Half Past Dead (6 page)

Beneath her anger, he detected sadness and something else—a loneliness he intuitively recognized. It was a self-protective maneuver. Prison could do that to a person. So could a stint in the service with special forces followed by a career in law enforcement.

Kat Wells was a troubled woman, he decided. She was incredibly intense, and it was clear her anger had been pent up for a long time. She'd kept herself in check but only with difficulty. She must have been warned that one brush with the law and her cute butt would land back in prison.

He drove to the station and brought Redd inside with him. He wanted to check Kat's file. He'd been too busy earlier to rummage through the inactive files stored in the basement.

“Anything going on?” he asked the night duty deputy who was working dispatch.

Until the murder, not much had happened around here. The deputies justified their paychecks by zealously pursuing vandalism cases. Bashing mailboxes with a baseball bat was a local sport. Now things had changed. Despite what Mayor Peebles wanted the citizens to think, there was a killer out there.

“The usual stuff,” responded the deputy over a burst of static from the two-way radio. “A couple of drunk drivers and a report of gunshots on the north side.”

“I'll be downstairs if you need me.”

The sheriff's station wasn't large. The brick building had a small reception area with a booking desk off to one side that doubled as the dispatcher's station. Behind double doors was the squad room. A small briefing room also served as an interrogation room and had a one-way mirror.

He could see into the interrogation room from his corner office with walls that were glass halfway down. The glass was covered by shades. Nora had told him Sheriff Parker
never
left the blinds open or the door to his office. Justin had the blinds up and his door open. He wanted to be accessible to his staff and the community.

Behind the offices were three holding cells, two for men and one for women. Few women were arrested and most of the men were DUIs who were locked up to sleep it off. He wondered where Kat had been held. She'd probably been sent straight to Jackson. Since bank robbery was a federal crime, she must have been tried in the state capital. Still, there would have been at least the original robbery report and the record of her arrest.

He headed down the narrow stairs at the back of the building. Justin flicked on the lights in the basement. It was one huge room heaped full of outmoded equipment: black rotary phones, a ditto machine, an old radio set with broken earphones. Bins with old evidence lined the walls, a legal disaster waiting to happen should a case need to be retried.

He'd have to get someone to sort through this mess. The stuff had been commandeered by spiders. Everything was festooned with cobwebs.

The old case files were stored in surprisingly good order. Nora's work, no doubt. He found the box with the year Kat Wells had been tried. None of the files had her name on it. There wasn't a file with Mercury National Bank on it either.

Weird. Friggin' weird.

He checked the boxes for the year before and after, thinking it had been misfiled. Nothing. He rummaged through all of the boxes, which went back fourteen years. There would have been more, but a broken pipe had flooded the basement fifteen years ago and destroyed the other files.

What in hell had happened to the damn file?

H
E HATED BEING OUT OF THE LOOP
.
He liked to know things before the others did. Not after. Something was going on. He felt it deep in his bones, an inner rumble of suspicion. Fate hinged on the smallest—often unnoticed—details.

Justin Radner and Kat Wells were back in town. He wasn't sure why this bothered him, yet it did. The news made something niggle at the back of his brain, warning him.

Worse, the body he thought wouldn't turn up for another few months had been discovered by some no-account kids nosing around in the woods. Had all the trace evidence been washed away by the spring rains?

He'd seen
CSI
only once but he was familiar with how seemingly insignificant fibers or some stray mark could snare a killer. If the autopsy results from Benton at Gaylord's Mortuary had been accepted, he wouldn't have been concerned. But that prick Radner had sent the body to New Orleans where it would receive a much more sophisticated analysis.

He might have to get rid of Justin Radner. He considered the situation for a minute. Kat Wells could present a problem also. She'd been framed for the money missing from the bank's vault. What if she investigated what had really happened?

Again, he wouldn't have worried about it, but Kat was going to work at the newspaper. David Noyes was a topflight investigative reporter with two Pulitzers to his credit. He might help Kat unearth some damning evidence.

“Settle down,” he said out loud. He needed to wait to see what happened and keep the others calm.

After all, he had his standards. He didn't go off half-cocked. He planned and paid strict attention to details. Above all, he didn't make stupid mistakes.

 

T
ORI WAITED
until dessert was served to spring her news. Since they hadn't sat down to dinner until nine and it was now almost ten, Clay's mother was soused. Not that Tori cared. It was the judge she wanted to impress.

The whole town knew May Ellen popped pills and drank too much alcohol, but she was a Hutton and could trace her ancestors back to the earliest plantation owners. People looked the other way and pretended nothing was wrong.

Tori was always very polite to May Ellen, but Tori knew the truth. A Hutton or not, the woman was a political liability. The judge would never divorce her. He was a man to whom family values meant everything. Clay had told her the judge intended to make moral values part of his platform when he ran for senate.

Politics. Yuck. Tori hated the thought of boring bills and tedious legislation. Who cared?

When he won, Tori was positive the judge would find a reason to leave May Ellen in Twin Oaks. That was okay with Tori. Having the judge in Washington and May Ellen boozed-up, Tori would have Clay to herself—finally.

“I leased a house today,” Tori announced. “The Atherton place.”

“Next to the guy who's always having wild parties and beats up his wife?” Clay asked.

“Yes, the Randolphs.” Tori tried to keep the excitement out of her voice.

The judge studied her with interest. “Who'd be fool enough to take it?”

Tori took a sip of her wine to let the drama build. “Justin Radner.”

“Radner?” The word exploded out of Clay, and Tori smothered a smile.

“The white trash kid who stole your place on the football team?” asked May Ellen.

“Yes,” Tori informed her. “He's been appointed sheriff.”

“How in hell could that happen?” Clay asked his father. “Doesn't there have to be a special election?”

“Not according to the county charter,” Tori informed him. “The mayor with council approval can appoint a sheriff and wait for the next regular election.”

“This sucks.” Clay kicked back the dregs of his whiskey.

“Watch your mouth,” May Ellen said.

Tori had long ago noted that May Ellen stayed tuned to conversations even when she was tipsy. Very little got by the woman. She was devious and deceitful. Not to mention self-absorbed. She knew Tori's mother had cancer, but May Ellen never asked how she was doing.

“The city council had to approve Peebles' choice,” the judge added. “The vote was five to one. Only Buck opposed it. Guess we know that's what happens when…undesirables take over the city government.”

Tori smiled at the judge. “So true. Well, I got even a little by pawning off that dump on Justin.”

“You were with Radner?” Clay asked. “Showing him houses?”

“Not really,” Tori said, thrilled to hear the note of jealousy in his voice. “I did a virtual tour, pushing the Atherton property. When Justin went for it, I had to show it to him. I just took him to the Atherton place.”

Clay didn't say anything, but the fire in his eyes told her that she would hear more about it later. Fine. She knew how to handle Clay. His father was another matter. The judge wasn't nearly as impressed with her accomplishment as she'd hoped he would be nor did he compliment her on knowing about the city charter.

“I fail to see how foisting off that property helps.” Clay's mother glared at her. “Now we're stuck with that piece of trash.”

“There are ways of getting rid of him,” the judge assured his wife. “I think Tori did us a service. You never know. Radner might get killed if he tries to stop one of the Randolphs' wild parties.”

“Yeah,” Clay agreed. “Randolph goes ballistic when he's drunk. He's beat his wife within an inch of her life several times.”

Tori seriously doubted anyone was beating up Justin Radner. It would take a lot more to kill him.

The judge said, “There was another interesting development today.”

“What was that?” Clay asked.

The judge took a swig of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label he always drank, savoring the expensive whiskey before responding. “Your sister has been released on a work furlough.”

Tori couldn't stifle a gasp. Kat was home? Why?
Why?
Why now when Clay was set to announce their engagement? May Ellen was pathologically obsessed with society. Having a felon in the family would set her off like nothing else.

May Ellen stared at Tori, slack-jawed. “Your sister is back? How will you be able to hold up your head?”

“Why?” she practically screamed at the old souse. “I haven't done anything. I've made something of myself. I'm the most successful real estate agent in this town. I'm not responsible for what—”

“She'll be working at the paper,” the judge informed them.

“I didn't think she was up for parole yet,” Clay said.

The judge shrugged. “Prisons are horribly overcrowded. Like a lot of convicts, she's out for good behavior.”

“She'll steal again,” Clay's mother said. “Mark my words.”

Tori had felt sorry for the ugly duckling when they'd been growing up. Her sympathy vanished when she'd received the call from her mother saying Kat had been arrested. They'd immediately decided to distance themselves. Why ruin their reputations in a small town where family counted for so much?

Tori had believed Kat would be paroled and disappear from their lives. Tori had worked long, brutal hours to make something of herself. Now, on the very evening Clay was going to tell his parents they were getting married, her deadbeat sister reappeared to ruin it all. Like a grenade in the pit of her stomach, her anger was primed to explode.

“Well, we'd better go,” Clay said, abruptly. “I have to be in court in Jackson first thing in the morning.”

 

“L
OOKS LIKE
Mayor Peebles is having a party,” Tori commented as they drove away from the Kincaid estate.

Clay's family's home was hidden by tall trees and a stately hedge. It was the epitome of class consciousness. Tori's mother had explained this when she had been just a little girl. “Quality people” didn't flaunt their money. That would be in bad taste.

Tyson Peebles' mansion wasn't hidden from view. He'd cut down the hedge shortly after buying it. Like a preening swan, the antebellum home sat atop a rise surrounded by acres of lawn that put the country club's golf course to shame. A sweeping cobblestone drive led up to the front door and swung around a fountain Tyson's landscape architect from Atlanta had commissioned. A trio of enormous marble lions spouted water from their mouths into the reflection pool surrounding their huge paws. Totally tasteless, but what could you expect from a black football player?

Tori never mentioned it, but she thought it was a hoot that Tyson Peebles had bought the house next door to the Kincaids. Every day, the judge and May Ellen had to drive past Peebles' in-your-face mansion. Served both of them right. They thought they were so perfect.

“What are you going to do about your sister?” Clay asked.

Tori knew that tone of voice. She'd been in love with Clay since she was sixteen. She was pushing thirty-four now. Clay was upset—with her, with Justin Radner, with Kat. The only thing to do was placate him and wait it out.

“What can I do? If Kat's out on some type of work program, how can I get rid of her?”

He hitched his shoulders and kept driving. Tori glanced out the window at the mini-Taras in the middle-class section of Twin Oaks. They were squeezed onto lots the size of Tyler Peebles' fountain. “Aping their betters,” Tori's mother often said.

Tori's condominium was in a discreet building hidden behind a row of stately cypress trees. It was the nicest complex in town, and Tori prided herself on the way she'd decorated it with beautiful antiques and fine fabrics. She'd invited the Kincaids for dinner once, and May Ellen actually complimented her decorating, but they'd never accepted another invitation.

Clay pulled his sleek silver Porsche to a stop in front of her condo. She gazed at him, willing the Clay she knew and loved so much to resurface. A hard silence engulfed them. Tori waited, not quite holding her breath.

“There's no ‘us' if you can't get rid of your sister. My father's seriously gearing up to run for the senate. We can't afford to have criminals in the family.”

“What can I possibly do?”

He turned to her, and in the dim light, she saw eyes as hard and cold as a knife blade. Clay's were usually bluer and sparkled with humor. “You'd better think of something.”

She reached for the door handle.

Clay put his hand on her arm, stopping her. “You know I love you.”

Tori's heart seized up, and she gazed at him. She'd loved him for so long. She couldn't remember caring one whit about another man. She would do anything for him. She'd already proven that.

“My father wants me married by the time the campaign starts. I'll stump the state with him. He thinks it would be helpful if my wife were pregnant.”

The shock of the revelation almost brought her to her knees in utter defeat. She knew what he was really saying. If she didn't get rid of her sister, Clay would have to marry someone else.

Tori couldn't muster the breath to say good-night. She climbed out of the car and he roared away before she reached her porch. Somehow she managed to unlock her door. She stumbled to the sofa and sat there in the dark. What was she going to do?

She couldn't imagine who the judge would want Clay to marry. The girls from the “good” families were already married. Once the judge and Buck Mason had wanted Verity and Clay to wed. Then Verity had taken up with Justin Radner.

When Justin dumped Verity and left for Duke, everyone assumed Clay and Verity would get together at Ole Miss. They'd dated, but Tori had been there and Clay loved her. Soon Verity was out of the picture forever.

Tori had been through so much with Clay for so long. She couldn't give up now. Even though it was almost midnight, she decided to go see her mother. She was in so much pain these days that her mother rarely slept except right after the nurse had given her an injection. Even then it was only for an hour or so.

She drove up to the condo Loretta Wells had bought after her second husband—Kat's father—had died. It was in a better neighborhood than the small house Parker Wells had purchased after they'd married. The home where Tori had grown up had been near winding Tuttle Creek. It was known in the area as “the crick,” and on the other side of it white trash lived in homes that squatted on concrete blocks. Pickups were parked on lawns that were nothing more than weed patches. Tori's mother had wanted to distance herself from “those people” as much as possible.

When her mother had fallen ill with ovarian cancer, Tori had been going through her things to help and discovered her mother had taken the money Parker Wells had set aside to send Tori and Kat to college. She'd bought the condo with it.

Tori had been angry with her mother for about two seconds. Then she decided her mother had done the right thing. Tori hadn't wanted to go to Ole Miss full time. She'd taken extension classes there to be close to Clay so Verity wouldn't steal him away.

Her mother had moved to a much more respectable area—a fact not lost on the Kincaids. What did make her angry was May Ellen Kincaid's attitude. Even though her only child had dated Tori for years, May Ellen had never once invited her mother to her home.

Loretta Wells never mentioned this slight. Getting Tori married to Clay had been a religious crusade for her mother. Tori would love to make her mother's dream come true before cancer claimed her life.

The light in the living room of her mother's small condo was on, and Tori could see the blue-white flicker of the television. Tori parked her car in the space in front of her mother's condo and got out. She wearily walked up to the door. She hated dumping this news on her mother.

Tori let herself in with her key. Her mother's eyes were wide open, and she was staring at the television, but Tori doubted she was actually paying attention.

“Mom, how are you doing?”

“My stars, don't you look beautiful!”