Claire bent to give her a hug. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She sniffed, confirming the tears Claire had heard in her voice. “And if I’m jealous of your hot boyfriend, well…who isn’t?”
Blocking Isaac’s view of them with the door, Claire gestured toward the kitchen. “He can hear you,” she mouthed.
“It won’t be news to him,” she said, but then her grin instantly faded. “I owe you an apology where he’s concerned, too.”
Claire’s stomach muscles tightened. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“If you don’t it’s because he’s too good a guy to make me look bad. But I’m sorry all the same. Sometimes I…I have no idea why I do the things I do. Life just gets me down, and I make it worse. It’s…illogical but…it’s me.”
Claire felt the tension in her body begin to dissipate. She understood, because she’d watched her sister struggle through life almost from the day she was born. Claire could certainly forgive her; she’d been forgiving her for years, but she’d rather have it that way than cut her younger sister out of her life. She was grateful that, for once, Leanne had something kind to say about Isaac. The acknowledgment felt great.
Stepping back, Claire opened the door for her sister’s wheelchair. “Come on in. We’re just sorting through stuff and trying to get it in order.”
“At least I hung out with you enough before all this to know where everything has to go. That makes me a little more valuable than Isaac.”
“I love you both,” Claire said.
Leanne gaped at the admission. “I knew you loved me. You’re supposed to love me. But him? Really?”
She was asking about David, but Claire didn’t want to address the subject, so she shrugged it off with a joke. “Shh, it’ll go to his head.”
“That happened fast.”
Claire smiled at the memory of the six months she and Isaac had spent together ten years ago. Their feelings for each other had been simmering a long time. “Not really.”
Leanne sobered. “I’m happy for you,” she said, and seemed to mean it.
“Thanks.” Realizing that this might be the best opportunity to ask her sister the hard questions she still had to ask, she motioned her into the back bedroom and closed the door. “I do have some questions about Mom and…and what happened…with Joe.”
Leanne shifted in her seat as though bracing for the worst. “I hope the fact that you brought me here means you haven’t told Isaac about that.”
“No.” And now Claire was glad because her sister could truly forget that mistake. “But…did Joe really…expose himself to you, Lee?”
They could hear Isaac still cleaning in the kitchen. Claire wondered what he thought about this private moment, but she doubted he’d mind.
Leanne’s cheeks went pink as she shook her head. “No. It was all me. I just… I was so mortified when he went to Mom that…I had to come up with some reason for what I did.”
Claire crouched at her side. “That lie could’ve ruined his life, Lee.”
Fresh tears hovered in her sister’s eyelashes. “Sometimes I’m afraid it did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t hurt Mom. But—” her chest rose as she drew a deep breath “—I’m afraid what I said got them into a fight. That he killed her and I’m to blame.”
No wonder she hadn’t wanted Claire searching for answers. No one would want that to come out. Her guilt explained why she’d been drinking, too, and some of her other self-destructive habits. “That’s a lot to carry around, Lee.”
Tears streamed down her face. “Too much. Sometimes I…I have to dull the pain.”
With sex and alcohol. Claire squeezed her arm. “It’s off your chest now. Let it go. Even if Joe killed Mom, you’re not to blame. What you did was bad, but you were only thirteen. Kids make mistakes. And causing a fight isn’t murder. If he made that choice, he’s responsible for it.”
Self-recrimination caused Leanne to wring her hands. “But I’ll always feel like she’d still be with us if only I hadn’t…done what I did.”
“Where on earth did you get the idea of creating that tape?” Claire asked.
“Katie’s older cousin was…sixteen. He introduced us to…certain things.”
“He didn’t molest you, did he?”
“He had sex with both of us. More than once. Katie thought she loved him. I thought I loved Joe.”
Claire felt her own eyes burn with tears. Her little sister had been so young. “Mom and Dad didn’t know?”
“Of course not! Neither did Katie’s parents.”
“Where’s this cousin now?”
“Who cares? I never want to see him again—or Katie, either.”
So that was why they’d lost touch. It all made sense now. “But what if Joe didn’t do it?” Claire asked. “He has to have done it. He and Mom were so upset that day.”
Claire thought of Don Salter burning everything in their mother’s case files. “Can you name one reason Don Salter might have any interest in our mother?”
Leanne blinked several times. “Did you say Don Salter? No. Except…he and Dad used to be close. Have you asked Dad about him?”
“Not yet.” But it was interesting that Don had a stronger tie to Tug than he did to Joe, at least back then. “Do you know if Joe and Don are or were ever friends?”
“They weren’t before, but…these days Joe and I pretty much avoid each other, so I have no idea who he might be friends with. Why?”
“I found a copy of our mother’s case files in the studio the night I was attacked. David had them. His handwriting was all over the interviews and stuff. I brought them here, but they went missing during the break-in. Don was seen burning them the day of the fire.”
Leanne’s jaw dropped. “So you think…Don Salter did this?” She waved at the door to indicate the wreckage beyond it.
“We don’t know. We only know that he burned the files.”
“I can’t tell you any more. Jeremy’s the only Salter I’m really familiar with, and that’s mainly because he has one heck of a crush on you. He’s been stalking you for so long I don’t even notice him anymore. But I bet, for five minutes of your time, he’d tell you anything you want. You should give him a call.”