He let her guide him to the seat.
But he didn’t have to wait that long.
An hour later, Stella walked over with a clear plastic evidence bag. Inside was a man’s silver wedding ring. Stella pointed to the inside of the band.
JENNY & VIC FOREVER.
“Thanks,” Lance said, his voice hoarse.
Stella returned the ring to the forensic team, then walked back toward Morgan and Lance.
The official identification would take time, but Lance knew this was it. He’d found his father. Vic Kruger hadn’t abandoned his family. He’d stopped to help a woman in distress, and he’d been killed for it.
His mother had been right all along. His father had been a good man.
Emotions crowded Lance’s chest. Too many to sort through all at once. His next breath dragged in and out of his lungs, making his ribs ache through the pain medicine.
“How are you?” Morgan took his hand. She was wearing thick gloves, but the grasp of her hand grounded him.
“OK. I knew as soon as we got here that this would be the place.” He turned away from the rippling water.
Morgan’s big blue eyes were filled with concern. “Are you all right?”
“I am.” Under the sadness lurching through his heart, there was a new stillness, as if he was on a turbulent flight that suddenly smoothed out.
Morgan tightened her grip on his hand.
“I have to go see my mother now,” he said.
Jenny had woken that morning, groggy, out-of-sorts, and terrified at being in the hospital. But Lance had gone to the ICU, and she’d calmed down. She was going to be all right, at least physically. Who knew what kind of mental scars the incident would leave? But if there was one thing Lance was learning, it was to handle one disaster at a time. She was going to live. They’d deal with the fallout later.
“I’ll go with you.” Morgan stood. “I know you’re worried about bringing her home, but I want you to accept that I’m here to help. I love your mom.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s what family does.”
He didn’t argue. He wanted her with him. Why he’d ever thought differently was a mystery to him now.
“Brody and I would like to tag along,” Stella said. “We need your mother to answer some questions if she’s up to it.”
“I don’t know how coherent or cooperative she’ll be,” Lance warned, heading toward the Jeep.
“Understood. You tell us what she can tolerate.” Stella waved for Brody, and he strode across the grass toward them. “This scene belongs to the state police. They don’t need us here.”
“I want to stop at my mom’s house and pick up her computer,” Lance said to Morgan. “She’ll feel better if she has something to do.”
They left the crime scene, stopped at Jenny’s, and then drove to the hospital.
To Lance’s surprise, his mother was out of the ICU and in a regular room. Lance walked in first, with Morgan right behind him.
She sat up and reached her hand out for his. Taking it, he sat on the edge of the bed. Morgan stood beside him.
His mom squinted at him. Her eyes were a little bit fuzzy. “What happened to your face?”
She obviously didn’t remember him stopping by that morning. Her voice slurred, as if she were mildly sedated. Probably for the best. She’d experienced enough stress to freak out the most stable person.
“It’s just a few scratches. But I have some news for you.” He told her the basics of what happened with the sheriff, leaving out the details of King’s attempt to kill him and Morgan. She didn’t need to know everything.
“They found Dad.” Lance told her what they’d found at the sheriff’s cabin.
When he’d finished his story, she seemed . . . relieved. “I knew it. I knew he didn’t leave us.”
“You were right.”
His mom sniffed. “Now we can put him to rest properly.”
And carry his memory untainted. Until this moment, Lance hadn’t realized how important it was that his father’s name be cleared.
“How are you doing here?” Lance asked.
His mother’s eyes filled with tears. “I want to go home. The doctor thinks I can go home tomorrow or the next day.” She licked her lips. “I don’t like being here. I want to go home today.”
“I know.” Lance patted her forearm. “Are you up to answering a few questions from the police?”
“I don’t know.” His mom pulled her hand away and picked at a cuticle.
Lance took her hand back, holding it firmly between his own palms. “It’s all right if you’re not ready. The man responsible is dead. Cleaning up the loose ends of the investigation can wait.”
“I can try.” She struggled to sit up. “Would you hand me my water?”
“Sure.” Lance raised the head of the bed and lifted the water cup to his mother’s lips. Then he nodded to Morgan, who went out into the hall, returning a minute later with Stella. Brody hung by the doorway, within earshot, but not crowding Lance’s mother.
Morgan introduced her sister.
“Who visited you the day you got sick?” Stella asked.
“Sheriff King came to ask me more questions about Vic’s disappearance,” Jenny said. “He brought pie, but it wasn’t very good. When he went to the bathroom, I scraped most of it into the trash. I didn’t want to insult him, so I left a few bites to finish when he came out.”
The fact that she’d only eaten a few bites had saved her life.
“He used the bathroom twice in thirty minutes. I thought maybe he was having prostate problems. I had no idea . . .” His mother shivered.
He must have gone into the bathroom to steal her medication. Then again to leave the pill vials in the sink and set the stage for her fake suicide attempt.
“None of us did.” Lance still couldn’t wrap his head around the truth.
“Do you have any idea why Sheriff King might have tried to poison you?” Stella asked.
“No.” His mother shook her head. “But I do remember where I’d seen him before. It wasn’t just on TV. Of course, he looked different. He was much younger back then, which is why I didn’t remember him right away when he came into my house the first time. He was on duty the night Vic went missing. I remember driving past a rest stop when I was out looking for Vic. There were two sheriff’s cars in the lot. I stopped to ask them if they’d seen a Buick Century.”
Lance and Morgan shared a glance.
And the very last piece of the puzzle fell into place.
“Mom, did you mention this to Sheriff King when he came alone to question you?” Lance asked.
She nodded. “I did. He said something about it being a small world.”
And he’d tried to kill her before she could give him away.
Stella asked a few more questions, then bowed out. “Is it OK if I contact you again, Mrs. Kruger? You answered our big question, but I’m sure we’ll have details to iron out as we wrap up the investigation.”
His mom nodded. “I supposed that would be all right.”
“Thank you for your help today.” Stella said goodbye and she and Brody left.
His mom released their hands. “You both look terrible. You should go home and get some rest.”
“Would you like to have a video call with Kevin?” Lance asked.