Page 134 of The Woman By the Lake

“So you’re saying you think Lincoln knew about them?” Riggs queried.

“Knew. And outwardly approved,” Cade said.

“Outwardly?” Riggs pressed.

“He built a house where he couldn’t see his brother’s cabin. This tells me he didn’t want to know. That makes sense. It also doesn’t. Because, if I’m reading between the lines, it was less an open marriage and more a brother-husbands type of deal. They were all one family. They had joint bank accounts. They built a trust that covered their assets like they were one unit. They frequently spent time together. They shared all holidays together, including with the kids when they came along. And considering publishing contracts from the third set of books, this being book seven and on, no longer included Lincoln’s name at all, Roosevelt was providing for what he considered his entire family. Not his brother and his wife. His family.”

“This is totally wild, and it also makes total sense,” I stated.

Cade aimed a small smile at me.

“Now, there are things that put a wrench in this theory,” he allowed. “We’ll start with Roosevelt living a quiet life and not being one to toss his money around. Lincoln was the opposite. Roosevelt stayed in MP. Lincoln and Sarah went back and forth. This kind of thing can cause some friction and doesn’t relate. But all families have friction. I think it’s a stretch, because your brother likes his dose of city living, he takes the woman you share with him, you get fed up with it, get in his face, and he’s moved to murder. I think it’s even a stretch that it’s clear Roosevelt didn’t want to sell the rights for motion pictures even for the first three books, because he knew if they took off, the writing was on the wall, and it’d have an effect on his life he wouldn’t want, so Lincoln killed him and his wife because he was ticked about that. I think families have these differences and disputes. I think they also get over them or figure out a compromise. But in both instances, if you’re pissed at your brother, you kill your brother. You don’t also kill your wife.”

“Nadia’s friend in Chicago read through some of this stuff, and the Whitaker parents say that last part was getting heated,” Riggs remarked.

“That’s what they say. And yes, it was under oath. But Roosevelt communicated copiously with his parents, at their instigation, because again, he was the favorite. A lot of it was through email, and they have a good deal of evidence to present about the majority of their claims, but nothing to back that particular assertion up. They swore to that testimony, but I think they’re lying or reading things in a way that would skew the estate in their favor.”

“So Roosevelt and Lincoln both shared Sarah from the beginning, and there’s no beef about the books, which means Lincoln has no reason to kill them,” Riggs broke it down.

Cade nodded. “Exactly.”

“So who killed them?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Cade said. “And the answer to that question lies at the end of a variety of thorny paths. Starting with her parents, who are intensely, religiously conservative. If they were aware of this situation, and from what I can tell by the unnecessarily vitriolic way they refer to the brothers, it’s a good bet they were, they could have motive. It’s thin, but it could be the sister, because the Whitaker men weren’t only rich and talented and both known to be good, dependable men, they were good-looking and fit, and it might be a sibling rivalry gig. It could be some unknown, but that wouldn’t explain why Lincoln took the fall for them.”

He drew in a breath and finished his litany of suspects.

“It could also be one of the kids, for two reasons. One, if they’re aware of this situation and aren’t the only ones who were, and they got teased or bullied about it in school. Though it’s important to note, it’s never been brought to light in thousands of pages of reports, motions and filings, it’s my theory. Or more likely, two, because not all of them are of Lincoln’s seed.”

“Holy shit!” I cried.

“Oh yeah,” Delphine repeated.

“What’s your take on that?” Riggs queried.

“If I was forced to provide a report on this, I’d land on the fact that the oldest son is Roosevelt’s, the younger two are Lincoln’s, those kids knew that, and the younger two felt some sense of vulnerability or misguided loyalty, because Roosevelt was the breadwinner, and even that Sarah preferred him to Lincoln.”

“Did Sarah prefer Roosevelt?” Delphine asked, showing that Cade hadn’t told her that part.

He looked to her. “My theory has not even been hinted at in a foot-high stack of papers, but from reading between the lines, it seems this is the case. Both younger kids state as often as they were given the opportunity that their mom hung out ‘all the time’ with their uncle, thus underlining Lincoln’s supposed actions. That said, even the older boy doesn’t dispute this, but instead, corroborates it.”

“That could be a motive for murder,” Riggs commented.

“Yeah, it can,” Cade agreed. “What supports Lincoln doing it is his wife’s supposed preference, and the manner in which your house is situated, or if I’m dead wrong, and they were simply cheating. It could be, though, that he was just giving them privacy, because if his house is like that, the cabin is too. It could have been an agreement. The brothers give each other privacy in their living spaces with Sarah. Where I’m stuck is on the overkill of the fire, specifically the wetting down of the area around it. Something, although there wasn’t much to go on in Dern’s file, but even so, it seemed skewed.”

“Skewed?” I asked.

“From the photos, there was evidence of water everywhere, but specifically, between the stables and the cabin,” Cade told me. “That was drenched. Like he really didn’t want the cabin to catch fire. And that was Roosevelt’s place, so if Lincoln killed Roosevelt in a moment of jealous rage, that doesn’t make any sense.”

It really didn’t.

“But overall,” Cade kept at it, “there simply was no reason for the overkill of the fire. There are many incidences of people behaving in all manners when they’re in a heightened emotional state, and these states can last a long time, in extreme cases, even days. But if you’re in a heightened emotional state, you might set a barn ablaze for indiscriminate reasons. You don’t guard against a fire spreading. That takes thought, consideration, an understanding of and follow-through to avoid consequences.”

Cade shook his head and carried on.

“From what I read about him, Lincoln had not once in his life acted in what could be considered a blatantly irrational manner. All three of his kids testify they loved him deeply. He was reportedly good-natured and social. He had a lot of friends. He was thought of highly. He was the face of the duo, would go on book tours and speak to thousands of people and sign thousands of books. Yes, I could see him flipping his shit if he caught his wife with his twin brother. And yes, I could see when he came back to himself he’d be filled with remorse and turn himself in. But the fire? That’s sketchy.”

“Okay, so if it’s Lincoln’s kids, they were in Seattle and not old enough to make their way to MP on their own,” I pointed out.

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