“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” I said, arching a brow.
“Look, it’s just something that suddenly popped into my head for a second, and there’s no way this person could actually be responsible. Please just forget I said anything.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You can’t keep me in suspense like that. Tell me.”
“Only if you promise not to get upset.”
“I promise.”
“All right.” He cleared his throat and met my eyes again. “I don’t know how much Hunter has told you about Lindsay, but she kinda had two sides. She could be sweet as pie for a whole month, and then suddenly she’d flip a switch and be a raging bitch for a couple of days. Then she’d go back to being normal and nice.”
“Yeah, Hunter mentioned that she had a bit of a wild personality,” I said with a slight nod.
Adam leaned forward. “Well, about three weeks before she died, she threw a tantrum. She said some earrings and a necklace had been stolen out of her room. Some cash too,” he said. “The last person who went in her room that day was your mom, when she went to clean her bathroom.”
My heart sank. I could already tell where this was going. “She accused my mom of stealing from her?”
He nodded. “Yup. No one believed her, though. Your mom has worked for us for ages, and we’ve never had a single problem with her. So we figured it was just Lindsay being Lindsay.”
“What happened then?”
“My parents apologized to your mom for all the drama and let her go home early. A few days later, Lindsay found her earrings and necklace tucked in the back of a jewelry box. We were all like, ‘duh, told you so’, because obviously she just forgot where she left them.”
“Right.”
His lips flattened. “Anyway, Lindsay was still suspicious of your mom after that. She told the house manager that she wasn’t allowed to clean her room anymore.”
“So she thought my mom sneaked the jewelry back into her room after almost getting caught?”
“Yup. She was pretty rude to her.” He exhaled deeply and shook his head. “It was so embarrassing. Your mom was completely mortified. She didn’t actually say anything, but I could tell just from looking at her.”
“Oh,” I said in a small voice. Mom never told me about any of this.
It suddenly occurred to me that it was quite strange that she’d never mentioned Lindsay’s death to me, either. If I worked at a place where my employer’s child died tragically, I’d probably mention it to someone close to me, just so I could process the sheer awfulness of the event.
But Mom never said a word. I didn’t even know Charles and Tinsley had a daughter who died tragically a year ago until I went to RFA and heard about it there.
“I’m sorry, Laney,” Adam said softly. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. Obviously your mom would never hurt a fly, let alone a person.”
I swallowed thickly. I knew that wasn’t true. After all, she delivered the finishing blow to my father when he was dying on our living room floor. So she was definitely capable of hurting a person—or even killing them—when push came to shove.
That was self-defense,I reminded myself. She wouldn’t kill a teenage girl over a theft accusation.
“It’s okay,” I finally murmured.
“No, it’s not. I don’t even know why I said anything,” Adam said, chin dipping to his chest.
“You said it because I asked about people who were potentially mad at Lindsay before she died,” I replied. “It’s not your fault.”
He sighed. “Well, like I said, I know your mom would never do anything to hurt anyone. So just forget the whole thing, okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded and looked down at the list again. “Is there anyone else you can think of?”
“I don’t think so.” His shoulders drooped, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you think we’re just wasting our time?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged listlessly. “I mean we’re just high school students, not detectives. Do you really think we can figure out who killed my sister?”
I conjured up my most encouraging smile and reached over to squeeze his hand. “Yes. Whatever it takes, we’ll find them.”