Free Under the Dog Star: A Rachel Goddard Mystery #4 (Rachel Goddard Mysteries) by Sandra Parshall Page B

have guessed that quiet little Beth Hall was capable of that much passion and rage. Her relationship with Pete was starting to make sense.
    “Tom,” Vicky said, pulling his attention back to her, “do you think the Rasey boy had something to do with Gordon’s death?”
    “I don’t have any evidence against anybody at this point.” Tom sat in an armchair facing her across the coffee table. Soo Jin sat beside Vicky and rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m looking into the people who had disputes with your husband, just what I told you I was going to do.”
    “That business with the Rasey boy was so long ago,” Vicky said. “It’s been months, and Beth hasn’t seen him since then.”
    Soo Jin snorted. Vicky and Tom both looked at her. “You don’t think that’s true?” Tom asked.
    Soo Jin leaned forward to speak quietly. “They never broke up. They’re still seeing each other, and obviously they’re still talking.”
    “Why didn’t you tell us?” Vicky said.
    “How do you know what’s going on?” Tom asked Soo Jin. “You’ve been away at school.”
    “I do come home for visits,” Soo Jin replied, lifting her chin as if defying him to contradict her. “And I hear Beth on the phone with him, making plans to sneak out—”
    “Shut your mouth, you bitch!” Beth yelled from the foyer. She scrambled to her feet and charged toward the living room.
    Tom leapt up and caught her as she came through the doorway. “Whoa, whoa.” He gripped her shoulders. “Settle down.”
    “Get your hands off me! You don’t have any right to touch me.” Beth twisted her shoulders and Tom released her. Instead of going after Soo Jin, she subsided into tears, gasping out her words. “You can’t believe all those lies. Everybody’s trying to come between us.”
    “Will you talk to me about it?” Tom asked. “Give me your side of the story?”
    Beth raised her head and threw a defiant look at her mother and older sister. “Yeah, I’ll tell you the truth. Then you’ll see how stupid it is to blame Pete for anything.”
    “Vicky? Is it okay with you if I talk to Beth privately?”
    She waved a hand as if she barely had the strength to lift it. “Use the family room.”
    Tom followed Beth down the corridor. They entered a room dominated by a wall-mounted HDTV that looked about six feet wide. On the other walls hung dozens of framed photos of all the Hall kids at various ages. Tom took an upholstered chair and Beth collapsed onto the brown leather couch, sniffling. He handed her his handkerchief. “You must still be in shock after finding your father that way.”
    Her head bowed, Beth answered in a shaky whisper, “It was horrible. The way he looked, lying there with—” Her hand went to her throat. Fresh tears filled her eyes. “Poor Daddy.”
    “Your father was murdered, Beth, and I have to do my job and investigate everybody who had a grievance against him. From what I hear, he didn’t approve of you dating Pete Rasey, and they argued about it.”
    “Pete didn’t do anything to my dad! He wouldn’t .”
    “Okay, I get that. But I need to know exactly what happened between them.”
    Slumped on the sofa, Beth stared toward the window as she thought. From somewhere outside, Tom heard the faint, raspy whistle of a white-throated sparrow, a harbinger of winter.
    “Mom and Dad never gave Pete a chance,” Beth said at last. “All they’ve ever done is criticize him. They don’t like his father or the place his family lives in or him being a football player. Dad thinks athletes are stupid, so Pete must be stupid to spend his time throwing a ball around.”
    “How long have you and Pete been dating?”
    “We don’t date. He can’t come here and pick me up and take me somewhere for a date. We’ve always had to sneak around.”
    “All right, how long have you been involved with him?”
    “Why do you want to know? Are you going to ask me whether we have sex? You want all the details?”
    This girl