Free Evil Season by Michael Benson Page A

after he married Becky.
    Patty said her mom had a couple of boyfriends back in Columbus, but she didn’t think she’d had any contact with them since she moved to Florida.
    She explained that the Wishart children had been born in two sets of two. Kirsten and Scott were older, born close together; then she and Jamie came later, also practically back-to-back. Glover asked why the older siblings were estranged from their mother, and Patty, not eager to discuss familial woes, said she wasn’t certain.
    Police interviewed Jamie Wishart next. He was born November 3, 1973, and gave his address as the same as his sister Patty’s. He had also been to visit his mother recently, staying in her spare bedroom from December 17, 2003, until January 7, 2004. He visited his mom immediately after returning from Italy.
    Jamie said his mom and dad were divorced when he was only eight or nine and he hadn’t spoken to his dad in fifteen years. According to Jamie, his mom didn’t talk to his oldest two siblings because they had insisted on maintaining contact with their dad, which his mom took as a personal betrayal. He remembered how violent his mom and dad’s marriage had been, that mom had once been hospitalized because of the abuse she suffered. Jamie was of the opinion that on that occasion his father would have killed his mother if his older brother, Scott, had not intervened.
    Where was Dad? Ohio. Mom had Jamie hire a private detective to find him. Jamie said that was for Social Security purposes. She wanted to claim wages that Robert earned during the time they were married to bolster her Social Security income and retirement.
    When the interviews of the victim’s children were complete, Patty and Jamie accompanied Detective Glover to their mother’s home. Glover asked them to walk through the house with him and see if anything looked out of the ordinary.
    Patty said “someone must have entered” the home since she was there last. A framed photograph of her mother had been placed in the den. That was new. The photo showed Joyce Wishart standing with a guy in a chicken costume. Numerous documents, not there before, were now resting on the couch in the den. Nothing else was touched. The matter was investigated briefly. The items were probably moved during a previous police search. Glover came to the quick conclusion that whatever had happened, it had nothing to do with the murder.
    Patty told Glover that her mom was having business trouble. According to the daughter, the Provenance’s financial health was even worse than Joyce had admitted to her friends. The gallery wasn’t making money. The lease was up in June. She planned to sell or just close up. She’d already submitted three job applications at local businesses.
    â€œDid your mother carry large sums of cash on her person?” Glover asked.
    â€œNo,” Patty replied. “Fifty, sixty dollars. Rare she would have more.”
    â€œDid she wear jewelry?”
    â€œNothing fancy.”
    When music played at the Provenance, it was usually classical. Her mom liked that vibe for the gallery.
    â€œYour mother carry any life insurance?” Glover asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” Patty replied.
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    Jamie Wishart supplied the name of the investigator who’d found his dad. The guy was a friend of his from back in Ohio, named David Hayes. Sergeant Philip DeNiro gave Hayes a call.
    The private eye told DeNiro he and Jamie Wishart were old friends. Back in the day they’d even dated the same girl. Hayes said that during the summer of 2003, Jamie had wanted him to find his deadbeat dad, who owed child support.
    Joyce’s kids had made it clear that the investigation had nothing to do with child support; it merely had to do with Social Security, but DeNiro let it slide.
    Hayes did find Robert Wishart, and he gave the son an address and phone number in Dayton. Hayes never made physical contact with the