Page 23 of Deadly Sins: Gluttony
My attention shifted, and I opened a new tab, typed in Hazel’s name, and started digging.It didn’t take long before the trail curved back to Maisy again.An old announcement buried in a local newspaper archive caught my eye; Maisy Goodwin had left Hollow Pines not only to attend college.She also carried something more than ambition with her.
She was pregnant.
But who was the father?
15
The drive out to Hazel’s grandmother’s house took me down a long, narrow road that seemed to stretch past the edge of Hollow Pines and into another lifetime.The house itself sat back from the road, paint worn, shutters sagging.I parked at the edge of the gravel drive and sat a moment before getting out of the car.I knew what I needed to do, and yet, I didn’t want to do it.This young girl, with so much life ahead of her, was about to see it all come to a screeching halt.
I knocked, and Hazel answered the door, her face pale, eyes watery.She didn’t ask me what I wanted, nor did she feign surprise.She just stepped aside without uttering a word and let me in.
The living room smelled of lavender when I walked in, though it couldn’t mask the dust and old wood beneath it.Hazel took a seat on the edge of the sofa, wringing her hands together, while I remained standing, studying her.
“You were at the bakery the night Gideon died,” I said.
No accusation, not yet—just throwing out a fact.
“I think you know more about what happened to Gideon than you’ve let on,” I added.
Her lips trembled.For a long moment, I thought she might deny it, but then her shoulders caved, and she buried her face in her hands.
“You never saw a man pacing back and forth in front of the bakery the day Gideon died, did you?”I asked.“I think you made him up, so I’d focus on someone other than you.”
“I … I … I don’t know what to?—”
“I know who you are, Hazel,” I said.“Your mother was Maisy Goodwin.She left Hollow Pines after Vince Slater died, and I believe she was already pregnant with you at the time.What I don’t know is why you came back here, though I assume it had something to do with Gideon.”
I went quiet, giving her the time she needed to respond, and for a couple of minutes, neither of us spoke.Then …
“I did it,” she whispered, her voice cracking.“I killed him.”
The words hung in the air, heavy and undeniable.
For once in all my years as a private investigator, I wanted the murderer to be anyone else—anyone but her.
Tears streaked down her face as she lifted her head.“My mother told me the truth before she died.She said she’d been on that boat with Vince the day he drowned.Only he didn’t drown.She saw everything.Gideon killed him.And Vince, Vince was my father, and I … I …”
“It’s all right.Take your time.”
“She was telling me the story when she … when she …”
Died.
It was possible Maisy died without getting the chance to finish the story.
“All I could think about after my mother died was that Gideon took away my father,” Hazel said.“He stole him from me before I ever had the chance to know him.So, yeah, I was angry.I came here, and I got a job at the bakery, hoping to learn where to find him.And then it seemed like fate stepped in.He came back on his own to close the shop.I thought it was my chance—my only chance.So, I took it.”
Her voice broke on the last word.
She folded in on herself, rocking, whispering, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”
A sound came from the kitchen doorway.Hazel’s grandmother, frail but sharp-eyed, had been listening.She stepped into the room, leaning on the frame for support.
“I’m sorry to say you don’t know the whole truth, child,” she said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands.“Gideon did kill Vince.But it wasn’t out of malice.It was because he found out what Vince had done to your mother.If your mother had started telling you the story, she must have decided it was time you knew.”
Hazel looked up, shocked by her grandmother’s words.“Knewwhat?”
“Vince forced himself on your mother back then,” her grandmother continued.“And Gideon … he snapped when he realized what Vince had done.He knew they’d be at the lake that day.He watched and waited for the right moment, and then he swam over to him and held him under.It wasn’t right, but he thought it was justice.And your mother … she carried that burden her whole life.”
