“So who else would have a motive to kill Nadine and Al?” Wade asked. “Assuming they were killed, of course,” he clarified hastily.
“Jane Jennings,” Lucas muttered, reluctantly going along. “Not that I believe she did.”
“Low probability. But a definite motive,” Blake agreed. “Who else?”
“Nadine could have killed Al and split,” Lucas said, remembering some of the improbable scenarios he had thrown at Rachel. “Again—not probable without help.”
“Or Al could have killed Nadine,” Wade suggested.
Lucas huffed impatiently. “Or no one was ever killed, at all—the likeliest probability. Al and Nadine ran off to play house somewhere and Roger walked off the path and into a free fall.”
“No one has heard from Al or Nadine since they left town?” Blake asked.
Lucas shook his head. “Not as far as I know.”
“Nadine had no family?”
“She was estranged from the few relatives she had, long before she disappeared. It’s unlikely she’s ever contacted any of them since.”
“And Al?”
“Rachel told me no one’s heard from him. He had no family left, either...except for his brother.”
“Sam Jennings,” Wade supplied. “He’s a local dentist. Hates McBrides enough to accuse Emily of embezzlement a few months back. Turned out it was one of his own employees. But he really seemed to want it to be Emily.”
Blake looked quickly at Lucas. “Why does he hate McBrides?”
Lucas shrugged. “The guy’s crazy. Always has been.”
“But why?” Blake insisted.
Lucas wondered if he could make Blake understand the old-fashioned, long-standing Southern feud. “My great-grandfather and Sam’s grandfather hated each other. I never knew what started it, but they spent their entire lives fighting and competing. They raised their sons to carry on the tradition, so that Sam’s father and my grandfather were lifelong enemies. So there’s been a long history of animosity. It didn’t help that Sam was briefly engaged to Nadine Peck before she dumped him to marry my father.”
Blake lifted an eyebrow. “Sounds like a plot from a Southern soap opera.”
Lucas didn’t smile. “Tell me about it.”
“So Nadine dumped Sam, married your father, then ran off with Sam’s brother.”
“Yeah.”
“Sam must have really hated Nadine after that.”
“I suppose. Even though Nadine was only a McBride by marriage, it all just added fuel to the feud in his bitter mind.”
“Sam has never married?”
“Twice,” Wade supplied. “Twice divorced. No kids.”
“How do you think he reacted when he found out Nadine was having an affair with his brother?”
“From what I’ve heard, no one knew about Al and Nadine until they disappeared together,” Lucas answered.
“And no one knew about you and Rachel,” Blake reminded him. “But Roger found out, anyway.”
Lucas rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about the implications of Blake’s words. Sam’s was the first name that actually made some sense to Lucas. He had a motive—if jealousy and bruised ego could be seen as grounds for murder—and was much more likely to have lost his temper and, turned violent than the others on the short list.
He thought of his conversation with Rachel the night before. He hoped she’d paid attention when he’d suggested she stay away from her uncle. Or was Blake only making him paranoid?