He was a handsome kid. His physique was burly, but he was sleek, strong, and fast on the football field. His blond hair was thick, with some curl where it covered his ears. What made him irresistible was his high-wattage smile. Will turned on that smile, and high school girls swooned. All of Darrell’s girls were in love with him. A kid with that kind of charm could have become another Ajax if he’d had the wrong personality, but I had never known Will to exploit his good looks. As gregarious as he was, he only dated occasionally. He had too many other things on his plate.

“Hi, Will.”

Like a light bulb, that smile flashed to life. “Hi, Rebecca.”

“That’s a beautiful gazebo.”

“Thanks. I’m making it for Mr. Stedman. His wife always wanted one, and I thought he’d like to have it for her, you know?”

“That’s sweet.” I let him sand and plane for a minute, and then I went on. “Did you hear about Jay’s dad?”

He didn’t stop what he was doing. “Uh-huh.”

“Norm says you and Jay are friends.”

“Yeah, we hang out sometimes.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“Sure. I called him as soon as I heard.”

“How’s he doing?”

“It’s hard to tell with Jay sometimes,” Will replied, eyeing the length of the board. “He keeps things all bottled up.”

“I heard Jay and his dad didn’t get along too well.”

Will rolled his eyes. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

“It wasn’t good?”

“It was terrible. Gordon expected Jay to be just like him, and that was the last thing Jay wanted.”

“What did Jay want?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure he knows. He’ll probably be a writer or something. I tried to tell Jay that lawyers weren’t so bad. My dad’s a lawyer, and he’s one of the good guys. I’ll probably be one, too.”

“When we talked to Jay, he called his father a monster. Do you have any idea why he’d say something like that?”

Will finally stopped his woodworking, and his brow wrinkled unhappily. “Why are you asking me about Jay, Rebecca?”

“We’re trying to figure out what happened to his father.”

“Well, Jay didn’t kill him,” Will said.

“I never said that he did.”

“Yeah, but you’re thinking it, right? Look, Jay and Gordon didn’t get along, and he may not show how upset he is about his dad getting killed, but that’s just the way he is. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel bad about it.”

“Do you think Jay has any idea who murdered Gordon?”

“Not that he said to me.”

“He told us he was home the whole time, but he says he didn’t see or hear anything. That’s a little weird.”