“I need to ask. Is Gina truly dead?”
“Of course. Why would you even question that?”
“Because I didn’t see the body. And it’s come to my attention lately that sometimes dead people aren’t actually dead.”
“We found her dead in the car in the garage. We cremated her.”
“So you actually found the body?”
“No. Erica did.”
“And you saw it later?”
“No. The coroner had taken it away by then.”
My mind whirled. “Let me get this straight. You never saw your daughter’s dead body?”
“No. I can see her in my nightmares, though.”
I nearly gagged. “Please spare me the sanctimonious sadness. You let my father rape her. She couldn’t have meant that much to you.”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
“Believe me, I’m glad I don’t. But don’t change the subject. You’re telling me that you never saw Gina’s body? Only Erica did?”
He nodded. “That’s right.”
I stood this time and paced around the room, my rubber-soled shoes catching on the worn-out carpet. “Are you sure about that? That Erica saw the body? That it was actually Gina?”
“Of course I am! Erica wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
“Wouldn’t she? Or maybe she wouldn’t know the difference. Her mental state has never been stellar.”
“She loved her child! We both did.”
Again, I had to hold back a gag. As much as I wanted to argue the point that no one who let a child be raped loved her, I kept silent on that subject. “How much of a hold does my father have over
Erica?”
“Erica knows what he is, but he’s still her brother.”
“I’ve seen the death certificate, Rodney. It says you were the reporting party. How could you report it if you never even saw a body?”
“Erica was beside herself. I had to be the one to talk to the authorities.”
“You’re lying. If the coroner came before you got there, he’d put down Erica as the reporting party. Don’t try to put one over on me.”
“I’m not. I swear.”
He sounded sincere, but that meant nothing. These future lawmakers had obviously been bred to lie. Whether it was a lie or not really didn’t matter. My father had somehow gotten into secured databases before to change records. The Steels had uncovered those doings. Someone could have easily changed the reporting party on Gina’s death certificate to Rodney. And in some offbeat way, it made sense that my father would do that to protect his sister from any possible interrogation.
“I need to talk to Erica.”
He shook his head. “She doesn’t want to see anyone. The nurse is with her now.”
“A live-in?”
“No. We can’t afford that. Insurance pays for a nurse for four hours in the evening.”