Dead Giveaway (9 page)

At least Irene had gone into the relationship determined to be a good wife, to make the best of what she considered a second chance. Clay remembered her treating Reverend Barker's daughter, Madeline, the same as Grace and Molly, remembered her pulling him aside to say that the reverend might not be a handsome scoundrel, or make them laugh, but he had his priorities straight. He was a man of God, and they were finally going to be a complete and happy family.

Little did she know life would only get worse from then on....

"Talk to Allie, convince her to stop what she's doing," Irene said.

Clay blew out a long breath. "Why? Let her do what she wants and ignore it. If you react, she'll know she's struck a nerve and she'll keep after it."

38

Brenda Novak

"But she has struck a nerve! You need to explain how it was for us after Lucas left. Tell her not to bother with him."

"Mom, you're not making any sense. If Dad hasn't looked back before now, what makes you think he's going to? And even if he does, I've just told you it won't make any difference to me.

I'm sure Grace and Molly feel the same. You have nothing to lose."

She clasped her hands tightly. "That's not true," she said, her gaze intense.

Clay narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"He called me once," she admitted.

"When?"

"Not long after Lee died."

"How'd he find you?"

"Everyone in Booneville, including his own cousin, knows I married a reverend and moved to Stillwater. I'm sure it wasn't hard."

Clay jammed a hand through his hair. "Okay, he called once. Why is that so significant?"

"I was at my lowest, Clay. I--I was inches away from a nervous breakdown. Grace was...you know what Grace was like after what that bastard did to her. She'd walled herself off from both of us. And Molly was just a little girl, confused but mostly oblivious. You were all I had, and you were only sixteen."

Adrenaline began to pound through Clay's veins. "Tell me you didn't," he said.

"Clay, I needed him. I--I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was so desperate that I pleaded with him to come back."

His chest constricted. "How much did you tell him?"

"All of it," she said. "I had to talk to someone, let the pain out. My head was going to explode if I didn't. And I thought if he knew what we were facing and how unfair it all was, he'd stand by me and be the man I'd always wanted him to be. How could any man hear how his daughter had been abused, defiled by her own stepfather, and not support her?"

Anxiety made it difficult to speak. "What did he say?"

"He promised to come. He was living in Alaska, said it was beautiful and that he'd move us up there with him."

Clay dropped his head in his hands. "Even if he'd kept that promise, we couldn't have left,"

he said. "You knew that. We still can't. The moment we sell the farm, the police will get the new owner's permission to search, and they'll go over every inch."

"Maybe he realized that," she said softly.

"Because..."

Her gaze fell to the ground. "I never heard from him again."

"God." Clay squinted into the distance, out across the cotton fields. What was he going to do? If Allie tracked down his father and started questioning him, there was no telling what Lucas might say. And once the details of Barker's death were revealed, they wouldn't be hard to prove.

The police would find Barker's car in the quarry, where Clay had driven it. They'd get another warrant to search for Barker's remains, and this time they wouldn't walk away empty-handed. Clay had poured cement over the earthen floor of the cellar, but that wouldn't stop them. "What if he's told someone? What if he tells Allie?"

"He swore he wouldn't."

As if that counted for anything. "Can't you get Chief McCormick to call off his daughter?"

he asked.

"Are you kidding? He won't even mention my name in front of her."

39

Brenda Novak

"What the hell does he think happened to Barker? Has he ever asked you about it?"

"No. We've never discussed it. I don't think he wants to know."

Clay clenched his jaw. "You've heard from Dale recently, then?"

"He called me yesterday."

"What did he say?"

"He misses me."

Clay knew from the way she'd spoken that she missed him, too. "Did you tell him it was over?"

She cringed visibly.

"Mom!"

"I couldn't," she said. "It was the first time we've been able to talk in over a week. But I will. I promise," she added quickly. "Just get Allie to quit searching for Lucas, okay? You have to stop her before she contacts him."

Clay rubbed the whiskers on his chin. He had no leverage with Officer McCormick. She wouldn't back off because he asked her to. Especially after the other night. "What can
I
do?" he asked.

"She's lonely," his mother volunteered.

He rocked back. "I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means."

She straightened her hat, as if she needed to keep her hands busy. "Women like you, Clay.

You can make Allie like you, too. You could even make her fall in love, if you wanted. A woman will do anything for love."

"No," he said. "Absolutely not. I won't play with her heart."

"But she's attractive and--"

"No!"

"Okay, don't go that far. Just...be nice to her, take her out a few times. Maybe you'll enjoy her company. You never know. You could do worse than end up with a woman like Allie."

Clay couldn't believe it. "Are you insane?" he asked. "How long do you think it would be before she figured out the whole scenario?"

"It's better to make her your friend than your enemy," she replied. "You're not opposed to having another female friend, are you?"

He said nothing.

"Come on," she continued. "Madeline says she's very nice."

His mother didn't need to convince him of that. He could already tell Allie was a good person. She'd certainly been fair with him the other night, despite the prejudice he faced from the rest of the community.

"I don't know," he said. He couldn't imagine befriending a cop under any circumstances.

He'd spent too many years avoiding them. But there was wisdom in the old adage "Hold your friends close and your enemies closer." The more information he gleaned about her investigation--what she was finding and which direction she was going--the more he'd be able to protect himself and his family.

"I don't like it," he said. Her suggestion made some sense, but he'd be using Allie, and he didn't feel right about that. He preferred to keep his distance.

"Can we really afford to hunker down and just hope for the best?"

No. He knew they couldn't.

"Clay." His mother touched his arm.

"What?"

40

Brenda Novak

"We have to do whatever we can."

She was right. He couldn't pretend Allie didn't have the skills and determination to reveal what--so far--he'd managed to hide. Maybe he
should
spend some time with her, try to neutralize the threat. What better choice did he have? He could be careful, maintain just enough distance.

He wondered if he'd ever be able to throw off the yoke of the past. "Fine," he said with a sigh.

His mother smiled in apparent relief, as if she thought he'd crook his finger and Allie would forget all about Lucas and Barker. Problem solved.

If only it was that simple.

5

T
hat evening, after Clay stepped out of the shower and finished toweling his hair, he called his stepsister, Madeline, on the cordless phone he'd taken into the bathroom. He loved Maddy, talked to her often. Irene, Grace and Molly did, too. After her father "went missing," she'd chosen to stay with them instead of going to live with Barker's extended relatives and was as much a part of the family as any one of them. They shared everything with her--except the secret destined to make her hate them if she ever found out.

"Hey, I ran into Beth Ann when I was getting gas today," she said the moment she heard his voice.

He hung the towel on the rack behind him. "Am I supposed to be excited about that?"

"I thought you might want to know that I already heard what happened at the farm night before last."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," he said, leaving the steamy bathroom and heading into his bedroom.

"Well, maybe this will. The version she gave me is quite different from the rumors going around town."

He twisted in front of the mirror to see how the scratches on his back were healing. "Is this good or bad news?"

"Good news."

The scratches were almost gone. That was good news, too. "Then she didn't tell you I tried to kill her?"

"She just said you broke up with her."

"Even that isn't true," he muttered as he delved into his underwear drawer.

"How's that?"

"There wasn't any commitment between us to begin with."

"She was hoping for one. She feels terrible about calling the cops on you, by the way. She claims she's in love with you."

He pulled on his boxer briefs. "Don't worry. She'll be in love with someone else next week."

"You're so cynical," she said, laughing. "But maybe you're right. She had John Keller in the 41

Brenda Novak

car while she was crying over you, and he seemed more than willing to comfort her."

"John Keller?" he repeated, not immediately recognizing the name.

"The guy who manages Stillwater Sand and Gravel for Joe Vincelli's parents. Why?

Jealous?"

"No." He selected a pair of jeans. "I thought Joe managed the gravel pit."

"He has the title. But he doesn't do much other than chase women and drink beer. At least since he divorced Cindy. John's the one who keeps the business afloat."

If Madeline said it, it was probably true. No one knew Stillwater and the people living in it better than she did. It was her job to know. She owned the
Stillwater Independent,
a weekly paper she'd bought two years ago from the old couple who'd published it before.

"Good old Joe," he said, putting on his pants.

"I know. Not your favorite person."

"An understatement if I've ever heard one." Joe had instigated the last search of the farm.

And Joe had mistreated Grace. Clay knew he didn't have the whole story and doubted Grace would ever tell him, but he'd gathered enough to suspect that the hatred between his sister and Joe stemmed from high school. Clay also guessed the contact between them had been sexual in nature.

But after what his sister had been through, he didn't judge her. Barker had nearly destroyed her.

After what had happened when she was only thirteen, she'd acted out in various ways, no doubt hoping to finish the job--and Joe had been there, ready and eager to take advantage, to inflict even more damage.

Clay had done what he could, but Grace had thwarted his attempts to protect her, and he couldn't help her if she wouldn't confide in him. So, he'd watch helplessly as she searched for the attention she needed, the love and support she'd rejected from her family.

Until recently. Somehow, she'd managed to survive even her own self-loathing and Joe's opportunistic abuse. And now she was happy, and Clay was going to make damn sure she stayed that way, if he had to sit at the farm and guard whatever forensic evidence remained until he rotted right along with Barker.

Which reminded him of the purpose behind his call.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked, holding the phone with his shoulder so he could button his fly.

"Kirk said he'd like to shoot some pool. Why? Want to come?"

Kirk Vantassel, a roofing contractor, was Madeline's longtime boyfriend. Clay kept expecting them to marry but, so far, they weren't even engaged. In some ways, they acted more like brother and sister than boyfriend and girlfriend.

"I know you don't like crowds, and Good Times is busy on Friday night," she said. "But it'd be fun for you to get out. You don't do it often enough."

"I'll meet you over there." He held the phone out as he pulled on a T-shirt. "Any chance you could convince Allie McCormick to come?" he asked when he had his head through.

"You mean with us? You want me to set you up with Allie?"

"Nothing like that," he replied. "I was just hoping to get to know her a little."

"I see," she said, drawing the word out as though she saw far more than he intended.

"Stop it." He shrugged into a button-down shirt and splashed on some cologne. "She's investigating Dad's case, isn't she? I figure I might as well talk to her, see if there's anything I can do to help." Clay hated making such statements, hated being the hypocrite he was when it came to Maddy but, once again, past actions propelled current ones.

"Considering how you feel about the police, that's generous of you. I'll call her," she said.

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Brenda Novak

"I've been meaning to, anyway. She left a message on my answering machine, asking about Dad's Bible."

"Why? Does she want to look at it?"

"Yeah."

Clay felt another trickle of unease. Would Allie see the demented man behind the notes the reverend had made in the front and back pages of that Bible? Or, like Madeline, would she see a pious man who loved his new family--and was particularly impressed with his oldest stepdaughter?

At times like this, Clay felt almost justified in keeping the truth from Madeline. Wondering where her father had gone was hard. Especially because she had to deal with the fear that he'd abandoned her. But learning that her father wasn't fit to breathe the same air as other human beings would be much harder. Of course, that was assuming she'd believe the truth if she heard it.

Certainly no one else would.

"I'm going to grab some dinner," he said. "I'll see you at Good Times."

"Are you eating at home or in town?"

"I'm on my way to Two Sisters. Why? Would you like to join me?"

"I'm tempted, but I should finish the article I'm working on. Besides, Kirk's still out, patching a leaky roof. I'll eat with him, then catch up with you later."