Best Kept Secrets (53 page)

"I didn't get everything off my chest last night. She didn't hold the pistol or pull the trigger, but she caused Daddy's suicide."

Junior placed his arm around her, drew her close, and kissed her temple. "Stacey, let it drop. Alex isn't the reason Joe killed himself."

"It's not just that," Stacey said, distraught. "Her investigation has raised questions about. . . well, we got married so soon after Celina was killed. People thought. . . you know how suspicious and narrow-minded they can be. They're talking about it again." She gazed up at him imploringly. "Junior, why did you marry me?''

He placed a finger beneath her chin. "Because you're a beautiful, dynamic woman, the best damn thing that ever happened to me, Stacey," he said, meaning it. He couldn't love her, but he appreciated her kindness and goodness, and her unflagging love for him.

"Then, you do love me a little?"

He smiled down at her and, for her sake, said, "Hell, girl, I love you a lot."

Her eyes glistened with tears. The radiance with which her face shone made her almost pretty. "Thank you, Junior."

Angus suddenly leaned forward and pointed toward the horizon. "My God, that looks like--"

"Smoke," Reede grimly supplied, and floored the accelerator.

Forty-seven

"Sarah Jo!" Alex cried. "What on earth are you doing?"

Sarah Jo smiled placidly. "I followed you here from my house."

"Why?"

Alex's eyes were on the knife. It was an ordinary kitchen knife, but it didn't look at all ordinary in Sarah Jo's hand.

Always before, her hand had looked feminine and frail. Now it looked skeletal and ominous around the handle of the knife.

"I came to rid my life of another nuisance." Her eyes opened wide, then narrowed. "Just like I did back in Ken-cky. My brother got the colt I wanted. It wasn't fair. I had to get rid of him and that colt, or I could never be happy again."

"What . . . what did you do?"

"I lured him into the stable by telling him the colt had colic. Then, I locked the door and started the fire."

Alex swayed in terror. "How horrible."

"Yes, it was, actually. You could smell burning horseflesh for miles. The stench hung on for days."

Alex raised a trembling hand to her lips. The woman was obviously psychotic, and therefore, all the more terrifying.

"I didn't have to start a fire the night I murdered Celina."

"Why not?"

"That idiot man, Gooney Bud, had followed her to the inch. I met him on my way out of the stable. He scared the living daylights out of me, standing there in the shadows so quiet He went in and saw her. He fell down on top of her and started carrying on something awful. I saw him pick up Collins's knife." She smiled gleefully. "That's when I new I wouldn't have to start a fire and destroy all those lovely horses."

"You killed my mother," Alex stated tearfully. "You killed my mother."

"She was a trashy girl." Sarah Jo's expression changed drastically, becoming spiteful. "I prayed every night that she would marry Reede Lambert. That way, I'd get both of them nit of my life. Angus didn't need but one son, the one I gave him," she cried, thumping her chest with her free fist. "Why

lid he have to keep that mongrel around?"

"What did that have to do with Celina?"

"That stupid girl let herself get pregnant. Reede wouldn't lave her after that." She clenched her teeth, distorting her delicate features. "And I had to watch when Junior stepped in to take Reede's place. He actually wanted to marry her.

imagine a Presley marrying a lowlife with an illegitimate baby. I wasn't going to let my son ruin his life."

"So, you looked for an opportunity to kill her."

"She dropped it into my lap. Junior left the house that night, disconsolate. Then, Angus made a complete fool of himself over her.''

"You overheard their conversation?"

"I eavesdropped."

"And you were jealous."

"Jealous?" she said with a musical little laugh. "Good heavens, no. Angus has had other women for almost as long as we've been married. I might not even have minded him having Celina, so long as he set her up out of town and away from Junior. But that silly bitch laughed at him--laughed in my husband's face after he had poured out his heart to her!"

Her eyes were blinking rapidly now, and her meager breasts were rising and falling with each strenuous breath. Her voice had grown shrill. Alex knew that if she was going to talk herself out of this, she had to tread softly. She was still trying to choose her next words when she caught the first whiff of smoke.

Her eyes moved beyond Sarah Jo to the hall. It was filling with smoke. Flames were licking up the walls of the living room beyond.

"Sarah Jo," Alex said in a quavering voice, "I want to talk to you about this, but--"

"Stay where you are!" Sarah Jo commanded sharply, brandishing the knife when Alex took a hesitant step. "You came here and started causing trouble, just like her. You favor Reede over my Junior. You're breaking his heart. Angus is upset and worried over Joe Wallace's death, which is all your fault. You see, Angus thought one of the boys killed her."

She smiled impishly. "I knew he would. I knew that the boys wouldn't ask any questions, either. I depended on their loyalty to each other. It was the perfect crime. Angus, thinking he was protecting the boys, made his deal with the judge.

I hated that Junior had to get married so young, but I was glad it was to Stacey rather than Celina."

The smoke was growing thicker. It was swirling around Sarah Jo, though she seemed unaware of it. "You started asking too many questions," she told Alex, drawing a sad ,face. "I tried to scare you off with that letter. I made it look like it had come from that crazy Reverend Plummet, but I sent it."

She seemed quite pleased with herself. Alex used & her complacency to creep forward, moving slowly, one step

at a time.

"You still didn't take the hint, so I ran you off the road with one of the company pickups. Judge Wallace would probably still be alive, and the deal Angus made with him would still be a secret, if only you had died when your car crashed.''

She seemed genuinely perturbed. "But, after today, I won't have to--"

Alex lunged forward and struck Sarah Jo's wrist. She was stronger than she appeared. She managed to maintain her grip on the knife. Alex grabbed her wrist and hung on, trying to dodge the stabbing motions aimed toward her body.

"I won't let you destroy my family," Sarah Jo grunted as she plunged the knife toward Alex's midsection.

The two women struggled over control of the knife. They fell to their knees. Alex tried to dodge the downward arcs of the blade, but the smoke was getting too thick for her to see it well. Her eyes filled with tears. She began to choke. Sarah Jo knocked her into the wall. Upon impact, she felt the stitches in her scalp pop open.

Somehow, she managed to get to her feet, and began dragging Sarah Jo down the hallway, where smoke was billowing around them. All the rules of fire escape fled Alex's mind.

She tried to hold her breath, but her lungs demanded oxygen for the difficult task of pulling Sarah Jo along with her.

They had almost reached the living room before Sarah Jo realized that Alex had gained the upper hand. She renewed her efforts and came back stronger than ever. The knife slashed Alex's ankle and she screamed. Its serrated edge caught her again in the calf, and she staggered back toward the living room.

Suddenly, she lost her grip on Sarah Jo. While seconds ago, she'd been fighting for her freedom, she now panicked at the thought of losing her attacker in the suffocating black smoke. It was so thick that she couldn't even distinguish an outline of the other woman.

"Sarah Jo! Where are you?" Alex gagged on a mouthful of smoke. Stretching her arms far out in front of her, she groped for the woman, but touched nothing except the searing air.

Then, survival instincts took over. She turned, ducked, and plunged through the hallway. In the living room, she dodged burning furniture and ran blindly in the direction of the door. The door was intact, but smoldering. She grabbed the knob; it branded the palm of her hand.

Screaming in fear and pain, she barreled through the door and out onto the porch.

"Alex!"

She stumbled in the direction of Reede's voice and saw through smoke-damaged eyes the wavering image of a Jeep coming to a screeching halt only yards in front of her.

"Reede," she croaked, reaching for him. She fell. He leaped from behind the steering wheel and bent over her.

"Sarah Jo," she wheezed. With an effort, she raised her hand and pointed toward the house.

"My God, Mother!" Junior went over the side of the Jeep and hit the ground at a run.

"Junior, come back!" Stacey screamed. "No, God, no!"

"Son, don't!" Angus reached for Junior's arm as he sped past. "It's too late!"

Reede was already on the porch when Junior knocked him aside. Reede fell backward down the steps and onto the ground. He made an unsuccessful grab for Junior's ankle.

"Junior, you can't!" he roared.

Junior turned and looked down at him. "This time, Reede, I'll get the glory."

He flashed Reede his most beautiful smile, then ran into the burning house.

"I thought you might be here."

Reede gave no impression of having heard Alex approach until she spoke to him. He glanced at her over his shoulder, then back at the two fresh graves. For a moment, there was an awkward silence, then he said, "I promised Angus I would come out every day to check on things. He's not feeling quite up to it yet."

Alex moved nearer. "I stopped by to see him this afternoon.

He made a feeble attempt to be the hale fellow well met," she remarked sadly. "He's entitled to grieve. I told him so. I hope he took it to heart."

"I'm sure he appreciated your visit."

"I'm not so sure." Reede came around to face her. She nervously swept back her hair, which the strong wind was blowing across her face. "If I'd never come here, never reopened the case--"

"Don't do that to yourself again, Alex," he said fiercely.

"None of it was your fault. Nobody guessed the extent of Sarah Jo's insanity, not even Angus, and he was married to her. Junior. . . .Well. . . ." He stopped speaking, his throat working convulsively.

"You'll miss him."

"Miss him?" he repeated with phony nonchalance. "The , dumb bastard. Running into a burning house about to collapse.

Only a goddamn fool would do something that stupid.''

"You know why he did it, Reede. He felt he had to." The tears shimmering in his eyes made Alex's throat ache with

the need to cry. She stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. "You loved him, Reede. Is that so hard to admit?"

He stared down at the flower-banked grave. "People always talked about how jealous he was of me. Nobody ever guessed how jealous I was of him."

"You were jealous of Junior?''

He nodded. "Of the advantages he had." He gave a dry, derisive laugh. "I stayed mad at him most of the time for squandering those advantages."

"We love people in spite of what they are, not because of what they are. At least, that's the way it should be."

She dropped her hand from his arm and, trying to keep her voice light and conversational, said, "Angus told me that he plans to go ahead with the racetrack."

' 'Yeah. He's a stubborn old cuss."

"Your airfield will prosper." I

"It better. I'll be out of a job by the end of the year," he told her. In response to her puzzled expression, he said, "I resigned. I can't sheriff and make anything out of that airport ; at the same time. It was time I either tackled it or let it go. I decided to tackle it."

"Good. I'm glad for you. Angus says you're considering incorporating with him."

"We'll see. I'm going to buy another racehorse with Double Time's insurance money. I'm thinking about training

it myself. Angus wants to help."

She wasn't fooled by his casual treatment of the subject, but she didn't pressure him about it. If she were a gambler, , she'd put her money on a future alliance. This time it would be for Angus's benefit more than Reede's.

"What about you?" he asked. "When will you be going back to work?"

She dug her hands into her coat pockets and drew her shoulders up. "I'm not sure. In light of my injuries--"

"How are they, by the way?"

"Everything's healing fine."

"No pain?"

"Not any longer. Basically, I'm as good as new, but Greg told me not to rush back to work. He knows the strain I've been under." She plowed into the soft earth with the toe of her boot. "I'm not sure I want to go back at all." Sensing his start of surprise, she smiled up at him. "You'll find this amusing, Sheriff. I've recently realized how much empathy I have for the accused. I might try defense law for a change."

"Public defender?"

"Possibly."

"Where?"

She looked deeply into his eyes. "I haven't decided."

Reede began to rearrange the freshly turned earth beneath his boots, too.' 'I, uh, I read your statement in the newspaper.

It was decent of you to close the case for lack of evidence,"

he said in a low voice.

"It really wouldn't serve much purpose to quarrel with the original ruling, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't, especially not now."

' 'Probably from the beginning, Reede.'' He raised his head and gave her an appraising look. "You were right, all of you. This investigation was self-serving. I used it and the people involved to prove my grandmother wrong." She drew a shaky breath. "It's too late for Celina to rectify her mistakes, but I can certainly do something about mine."

She inclined her head toward the nearby grave, the older, overgrown one, which now had a single red rose lying at the base of the headstone. "Did you put that there?"

Reede looked across the two fresh graves toward Celina's.

"I thought Junior would like sharing a flower with her. You know how he felt about the ladies." It was healthy that he could smile when he said it.