The Ex Who Wouldn't Die (46 page)

She climbed on her bike, fired up the engine and roared away. If Charley's friend, Dub, didn't come through with that gun, she had no idea what she would do. Probably fall victim to a fatal accident.

***

Irene was waiting when Amanda returned to the Randolphs' house. "What happened? What did he say?" she asked, holding the screen door open.

"Nothing," she admitted. "But I didn't expect much in a public place. I'm going to meet him again."

Irene closed the screen door behind Amanda. "That's not a good idea."

"
I have to
. Kimball's smart. He hasn't left any evidence. That's why the cops don't believe me. I've got to find some way to prove
he k
illed Charley."

Irene considered her words for a moment. "Let's go in the kitchen and have a glass of iced tea."

She followed Irene into the kitchen and helped her fill two glasses, then sat down at the table. This was, she gathered from the times she'd seen Herbert and Irene conferring here,
more than a place to eat. It was
the summit meeting place where important discussions were held and decisions made. A drink of some sort was
, of course,
obligatory.

Amanda sipped her tea, grateful for the cool liquid in her hot, dry mouth and throat. She was reluctant to tell Irene all the details of what she planned to do. Recently she'd become almost as adept at lying as Charley. Not really something she'd ever thought about adding to her list of skills.
Repairing motorcycles, selling real estate, lying…

Lying to Kimball was one thing. He didn't count as a member of the human race. And withholding information from her parents for their own good also seemed justifiable. But she couldn't lie to this woman who'd lost her son and taken his widow into her home and heart. Irene deserved the truth, scary as it might be.

"When and where are you meeting that monster?" Irene asked.

"I don't know." Amanda sat up straighter
, girding herself to divulge her frightening plan to her mother-in-law
. "I'm going to get a gun like the one he used to kill Dianne, and I'm going to give it to him, but only if he admits to me that he killed her and Charley."

Irene's face paled, and her eyes widened. "Amanda, that's plumb crazy!"

"Yeah, probably, but it's the best plan we've…I've been able to come up with."

"Even if he lets you out of there alive, what makes you think, if the police don't believe you now, they'll believe he confessed to you?"

"I'm going to record our conversation on my cell phone. There's an app for that."
She tried to sound flippant.

"And what about getting out alive? You got an app on your cell phone for that?"

"
Okay, t
his plan isn't completely fleshed out yet. There are still a few holes."

Irene shook her head. "I can't let you do that. I'm going to talk to Herbert tonight. We'll all put our heads together and figure out something. You're not alone
in this
anymore.
Family takes care of family.
"

Amanda hated that she had brought Irene and soon Herbert into the tangled, dangerous mess of trying to trap Kimball, but at the same time, she felt an intense relief at sharing the burden with other people who believed her, who cared about her. Other real people, she amended. Much as she hated to admit it, Charley provided some help. Not enough to compensate for the problems he caused,
b
ut he was really good at the sneaky, sleazy parts.

Chapter Twenty-One

Herbert didn't leave for work immediately after breakfast that morning. Instead, as soon as Paula and Penny were out the door, he and Irene resumed their seats at the breakfast table.

"Leave the dishes for now," Irene said. "We need to talk." Amanda set down the plates she'd carried to the sink and joined them at the table.

"We don't think you ought to take a gun to Kimball," Herbert said. As usual, his lean face showed no expression, but his words were laced with tension.

"I'm not crazy about the idea m
yself," Amanda said
. "But we've got to do something
."

"I know most of the guys on the police force," Herbert said. "
Went to school with them, hunt with them, play poker with them.
I'm gonna talk to them."

Amanda shook her head.
"
W
e're accusing the mayor, one of the most prominent and richest men in town, of murders we can't prove. You're probably not going to get a lot of support."

Herbert nodded and slid his chair back. "Don't you worry. We'll take care of the worthless scum that killed
my son
."
His words held a tone as close to ominous as the genial man was ever likely to come.

Amanda gasped as she remembered Charley's reference to his dad's shotgun. "You're not…you wouldn't…do anything…illegal?"

Herbert gave her a small smile. "I'm not gonna kill him. I won't deny I've thought about it since Irene told me
everything
last night. But that's not the right way to do things. I just want to be there when they give him the shot."

"The shot?" Amanda repeated.

"
Lethal injection.
I'd like to see him hang, but I guess I'll have to settle for the shot.
I want to see him die like he made my son die. We'll catch him. He won't get away with
murder
." He squeezed her arm reassuringly, then turned and left the house.

"Now," Irene said briskly, "you can relax and enjoy your visit here. The strawberries are just right for picking at the Berkley farm. Let's go get some today, and I'll show you how to make strawberry preserves."

Irene's words were meant to be soothing, to convince Amanda she needn't have any further contact with Roland Kimball,
that everything was taken care of,
but the anxious expression on Irene's face and the way she twisted her hands in her lap told Amanda her mother-in-law knew it wasn't going to work. Herbert's idea of going to the local police was pretty lame, and
t
he
y all
knew it. They were just trying to talk her out of doing something they considered dangerous.

"Can w
e have strawberry shortcake
?" she asked
, going along with the diversion
. Might as well pick strawberries. She couldn't do anything else until Dub came up with a gun.

***

When her cell phone rang that afternoon in the midst of
stirring a big pot of
strawberry jam, Amanda yanked it from her jeans pocket excitedly, saw the number was local and felt a flash of excitement that it might be Dub with a gun. She
turned the stirring over to Irene
and ran from the room while answering the phone.

"Hello?"

"I thought maybe you'd lost my phone number."

Kimball. Amanda stopped at the foot of the stairs, her stomach doing the familiar Kimball-clenching act.

"No, I didn't lose your number, and I wasn't aware I'd given you mine."

"You didn't have to give it to me."

Anger flared at the smug reminder of the range of his power as well as the admission he was snooping in her affairs. No wonder he'd been able to find out she was going on a trip so he could
sabotage
her motorcycle at
just
the right time. "Yeah, yeah, I know," she snapped as she climbed the stairs. "You're omniscient and omnipotent around here. King Kimball."

The line was silent for a moment, and she considered asking if he was looking up the multi-syllable words. Probably hadn't been a good idea to shoot the
rabid
grizzly bear with a BB gun.

"I have access to any information I need," he said. "Right now, considering the fact that I caught you in a lie about your safe deposit box then you walked out on me after saying you'd call but you didn't call, I don't think you have anything I need. I think you're just a loud-mouthed bitch trying to cause problems."

She entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her, looking for Charley. "You're entitled to your opinion. But you may change that opinion when I take this gun to the cops."

"Really? If you could do that, why did you send your father-in-law to tell the cops I killed Charley but you can't prove it?"

Damn!

Damn, damn, damn!

Where was Charley when she needed him to feed her lies and tell her how to handle this new development?

"I didn't send Herbert anywhere. He's a grown man. He goes where he pleases and says what he wants."

"Who are you talking to?" Charley demanded. "Where did Dad go? What did he say?"

Charley! She never thought she'd be glad to see him. She held the phone away from her ear so he could hear.

"Obviously you talked. I thought that was part of our deal, you were going to give me the merchandise and keep your mouth shut. Now you've involved your father-in-law."

"You didn't tell him anything," Charley instructed.

"I didn't tell him anything." That was true. She'd told Irene, who'd told him. "Right now, only you and I know about the gun."

"It certainly is an amazing coincidence that he came up with the same story as you, that I killed Charley and Dianne."

"Tell him it doesn't matter what anybody says when you have the only proof around," Charley supplied.

Amanda repeated Charley's words. He really was good at squirming out of tight spots and putting a spin on things. She'd hated that when she was married to him, but it was coming in quite handy now.

"In that case, I'm sure you'll want to get rid of that item before it causes har
m to other people
," Kimball said smoothly.

Even though she'd seen that one coming, it still sent icicles through her veins. Not only was her life in danger, she'd now put Herbert's and maybe even Irene's lives in danger.

"Tell him you're through playing with him, and you'll give him the gun tomorrow night."

Amanda's eyes widened in shock, and she mouthed to him,
No gun!

"We'll get one. Tell him!"

"Fine," she said, trying to sound cocky. "I
have to admit, I was kind of enjoying teasing the big, powerful mayor,
but you win. Tomorrow night. We meet, I give you the evidence, and this ends. I do not want my in-laws involved."