“Yes.” She closed her eyes for a moment as if she dreaded sharing this part. “I have a son. Brantley.”
Which begged the next question: “Are you willing to share the father’s name?”
“Elton is his father.”
So why had they only gotten together a few months ago? “Did you tell him you were pregnant when you found out?”
“I didn’t tell anyone for a very long time.” She drew in a deep breath. “I kept a low profile for years. The rumors and social media were too much. Then Brantley and I were in town shopping, and we ran into Elton. This was last fall. Elton recognized himself as a kid. He was angry with me at first, but eventually we worked through it all and fell in love again.” She smiled. “We became a family.”
The perfect Hallmark movie.
“I’m very sad,” Cherry went on, “that this nightmare has resurfaced. I will tell you what I thought then and I believe now: whatever happened to Lance, Cecelia or Sophia was involved. Whatever this Charles Holmes says about that family is probably true. You don’t know them. They’ll never let you see that side. I wouldn’t have known if Lance hadn’t told me.” She shrugged. “And, if I’m being brutally honest, maybe he deserved what he got.”
Surprised at the comment, Finley asked, “Now that you’ve said it, can you elaborate?”
Cherry stared at her for a long, tense moment. “Lance was so careful with his public persona. But behind closed doors he was a control freak, and at times, he was utterly cruel.” She shuddered visibly. “Getting sucked into that relationship was the biggest mistake of my life.”
Interesting that no suggestion of that sort had made its way into the police reports or the news. “Has anyone in the family been in contact with you at any time since the murder?”
“I did all within my power to avoid those women.” She drew in a deep breath. “Frankly, I was terrified of them. In the beginning I couldn’t be sure if my son was Lance’s or not, and I didn’t want to risk one of them deciding to try to hurt him if it turned out he was Lance’s child.”
“You didn’t care that your son might be an heir to the Legard fortune?” Hard to swallow coming from a self-professed former gold digger.
“Believe me, after what I went through, no amount of money was worth diving back into that ugliness. Then last year when Elton and I ran into each other, it was obvious whose child he was. Brantley is his father’s son.” She laughed. “They have the same nose. The eyes are exactly the same. There’s no question.”
“You never noticed this before you ran into Elton again last year?” It was difficult to believe she wouldn’t recognize her ex-lover’s nose and eyes in her child, and she’d just stated that she avoided the Legards since she couldn’t be sure which man was the father.
Cherry smiled, but the expression was strained. “Obviously you don’t have children, Ms. O’Sullivan. If you did, you’d understand that they change so much as they move from being toddlers to little boys. Their features become much more pronounced. I was with Brantley every day, so I didn’t really notice all the subtle changes until I was face to face with Elton. It was stunning for all involved.”
“Why not just do the test and be certain?” Finley pushed.
Cherry smiled patiently. “There really was no need.”
Moving on, Finley asked, “When you were involved, did Lance speak often of the issues with his daughters?”
“He was convinced Cecelia would end up dead or in prison one day. Olivia was a homebody. She never got into trouble. Cecelia was the one always getting into trouble. Those are the things I recall.”
In the end, Olivia had run away from the tragedy and started her own life while Cecelia had become the homebody of sorts who had no life.
“Was there a friend Cecelia seemed particularly close to?” Whatever Finley could learn about one or both twins during that period could prove immensely useful. Particularly considering the conflicting stories of then and now.
Cherry considered the question for a time. “The only one I recall was . . .” Her forehead furrowed with concentration. “Bethany. Bethany something.” She made an aha face. “Briggs. Bethany Briggs.”
Whoa. Finley nearly got whiplash from the double take she did. “You’re certain that was her name?”
“Yes. I’m certain.”
Finley fished out her cell phone and pulled up a photo of the only Bethany Briggs she knew. “Is this the Bethany Briggs who was friends with Cecelia?”