“Absolutely.” May felt her stomach twist. She didn’t know how much more of this conversation she could take. Luckily they were now turning into the road where the McGees lived.
“I’ll touch base with you later, Mom. Got to go now. We’re gathering information. Hopefully, we’ll have made an arrest by lunch time.”
“That’s my daughter!” Mrs. Moore’s voice rang with pride. “Let me not keep you. Good luck, not that you need it! Take care!” She cut the call.
May stopped outside the house and they climbed out. Putting that nerve-shredding parental conversation aside, May was able to focus on the home. This time, she saw how the dividing wall did, in fact, bisect the large property. The one on the left was in a state of dilapidation. The one on the right looked newly built and as neat as a pin.
They walked to the shiny, green-painted front door.
Kerry knocked first and then rang the doorbell. There was no response.
“Is she at work? She doesn’t seem to be in,” she said.
But at that moment, May spied movement in the back yard beyond the house.
“She’s there. Look! Mrs. McGee?” she called.
A slim, redheaded woman was bent over a flower bed, wearing gardening gloves and wielding a trowel.
She glanced around at them and then put the trowel down and walked over, taking off her gloves. Her face was as good-natured as her ex-husband’s was surly.
“Mrs. McGee, we’re from the police,” May said.
“Yes, I was expecting you. The deputy I spoke to earlier said you might come by.”
She stared at them curiously.
“Your ex-husband and son were taken in for questioning,” Kerry said, summarizing the sequence of events.
“And did they give you answers?” the woman asked.
“They are not being very cooperative so far, ma’am,” May admitted.
“Well, that’s no surprise, given the debacle that played out with that poor girl a few months ago. I love my son, but if he and his father have one thing in common, it’s a complete inability to handle problems and conflict in a constructive way.”
May felt encouraged. It definitely sounded as if the mother would be willing to fill in the details.
“Are you aware of what happened? I believe that there were assault charges laid against your son, but they were dropped. It all sounds complex and sensitive,” May said, returning her focus to the matter at hand.
Mrs. McGee sighed. “You’d better come in,” she said, glancing at the street outside as if she didn’t want the neighbors seeing her speaking to the police in public.
May walked into a home that looked immaculate and smelled fresh and clean. It was furnished in gray, blue, and white. There was a new-looking television in the cabinet, and a vase of fresh flowers was on the coffee table.
“I’m sure you can see we’re very different people,” Mrs. McGee explained. “We’re amicable now, but I still wouldn’t say we’re friendly, and I won’t do unpaid labor for him either, so his house doesn’t get cleaned.”
They followed Mrs. McGee into the living room and sat down on a neat leather sofa.
“We need to get to the core of these assault charges. Do you know what happened?” May asked.
Mrs. McGee nodded. “What happened was that Callum did something idiotic. In fact, he and Shawna both did. It was a few months ago. Not long before his eighteenth birthday.”
“What was that?” Kerry asked.
“Callum took some shots of Shawna while they dated. In her underwear, posing like a Victoria’s Secret model, or so he said. I never saw them. But when they broke up, they fought very badly. Both of them were vicious and said horrible things to each other. And as a result of that, Callum threatened that he was going to take those photos and circulate them to all his friends.”
May’s eyes widened. “Oh dear.”
“Yes. Shawna was off-the-scales angry about that. She was furious, and I don’t blame her for that. It was idiotic of my son to make that threat. Anyway, Shawna went to the Chestnut Hill police department and she filed a charge of assault.”