“The DA’s gonna say I saw her first and decided for both of us.”
“The DA doesn’t know about this sighting on the boardwalk.”
“I mean in general. They’ll say I saw her out there. Targeted her. Hell, they can ask the jury to speculate, to an extent. They’ll imply that I found out she was back in New York. They’ll say that maybe she did try to talk to me. And then I snapped.”
“Even if that was true, how does it explain what happened to Holly Rossi?”
“Mimi will want them to believe my cork popped. Decades of pent-up anger, hatred, whatever. Once I crossed the line, it was easier for me to start settling other scores.”
“That’s a lot of conjecture.”
“It goes down easier with DNA evidence,” he said. “It’s how I’d sell the case, anyway.”
“You’re not selling it,” she said. She was heating up again, sensitivity be damned. “We’re getting somewhere, so stay with me. Lois isn’t the mystery she was a few weeks ago. We’ve got her whole criminal history. Hogan’s team also tracked Lois, right down to a string of bus tickets a few months ago. She got here mid-May, just when it was getting warm. Also remember that Hogan was working for Hathorne when he picked up her trail. That means Hathorne knew that Lois was here.”
Joe seemed to react to this, his eyes darting quickly back and forth. That was good; she needed him operating on her level of effort, not bogging down with frustration and anguish. “You know,” he said, speaking slowly, “it’s possible he put her in my way.” His face darkened, and he shifted his eyes to her.
“How do you mean?”
“I don’t know much at all about who Lois was before she died, but I know Aaron Hathorne. When he’s on his game, he can charm anyone. He can make them believe almost anything.”
“Okay, so . . .”
“So what if Hathorne did reach out to her? If you found her at that church, maybe he did too. Maybe he reached out, presented himself as someone who cared. He has the skill, believe me. Except that could just mean . . .” He trailed off again.
“I do believe you,” she said. “Except that could just mean what?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then looked up at her. “It could mean he led her to me. Maybe that was his goal, to sort of . . . put her in front of me right when . . .”
“Right when what?”
“The anniversary was coming up.” His gaze was still on her. “I’d been thinking about it. I’d been fucked up about it for weeks. He probably knew that, or he assumed it. It’s the kind of thing Hathorne would do. He’d find her, reach out to her, ingratiate himself to her. A stranger with a long-lost message of hope. He could have lured her back here and dangled her in front of me somehow.”
She scrunched up her nose in confusion. “So what are you saying? Hathorne lured your mother to your environment, just hoping you’d snap and kill her?”
“What I’m saying is, I didn’t know who I was until very recently. I’ve learned more in here than I thought possible.”
“Ugh.” She sighed. She was losing him again. “Joe, you’re dry for a change. That’s what’s bringing this on. There are alcoholics in my family; I know the progression.”
“Maybe. Look, I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so. I’m as hopeless as this case is. I don’t even know if I want to beat it.”
She would not let this go unchallenged. “Yes, you do, and maybe you still can.” They were quiet for a long moment. Joe seemed far away, doubt and hopelessness in his eyes.
“There’s still an Occam’s razor thing going on here, you know,” he said. “We can come up with all kinds of elaborate theories, but at the end of the day, I’ve got no alibi and my blood at two scenes.”
“You know, if I have to convince you that you didn’t do it, maybe that’ll be perfect practice for the jury.”
“Jury.” The word in his mouth sounded like it was weighing him down. “Where are we with that, anyway? Even with me in here, Mimi Bromowitz won’t wait forever to indict.”
“This Thursday will be two weeks since I asked her to hold off,” Aideen said. “Friday starts Labor Day weekend, so it won’t be this week, but after the holiday I’ll probably hear something. You’re right; she won’t wait much longer.”
“Go get ready for the weekend. Have some fun with the kids, and forget this for a few days.”