“Okay, then,” I said, heat rising in my chest. “Have you talked to Hallie?” Land shook his head, and before he could say anything more, I plowed on, “Well, you should have. Did you know Izzy was involved with an older guy? A lot older? That could have something to do with the murders. If I waited for you all to fig—”

“We already know that,” Land said.

All the air went out of my tirade, my mouth left hanging open in the middle of a word. “Know what?”

“About the older guy. Cal heard it from Junie.”

It should have relieved me, Hallie’s words about Cal making sense now. She wasn’t pointing me toward Izzy’s older man, but toward someone who might know more about him. But I couldn’t wrap my head around it, the fact that Cal had known about Izzy and hadn’t told me. And I hated that Land was a step ahead of me. Always. “Who was it?” I demanded.

Land shook his head. “We’re still figuring that out. But I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew for sure. You don’t have any business getting involved in this.”

“She was my daughter,” I burst out. “How can you say it’s not my business?”

“I heard you went and confronted Jimmy Ray, too,” Land said, like I hadn’t even spoken. “That’s a bad idea, Eve. Don’t need to remind you how that turned out for you last time, do I?” His eyes flicked toward my wrist, his hand following the movement, and I snatched my arm away.

“Don’t touch me!”

Land pulled back, a smirk chasing its way across his face. “Jesus, calm down,” he said. “Every time you see me you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof.” He lowered his voice even though there was no one but me to hear him. “It was only a blow job. Can’t believe it’s still got you worked up after all this time. Know for a fact it wasn’t the first one you’d ever given.”

My throat burned at his words; my never-healed-quite-right wrist bones ached under my skin. My stomach heaved as if it were all happening right now instead of on a rainy October night almost a decade ago. It had been the end for Jimmy Ray and me for a while. We’d both known it, me because I wasn’t going to let him keep on hitting me in front of my daughter and him because it had reached the point where the fun of smacking me around was outweighed by what a pain in the ass I’d turned into. Calling the cops. Not fighting back, exactly, but resisting him just the same, no matter what he threatened. But with Jimmy Ray everything had to be on his terms. Even the leaving. And he wasn’t quite ready yet. Even after he’d split my lip and blackened my eyes, snapped my wrist bones between his hands, he hadn’t been ready to let go. Had told me he’d see me soon, winked as they’d loaded him into the back of the police cruiser, the spinning lights making the world tilt and whirl in front of me.