“Tell that to the people he killed,” Chester contested.
“Just because he lost his way and started doing bad things when he grew up,” Gladys argued, “doesn’t mean he came into this world a bad seed.”
Chester grunted. “Doug told me he was too quiet. Just sat around watching them.”
“Well, Doug couldn’t deny him,” Gladys interjected. “The boy looked just like him with those piercing blue eyes.”
“I’m just telling you what the man said,” Chester griped. “In fact, he said it was even worse after the new baby was born.”
“Wait.” Finley held up both hands stop-sign fashion. “There was no mention of a new baby.”
“Poor thing was only a couple weeks old,” Gladys explained. “I guess they figured it was better just to keep the baby out of the mess and let someone adopt her.”
“Her?” Holmes had a sister? The possibilities flashed like a movie on fast-forward in Finley’s head.
“I don’t think Doug wanted another one,” Chester said. “He was afraid it would be like the boy. He told Wanda they weren’t having no more kids. Period.”
“I guess Doug thought they were in the clear since she’d had so many problems. You know, down there.” Gladys sighed. “But next thing you know, she was pregnant at forty years old.”
Still reeling at the news, Finley asked. “The boy was seven?” She’d figured it was better to confirm, since little else in the file had been correct.
“He was,” Chester said. “He’d finished first grade that year, and then his birthday was right before school started back.”
“If you’re convinced this was a murder-suicide,” Finley said, “why was it officially listed as a home invasion?”
“Doug and Joe were friends,” Chester explained. “Close friends. I guess he didn’t want to believe his friend would kill his wife and then himself. I figure he’s the one that got rid of the rifle and maybe the other stuff to make it look like something it wasn’t.”
“Did Officer Keaton have a wife or anyone with whom he might have confided his thoughts on the case?”
“He had a wife. Don’t know if she got the real story, though,” Gladys offered. “No one save us ever thought any different than the official report as far as we know.”
“Did you talk to anyone about your feelings?”
“We decided it was best if we stayed quiet,” Chester said. “It wasn’t going to change anything. They were dead. They had no other family. No need to make it any worse than it was. Dead’s dead.”
Finley could see how they’d come to that conclusion, but the lawyer in her couldn’t get right with it. “Charles was put in foster care?”
“Over in Alabama,” Gladys said. “We never did know where he ended up until that big trial in Nashville a few years back.”
“What about the little girl?” This was the part that had Finley’s pulse racing.
“Officer Keaton seen to it that she was adopted.” Chester nodded, sipped his tea.
“How did he do that?” There were laws about those sorts of things. Procedures to be followed. There was absolutely no record of Holmes having had a sibling.
“Well, there really wasn’t any record of the new baby,” Chester said. He placed the sweating glass on the marble-topped table between himself and his wife.
“There had to be medical records,” Finley countered.
“Wanda preferred doing things all natural,” Gladys said. “She never went to the doctor or hospital with either one of her kids. Doug delivered the boy. But he was so mad he refused to deliver the girl.”
“Surely Mrs. Holmes had some sort of help.” This was over the top.
“I helped.” Gladys nodded. “She sent Charlie over here to get me. I almost missed the whole thing, but I helped her finish up. Doug stayed out in the barn the whole time.”
“You got to understand,” Chester said, “these people mostly kept to themselves. Wanda rarely did any of the shopping, or even left the house for that matter. Especially once she looked pregnant. She didn’t get out at all.”
“Nothing wrong with staying home,” Gladys grumbled. “Wanda was a good person.”
“Didn’t say she wasn’t,” Chester pointed out.
“Who could I ask about what happened to the baby?” Finley couldn’t go back to Nashville without something on this baby.