“Maybe she passed out somewhere?” I guessed. “The pain from trying to drag yourself along with a broken leg has to be excruciating.”
“Abby is gone,” said Mars. “Either she’s dead or she ran away to hide from someone.”
“And it’s worth noting that Abby sort of ran away from her life in Milwaukee. I bet a lot of people there still remember her as the babysitter who was caring for Peyton Poulon when she disappeared. She didn’t have that hanging over her when she moved away.”
“I feel a little bit better about our lousy date now that I know she was preoccupied with thoughts about Peyton’s kidnapper. I wish she had told me about it. If she had, maybe none of this would have happened,” said Mars.
“Why were Mia and Charlene at Abby’s house? Did they not know she had gone out to dinner with you?” I asked. “Or did she send them a come-rescue-me-from-this-horrible-date text?”
“Ha ha.” There was no mirth in Mars’s tone. “But that’s a very good question.”
I turned my chopsticks to the thick end, dipped them into the takeout carton and helped myself to more duck. “It is also a fact that Abby left a message about Peyton Poulon.”
“And we have confirmed that Peyton was kidnapped when she was only two years old.”
“Did you do any more research on Peyton?” I asked.
“No, the outing of the spies got my attention. I went back to researching Wesley’s background.”
“Don’t tell me you think he’s a foreign agent or something,” I said.
“Probably not. But there’s something bad in his past, and I’m determined to find it.”
“The kidnapping of Peyton Poulon?” I asked.
Mars sat back and rubbed his forehead. “Do you think that’s possible? How old would Peyton be?”
I hated to tell him. “Around fifteen, I guess.”
“Do you know how old Briley is?”
“Fifteen.”
“Oh boy. That would be the end of everything for him.” Mars shook his head. “You were worried that he’d had an affair with Abby, but this is so much worse!”
“Maybe it’s Schuyler. Or one of their friends. I’ve been assuming that whatever happened to Abby started at Tilly’s house. But we don’t know that. She could have received a phone call from someone that morning. Or she could have seen a girl she thought was Peyton the night before, or when she walked to work.”
“Or on TV, for that matter,” Mars added.
“Or maybe what happened at Abby’s house had nothing to do with Peyton. Maybe it was completely unrelated.”
“You’re speculating again.”
“Make a new list of suspects. Everyone who had anything to do with Mia or Abby.”
“Including Wesley?”
“Of course. And add Fred Conway. I’ve got nothing on him at all. His neighbor doesn’t like him because he doesn’t stop and chat with her. And he brought beautiful pink roses to Charlene.”
“A killer for sure,” Mars uttered sarcastically.
“Someone beat Charlene, and the boyfriend is always the top suspect,” I pointed out.
“But that flies in the face of your previous theory,” argued Mars.
“I’m sticking to the facts like you always tell me to. I miss having Nina and Bernie here.”
“Me too. But we can’t say anything about Peyton. There’s always a chance that she’s at the root of Mia’s murder. Do you think Wolf is calling the cops in Milwaukee?”
“I would imagine so.”
“I have a bad feeling that we now know why Wesley has been so nervous.”
“Do you think he murdered Mia?”
“Whether he killed her or someone else did, I’d put money on Briley being Peyton Poulon. If he or Tilly was involved in the abduction, that would be disastrous. I don’t know the penalty for kidnapping, but I’d guess they would spend the rest of their lives in prison, even if they didn’t murder someone. Something must have happened that caused Abby to make the connection.” Mars made a note on the pad. “I’ll see if I can find anything that places Wesley in the Milwaukee area around that time.”
“What if Abby somehow discovered that Schuyler was Peyton Poulon?”
“And how would she have learned that?” asked Mars.
“Just indulge me for a minute. Oh! Maybe Abby confided to Mia about Peyton’s kidnapping. Or maybe Abby figured out that Briley is actually Peyton and she confided in Mia.”
“I’m indulging you, but that’s all just speculation. And if Abby thought something like that, why would she confide in Mia?”
I pursued my line of thought. “Mia goes to see Abby to talk about what to do. Wesley, who has no alibi for that evening, follows Mia, waiting for an opportunity to kill her so she won’t spill the beans. Abby and Charlene have the opportunity to escape while he’s murdering Mia.”
“An interesting scenario, Sophie. And one could easily substitute Jericho for Wesley.”
“Why do you continue to believe that Jericho killed Mia when it’s probably Wesley?”
Mars leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Even though Wesley fired me and is trying his level best to point a finger of guilt at me, I like the guy. You said it yourself. Jericho is hanging around there running the show. And I know for a fact that he’s a sleazebag.”
I skipped past his obsession with Jericho. “Unless . . . what if Schuyler is Peyton, and Abby murdered Mia for abducting her?” I asked.
“I almost wish that were the case. But Wesley has been so edgy that I suspect Briley is Peyton. Have you ever met Schuyler’s dad?”
I gasped. “How could I have overlooked him? Schuyler says he’s an obstetrician and quite dedicated to his work. Oh no! I never even thought to bring them a dish. How very impolite of me!”
“I would bet that Tilly has been keeping them well fed.”
“Maybe so.” I glanced at the clock. “Do you think it’s too late to stop by their house with a dessert?”
“Can you bake two?”
“You’re always so subtle, Mars. Maybe I could whip up a blueberry crumb cake for their breakfast tomorrow.”
Mars carried the dishes to the sink. “Sounds delicious. Bet it would make a great midnight snack, too.”
While he rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, I preheated the oven and doubled my recipe for blueberry crumb cake.
An hour later, I drizzled the two cakes with a lemon glaze and packed one to take to Schuyler’s house. I peeked in the den before I left. Mars was on the sofa glued to his laptop. Daisy looked up at me and gently flapped her tail. Mochie slept next to Mars, upside down.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Mars didn’t even look up. “Okay. We’ll guard the fort.”
I stepped outside the kitchen door and returned immediately for a jacket. It was definitely a transitional time of year. How did the temperature drop so fast? Wearing a dark green quilted barn jacket, I ventured forth.
There weren’t many lights on in Schuyler’s home. Especially not compared to Tilly’s house next door, where it seemed that lights glowed in all the windows.