Share No Secrets (8 page)

“Well, she had at least one she didn’t share.”

Adrienne knew he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it to the county sheriff no matter how obvious it was. Instead, she said, “You sound tired, Lucas.”

“I am. That’s the problem with being a sheriff in a relatively quiet county. Not a lot of murders, thank God, particularly not like this one. I’ve lost my stamina.”

“Have you found out anything about who might have been with Julianna at the Belle?”

“No. Of course, the trace evidence is still being checked, although in a hotel room, working with trace is a nightmare, even if the room hasn’t been officially rented for a year. Also, there are no fingerprints. None. Someone spent a lot of time wiping down that place.”

“What about Claude?” Adrienne nervously carried the receiver of the cordless phone to the front window and looked out at the paperboy jamming today’s edition of the
Register
into the paper box at the end of her driveway. “Could he have murdered Julianna? I mean, I know Claude wasn’t having an affair with her, for God’s sake, but he could have been jealous of whoever was. He could have murdered her to punish her.”

“I’ll admit he makes the perfect suspect. Erratic, unstable, possessive. Mrs. Kirkwood shouldn’t have kept him around, even if he did take over just as the Belle was closing and there wasn’t much damage he could do to the place, not that she cared anyway. But you saw him this morning. Do you think he was alert enough to wipe away all the fingerprints? And why would he even bother? There’s a logical reason for him being there. Besides, Claude has an alibi. He got lucky last night at that topless bar just out of town, the Cat’s Meow. Met a young lady named Pandora Avalon.”

Adrienne stopped pacing. “Please don’t try to convince me that’s her real name.”

“No. It’s Maud Dorfman. Anyway, the forty-four-year-old Miss Avalon went home with Claude for a night of unbridled passion. She swears she was at his cottage until the sound of the crash woke them. According to her, she got out of there as fast as she could, leaving Claude heaving into the commode from downing too much bourbon the night before. She said, and I quote, ‘I never saw nobody puke so hard. I thought his damned stomach was gonna spew right up outta his mouth.'”

“I always thought Claude would be a fun date,” Adrienne said drolly.

“Yes. Along with his ax. The idiot. Anyway, I don’t think he was in any shape to have killed Julianna, much less brushed her hair and posed her so carefully on the bed before he came reeling down the hill to get me at the site of the wreck.”

“Do you think there was any connection between the wreck and the murder?”

“No. Two fifteen-year-olds were illegally driving one of the cars. They caused the wreck and they both died. The three people in the other car were seriously injured. None of them claims to have known Julianna, not to mention that two of them are Amish. The Amish aren’t known for lying,
or
for Covering for murderers, if you’re thinking the driver of the car they were in could have been the killer.”

“That leaves Claude. Do you believe he’s completely in the clear?”

“I don’t think he killed her, but I have a feeling he may know more than he’s saying. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to arrest people based on my feelings.”

“You should speak to someone about that.”

“Maybe your brother-in-law. I’m sure he’s going to be our next governor.”

“I hope so. Otherwise, Vicky’s going to have a tough time over the next few years. Philip doesn’t take defeat well. He’s one of those golden boys who almost always get what they want.” She sighed. “That was a bitchy thing to say.”

“It was truthful. I can’t say I’m a Philip Hamilton fan, either, but I’ll probably vote for him.”

“Not because of me, I hope.”

“No. Because he’s the lesser of two evils.”

Adrienne laughed. “I guess you should know. After all, you used to work for him. Still, I’ll pass along the compliment.”

“I worked for him many years ago when I was young and stupid. I’ve always hoped people would forget about my tenure with the Hamilton camp. Besides, nowadays he’s not crazy about me, either. He was dead set against my becoming sheriff.”

“He can’t charm you. Philip doesn’t like it when he can’t charm people. Then he can’t use them, and using people is what he does best.” Adrienne paused. “Clearly the nap I took with Skye didn’t do much to improve my disposition.”

“You’ve just lost one of your closest friends. It’ll take more than a nap to make you feel better. And to make things worse, we can’t find Julianna’s mother.”

“Lottie? She’s missing?”

“She hasn’t been home all day, and no one we’ve talked to has seen her.”

“My God! Do you think something happened to her, too?”

“There’s no sign of violence at her place.”

“But it’s in the woods not far from the Belle. She could be anywhere around there, hurt, maybe even dead.”

“We’ve been searching the woods. There’s no reason to think she hasn’t just gone wandering. She does that sometimes.” Adrienne sensed that Lucas wasn’t as calm about Lottie as he was trying to sound. “How’s Skye doing?”

“I’m not sure. She seems all right, given the circumstances, but kids can keep a lot to themselves. When Trey was killed, she was sad but calm for over a week. Then nightmares, storms of sobbing, and depression started. It was nearly six months before I got back my sunny little girl.”

“Poor kid. Now this. I know she liked Julianna.”

“What wasn’t to like? She was beautiful, fun, a former model, for heaven’s sake. Julianna and Rachel were Skye’s idols.”

“Rachel is probably the better role model. She seems like an exemplary girl. Julianna, on the other hand … well, no disrespect, but with her problems with drugs—”

“Former
problems,” Adrienne said stiffly, immediately defensive about her friend. “Julianna worked hard at getting herself straightened out and she never returned to her old life for fear of messing up again. I admired her tremendously for that. I think everyone should.”

“Yes, I suppose so. But I need to warn you and Skye not to tell Rachel or anyone else the details of the crime scene. You haven’t already, have you?”

“No, although Rachel was here at lunch.”

“Good. You know the drill—we like to keep some things secret so that when the nuts come in and start confessing, we can trip them up on details.”

“Yes, indeed. I know the drill from all my reading of murder mysteries. And Skye will keep her lips sealed if she knows the order has come from you.”

“Good girls.”

“Women. Smart, savvy women. Both of us.”

“Yes, ma’am!” His laugh sounded weary and strained. “I’m going to let you go, now. Talking about what happened can only be making you feel worse. Watch some television or read if you can. And try to get a good night’s sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Lucas. I’m sorry for my bad temper when we had to stay at the hotel so long this morning until you could question us.”

“You never need to apologize to me.” Which was true, Adrienne thought. Lucas was always kind, always patient, always earnest, always doing the exactly the right and responsible thing. A good, steady man. “Love you, Adrienne. Good night.”

“’Night, Lucas,” she said quickly, wishing she could say, “Love you, too.” But she couldn’t. She hung up the phone feeling frayed and mean, unworthy and ungrateful. But at least she hadn’t been dishonest. Small comfort, she thought miserably. They should put on my tombstone, “Adrienne was a bitch, but she had integrity.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” she said aloud. “Now you’re wallowing in self-pity.”

“Mom, what are you talking about?”

Skye stood at the entrance to the living room, looking rumpled and depressed.

“I’m indulging in self-analysis.”

“Oh.” She yawned. “That’s weird.”

“Tell me about it.” Adrienne put the phone receiver back on the cradle. “Neither one of us finished even one sandwich earlier. Hungry?”

“Yeah. But I don’t really want to hang around here. The house seems lonely and sad this evening. Could we go to Fox’s for pizza?”

Adrienne thought of the warm little restaurant with its huge portions of food, and occasional spirited performance on karaoke night. “That’s a wonderful idea.” She glanced out the window. “But a storm is predicted, although everything looks fine now. Get your windbreaker. And don’t wake up Brandon. He’ll want to go with us.”

“I’m going to be too fat to get into my jeans tomorrow,” Skye announced an hour later before she popped a bit of pizza into her mouth.

“You could use a couple of extra pounds, kiddo. You’re getting taller but not putting on weight.” Adrienne frowned. “You’re not doing anything unhealthy to keep your weight down, are you?”

“You mean like throwing up after I eat?” Skye made a face. “No way. That’s
so
gross. Besides, Fox’s Pizza Den has the best pizzas I ever ate. It would be sacrilege to eat one, then throw it up.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Adrienne said, biting into what she swore was going to be her last piece.

It was karaoke night and an intrepid soul approached the microphone. After some adjusting, unnecessary blowing into the live mike, and murmuring “testing, testing,” he gradually slipped into a rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers. The longer he sang, the more confidence he gained and the louder he got Unfortunately, he couldn’t sing. At all. Although the guy was clearly pouring his heart into the song, he was slaughtering it

Skye and Adrienne struggled not to giggle. Finally Skye got enough control to ask, “Do you remember a couple of months ago when Julianna talked you into getting up there?”

Adrienne rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, yes. She was driving because I drank beer and way too much of it. Please don’t remind me.”

“I can’t help it.” Skye’s eyes twinkled. “You were singing that disco song—”

“Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive.'”

“You were flinging your arms around and making all these faces! And your
voice
…” Skye nearly doubled over with laughter. “Mom, you were just
awful”

“Thank you, sweetheart. It’s so considerate of you to bring up one of the most mortifying nights of my life.”

“Maybe it was mortifying for you, but everyone else was getting a big kick out of it. Especially Julianna. She kept nudging me, trying to get me not to laugh. I couldn’t help it, though. I’m sorry. But when you announced you were going to sing
another
one, I started thinking maybe we could never come here again because of the big embarrassment factor.”

“Thank goodness Julianna came up on stage.” Adrienne smiled, abashed, at the memory. “She had to literally push me away from the microphone and insist that it was
her
turn.” Adrienne shook her head. “And darn it if she didn’t do a great job with ‘Wild Horses.'”

Skye smiled. “You were mad as all get out for a few minutes, but you got over it quick. And Juli
was
good. People kept asking her to sing other things, but she wouldn’t, not even when a guy tossed a whole
dollar
up on the stage!” She giggled. “Juli took that dollar over and put it in the can for donations for the volunteer fire department and then carried the can around until she got everyone to do the same.” Skye’s remembered pleasure lasted only a minute before her face abruptly fell into sad lines. “I’m gonna miss Julianna so much.”

“Me too, honey. We had a lot of fun together over the years.”

“I wonder if Kit knows about Juli yet.”

‘I’m sure she does by now. I’m also sure she’s at her restaurant, but I don’t want to bother her there. I’ll bet Kit’s been with her mother all day, trying to calm her down, and now she’s bone tired.”

“Mrs. Kirkwood looked half-dead when we saw her going into the hotel to see Lucas. And Julianna’s body. Mr. Kirkwood looked scared.” Skye reached for another slice of pizza and began picking off pieces of sweet pepper before she asked reluctantly, “Do you suppose Julianna was at the Belle with him?”

“Who? Gavin Kirkwood? Good heavens, why would you think that?”

“Because I know he fools around with other women. I heard Kit telling you about it. I wasn’t eavesdropping, really and truly. Kit was just talking loud because she was mad and I was in the next room. Anyway, she said her mother shouldn’t have married a guy fourteen years younger than her, and that her mother shouldn’t have let him adopt her—Kit—so she had to go around with his last name, and that he married Ellen for her money and that he had affairs all the time.”

Adrienne listened, fascinated. “Wow, you heard a lot and remembered every bit of it.”

“Mom, you know I want to write murder mysteries. I have to pay attention to details. For my writing, you see.”

“Certainly you do.”

“Anyway, Gavin is pretty good looking for such an
old
guy,” Skye went on in a professional voice. Adrienne smothered a smile. Gavin Kirkwood was only forty-five. “He’d have keys to the Belle, and like you said, Claude’s an awful caretaker, so it would be really easy for Mr. Kirkwood to sneak in all the time. And you said Julianna was probably with some married guy.”

“I shouldn’t have said that about a married man.”

“You were too upset to watch what you were saying. But I know about things like that, Mom. You think she was having an affair.”

“Really? I’m fascinated.” Adrienne took a sip of iced tea. She’d lost her appetite and left the rest of the pizza for Skye. She went on, being careful to make her voice neutral. “Did Julianna ever say anything to make you think she was involved with Gavin?”

“No. And I don’t like to think she’d do something that would hurt Kit’s mom. But at one of the parties at Aunt Vicky’s house, I saw them talking together a lot. Mr. Kirkwood kept touching Julianna’s arm. Rachel said to me, ‘I wonder what he’s got on
his
mind?'” Skye leaned forward and whispered, “She meant
sex”
she explained to a mother she clearly thought was not as worldly-wise as the sophisticated Rachel.

“Oh, I see,” Adrienne managed solemnly. “Did Julianna seem to especially like Gavin?”

“No-o. Not really. She treated him pretty much like she did everyone else—nice, friendly, interested in what they were saying even when I knew she was bored.” Skye paused. “She didn’t act that way around Margaret, though. She didn’t like Margaret, Mom, and Margaret didn’t like Juli. Maybe she was jealous of Juli, although she doesn’t like Rachel, either. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t like Rachel. She’s
so
great.”