I opened my mouth to respond, but Rock whisked past me, taking Lacey’s hand and dragging her along with him. I had no choice but to follow.

Ten minutes later, after a silent elevator ride and a brisk walk about a block away to an outdoor café where we got a table far away from any prying ears, I finally had the chance to speak.

“Dad wouldn’t be surveilling himself,” I said.

“Doesn’t mean he didn’t have equipment installed. I wouldn’t put it past the fucker to have it all ready and an order to turn it on if anything happened to him.”

I couldn’t fault my big brother’s logic. For someone who hadn’t been around for the last two decades, Rock seemed to know our father as well as or better than any of the rest of us.

“What’s going on, Rock?” Lacey asked, her lips trembling slightly.

“Lace, have you ever been in the rose garden in back of St. Andrew’s?”

“No, I haven’t,” she said. “I’d never even been to St. Andrew’s until the funeral.”

“Fuck.” Rock shoved the weather-beaten business card across the table to his wife. “Zee found this in the rose garden. Today.”

Lace picked up the card. “I didn’t put it there. Looks like it’s been there a while, though. This has been stepped on and rained on.”

“Which means it could have been there before Dad’s death,” Rock said.

“Circumstantial,” Lacey said. “Just because it’s my business card doesn’t mean I put it there. Also, as far as anyone else knows, the church and Father Jim have nothing to do with the murder.”

Rock raked his fingers through his hair. “I still don’t like it.”

“Neither do I.” Lacey let go of the card as if it were burning her.

I picked it up and stuck it in my wallet. “No reason anyone needs to know about this.”

“Give it back to me,” Rock demanded.

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to fucking destroy it.”

I looked to Lacey. She was an attorney, and she knew destroying potential evidence was not a good idea.

Still, she nodded at me slightly.

Good enough. My sister-in-law had not killed my father, and if this card could tie her to the murder, I was fine with getting rid of it. I took it out of my wallet and handed it back to my brother. He tore it in two. Then four.

“I need to get back,” I said. “They’re questioning Zee and I don’t want to be too far away in case she needs me.”

Rock nodded. “Go ahead. Lace and I have got this.”

I stood and walked back to the building. Though the day was clear, a cloud hovered over me, invisible but dense. Something was brewing.

Something bad.

37

Zee

I really wanted to throw up.