Half Past Dead (33 page)

“Get up!” the older woman screeched. “I don't have much time.”

“Just tell me why,” Kat said as she pretended to be trying to push off the ground with the palms of her bound hands.

Connie watched her, as alert as a wolf on the hunt. “David loves
me.
I'm the partner he never had at work or at home. He was just realizing it—then you had to come along.”

Connie's admission caught Kat totally by surprise. True, she'd noticed how protective Connie had been, but she'd never suspected Connie had fallen in love with her boss. She was completely certain David had never encouraged the woman, but Connie was too delusional to realize this was a one-way attraction.

“I almost got rid of you the easy way—”

The light dawned. “
You
poisoned me!”

Connie smirked. “I slipped a little belladonna into that yogurt you like so much, but it wasn't enough.”

“Thank you, God,” she said to the earth below her nose. “I can die knowing my own mother didn't try to kill me.”

“Get up!” Connie yelled, kicking Kat in the side. “Get behind the wheel.”

“Why?” Kat levered herself up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her side.

Connie's menacing smile seemed even more frightening in the moonlight. “I'm meeting David at the sheriff's station. They want me to help hunt for you. Of course, you will have had a little accident. What you were doing out here will be a mystery but you'll end up in the river in your car.”

“Wait a minute! How are you planning to get back?” she asked, still stalling and mentally calculating her chances.

“My car's not far from here.” Again, Connie smiled her diabolical smile. “Get moving! I don't have time to waste. I'll have to run all the way to my car.”

Kat stood her ground. “A forensic team will discover that my wrists had been taped. Justin will start investigating. He'll track you down.”

Connie belted out a laugh. “Have you ever seen what a body looks like after a few days in water?”

The woman was right. It didn't take water long to destroy evidence on a body.

“Know what working for a paper has taught me?” Connie asked, but didn't wait for a response. “Investigation techniques. I found out how deadly belladonna is and that they grow it at the arboretum in Memphis.”

“You're smart, all right,” Kat said, buying time.

“You bet. I've studied the charts of the currents. Ol' Miss is deep here and the current is faster than most other places along the river. In this tin can of a car, your body will be halfway to New Orleans before they find it. If they ever find it.” Connie prodded Kat with the gun. “Now move.”

Kat held onto a sliver of hope. “Aren't you going to cut off the tape?”

Connie swiped at her with the gun. “Don't underestimate me, you little bitch. I'm not giving you a chance to get away. I'll cut the tape off—after you're in the car.”

Go for it!

Kat swung her bound arms directly at Connie's face. The woman managed to hang on to the gun, but the blow knocked her sideways. Kat vaulted into the shadows beyond the car. She jumped one way, then leaped in the opposite direction. She gasped for breath, but kept springing from side to side like a frog on meth.

Hell-bent for leather, Kat bounded first one way, then another. She kept furiously hopping into the wooded area. Jumbled thoughts raced through her mind: her mother in the coffin, Justin smiling at her, Redd cautiously licking her hand. David reading an article she'd written. Tori's beautiful face framed by long blond hair. Standing on top of the toilet and looking out the window.

She was in dense brush now. The river rumbled along, not far away. She might fall into it, if she weren't careful. Bound like this, she would drown in no time.

Knees rubbery now, she kept hopping. Behind her, Kat heard scrambling noises. What was Connie doing? She didn't have time to wonder. She had to put as much distance as possible between herself and that madwoman.

“Stop! Stop!” called a familiar female voice.

Kat kept bouncing one way, then the other, frantically ducking hanging branches and slipping on mossy rocks. Blood thundered in her ears, she gasped for breath, but kept springing along.

A shot blasted through the night air like a round from a cannon followed by another. They weren't near her, but the next shots undoubtedly would be. She hurled herself through the underbrush where it would be harder to see her in the darkness.

An odd fact registered. Connie Proctor's gun had been muzzled by a silencer. It would never make such a loud noise. Oh, my God! She jumped up and down wildly, struggling to keep a coherent thought. Someone was helping Connie. She had two people after her.

You don't stand a chance.

Despite the futility of her effort, Kat kept up her hopping spree. Justin's face floated before her eyes. Thank heavens she'd taken a chance and let herself become involved with him. At least now she knew what it meant to truly love a man.

She heard crunching sounds behind her and knew the end was near. What chance did she stand with her ankles and wrists bound?

Her foot caught on an exposed rock and she pitched forward. Both knees hit the ground at once and she toppled over, her head hitting the trunk of a tree. Clusters of stars blinded her. She could hear sounds but it seemed as if they were coming from underwater. She didn't have the strength to utter a word.

A blast of light from a flashlight hit her face. “It's me, darling,” a low voice told her. “Are you okay?”

She squinted up into the blinding light. Was she dreaming? Or was she dead? “J-Justin?”

He gathered her into his arms. “Are you hurt?”

She managed to shake her head. “C-Connie?”

He slit through the tape with his pocketknife and rubbed her wrists. “Don't worry about Connie. She can't hurt you.” He worked on the tape wrapped around her ankles. “I shot her, but she'll live to stand trial.”

Her mind filled with a million questions, as she stared up at a swag of Spanish moss hanging from the tree that had taken her down. Only then did she notice the woman standing nearby.

“Maria?”

The other woman smiled. “That's my cover name. I'm Special Agent Teresa Hildago. I've been following you. Justin didn't know it. We both started shooting at Connie to keep her from killing you.” The woman smiled. “Justin's the better shot. He took her down.”

A
SINGLE MEADOW LARK TRILLED
from the branch of a nearby magnolia tree on the hillock where Kat's mother was being laid to rest. That morning when Kat arrived at the funeral home, the sky had been marbled with charcoal and white, but now shafts of sunlight punched through the clouds. Hours had gone by and the viewing followed by the service in the chapel was over. A rain-scented breeze had scuttled the clouds into an ominous mass with leaden underbellies. In the distance short pulses of lightning flickered, accompanied by the muted rumble of thunder.

“How are you doing?” Justin asked her in a low voice.

“I'm fine,” she replied even though she was still shaky from the narrow escape last night and the emotional stress of the funeral. She leaned into the curve of his arm and permitted herself to be comforted by the bone-deep strength of his body.

The brief service had been delivered by Reverend Applegate. They had come out to the graveside to say their final goodbyes. Loretta Wells had attended his church for over thirty years, but it was apparent that the minister had never gotten to know Kat's mother. Nor had any of the other parishioners who'd been kind enough to attend the funeral.

In the short time since my return, I've made more friends than my mother made in a lifetime,
Kat reflected.

Those who had taken the time to attend the funeral had drifted off after the service. Only a handful of people still stood at the graveside. Kat was grateful for the supportive presence of David and Lola Rae. They'd been accompanied by Maria—Teresa. None of them had suspected the shy illegal immigrant was actually an undercover FBI agent who'd been investigating the Sartiano crime family and the casino for over a year.

Tori stood opposite Kat on the other side of the grave, not far from the freshly dug mound of earth that would soon cover their mother. With her sister was a portly, balding man in his early forties. He shifted from one foot to the other while he waited for the minister to deliver his final words. The man owned the realty where Tori worked. Kat couldn't immediately recall his name but realized he seemed to be Tori's only friend.

Where was Clay? Kat had wondered this earlier when none of the Kincaids had attended the viewing or the service in the chapel. She'd considered asking Tori, then decided against it. The Kincaids had sent a spray of orchids in an exquisite rhapsody of whites that dwarfed the other arrangements.

“The Lord is my shepherd,” the minister began. Kat and Tori had agreed to limit the graveside service to one final prayer before their mother was interred.

Justin gently squeezed her as the minister continued. Kat barely heard the prayer. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the headstone marking her father's grave. For a moment a sheen of tears obscured her vision. She forced herself to glance upward and concentrate on a dark wedge of migrating birds flying overhead.

Neither of her parents had ever known true love. They'd loved their children, but hadn't shared the love of a spouse. An ache lodged deep inside her, a feeling made even more powerful for its emotional honesty. She wasn't living her life that way.

I loved you, Mother. Even though you didn't love me, I loved you. I always wanted to please you the way I pleased Daddy.

Now it was too late, Kat silently admitted the truth to herself. Nothing could change the past. It was behind her now, but its lessons were not.

“…the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever,” continued the minister. “Amen.”

Kat gazed down at the casket as it was being lowered into the ground. She'd insisted that Tori take money for the garland of yellow roses draped over the polished mahogany. Some of the blossoms were fully open while others were buds the size of a thimble. It was an exceptional display, far more beautiful than any floral arrangement her mother had received while she'd been alive.

“I don't think you need to see this,” Justin said, his voice pitched low.

The casket was now at the bottom of the grave. Carrying shovels, two workers from the funeral home began to fill in the pit with the dark, loamy earth piled up on the other side of the grave. Kat stepped back, Justin's arm still around her, and from across the open pit, her eyes met Tori's.

“I need to talk to my sister for a moment,” Kat said.

“All right. I'll be at my mother's grave,” Justin replied as he reluctantly released her. They'd hardly been apart since he'd arrived at the river to save her from Connie. “Tell Tori we're going back to David's. She's more than welcome to join us.”

Kat walked to the foot of the grave and waited for Tori. Her sister spoke for a few moments with her boss, then joined Kat. They silently took a few steps, keeping their backs to the workers who were quickly filling the grave before the storm hit.

“A few of us are going back to David's. I'd like it if you came over.”

“I can't,” Tori said. “I'm in a hurry. I need to start for Atlanta before it's raining too hard.”

“Atlanta?”

Tori's mouth pulled into a tight line that might have been an attempt at a smile. “I've decided to move there. You see…” She took Kat's hand and turned her around to face their mother's grave. “I want to start over—on my own. I loved Mother, but I'm not going to be bound by her ideas.”

Kat wasn't certain what to say. She'd never seen her sister so emotional, yet so determined.

“See this?” She held up her left hand. “It represents all the years I waited for Clay.”

“I thought you loved him.”

“I convinced myself that I loved him,” she sourly retorted. “It was easy with Mother constantly telling me what ‘quality folk' the Kincaids were and how wonderful my life would become once my last name was Kincaid. Clay was handsome and charming. It was easy to buy into Mother's dream.”

A tight knot formed in Kat's throat. “You've changed your mind?”

“Yes. Clay gave me this ring because his father told him to—not because it was his idea.”

“I'm sure he loves you. He's always—”

“Done what his father wanted. That's why he isn't here today. Daddy needs him.” Tori tried for a laugh but it was more of a croaking sound. “I followed Clay to Ole Miss and worked two jobs just to be near him. Know what? His father told him to start dating Verity again, and he did even though he
swore
he loved me.”

Kat couldn't imagine confident, beautiful Tori taking this, but then, she'd never really known her sister.

“He would have married Verity the way his father wanted except she dumped him for some black football player.”

Kat wanted to say she was sorry, but it was such a hollow word. She thought of her parents. They'd both been like Tori. They'd continued to love someone even though they'd known it was futile. At least Tori had come to her senses before it was too late.

“What will you do in Atlanta?”

Now, Tori managed a genuine smile. “Sell real estate. I like doing it and I'm good at it.”

Kat knew this was true. It had been hard to say no to Tori when they'd been younger. She could only imagine how easily this sophisticated, beautiful woman could close a deal.

Tori gazed at Kat for a moment, then slipped the heirloom ring off her finger. She tossed it into the loamy earth. The men filling the grave must have noticed, but they kept shoveling dirt. In a few seconds, the ring was no longer visible.

Ohmigod! Did her sister know what she was doing?

“That part of my life is over,” Tori announced. “The ring is with Mother where it belongs.”

Kat wished she knew how to respond to the angry defiance she heard in her sister's tone.
Leave it,
cautioned an inner voice.
This is between Tori and the Kincaids.

Tori opened the designer handbag hanging from her arm and handed Kat an envelope. “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“A quit claim deed to Mother's condo. It's all yours.”

“W-why?” she stammered in bewilderment. “Mother didn't want me to have—”

“Mother didn't leave it to you, but I insist you take it from me,” Tori said in a firm, final voice. “I need you to take it. When you were arrested, I should have…”

“It's okay. In a strange way, the experience has made me stronger…a new person really.” She attempted to return the envelope to Tori, but her sister shoved it away.

“It's the least I can do…considering everything. I want you to know how much I regret the way I behaved. I—”

“I know you're sorry. I don't want to take something Mother didn't want me to have.”

Tori looked sideways at the grave. “It doesn't matter what she wants now, does it? We're on our own.” Her sister's eyes were awash with unshed tears, pleading for forgiveness.

“I don't know what to say. I—”

“Don't say anything. Just be happy.” Tori hurried away.

Kat wanted to call after her, but the words wouldn't come. She turned, clutching the envelope, and walked to her father's grave. The spray of red roses in a heart shape that she'd ordered early this morning stood beside the grave.

“Guess what?” she told the marble headstone that had taken her months to save for. “Tori and I made up…at least, I think that's what happened.”

Let her go. Some lessons you must learn on your own. You did, and look at you now.

Had her father spoken to her or was it merely her imagination? Both, Kat decided. Love was so strong that time and place didn't matter. Her father was always with her—an angel on her shoulder—guiding her in the way she lived, the way she loved.

A roll of thunder shook the earth. Spring storms descended with a burst of speed and heavy rain—Kat had so much to tell her father and so little time right now. She would have to return on a sunny day and share with him the way she felt about Justin.

“Daddy,” she said. “I am what I am because you loved me. Your love gave me the will to survive in prison. Without it, I don't know what might have happened to me.”

She let out a low, tortured sob, then permitted herself to give in to the unrivaled solace of tears. Drops of rain pelted her head and shoulders, but she hardly felt it. She wept out loud, her body shaking.

Strong arms encompassed her and held her tight. “Sweetheart, don't cry,” Justin said tenderly. “Let's get out of here before lightning hits one of us.”

She took a few deep breaths until she was strong enough to raise her head. She looked up into Justin's eyes and saw what her mother and father had never known.

Love.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you more,” he replied. “I've been waiting my whole life for you.”