She began to get up, but Darrell stayed where he was.

“There’s something else, Mrs. Brink.”

She sat down again, looking impatient. “What?”

“You said no one other than Gordon ever went inside the cottage.”

“Yes. So?”

“Was that always true? Or did you or Jay go in there sometimes?”

“Visit the sanctum sanctorum? No. Never.”

Darrell frowned. “So can you think of any explanation for how Jay’s fingerprints got there?”

Erica stared at us. “Jay was in Gordon’s office?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible. The cottage was always locked if Gordon wasn’t there.”

“Could Jay have gotten hold of a key?” Darrell asked.

“I suppose he could, but it doesn’t make any sense.” Erica stood up again and faced the fire. She was in profile, her face flushed as she realized the implications of what Darrell was saying. “My God. You think it was him. You think Jay killed him, don’t you?”

“We need some questions answered,” Darrell said. “There are things that don’t add up here.”

Erica spun around. “Jay threatened Gordon.”

“What?”

“He threatened his father.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

“I didn’t know about it. It happened while I was gone.”

“How did you find out?”

“I talked to his mother two days ago. She and I don’t exactly have a warm relationship, but I needed to know what she wanted me to do about Jay. He’s her son, not mine. He told me he wanted to stay here, and I didn’t care either way, but I wanted to make sure his mother was okay with it.”

“Was she?” Darrell asked.

“Apparently so. Jay told her he was finally making friends, and he didn’t want to get shuffled around in the middle of the school year again. She also told me something I didn’t know. Jay and Gordon had a huge argument while I was away in Minnesota. Jay called his mother in tears over it.”

“What was the argument about?”

“Gordon planned to send Jay back home to his mother after Christmas break.”

“And Jay wanted to stay here?”

“Yes. Which was the opposite of how things were when we got here last October. Jay hated leaving Milwaukee and his mother. Now he hated going back. I don’t know why. Maybe he simply wanted to do the opposite of whatever Gordon wanted. As I told you, those two were fire and ice. However, according to his mother, Jay got pretty extreme.”

“How so?” Darrell asked.

“Jay said if his father tried to send him home, Gordon would be sorry.”

“What did he mean by that?”

“I don’t know. But his mother was afraid you’d think Jay killed him. She didn’t want me to say anything about it.”

Darrell frowned. “You said Jay’s things are in boxes upstairs?”

“That’s right.”

“We’d like to search them.”