Page 190 of The Woman By the Lake

And when he kept talking, they’d find that movement was because he felt guilt that they might have construed he’d just talked shit about his mother.

“That isn’t to say Mom was greedy or flighty or all about money,” he stated.

“We weren’t thinking that,” Harry assured.

Tru nodded.

And kept going.

“Linc also managed their website, responded to fan mail. He did all of Dad’s research. Dad liked crafting stories. He wanted to have the time to branch out to a new series. He didn’t want to be bogged down in doing all of that. Linc loved doing it. He also contributed more than anyone said to the books. Dad sucked at dialogue. It drove him crazy because he loved writing, but that never came easy to him. Linc didn’t just do pass-throughs. He did a lot less than the first three books, but Dad counted on him to give them more depth. Bottom line, Linc knocked himself out not only for our family, but so Dad could be free to do the thing he loved to do.”

When he stopped speaking, Harry inquired, “I’m afraid I don’t understand why your sister was aligned with your brother in all the, as you referred to it, infighting. It’s understood you spent a lot of time with your dad. Were all three of you kids not okay with the manner in which your parents formed your family?”

One side of the guy’s lips hitched up and he said, “Kennedy was a mini-Mom. She’s just like her today. She loved our dad. She was just not about fishing and hiking and stuff like that. She was about doing her makeup and getting coffees with her friends and talking about boys and gossiping with Mom.”

His gaze on Harry suddenly intensified.

He then asserted, “We honestly were happy, sheriff. No one knew, but close friends, and when they saw us together, they got it. We loved each other. Linc was more of another dad to Kennedy and me than he was our uncle. We had more than most people do, and that wasn’t about money.”

“Then what happened?” Harry asked.

“Sharon happened,” Tru stated.

That made all the men shift in their seats.

Because here they were.

“Take us through that,” Harry prompted.

“She had a crush on Dad. That caused a disagreement. Not with Mom. Mom got having a crush on Dad, obviously. And she knew Dad was all about her. With Linc. Linc got a bad feeling off Sharon. Called her Annie Wilkes.”

Well, shit.

“Linc wanted Dad to fire her,” Tru continued. “But she was devoted, and Dad could get distracted. You didn’t bother him when he was writing, for one thing. He was all about the book. Wouldn’t shower for weeks, another reason why Mom and Linc were good with being in Seattle and away from him. He needed his space when he wrote. But when he was out of a book, he was all in. He wasn’t really sociable, a complete introvert. But he had good friends. And he was all about his family.”

“And he didn’t let Sharon Swindell go, like Lincoln asked,” Harry noted.

Tru shook his head. “No. And I can’t speak for her. I have no idea why she would do what she did. I thought she was okay. She could be a bit skeevy around Dad if Mom or Linc weren’t around. But most of the time, she was just a normal person. An employee. Mom was nicer to her than Linc or even Dad was. But whatever reason she did it, she did it.”

“What did she do?”

“She instigated a psychological campaign to turn Jeff against his family, one she succeeded in, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, spectacularly.”

Well…

Shit.

“And what came of that?” Harry pressed.

“In the end, she lost it. Why? You’d have to ask her.”

“Lost it?” Harry kept at it.

“Jeff was here, sheriff. In Misted Pines. He was here when it happened. We had a long weekend off at school. I was going to drive Kennedy and her boyfriend to the lake for the weekend, because we had a party to go to in Seattle, but Mom and Jeff came out the day before.”

“No one mentioned that,” Harry noted.

“That would be because Lincoln forbade us to because Jeff shot my mom and dad and set fire to the stables.”

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