Steve and Valerie Palmer had been the ones to find Alex and call the police.

Devine checked the date, and then Googled something on his phone.

The story popped up on his screen.

Three days after finding Alex’s body, Steve and Valerie Palmer had died in the house fire. The story said that it had been accidental and due to a portable heater being knocked over, probably by the couple’s cat, which had also perished in the fire. It seemed the drapes had caught on fire and the room had been engulfed in flames while the doomed couple had slept. They had apparently been overcome by smoke inhalation because their badly charred bodies had been found in the bed.

Devine went and asked James about the rape kit. She looked through the box and then through the entire evidence room.

“My God, it’s not here,” she said.

Devine looked at the log to see who had last accessed the evidence. The date was from over ten years ago, and while the ink had faded some, Devine could still make out the name and signature.

Sergeant Richard Wayne Harper.

Chapter 40

Devine drove straight to Maine Brew to find that Annie Palmer was just leaving. Devine checked his watch. It was after eight. Long, long day for the woman. She had her motorcycle helmet in hand, a rain slicker on, and was climbing onto her scooter as he pulled to the curb.

“Do you have time to talk?” he asked after rolling his window down.

She looked flustered. “I was going to check on my grandfather before heading home.”

“It won’t take long. Just a few questions.”

She hesitated. “Okay, where?”

“In here. Out of the storm.”

They sat in the SUV while the rain clattered against the vehicle’s roof.

“So, what questions?” she asked, tucking a wet strand of hair behind her ear.

“It’s bringing things up in the past, things that will be painful to you.”

“I... I don’t understand,” she said, a sense of panic rising in her eyes.

“It has to do with your parents.”

“What about them?”

“They were the ones to find Alex after she was attacked.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t know that?”

“No!”

“Your parents didn’t tell you?”

“I was at camp when they died in the fire. I’d been there all week. The police brought me home when it happened. It was awful.” She punched the dashboard. “I should have been there. I could have saved them.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that, Annie. For all you know, if you had been there you would have died, too.”

“Well, at least we would have died together.”

“I don’t believe that’s what your parents would have wanted.”

She looked out the window. “My grandparents took me in and finished raising me. But I never knew about my parents finding Alex. My grandparents never told me. I don’t even know if they knew.”

“So you knew about her being assaulted?”

“There were rumors, and I heard things from time to time.”

“She was also raped.”

Palmer’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “I didn’t know that.”

“And no one else in town told you about your parents finding her?”

“No. Who else knew?” she asked.

“Well, the police did, surely.”

“I can’t believe this shit.” She paused and studied him. “But what does that matter now? Whether I knew or not?”

“Alex got attacked and your parents found her. And from the timeline I looked at they found her pretty much immediately after she was attacked. Then, three days later they die in a house fire?”

“I must be very stupid, but I don’t see what you’re getting at.”

“I think they might have seen whoever raped Alex. They could have passed the man on the road, maybe he was running or driving away. The point is, it’s a lonely area. It was getting dark. There might not have been anyone else around.”

“But if they saw the rapist, why didn’t they tell the police?”

“That I haven’t figured out yet. I just found out they were the ones who discovered Alex and reported it.”

“So are you saying that my parents were, what? Murdered?”

“It’s possible.”

Palmer shook her head stubbornly. “I just don’t see how that could have happened. My parents were friends with the Silkwells. They would have told the police if they had seen a man running or driving away like that. And if they had, what would be the point of killing them to keep them quiet about what they had seen? The police would have arrested the person or at least talked to them.”

Devine knew she was probably right about that.

“The police report says the fire was started when a portable heater turned over and caught the drapes on fire.”

She nodded. “That’s what they told me, too. I remember that old heater. It wasn’t safe. Mom was always telling Dad to buy a new one. But...”

“But what?”