Morgan offered a shrug of her shoulders—how to begin? “I knew her from the bar … like, we were friends, but we weren’t super close. She’s older.”
“But you knew her back in the day and she was a bartender at Lucky Dog when she abandoned Penny?”
Morgan nodded. “Yeah, I knew her from the party scene. She’d hang out with my crew now and again, even though we were younger, but she hung out with lots of people from town, especially if they had good stuff. That’s why when her kid showed up on the news, everyone knew it was Rachel Boyd’s daughter. I don’t know who told the police. A bunch of people, probably.”
“What about the birth father? Anybody know him?”
Grace noted the way Jack had worded his question—birth father, not father. Arthur was Penny’s dad.
“No clue,” said Morgan. “I’m not sure Rachel even knew. She was clean when we were working together, or at least that’s what she told me. But back then she said she was pretty wild, so I guess it could have been any number of guys. She never gave a name, and nobody really asked.”
“Is there anybody who’d want to hurt her? Did Rachel have any enemies?” Annie wanted to know.
Morgan thought a moment. “I mean Vince Rapino, he was her high school sweetheart,” she said.
“Vince and Rachel dated before?”
“Oh yeah, their fling was a boomerang thing. What goes around, comes around.”
“They broke up?” Grace asked.
“I think it was on again, off again, even after graduation, but they went their own ways eventually. After everything went down with Isabella … sorry, Penny, right? That’s her name now. I knew her as Isabella. Anyway, after all that, Rachel moved to Rhode Island for a bunch of years, get away from all the reminders. She came back not that long ago, a year or so before … you know.” She looked away, because everyone knew. “I guess she and Vince started seeing each other again, even though he was married with kids. Maybe things got ugly between them. Vince came into the bar a lot. Not the nicest guy.”
“The apartment where she was murdered was rented in his name,” Jack revealed.
Morgan seemed visibly disgusted. “He put her up, huh? Yeah, that would piss me off extra if I was his wife,” she said. “But I’m not surprised. Rachel was always short on cash. She was talking though about how she could get flush fast, use the money to invest in something that would make her rich. I got the sense she had something on someone, too, that’s where this investment money was going to come from—a blackmail kind of thing—but she didn’t share any details with me.
“Anyway, if you can figure out that blackmail piece, it’s a possible motive for murder. Or maybe someone should be looking into Vince’s wife. Woman scorned, know what I mean? Those two are separated, headed for divorce, and Nicole—I think that’s her name—blamed Rachel for everything. Nicole would stop by the bar from time to time when Vince was here, make a big scene.”
Morgan gave an anxious glance behind her, telling Grace their time together was coming to an end. But there was still something else she needed to know.
“When Rachel moved back to Lynn, did she ever talk about Penny? What made her reach out to Penny after so many years?”
“I mean, I’d hear her mention it a bit, just on her birthday and stuff, maybe Mother’s Day, that kind of thing,” Morgan said. “But really, it was in the past. She just hoped she was happy, wherever she was.”
“Did you ever see Rachel get violent or angry with Penny—Isabella back then?”
Morgan gave a vigorous shake of her head. “No, never. I mean, look, she wasn’t the best mother. Wasn’t doting or anything. She was kind of into drugs, partying back then, a lot more than parenting, that’s for sure, but I didn’t see her ever lay a hand on her kid. Not once.”
“Any idea why Rachel would have abandoned Penny, why she left her in the park that day?”
Morgan gave a shrug. “It wasn’t a shock to us when it happened. I mean nobody questioned it back then. Rachel was kind of a mess, and caring for a kid … it’s not that easy. I should know. I’ve got three. She probably just snapped. But she loved her daughter … your daughter … I know that much. Like I said, she prayed for her, just like she did her other kid.”
Grace’s breath caught. “What other kid?” she asked. She shifted her attention to Jack, who seemed unsure.