“More things that won’t surprise you but mention of Zara’s divorce, the brevity of that union, the loss of her home and shop. And you and I may need to have a sit down so you can share anything I might need to know, because they didn’t say it up front, but my guess is, they’re investigating you and if you’ve got skeletons in your closet, I have to know about them.”

“I don’t,” Ham stated.

“That’s good but maybe I need to be the judge of that,” Nina replied.

Fuck.

“It was also noted that you were caught up in that mess with that serial killer,” she went on.

Fuck.

“Not my fault that guy had me in his sights,” Ham returned.

“Agreed. But that doesn’t mean they won’t twist it in some way to make it work for them.”

“Goddamn it,” Reece muttered.

“Do you want good news?” she asked.

“If you got it,” he answered.

“I’ve had long conversations with both Zara’s maternal aunts. I know she primed them before they called me but I’m pleased to report they told me what they told her. They’re willing to assist us any way we need it. As you know, they, too, were under the impression Zander had been adopted and they’re about as happy as Zara is that he wasn’t. They’re also a bit put out they weren’t invited to Xenia’s final services.”

“Know that already, Nina,” Reece told her and he knew this because Zara had reported it to him after the lengthy phone calls she’d had with her aunts two days ago.

“Yes, well, it’s still good they’ve confirmed with me. One minor problem with this is they never witnessed any physical abuse of Amy, Xenia, or Zara. That said, they often saw Xavier lose his temper, he did it quickly, they found it alarming, and they watched how their sister cowed and how the girls were not saved from this by father or mother. They’ve also heard Wilona and Dahlia pile verbal abuse on Amy. I don’t know how far that will go but they’ve both agreed to be deposed locally. We’ll add their depositions to our evidence but neither can afford back-and-forth trips and we’re on a budget, too. So we’ll save their visits to Colorado if we need them, or hopefully when they come out to meet their great-nephew.”

“Fine,” Reece replied.

“And another bit of news I’m not entirely certain what to do with,” she said, and Ham’s focus on Zara dimmed so he could focus on her words mostly because of how she said them.

“That is?” he prompted.

“Max and I were out with the kids last night and we got a visit at our table from Pastor Williams.”

This was so surprising, and considering how the man handled Zara, the service, and Zara’s guess that he was the one who shared about the service with Mick, Ham straightened away from the door. “And?”

“My sense is, he’s in a pickle. He’s a man of the cloth and thus there are many things he can’t share. However, I also got the sense he knew what was going on in that house while the girls were growing up and he wanted to help. I don’t know if Xenia went to him, or if it was Zara or Amy. But my guess is, one of them did. If it was Xenia, he may be free to share as she’s no longer with us and yet he wasn’t very forthcoming during our strange chat last night. If it was Zara, she would have told us. So, unfortunately, I’m thinking it’s Amy.”

“Shit,” Ham muttered.

“There are many angles to any fight, Reece,” Nina told him. “I don’t know his but what he said and how he said it was curious. It was also intriguing. I’m going to look into it as he seemed frustrated and very concerned. So, guessing again, he can’t do anything to help us unless Amy allows it. But he can talk to Amy.”

“Not sure that’ll do any good. That woman was broken a long time back. She doesn’t have it in her to do shit. Right or wrong,” Reece explained, something he suspected Nina knew.

“Miracles happen,” she replied.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath,” Reece advised.

“I won’t,” she said, a smile in her voice. “But I’ll hope. I’ll also think about how to approach regarding a meeting that will take us into a regular visitation schedule while we fight the big fight. But, Reece, my advice is to keep Zara away from Zander. I know it will be hard on her but we can’t risk her approaching him, what that would say about her that she wouldn’t have a mind to how he’d react to the shocking news of her living a county over. We have to go cautious in every step we take. If we can’t come to a private agreement and this sees court, the judge will want to see us taking the high road.”

“Tried to talk her out of it, she wouldn’t listen. It didn’t go well. She’s promised to listen,” Reece told her.

“Good,” Nina murmured. Then she stated, “A lot has been going on but you should know I found out Kami didn’t want Zara to know about Xenia because she wanted to save Zara from either being shoved out of any services they had for her sister or having to go and be around her father. So Kami, Lynda, Kami’s mom, Arlene, and now me, Mindy and Becca are hoping to plan a memorial for Xenia. It wasn’t meant to be a surprise but it is meant to be a celebration of Xenia that Kami suspected Xavier wouldn’t give. They wanted to have it sorted before they went to her. Now, with all that’s going on, I need you to check with Zara to see if she’ll be okay with something like that. If she is, we’ll proceed. If she isn’t, we’ll let it go.”

“We’ll have a chat,” Reece said.

“Thanks,” Nina replied. “Now, I’ll have a think about how to move forward after what happened today, and when I come up with a plan, I’ll call you.”

“Right. Thanks, Nina.”

“No problem, Reece.”

They wrapped it up and Reece went into the kitchen, got a beer, got another one for Zara, and headed out to the balcony.

She looked up at him and smiled but the smile didn’t cut through the sadness he knew she was trying to hide.

Silently, he handed her the beer. She took it, chugged what was left in her bottle, and leaned forward to set the empty on the railing.

He dragged a chair close, sat in it, and lifted his cocked legs to rest his feet on the railing.

The chairs were cheap white plastic and every time he sat in one, he was sure it would give out.

At her house, a house that stood empty waiting for the time he gave her the diamond sitting in his nightstand, another expenditure that cut into his nest egg, she had a great deck. Or, they had one.