. Paul doesn’t really talk to me.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m a fallen woman,” she said, absent any sarcasm.
“Terri,” Jeffrey began, “was Paul ever in the garage alone?”
She shrugged. “Sure.”
“How many times?” he pushed.
“I don’t know. A lot.”
Jeffrey wasn’t so conciliatory anymore. He pressed her harder. “How about in the last three months or so? Was he here then?”
“I guess,” she repeated, agitated. “Why does it matter if Paul was in the garage?”
“I’m just trying to figure out if he had time to take something that was out there.”
She snorted a laugh at the suggestion. “Dale would’ve wrung his neck.”
“What about the insurance policies?” he asked.
“What policies?”
Jeffrey took out a folded sheet of fax paper and put it on the table in front of her.
Terri’s brow furrowed as she read the document. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a fifty-thousand-dollar life insurance policy with you as the beneficiary.”
“Where did you find this?”
“You don’t get to ask the questions,” Jeffrey told her, dropping his understanding tone. “Tell us what’s going on, Terri.”
“I thought-” she began, then stopped, shaking her head.
Lena asked, “You thought what?”
Terri shook her head, picking at the cuticle on her thumb.
“Terri?” Lena prodded, not wanting Jeffrey to be too hard on her. She obviously had something to say; now was not the time to be impatient.
Jeffrey adjusted his tone. “Terri, we need your help here. We know Cole put her in that box, just like he did with you, only Abby never got out. We need you to help us find out who killed her.”
“I don’t…” Terri let her voice trail off.
Jeffrey said, “Terri, Rebecca is still missing.”
She said something under her breath that sounded like a word or two of encouragement. Without warning, she stood, saying, “I’ll be back.”
“Hold on a minute.” Jeffrey caught her by the arm as she started to leave the kitchen but Terri flinched and he let go.
“Sorry,” she apologized, rubbing her arm where Dale had bruised her. Lena could see tears from the pain well up in the other woman’s eyes. Still, Terri repeated, “I’ll be right back.”
Jeffrey didn’t touch her again, but he said, “We’ll go with you,” in a tone that said it wasn’t just a friendly suggestion.