Page 59 of Five for Silver

“James said Harriet told him—”

“James is delusional over Harriet. What hesays happened, and whatactuallyhappened are two wildlydifferent things. He’s a fantasist, and he projected this … lovestory onto my sister. Harriet went with my dad to the policestation and reported him. They were trying to file an injunction tokeep him away, and when my sister was first reported missing, Jameswas the top suspect. They even arrested him, but he was released aday later.”

“You’re not suggesting…”

“James killed my sister. Trust me, up untilVincent admitted to killing her, I thought it was James. I thoughtthe police had covered it up from some fucked-up loyalty. They’dprotected him, even knowing he was a sexual predator, theyprotected him. Was it such a giant leap to believe they’d alsoprotect him after he’d lost all control and murdered mysister?”

“The tattoo. A dolphin?”

Lucy nodded. “She showed it to me. It was aninch big, the black outline of a dolphin.”

“How long had she had it before she wentmissing?”

“At least four months.”

“Did anyone else see it?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “Why areyou asking about the tattoo? It isn’t relevant, just some sillything she got done.”

Chad shrugged. “I was curious, that’sall.”

****

“That’s one hell of a frown.” Romeoremarked, lifting his eyebrow.

Chad shot him a look, then continued to flipthrough a folder from Harriet’s file. “We’ve got a problem withyour theory.”

“Which explains why you went straight to theouthouse without saying hello to me or Mercutio.”

Chad paused. He hugged the folder to hischest and crossed the room in three quick strides to press a kissto Romeo’s mouth. “Sorry.”

“You’re forgiven,” Romeo said while Chadreached down to pat Merc’s head. “What’s the problem?”

“Well,” Chad continued to flip through pagesas he spoke, “out of nowhere Vincent has produced somedetails.”

“That are public?”

“No.”

Chad stopped on the page he’d been searchingfor, whipping his gaze back and forth before eyeing the nakedpencil drawing of a woman and the labels that pointed at herabdomen. “Damn it.”

“Chad, what details?”

“Harriet fell off her bike and landed on acurb when she was fourteen. She broke five ribs on her left side,and one had to be removed. She had a scar,” Chad pointed Romeotowards the drawing and the referenced area. “This isn’t commonknowledge and Vincentknew.”

“Missing rib…”

“That’s not all. Vincent told us Harriet hada tattoo of a dolphin on her left ankle. He said it looked cheap.”Chad flicked the page. “These were made for each of the missinggirls to help identify whatever body parts that were found. Atattoo would be documented, but it’s not here, it’s not herebecause very few people knew about it.”

“Then how do you know Vincent wasn’tlying?”

“Lucy confirmed Harriet had a tattoo of ablack dolphin on her ankle. How the hell does Vincent know aboutthat when not even Harriet’s parents knew?”

Romeo wandered away rubbing his chin.

“Maybe … it was him, Romeo. Maybe all thistime he’s been holding onto the details for this moment.”

“No.” Romeo said firmly.

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