“I guess my mother knew it was her brother who took it.”
“She did. And she searched his room until she found it. He told us that. Said she ‘stole’ it from him, said it was his.”
“Let me guess. She gave it away so she lost possession of it, so when he took it back, it was his.”
“Clever girl.” He kissed her forehead. “The conjecture is that Leelee was so afraid of Kenneth’s revenge, of his rage, that she ran. Disappeared. She left home with just one suitcase and got on a bus.”
“And stopped in Lake Kissel, Virginia.”
“And met your father and that was it.”
Terri took a while to let this sink in. “Her brother came after her.”
“There was a photo of the ground-breaking ceremony of the planned community and Leelee was in it. The article was picked up by some major newspapers as a feel-good piece and Kenneth saw it.”
Nate swiped Terri’s hair from her forehead and kissed it. “I haven’t heard all the facts. Kenneth is with Rowan now and being interrogated, but I know Kenneth showed up here and went to see his sister.”
“And me.”
“Yes. Two-year-old you. The bowl was on the coffee table and...” Nate put both arms around Terri. “They fought and he hit her with the bowl. It didn’t...” Nate took a breath. “It didn’t kill her, just knocked her unconscious. But I guess he knew that when she woke up, she’d turn him in to the police.”
“He tied her up and gagged her,” Terri whispered.
“He’s a big guy and he carried her to her car and dumped her in the trunk. I don’t think he knew what to do next. He hadn’t really planned it. Anyway, it was storming outside and he drove to the big pier. We think he meant to drive off but the old posts cracked. Maybe that gave him an idea.”
“So he stole the underwater chain saw.”
“Right. Your dad’s office was close by and it was empty.”
“Everyone was out taking care of the storm.”
“They were. Kenneth stole the saw and the handcuffs and some duct tape, then went back to the car. He opened the trunk and saw that Summer Hill was beginning to wake up. The rain was coming down hard then. He handcuffed her, taped her ankles and—”
“I know,” Terri said. The tears were beginning to come. “She struggled while he went underwater and cut the posts.”
Nate held her tightly.
She pushed away from him. “He came back and bought a cabin here! He was here every year. He was watching and listening.”
“Yes,” Nate said. “He was. We think he was trying to find the bowl.”
“Dad was so angry that he got rid of all Mom’s things. But Aunt Aggie hid the bowl.” She looked at Nate. “Was he that greedy? He wanted to sell it? He needed money? After all these years, it wasn’t like it was evidence.”
“But it was,” Nate said. “That’s what I found out from the museum curator. The bowl is two parts. The top with the dragon screws off. When Kenneth hit Leelee, he used only the upper half of the bowl. And remember your grandmother said he was tidy? Seems that after he hit her, he screwed the two halves back together.”
“Are you saying...?” Her eyes opened wide.
“Inside the bowl are fingerprints and hair and...” He shrugged. “Other stuff. It contains evidence of what he did to your mother.”
Terri flopped back against the bed.
For a while, they sat together, holding each other.
Nate spoke first. “Do you realize that it’s over?”
“Over? I think it has just begun. There will be a trial. My grandmother said—” She looked up at him. “I have a grandmother.”
“Yes you do and she’s a very nice lady. When her son left her house so abruptly, suitcase in hand, she knew something had happened. She searched his computer and found the news about the car being brought up.”