“I don’t know,” Terri admitted. “That was the last time I saw her. She was supposed to leave with Chip after that. I really thought she had until I heard… until you found her on Sunday.”

“Where were you last Saturday night?”

Terri used the back of her hand to wipe her nose. “Here,” she told them. “With Dale and the kids.”

“Can anyone else verify that?”

She bit her bottom lip, thinking. “Well, Paul dropped by,” she told them. “Just for a minute.”

“Saturday night?” Jeffrey verified, glancing at Lena. Paul had insisted several times that he was in Savannah the night his niece died. His chatty secretary had even backed him up. He said he had driven to the farm on Sunday evening to help look for Abby.

Jeffrey asked, “Why was Paul here?”

“He brought Dale that thing for one of his cars.”

Jeffrey asked, “What thing?”

“That Porsche thing,” she answered. “Paul loves flashy cars- hell, he loves flashy anything. He tries to hide it from Papa and them, but he likes to have his toys.”

“What kind of toys?”

“He brings in old beaters he finds at auctions and Dale fixes them up for a discount. At least Dale says he’s giving a discount. I don’t know what he charges, but it’s gotta be cheaper to do it here than it is in Savannah.”

“How often does Paul bring in cars?”

“Two, three times that I can think of.” Terri shrugged. “You’d have to ask Dale. I’m in the back mostly, working on the upholstery.”

“Dale didn’t mention Paul came by when I saw him the other night.”

“I doubt he would,” Terri said. “Paul pays him in cash. He don’t report it on the taxes.” She tried to defend his actions. “We’ve got collections after us. The hospital’s already garnishing Dale’s wages from when Tim went in last year. The bank reports back everything that goes in and out. We’d lose the house if we didn’t have that extra cash.”

“I don’t work for the IRS,” Jeffrey told her. “All I care about is Saturday night. You’re sure Paul came by Saturday?”

She nodded. “You can ask Dale,” she said. “They stayed in the garage for about ten minutes, then he was gone. I just saw him through the front window. Paul doesn’t really talk to me.”

“Why is that?”

“I’m a fallen woman,” she said, absent any sarcasm.

“Terri,” Jeffrey began, “was Paul ever in the garage alone?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“How many times?” he pushed.

“I don’t know. A lot.”

Jeffrey wasn’t so conciliatory anymore. He pressed her harder. “How about in the last three months or so? Was he here then?”

“I guess,” she repeated, agitated. “Why does it matter if Paul was in the garage?”

“I’m just trying to figure out if he had time to take something that was out there.”

She snorted a laugh at the suggestion. “Dale would’ve wrung his neck.”

“What about the insurance policies?” he asked.

“What policies?”

Jeffrey took out a folded sheet of fax paper and put it on the table in front of her.

Terri’s brow furrowed as she read the document. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s a fifty-thousand-dollar life insurance policy with you as the beneficiary.”

“Where did you find this?”

“You don’t get to ask the questions,” Jeffrey told her, dropping his understanding tone. “Tell us what’s going on, Terri.”

“I thought-” she began, then stopped, shaking her head.

Lena asked, “You thought what?”

Terri shook her head, picking at the cuticle on her thumb.

“Terri?” Lena prodded, not wanting Jeffrey to be too hard on her. She obviously had something to say; now was not the time to be impatient.

Jeffrey adjusted his tone. “Terri, we need your help here. We know Cole put her in that box, just like he did with you, only Abby never got out. We need you to help us find out who killed her.”

“I don’t…” Terri let her voice trail off.

Jeffrey said, “Terri, Rebecca is still missing.”

She said something under her breath that sounded like a word or two of encouragement. Without warning, she stood, saying, “I’ll be back.”

“Hold on a minute.” Jeffrey caught her by the arm as she started to leave the kitchen but Terri flinched and he let go.

“Sorry,” she apologized, rubbing her arm where Dale had bruised her. Lena could see tears from the pain well up in the other woman’s eyes. Still, Terri repeated, “I’ll be right back.”

Jeffrey didn’t touch her again, but he said, “We’ll go with you,” in a tone that said it wasn’t just a friendly suggestion.

Terri hesitated, then gave him a curt nod. She looked down the hallway as if to make sure no one was there. Lena knew she was looking for Dale. Even though he was handcuffed in the squad car, she was still terrified he could get to her.

She opened the back door, giving another furtive glance, this time to make sure Lena and Jeffrey were following. She told Jeffrey, “Leave it open a crack in case Tim needs me,” meaning the door. He caught the screen so it wouldn’t slam, playing along with her paranoia.

Together, the three of them walked into the backyard. The dogs were all mutts, probably rescued from the pound. They whined quietly, jumping up at Terri, trying to get her attention. She absently stroked their heads as she passed, edging around the garage. She stopped at the corner and Lena could see an outbuilding behind it. If Dale was looking this way, he would be able to see them go to the building.

Jeffrey realized this about the same time Lena did. He was offering, “I can-” when Terri took a deep breath and walked out into the open yard.

Lena followed her, not looking at the squad car, feeling the heat of Dale’s stare anyway.

“He’s not looking,” Jeffrey said, but both Lena and Terri were too frightened to look.

Terri took a key out of her pocket and slid it into the locked shed door. She turned on the lights as she went into the cramped room. A sewing machine was in the center, bolts of dark leather stacked against the walls, harsh light overhead. This must be where Terri sewed upholstery for the cars Dale rebuilt. The room was dank, musty. It was little more than a sweatshop and must have felt like hell itself in the dead of winter.

Terri turned around, finally looking out the window. Lena followed her gaze and saw the dark silhouette of Dale Stanley sitting in the back of the squad car. Terri said, “He’s gonna kill me when he finds out about this.” She told Lena, “What’s one more thing, huh?”

Lena said, “We can protect you, Terri. We can take him to jail right now and he’ll never see the light of day again.”

“He’ll get out,” she said.

“No,” Lena told her, because she knew there were ways to make sure prisoners didn’t get out. If you put them in the right cell with the right person, you could fuck up their lives forever. She said, “We can make sure,” and from the look Terri gave her, Lena knew the other woman understood.

Jeffrey had been listening to all of this as he walked around the small room. Suddenly, he pulled a couple of bolts of material away from the wall. There was a noise from behind them, almost like a scurrying mouse. He pulled away another bolt, holding out his hand to the girl crouched against the wall.

He had found Rebecca Bennett.