Page 66 of Where Secrets Lie

“Um, I’m not sure Mimi will talk to you. She’s lost a lot the past few weeks, and she... well, she’s processing some anger. More than some, to be honest. Michael too. They were both really proud of Jess, and they loved her very much.” Noracleared her throat. “They were hoping Jess would bring Simon to meet them, but she must not have gotten a chance.”

Savannah knew Jess had slipped off sometimes while they were growing up to meet with her Willard relatives, but she never realized they were close. “Why am I learning all this about Jess now that she’s dead? It’s like Jess had a whole other life I knew nothing about. I—I can’t wrap my head around all of it.” She took a step back. She wasn’t going to pull Simon into this, but she knew what she needed to do. “If Helen and Michael loved Jess that much, the least I can do is say hello.”

“I’ll come with you. I’d like to introduce you to my niece, Tammy.”

Savannah nodded and pinned on a neutral expression as they approached the Willards, who had wandered into the adjoining room to watch the digital pictures on the screen. When she entered with Nora, Helen’s expression soured. She spoke to Michael, whose face hardened. The younger woman, Tammy, rose from the seat where she’d been watching the picture presentation.

Nora spoke first. “Mimi, I’m sure you know Savannah, Jess’s sister.”

The reminder of the relationship didn’t soften the older woman’s hard brown eyes. “I notice you didn’t have any pictures of Jess with her true family. Typical of the Legare arrogance.”

The attack dried up Savannah’s welcome, and she struggled to think of something to say to disarm the woman’s hostility. She couldn’t engage in an argument here in the funeral home. It would be too disrespectful of her sister. “I didn’t find any pictures or I would have included them, Mrs. Willard. I’m sorry.”

“You could have picked up the phone and called me,” Michael put in. “She was my daughter, Savannah, not just your sister. She was a granddaughter, an aunt, a cousin. She had more relatives on our side than on yours, and she loved being with us.” He fumbled out a picture from his shirt pocket and thrust it at her.

Her hand trembled as she took it. Surrounded by a dozen other people, Jess’s smiling face turned toward the camera with a joyous expression Savannah hadn’t seen in years. She stood next to Little Joe, whose shoulder didn’t yet have that ugly Punisher tattoo. Savannah handed it back. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“And I’d like to meet mygrandson.”

“We’ll arrange that later, Michael, but not today. He’s already reeling.” And so was she. She turned and fled from their accusing stares. The bathroom could be her only haven now. She couldn’t talk to Hez right now either, not when he’d kept important information from her. She locked the bathroom door behind her and buried her face in her hands.

Chapter 36

Hez took a deep breath and clicked Submit. The brief he just e-filed could decide the university’s fate. He’d done his best, but would it be good enough?

He pulled up the brief and read it for the dozenth time—and of course he found a typo he’d somehow missed despite three rounds of proofreading. He sighed and closed his laptop.

Cody scratched at the door and yipped. Hez had shut his dog out of his home office—now doubling as Simon’s bedroom—two hours ago because Cody insisted on being a lapdog while Hez was trying to focus on the brief during the precious hours while Simon was in school. “Okay, okay.” Hez got up and walked to the door. “You’ve been patient—or as patient as you get anyway.”

He opened the door and Cody started bouncing on his improbably springy little legs, crooked tail whipping the air. He settled down as Hez bent over and scratched those oversized ears. “Hey, goblin! Miss me? Where’d you get those Great Dane ears, huh? Steal them from an elephant? And what about the tail—did you find that in a landfill? I don’t even want to know where the brain came from.”

Cody grinned and rolled over to present his belly for a rub.

Hez complied. “You’re weird, but you’re the best dog in the world. Don’t tell Marley I said that.”

Cody looked to his left and scrambled to his feet. Hez turned the same way and saw Savannah and Marley emerging from the main bedroom. Neither of them looked happy.

Hez straightened. “Hi, babe. What’s up?”

“Are you still working on the brief? I don’t want to distract you if you need to focus on it.”

“I just filed it. Why?”

“Nora told me there’s proof Jess was involved in the smuggling. Did you know about that?”

He thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah. Hope told me about that a couple of days ago. There were forged provenance documents on Jess’s computer and history department letterhead in her printer.”

Storm clouds gathered in Savannah’s eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why did the Willards’ lawyers find out about this before me?”

He was a little confused. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. We already knew about Jess, right?”

Anger lines formed around her mouth. “I didn’t know about this! I was devastated when I found out—especially since I was at her funeral.”

“I’m sorry, but I figured you could fill in the blanks too—especially after her other betrayals.”

Color crept into Savannah’s cheeks and her voice shook a little as she spoke, but he could tell she was making an effort to control herself. “I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I don’t always assume the worst about her.”

He bristled at the accusation in her tone. Did she really thinkhe should have given Jess the benefit of the doubt too? Her blind spot where her sister was concerned had landed them in this mess. “And we know how that turned out, don’t we?” His words came out harsher than he intended.

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