“What were my parents fighting about?” I asked. “I remember Mom and I came to see you in Atlanta. I know she was upset about Dad. What happened?”
She looked away. “I’m not sure I should be telling you any of this.”
“If you’re worried that I’ll think less of my mother because she had an affair, I’m long past any shock or disappointment.”
“So you know.” She picked up her glass with a shaky hand and took a sip.
“How long did it last?” I asked.
“A year. No more than that,” she said, then took another drink. “It was early in her marriage. She knew it was a mistake, and she ended it. But Randall found out about a month before the accident. He was upset by the news, even though your mother assured him it had ended years ago. You and your momma came to spend some time with me while Mary Caroline figured out what to do.”
“You mean whether to get a divorce?” I asked.
“It wasn’t that easy, Caroline. Your mother didn’t have a job and focused on volunteer work for charities. It made your father look good. He needed her for that as well as business functions. They needed each other.”
“So she decided to stay?”
She hesitated. “When she went back home, she did so with the mindset of trying to save her marriage. She thought it would be the best thing for both of you. She realized your family might not feel or look the same as it had before, but she wanted to try anyway.”
“And did my father agree to that plan?”
“Surprisingly, yes. He told your mother that the time away had made him realize that he didn’t want to lose his family, but he lost her anyway. Two weeks later, she was gone.”
“And you went to the funeral?” Marco asked.
She flinched. “Yes. Of course. She was my best friend.”
“How did Randall seem?”
“Grief-stricken, as you would imagine,” she said, but something about the way she said it seemed off.
“And little Caroline?” Marco asked.
She wrapped her arms over her chest. “Lost. I tried to speak to her privately, but Randall said she couldn’t handle the stress. Honestly, I think he’d drugged her. She had a dazed look in her eyes.”
“And that didn’t concern you?” Marco asked, his voice on edge. It was the first non-neutral tone he’d used since walking into her office.
“Of course it concerned me,” she protested, dropping her hands to rest on the arms of her chair. “But I also know how attached Caroline was to her mother. She had to be beyond devastated, but there was a large crowd for the funeral and Randall needed her to get through it. I presumed it was prescribed under a doctor’s supervision. How else would he have gotten it?”
I felt nauseated. He’d drugged me? Why did that surprise me after everything he’d said and done?
And was she lying to us or to herself? Everyone in this room knew my father could have easily gotten something to dull his hysterical daughter. No prescription needed.
“Did Mary Caroline have many assets of her own?” Marco asked. “Or did she acquire most of it through marriage?”
She looked confused by the question, but said, “She inherited a little money after her parents died. But it was peanuts compared to Randall’s fortune.”
“When and how did her parents die?”
“A car accident,” she said. “About a month before she got married.”
My heart skipped a beat, but Marco looked unfazed. My mother had never told me they’d died in a car accident. She’d only said they’d died before I was born, and I’d never thought to ask questions.
“Did her parents approve of Randall Blakely?” he asked.
Her hand went to the hollow of her throat, and she couldn’t look Marco in the eye. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because . . .” She paused. “They thought she was still in love with someone else. Her mother wanted her to call off the wedding.”
“What did Randall think of her parents?”
“He wasn’t pleased they were meddling, as he called it. But he told Mary Caroline that he loved her and could deal with her parents.” Her face lost more color.
“And how long after that conversation did their accident occur?” Marco asked matter-of-factly.
Her horrified gaze lifted to his. “A week.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I thought Marco would go in for the obvious kill, to get her to tie both accidents together. The look in her eye made it obvious she didn’t think they were any more random than we did. But he didn’t. Instead, he asked, “How did Mary Caroline handle their deaths?”
“Not well.” Tiffany’s voice shook. “She was close to her mother. She definitely wanted to call off the wedding after that, but Randall told her the best way to honor her parents’ memory was to create a family of her own. With him.”
“So she went through with it?” Marco asked.
She nodded. “Yes. She tried so hard to be happy. To love Randall like she thought he deserved.”
“But she wasn’t happy,” Marco said. Not a question. A statement.
She wrapped her arms around herself as though she were cold. “No. Her mother was right. She was still in love with someone else.”
“And Randall discovered this about a month before Mary Caroline’s accident? That discovery is what led to their disagreements?”
“It might have been a little over a month.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
Marco nodded absently, then crossed his arm.. “Before Randall found out about the affair, how was their marriage?”
“We lived a thousand miles or so apart,” Tiffany said, “so I only saw them a few times a year, and most people try to put on a show. They don’t like to look bad.”
“So you’re sayin’ if your best friend was having marital issues there’s a good chance she hid them from you?” Marco asked.
She started to say something, then stopped. “What does this have to do with Caroline’s disappearance?” She turned to face me, looking resentful. “I still don’t know what happened to you.”
I sucked in a breath, caught off guard by her hostility.
“Humor me,” Marco said good-naturedly, as though he’d missed her tension-laden comment. “Is there a chance they had marital issues before Randall found out? I mean”—he extended his hand—“she did have an affair. She must not have been happy in the beginning. You said she was still in love with someone else.”
“I don’t feel right discussing this in front of Caroline,” Tiffany said, tugging at the neckline of her dress.
“I knew she had an affair,” I said in a flat voice. “You’re not going to shock me or damage my image of her. Tell us.”
Her lips pressed together. “As I mentioned, there was another man before Randall, but he refused to marry Mary Caroline. She began dating Randall soon after their breakup, and it didn’t take them long to marry.” She gave me a pleading look. “But she learned to love your father.”
“She had an affair with the man she was previously involved with, correct?” Marco asked. “She married Randall, but she couldn’t let the other guy go.”