by Gen Griffin
“Ian and Joe were the only people who knew it was here,” Lowery said. “They must have decided to cut me out of the money. I knew that money was too good to be true. I done told you once already, Joe would cut his own Momma's throat for twenty grand.”
“Joe's dead,” Addison said.
Lowery stopped and stared at him. “Do what?”
“Ian blew his brains out.”
“Oh, hell no.” Lowery started shaking his head. “Hell to the no. No way.”
“Way.”
“Joe's dead? You're serious?” Lowery was clearly in shock.
“Ian killed him.”
“Ian ain't got the balls to kill no one. He fell apart when April Lynne killed herself. He couldn't kill no one.” Lowery twisted and writhed in his handcuffs.
“Ian will surprise you,” Addison said blandly. “He has a nasty habit of surprising me in the worst possible ways.”
“If Joe is dead, then Ian must have come back here and taken the money for himself. He didn't wake me up because he wanted me to take the fall for everything. We've stolen thousands of dollars worth of shit. Electronics. Lawnmowers. Jewelry. Guns. I'll confess to all of that, but I didn't murder no one. I ain't going down for no murder.”
Sully looked over at Addison. “You believe him?”
“I'm telling the truth. I swear it,” Lowery said.
“You willing to swear it in court?”
“I'll swear anything you want. Just don't try to pin no damn murder on me. I didn't kill no one.”
Addison thought it over for a moment and then nodded at Sully. “He's sleaze, but I believe he's telling the truth. Everything he's said more or less fits with what we already know. It's time to call in Baker County's crime scene technicians. We need to process all the evidence in the house and it's going to take hours.”
“Sounds good to me.” Sully reached down, grabbed hold of Lowery by one arm and yanked him onto his feet.
“Go ahead and make the call.” Addison hoisted himself onto his feet using the crutches. They headed for the front door of the house, marching Lowery down the steps and across the yard to Addison's truck.
“You call. I've got the suspect. Besides, your name will look so pretty on that order. Maybe Frank won't fire me the minute he gets back in town from New Orleans.”
Addison pulled out his cell phone and made the call for the crime techs to slog their asses all the way down to Possum Creek. It was a request they were never happy to receive. Especially not when Addison made the call late on a Sunday night. He finished making his apologies and then hung up the phone.
Sully stuffed Lowery into the rear driver's side seat of Addison's Dodge and shut the door after him. “If Ian came back for the stolen money then it means he's not on the bottom of the bayou getting chewed up by catfish.”
“I never thought he was,” Addison reminded him. “David and I both told you that Ian wasn't dead. That sucker can swim like no one you've ever seen.”
“If Ian is alive, then where is he?”
“God only knows.” Addison made a face at his own reflection in the side-view mirror. He had dark circles underneath both of his eyes and an ugly purple bruise on the right side of his jaw where he'd smacked his face on the same submerged tree he'd broken his ankle on when he'd jumped out of his boat. “Ian doesn't have a life outside of Possum Creek. He won't go far.”
“What do you think I'm concerned about?” Sully tilted his head at Addison. “For a cop, you are entirely too trusting and amazingly naive when it comes to Ian.”
Addison flinched. “You think I'm not worried sick about Katie?”
“I want to hear you admit that Ian McIntyre's dangerous.” Sully squared his shoulders and stared straight into Addison's eyes. The challenge in his expression was clear. “Y'all have all worked real hard to convince everyone in town that he's completely harmless. You hung Kerry out to dry when he tried to get Ian put in jail for killing that little girl. I don't like Kerry, but I don't think you gave him a fair chance to be a decent cop. You see, I'm pretty sure you knew who killed Casey a long damn time before Ian confessed. You decided that Kerry's career was over the minute he started talking about solving that old murder case. You chose Ian over him and you didn't give a damn who else got hurt as a result of your choices.”
“No one ever thought that anyone else would get hurt,” Addison snapped. “I protected Ian from Kerry because I fucking trusted him. I trusted him. David trusted him. Cal trusted him. Katie trusted him. Frank probably still trusts him. We made a mistake. A big ass mistake. Haven't you ever misjudged someone?”
“Tell me you weren't involved in Casey's death.”
Addison sucked down a deep breath. “Jesus, Sully. What the fuck?”
“Tell me you didn't know a damn thing about how that little girl died until Ian confessed to the Sheriff.”
Addison looked away from Sully. “I need a cigarette.”
Sully let out a soft laugh as a strange look crossed his face. “Come talk to me on the porch of the house. I don't want Lowery overhearing anything I have to say. We have awhile until the crime scene techs get here and you and I need to have a talk.”
Chapter 69
“Is it just me or is this awful?” Gracie leaned on Katie's shoulder and whispered the words in her ear.
“It's awful,” Katie whispered back.
The two of them were standing on the wide back porch of Cal's parents' house. Katie hadn't been the only person to bring food. The massive formal table in the dining room was covered with a motley assortment of take-out entrees, aged freezer casseroles and whatever sides could be bought quickly from the deli at the supermarket in Canterville. Trish had taken it upon herself to organize the food and she was doing a nice job of keeping the various guests munching along as they shared their condolences and expressed their shock that seemingly healthy Jerry could simply drop dead.
“How long do y'all think we're required to stay here?” David had escaped from the mourners in the living room by claiming he needed some fresh air or he was going to add to the death toll by shooting April Lynne's mother.
“I don't know about y'all. You two are family. I don't belong here,” Katie said.
“What do you mean you don't belong here?” Gracie frowned at her. “You belong here.”
“I love Cal's folks but I hated April Lynne. Not to mention that she would probably still be alive if she hadn't been dating my husband.” Katie frowned as another couple of cars turned into the long, winding driveway and had to search for a place to park on the front lawn of the historic plantation house because the driveway already looked like Atlanta at rush hour.
“April Lynne would still be alive if she hadn't stolen my gun out of the safe at the store.” Cal had apparently overheard her as he'd come out of the back door of the house. He walked over to the corner where they were standing. “Momma sent me out here after you,” he informed David. “She wants to know if you were sincere in your offer to shoot Caroline?”
David smirked. “I'll shoot anyone Momma wants shot.”
“Who is Caroline?” Katie asked.
“April Lynne's mother,” Gracie explained.
“Shoot Caroline first and make sure you save a second bullet for Leroy,” Cal told David. “Bobby Kardle pulled me to the side a minute ago to ask if Leroy was supposed to be stuffing the good silverware into his underwear.”
David wrinkled his nose in complete disgust. “I'm not getting the silverware back out of Leroy's tighty-whities. We can buy more forks.”
“Those forks survived the Civil War,” Cal reminded him. “They belonged to Momma's great-grandparents. She's going to be upset if she discovers they were stolen.”
“Son of a bitch...”
“I love my family.” Cal held his hand out to Gracie. She laced her fingers through his and then cuddled into his side. The high-heeled boots she was wearing made her a couple of inches taller than he was. “Pappy's in the back parlor drinking out of a mason jar
full of 190 proof moonshine that Edward Colton brought him. He's probably going to give himself alcohol poisoning before the night is out. Caroline keeps going into dramatic sobbing fits which include throwing herself to the floor and screaming at the top of the lungs that the Good Lord needs to take her life and resurrect April Lynne. Nice sentiment and I suppose she's probably genuine, but I've now seen the exact same show from her no less than seven times in two hours. I'm inclined to believe it's pre-rehearsed and designed to garner her the most sympathy possible. I wish she'd quit already. Not that I can say anything to her without looking like a total asshole.”
“Everybody already knows I'm an asshole. I'll send her and Leroy both packing if Momma wants me to.”
“They're making an already bad situation worse for everyone,” Cal said. He squeezed Gracie's hand. “Momma keeps breaking down in tears. I feel like total shit. This is all my fault.”
“How the hell do you figure that?” David asked. Katie and Gracie were both completely startled.
“April Lynne shot herself with my gun.”
“April Lynne stole your gun,” David reminded him. “You'd locked it in a safe. How much more could you have done to keep someone from getting hurt?”
Cal ignored the question. “The last conversation I had with Dad was when I chewed him out over April Lynne. Now they're both dead.”
“You cannot blame yourself.” Gracie wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. “You didn't give the gun to April Lynne and, if anything, you were right about firing April Lynne. Maybe she'd still be alive if Pappy and your Dad had agreed to fire her. We don't know. We'll never know. You can't go back and change the past.”
“I just wish I hadn't argued with him,” Cal said. “I was so pissed off about that money. I'd give up every damn dime in every account we've got if it would bring my Dad back.”
“Y'all can't all be blaming yourselves,” David said. “Katie's blaming herself because she was married to Ian and Ian cheated on her with April Lynne, therefore creating this situation. You're furious with yourself for yelling at your Dad over April Lynne, but once again, if April Lynne hadn't done what she did, you never would have been put in that position to begin with. The blame needs to fall on the people who are actually responsible for creating this mess: April Lynne and Ian.”
“They're both dead,” Cal pointed out.
“Ian's not dead,” David said. “Search and rescue would have found him by now if he were.”
“If Ian's not dead then where is he?”
“Hiding. He's still got all that money they stole. Thirty grand is more than enough to start a new life on. If he can get out of town before Sully gets an arrest warrant issued then he may actually be able to get away with this disaster.”
“Ian's not that bright,” Cal said. “I'll bet you anything that he's still in town somewhere.”
“No bet. I agree with you,” David shrugged. “My guess is that he's going to turn up on my doorstep within the next few days. He won't know what to do without someone else around to make his decisions for him. He'll either want me or Katie to save him.”
“I'm fresh out of rescues,” Katie offered up a small smile. “All I want to do is sleep.”
“With Addison?” David grinned at her tiredly so that she would know he was teasing.
Katie couldn't help smiling. “Hush your mouth. People aren't supposed to know.”
“Wait, you're actually dating my brother?” Gracie did a double take. “When the heck did this happen? And how did Breedlove find out before I did? I'm your best friend.”
Katie laughed. “It's been a crazy weekend.”
“Understatement.”
“Speaking of crazy, tell me that's not Kerry Longwood's car in the driveway.” Cal pointed in the direction of a familiar baby blue Audi. It was sitting at the very far end of the driveway with the headlights turned on.
“He's been circling all night,” Gracie said. “I've seen it pass the house no less than three times. I don't know what horrible deeds he thinks we could possibly be doing on a night like tonight, but he's in full stalker mode.”
“I think he followed me here,” Katie confessed. “He was circling the block around David's house earlier. He ran off when he saw Sully's Jeep pull in but he reappeared right as Addison and Sully were getting ready to leave to go serve the warrant on Frank's house. It's part of the reason why Addison didn't want me to be at the house alone tonight. I tried to tell him that Kerry wasn't going to do more than watch me through the windows from the street, but he was being overcautious. He says he doesn't want me at the house alone until Ian is caught and he has a chance to hit Kerry with a restraining order. Apparently, he's going to call in a favor with some judge and force Kerry to leave me alone or face jail time.”
“How long has Kerry been stalking you?” David crossed his arms over his chest and eyed her.
“Awhile. I don't know. Maybe six months or so?”
“And you never told me.” David was radiating annoyance.
“He was stalking you too. And Ian. And Addison. It just didn't seem important. It's more annoying than scary.”
“Well, I'm in a shitty mood and I need someone to take it out on. I'm going to go make it scary...for Kerry.” Cal pulled away from Gracie and smiled for the first time all night. It wasn't a nice smile.
“Oh boy. This ought to be good. That's the same smile he had on his face when he remodeled my nose for me.” David touched the bridge of his permanently crooked nose.
“Why don't you go shake the forks out of Leroy's man-thong?” Cal suggested. “Dad's dead, Momma's heartbroken and exhausted, Pappy's blitzed and I've had enough bullshit for one day. Tell everyone the party's over and we'll announce the funeral arrangements in the paper for anyone who wants to attend.”
“If that's what you want,” David said.
“You don't want to know what I want.” Cal cast an unfriendly look down the driveway. “Just get all these people out of here so we can breathe.”
“Or hide Kerry's body without a couple dozen witnesses?”
Cal didn't respond as he jogged down the porch steps and set out across the yard with murder in his eyes.
“I would not want to be Kerry right now,” Katie mused.
“Me neither.” David watched with curiosity as Cal closed the distance between himself and the Audi. When he was less than twenty feet from the car he reached underneath the tails of his untucked button-down shirt and pulled something out of the waistband of his jeans.
“Is that a sawed-off shotgun?” Gracie asked.
“Looks like it,” David said. “Pappy does have one in the safe upstairs.”
“I don't think it's in the safe anymore,” Katie commented.
Kerry had evidently noticed the gun because the Audi was now spinning it's tires backward on the damp grass in an effort to pull away. A loud boom echoed through the air as Cal fired a shot straight through the grill of Kerry's car.
Kerry's tires squealed as the Audi caught traction on the pavement and spun around 180 degrees as Cal fired a second shot, this time aiming for the tires. Buckshot dimples peppered the trunk and rear fenders of the Audi as Kerry fled through the massive gates that separated the house from the roadway.
“Gracie, go down to the end of the driveway and make sure your husband doesn't actually kill anyone.” David issued the instruction as an order rather than a request. “Katie, be a doll and come help me retrieve the Walker family silver from Leroy's underpants.”
Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. “The things we do for our friends...”
“The reasons not everybody in the family gets an invite to the family reunions.” David finished for her as he pulled open the back door of the house.
“That was not what I was going to say.” Katie followed him inside with nightmare visions of Leroy's underpants already dancing in her head.
Chapter 70
“I didn't kill Casey,” Addison said flatly as he lit a cigarette on Frank Chasson'
s porch. He knew he was probably making the biggest mistake of his life. He also knew that if Sully wanted to get the bottom of Casey's death, he'd be able to do it. Having to hunt down the truth would probably piss off Sully more than the truth itself was going to.
“David didn't kill Casey either.” Sully gestured for Addison to pass him a cigarette. Addison handed him the entire pack along with the lighter.
“Didn't know you smoked.”
“I quit six years ago.” Sully lit the cigarette and drew in a deep breath of smoke.
The two of them sat puffing in silence for several minutes before Sully spoke again. “Everyone in Possum Creek thinks David killed Casey. That's bullshit. David's an alpha personality. The leader of your little group. He would have confessed straight off rather than hiding the body. He would never have let anyone else take the fall for him. He's not the type.”
“You're good at reading people,” Addison mused. “You're a damn good cop. Never have figured out why you ditched Silver City to come down to Possum Creek. It's not a secret that you threw a perfectly good career away to come here and work for a loser Sheriff who looks the other way when crimes are being committed just so long as the criminals aren't bothering anyone who matters to him.”
“Be honest with me and we'll get around to discussing why I committed career suicide soon enough,” Sully sounded grim as he puffed away on the cigarette.
“Ian killed Casey. It was a stupid accident just like he told the Sheriff. He was drunk and he's always been a lousy driver.”
“He's still a lousy driver,” Sully pointed out.
Addison ignored Sully because he couldn't stop talking or he'd lose his nerve. “The girl was standing in the trail and Ian couldn't stop in time. He flipped his truck trying to avoid her. He didn't succeed.” Addison took a long drag off of his cigarette and stared out into the night. “The part of the story that his confession left out was that he wasn't alone when he hit her.”
“That's not a surprise. Ian doesn't go to the shitter without inviting someone along to hold the toilet paper for him.”