Free Dead Right by Brenda Novak Page B

door closed behind them.
    “What can I do for you?” Madeline forced a polite smile but hadn’t felt quite so uncomfortable in ages. She and her aunt had never been close. Madeline remembered her real mother saying that Elaine was a difficult person to get to know—probably the worst comment her mother ever made about anyone. Madeline suspected the real truth was that Elaine hadn’t liked Eliza any more than she liked Irene and Eliza knew it. Madeline’s mother had been too humble and sweet, too accepting of everyone, to appeal to a “keep up or get lost” personality like Elaine’s.
    Madeline recal ed overhearing a conversation between her father and Elaine, in which Elaine had cal ed Eliza
    “pathetic” and demanded she be put in an institution where she could get professional help for her chronic depression.
    Remembering her aunt’s unsympathetic attitude, Madeline figured it was little wonder she’d chosen to stay with Irene after her father went missing. She didn’t real y know her maternal grandparents, who’d moved twice in the past year and now lived in Oklahoma. Her paternal grandparents were dead, and Irene had given her more love in the three years she’d been part of Madeline’s life at that point than her aunt ever had. Even in the dark days after Eliza’s death, Elaine hadn’t reached out to the ten-year-old girl her sister-in-law had left behind.
    So why was Elaine here now?
    “Chief Pontiff came by the house last night,” her aunt said.
    “Did he have any news?” Madeline asked eagerly. She believed Toby would’ve contacted her, but she couldn’t imagine any other reason for her aunt’s visit.

    “No, not yet. He told me you’ve hired a private detective.”
    She folded her arms across her broad, solid body. The white streaks of hair at her temples contrasted sharply with the black of the rest, and the way she’d combed it back off her face reminded Madeline of Ursula, the Sea Witch in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. “Is that true?”
    Where was she going with this? “Yes. I’ve found someone who’s supposed to be exceptional y good. Why?”
    “That’s my question to you,” she said. “ Why? Why bother? Chief Pontiff’s looking into it again. Isn’t that enough?”
    “Police involvement hasn’t been enough in the past,”
    Madeline pointed out. “I know Toby’s not happy about me bringing in an outsider. He told me as much. But as objective as he’s trying to be, he’l most likely go down the same road as everyone else.” He’d already refused to let Al ie search the car, hadn’t he? But Madeline didn’t mention that because her aunt was probably behind it. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the black hairs he removed from the driver’s side of the Cadil ac.”
    “Is that why you’re hiring a P.I.?” Elaine asked. “Because of the Montgomerys?”
    “That’s part of the reason.”

    “I don’t think this wil help. Al the circumstantial evidence points at them. Any investigator worth his salt would see that.” She lowered her voice. “And maybe next time Clay won’t get off.”
    Was she warning Madeline? For Clay’s sake? That didn’t make sense. For years, Elaine and her family had been dying to see the Montgomerys in jail, especial y Clay.
    “At the very least, an investigator from somewhere else should have a more open mind,” Madeline said.
    “It doesn’t matter how open his mind is, the proof is the proof.”
    Madeline transferred her purse to her other shoulder.
    “There is no proof. Not so far. You said yourself that it’s al circumstantial.”
    Her aunt began to toy with the perpetual-motion skier on Madeline’s desk. It was a Christmas gift Kirk had used to invite Madeline skiing. But he’d been angry when she wouldn’t leave Stil water to take the seven-day trip. Instead of heading off together, they’d broken up.
    Ironical y, had they gone, she would’ve been out of town when the rescue workers found her father’s car. Which was