“For a second I thought about turning into the parking lot, but then I figured I would embarrass Logan, so I kept on driving. If only I would have pulled up! If only I would have insisted the boys stay at my place that night, at least Evan …” Maryann shook her head furiously, got up, and ran into the kitchen, followed by Anna.

Before starting again, Thompson paused and looked at the faces around the table. Mitch stared at him impatiently, but was uncertain he wanted Carolyn to hear the rest of the story because he knew the worst was yet to come. With Maryann and Anna gone, she was now the only woman remaining at the table. Her nails were digging into his palm, so he lifted her hand and clasped it between his hands. He could feel her body shaking uncontrollably.

“According to the statement by Vonda, shortly after the store closed at 7:45, Danny met with him privately, accused him of stealing from the cash register, and told him he was fired. At first Logan denied it, but then he admitted it and promised to pay back the cash. According to Logan, Danny said that it was out of his hands, that his brother and boss, Tony, had seen the video, and they had a strict policy of firing anyone caught stealing. He begged Danny not to fire him, and finally Danny said something like, ‘Okay, there might be another way,’ and said he should get in his truck and follow him back to his neighborhood.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Detective,” Tom said, “but if Tony saw a surveillance video of somebody stealing, we would have had to fire him, even if he did offer to pay it back. That’s the store policy.”

“That may be the policy, but that isn’t what happened on Tuesday night, if you’ll let me continue, Tom.” Thompson was starting to get concerned that they were getting off track, and he was the type of person who needed to follow procedure.

For his part, Mitch began to wonder what all of this had to do with how Danny wound up killing Rachel and Evan, but he kept his mouth shut.

“So,” Thompson continued, “after they arrived at the parking lot in the senior center, Logan climbed into Danny’s truck. He said that Danny seemed like a different person, and had even bought him a cup of coffee. Then Danny changed his demeanor again and started yelling at him, according to Logan. Logan calmed Danny down and asked him to tell him about the idea he had mentioned back at the store, thinking Danny wanted him to obtain drugs for him. When he suggested he could take care of Danny if that was what he wanted, he says Danny just started laughing hysterically, and then said something along the lines of, ‘It’s gonna take much more than that.’”