Page 19 of Dirty Looks

“You said Evie was at your in-laws’?” Martinez prompted. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

Jenny bit her lip hard, trying to get herself under control. “Umm…around four or five o’clock yesterday. I called Kitty and told her I was knee deep in vomit and she told me Evie had been feeling much better and was going stir crazy. She was going to have Molly make homemade chicken soup for dinner, and she told me she was happy to keep her another day or two until the other girls got better. Things got pretty crazy here after that so I didn’t check in again. I should have checked in.”

“You did what you had to do and focused on the other girls,” I reassured her. “You’re a good mom.”

“Molly?” Martinez asked.

“Molly Ryan. She’s their chef,” Jenny said. “She’s been with them more than forty years. I think she worked for Kitty’s parents before that. Most of their staff has been there a long time. Kitty is very sweet. They love her.”

The meal and timing lined up with what I’d found in the victim’s stomach during the autopsy. Which meant Kitty Lidle was probably the last person to see Evie alive. I looked at Martinez and he must have had the same thought because he stood and took out his phone and then walked out into the foyer.

His voice was muffled but I could hear him call for units to respond to Kitty Lidle’s home, and for medics to stand by. If Evie Lidle had been kidnapped out of one of the wealthiest people in the state’s high-security mansion, then it was very possible we might have more bodies on our hands.

“Tell me about your girls,” I said to Jenny, just to keep her mind occupied. “I saw the portrait out in the foyer.”

“Things can change a lot in two years,” she said, sadly. “We always had problems with my oldest daughter, Emma. Rebellion. From about the time she was Evie’s age until she left home. Drugs, sex, alcohol, you name it. We tried to get her into rehab and she’d just lash out at us. We didn’t know what to do, and I know it scared the younger girls. She graduated from high school last year and left home. She was only seventeen. We haven’t been in contact with her. We don’t even know where she is. Everett thinks his father is sending her money.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said as Martinez came back in and sat down.

“Evie was like our redemption child,” she said. “Such a good girl. Never got into trouble and always taking care of her little sisters like she was their mother. I had two miscarriages between Emma and Evie, so we had a bit of a gap. And then after Evie came we never had a problem conceiving again. Elise came a year after Evie, and Eloise a year after Elise. We thought we weredone and then I found out I was pregnant with Estelle. She’s in kindergarten.”

She looked at me intently, desperation in her eyes. “Does it make me a bad mother that I don’t want to know what happened to Evie?” she asked, fresh tears coursing down her cheeks. “If I don’t hear what happened, I won’t be able to imagine it in my head when I close my eyes. Does that make me a coward?”

“No,” Martinez said. “It makes you a mother.”

“Did she…” Jenny paused on a watery breath. “Did she suffer?”

“No,” I lied. Sometimes lying was the kindest thing you could do for a grieving family. They could read the autopsy report, but most didn’t. It made things too real.

“It’s possible that Evie’s murder was a kidnapping gone wrong,” Martinez said. “Especially since she was taken from her grandparents’ home. Has anyone ever threatened your family?”

“Sure,” she said, wrapping her arms tight around her torso. “It comes with the territory, I guess. I didn’t grow up like Everett did with bodyguards and high-security private schools, so that world was a shock to me after we were married. They all talked about death threats and kidnappings as if it were normal.”

“There were threats?” Martinez asked. “Any recent?”

“Not recent,” she said. “When Everett was a child. When his father decided to run for a Senate seat, but that was the only time I’m aware of. Everett has an older brother and younger sister, so they were always surrounded by security. Someone tried to run their driver off the road after he’d picked them up from school, and apparently a guy got the door open and was trying to pull Janet out of the car. She was the youngest and smallest. But it was in a crowded area and several men rushed the kidnappers. They escaped and security was increased. I don’t think they had any more attempts after that.

“Our girls have lived a mostly normal life,” she continued. “Or at least we try to give them that. They go to Dolley Madison School for Girls in DC. The school has good security, but we’ve never had any issues here. Not even after Everett was elected to the county council. Mostly just some strongly worded letters disapproving of his stance on different issues.”

I winced, thinking of Sheldon’s mother.

“Do your in-laws still receive threats?” I asked.

“If they do they don’t mention it,” she said, shrugging. “Kitty no longer runs the family business, though she is still on the board of directors. She retired several years ago and Everett’s older brother, Phin, sees to all the day-to-day operation. Kitty doesn’t really like to leave the house anymore. She’s always been like that. Robert is the social one. He likes the political scene, and he’s heavily involved with lobbyist groups, especially now that my sister-in-law is a congresswoman.”

“That would be Janet Lidle-Downey?”

“Yes,” Jenny answered. “Robert keeps an apartment in the city so he can stay in the middle of things.”

“Do Robert and Kitty have marital problems? Financial problems?” Martinez asked.

Jenny dropped her head down to look at her knees, as if the weight of holding it up was too much to bear. Exhaustion seemed to blanket her. “No, I think they’ve always just coexisted. To hear Everett talk about them, I don’t think they were ever a love match. Kitty’s father acquired Robert’s father’s company. It was more of a business merger with marriage on the side.

“Kitty had a family legacy to uphold, and I think Robert always felt like he needed to live up to it. They never fight or anything. They always seem content to just enjoy what they enjoy and leave the other to do whatever they please. But they’re usually together for family functions.”

“Evie never mentioned anyone bothering her at school or any other activities she’s involved in?” I asked.

“No,” Jenny said. “She’s never had any issues. I don’t understand why anyone would hurt her. She was such a sweet girl. So sweet.” And then Jenny Lidle curled herself into a ball and wept.

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