The Ex Who Wouldn't Die (34 page)

A cold chill shot down Amanda's spine. "Death and murder? Did you ask her what she meant?"

Again Greg shook his head. "She always claimed she didn't remember the dreams.
"

"Coach Carter, can you come see if I'm doing this right?" Another young girl in track gear came up behind him.

"Sure, Julie. Be right there." He looked at Amanda, smiled
weakly
and spread his hands. "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything more."

"Than
ks," she said. "You helped
."
While the information that Dianne had nightmares and talked in her sleep about murder seemed ominous enough, she had no idea
what to do with that information, where to go from there. Feeling a little
frustrated, s
he started to
leave
, find the twins and head home.

"Mrs. Randolph?"

"Yes?"
She turned back to Greg Carter.

"You
might
talk to
Sandy
Lawson
.
Dianne and Sandy were friends, and they roomed together in college.
When Kimball walked into Di
anne's funeral, she got upset. Said he had no right to be there.
Going to funerals is part of being the mayor, but
Sandy
said,
after what happened between him and Dianne
, he shouldn't have come.
"

Amanda's
frustration
lifted measurably.
"Do you have her phone number?"

"
It's in the phone book. Her husband's n
ame is Don. She still lives here in town
."

"Thank you!
"

"Now we're getting somewhere," Charley said as Coach Carter walked away.

"
Maybe." Amanda shared Charley's enthusiasm, but she didn't want to admit it to him.

Paula and Penny ran up, clean and ready to roll.
As the three of them
—four if you counted Charley—h
eaded for the gate, Amanda noticed a man a few feet away duck his head and turn from them. He looked ordinary enough, and there was no reason he shouldn't be hanging around the high school stadium, but why was he trying to hide his face?

The girls didn't seem to notice anything, but she glanced at Char
ley and saw him watching the man
, too.

A pervert scoping out the kids, or one of Kimball's flunkies keeping an eye on her?

She didn't
much
care for either possibility.

***

As soon as Amanda ferried Penny and Paula home
, she looked up
Sandy
Lawson's number and called her. The woman was more than ready to talk about the
Kimball
incident.

"But not on the phone. Can you drop by after dinner?"

"Absolutely!"

When Amanda
announced
she was going for another moonlight motorcycle ride, Irene looked at her skeptically, but said nothing.

She climbed on her bike, and Charley climbed on the passenger seat. "I thought you didn't like riding with me."

Charley shrugged. "Not gonna hurt me. I'm already dead. I was just worried about my sisters."

"Be sure and put on a helmet." Amanda laughed at her own humor.

Charley sighed. "I wish I could."

In less than fifteen minutes, Amanda came to a stop in front of a small brick house with a wide front porch. The place was neat and well-kept,
bushes trimmed and grass mowed.

A tall woman with short blonde hair
came to the door.
"Come in," she invited. "You must be Amanda. I'm
Sandy
. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Iced tea would be great." Amanda was stuffed from dinner, but conversations in Texas were always smoother when accompanied by drinks.

Amanda removed her helmet and jacket and sat down on the sofa.
Sandy
's living room, like her yard, was neat and tidy, the furnishings subdued and tasteful.

Charley plopped down on the recliner. Actually, he sank a couple of inches into it, but Amanda
had become
accustomed to that sort of thing and didn't mention it. "Give me a hand," he requested. "I can't make this thing go back. I like recliners. How come we never had one?"

Sandy
returned with two glasses of iced tea and set them on coasters on the coffee table.
"Don took our little girl to get ice cream," she said, taking a seat beside Amanda. "I told him we needed some alone time."

Amanda's spirits lifted. That sounded encouraging. A little scary, but encouraging as far as information she could use against Kimball.

"
Thank you for talking to me.
You were Dianne's roommate when she broke up with Kimball?"

"Yes. We were
best friends from grade school on. We told each other everything." She grimaced. "Until that night."

Amanda's spirits took a nose dive
.
Dianne hadn't told her what happened?
"That would be the night they broke up?
"

Sandy
nodded, reached for her tea and took a long drink.
"
It was her birthday, and she went out with Kimball for a celebration.
She
came in late, very upset, pale and shaking with what looked like mud splatters
all over
her
dress.
"

"It
looked
like mud splatters?" Amanda repeated
. She glanced at Charley. He'd caught the implication, too, and was leaning forward.
Dianne had mentioned
blood
during her nightmares.

"
That's what I thought it was when she first came in. She had on a cute little yellow sundress, and I thought maybe she'd fallen and got mud on it
and was upset about it
. But I knew right away it was more than that." She wrapped both hands around her glass of tea, clutching it tightly. "
I
asked her what happened, if she was hurt, but
she wouldn't talk to me.
Not one word.
She went straight to the bathroom and
turned on
the shower.
"
Sandy
's gaze drifted across the room, her gray eyes unfocused, as if she were looking into the past.

"Did she have mud splatters on her face and arms, too?"

Sandy set her tea on the coffee table and returned her attention to Amanda and the present. "No. I think she must have washed her face and hands. There's no way she could have had so much…mud…on her dress without some of it g
ett
ing on her."

"But she went in to take a shower, anyway."

"Yes. She never said a word, just gave me a look as if she'd been to hell and wasn't sure she could ever make it back.
I was freaked out. I'd never seen her like that before. I followed her into the bathroom.
She was in
the shower
, crying
. I didn't know what to do. I started to walk out
and give her some privacy
, but then I saw her clothes.
"

At that moment Amanda thought Sandy looked like she'd been to hell and wasn't sure she'd made it back.
Her amiable features contorted with remembered horror.

"The yellow sundress? With the mud splatters?"

"
Yes." Her voice was little above a whisper. "The dorm bathrooms were
tiny. You couldn't get in the shower without splashing water all over everything.
Dianne had
tossed her clothes o
n the floor, and some of those spots got wet." She paused "It wasn't mud."

"I knew it!" Charley shouted.

"It was blood, wasn't it?" Amanda encouraged when
Sandy
went silent.

"I think so. Where he
r dress was wet, the stains ran
red, not brown."

"Was it her blood? Was she hurt?
Did Kimball hit her?
"

Sandy shook her head.
"No, I don't think it was her blood. She didn't seem to be injured."

"D
o you think
he rape
d
her?"

"I don't know. I waited until she came out of the shower, then I tried to talk to her.
She sat on the edge of her bed
and started to cry
, completely
hysterical
.
I asked her if she and Kimball had been doing drugs.
I knew the two of them had tried marijuana, but most of us had.
I didn't consider that any big deal.
It wouldn't have caused her behavior
that night, but I thought something else might
.
"

Amanda realized she was holding her breath, waiting to hear about Dianne. "W
hat did she say? W
as she on drugs?"

"She admitted they'd tried something early in the evening that made her really high, but she swore she was completely sober. I believed her. She was
really out of it
, but she didn't seem to be stoned. I asked her if Rola
nd hurt her. She shook her head and
kept crying. Said she never wanted him to see him again as long as she lived. That was pretty strong, coming from her. Dianne wasn't one of those girls who had big break up scenes. If
she and Kimball
had
an argument, she'd shrug it off, say it'd be okay, and it always was
. She never said they were breaking up until that night. I knew it was serious."
Sandy
drained her tea and set the empty glass back on the coffee table.