Not a Happy Family

Audrey gathers with other onlookers as the Aylesford police dredge the Hudson River looking for evidence from the killing. Audrey listens as some of the onlookers speculate about the killings and, in turn, judge the family for their wealth. The search turns up nothing. Audrey chats briefly with a reporter named Robin Fontaine, who gives her a business card.

The detectives interview Jake Brenner, Jenna’s boyfriend. He tries hard to be cool, to play the “starving artist” (145). They focus on the hour Jenna stayed with her parents after her siblings left. Nothing special happened, he tells the detectives, and then assures them he and Jenna left together and stayed together the rest of the night.

The detectives are sure that with each of the siblings providing an alibi, they will need a breakthrough, maybe from surveillance footage. They will start working the neighborhoods where the siblings live.

That afternoon, the coroner tells the detectives that yes, Fred Merton died of stab wounds. However, he also had advanced pancreatic cancer and had, at most, a few months to live.

Despite his lack of funds, Dan reluctantly hires “the best criminal defense lawyers Aylesford has to offer” (148). Dan lies to his attorney and does not tell him about his long drive on