Asa’s gaze flicks to me. “She shouldn’t need it. She should be able to have the quiet, simple life she wanted after Ricky died. This isn’t that.”

“That’s not their fault, Asa. It’s Ricky and Renee’s,” Whitney says.

“I know. I just want you to be happy, and having the press come down twice as hard on you isn’t making that happen.” He pauses. “And then Renee gets a gun and it all goes to hell, and now we’ll never know the truth.”

“Didn’t she submit the DNA sample for testing anyway?” McKinley asks. “Couldn’t we still pursue it?”

“No. She had forty-eight hours to provide one after a DNA sample could be collected from Father, so her sample was never delivered.”

“Do you really think she had one?” Whitney’s brother sounds skeptical when he voices the question.

“I don’t know. Part of me says no. I think there’s a good chance she just wanted money, and expected that by sending the letter to Commodore, he’d pay her off with a quick settlement to keep it all quiet.”

Asa leans back in his seat and crosses his arms. “Renee always had money when we were growing up. Ricky had the best of everything, even though she didn’t work. I always wondered about his dad, and thought maybe he was paying the bills, but we never talked about it.”

His observation drops like a lead weight in my gut. “If we look at it logically, there’s a good chance money is all she was after. If my father was paying her to keep quiet, the money would’ve stopped when he died.”

“But by then, Ricky was starting to make money,” Whitney says.

I nod. “And Renee had you to write the songs to ensure he kept making money.”

“That fucking bitch,” Asa whispers. “And when Ricky died . . . she needed a new income stream.”

I finish his train of thought. “Which fits with the timing of Commodore getting the request for a paternity test just after Ricky died.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Asa shoots to his feet. “I wish I’d known. I never would’ve let her get away with this. I would’ve gotten answers, and now there’s no goddamned chance we can.”

“Unless . . .” McKinley’s voice is hesitant. “Unless someone comes forward with a kid that’s Ricky’s.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think there is one. If she had a grandkid she was protecting, she wouldn’t have done what she did today.”

“You’re right.” Shockingly, Asa agrees with me, and then he says something I don’t expect. “Has anyone thought about exhuming Ricky’s body? That’s the only other way to tell.”

We all look at him, and I wonder why the hell I didn’t think of it first.

“Ricky was cremated. It was Renee’s choice,” Whitney says quietly.

“Why would she have him cremated if his DNA could possibly prove her case?” my sister asks.

“Because she’s a liar and she didn’t want anyone to be able to prove it,” Asa says as he grips the back of his neck. “We need to find out more. Hire a PI. Get proof either way.”