After Dark

by Beverly Barton

  If only he had a weapon of some sort, a way to stop Buddy. If he rushed Buddy, the man was liable to kill Lane.

  “Here, take this.”

  Johnny Mack whirled around at the sound of the familiar female voice. Miss Edith stood a few feet away, a rifle in her hand. She held it out to him.

  “It’s one of your daddy’s rifles,” she said. “I went up to the attic and got it and loaded it for you. Take it and do what you have to do to save Lane. There’s been too much killing. It’s got to stop. For Will’s sake.”

  His mind jumbled with confusing thoughts and mixed emotions. He grabbed the rifle and ran. Outside, in the driveway, Buddy tried to force Lane into his car, but she struggled with him. Where the hell did Buddy think he was going? Had the man completely lost his mind?

  Johnny Mack knew that he had one chance. One shot to save Lane. If he missed, Buddy would kill her. And if that happened, nothing else mattered. In that one split second he understood how Miss Edith must feel. With both of her children dead, what did she have to live for?

  He had handled a gun all his life. Wiley Peters had taken him hunting every year during deer season. And Judge Brown, who had been an avid hunter, had trained him to be a sportsman. But this was the first time someone’s life depended upon his marksmanship.

  Johnny Mack prepared quickly. No time for anything except action. Getting his quarry in his sights, he drew in and held a deep breath, then aimed and fired.

  Chapter 27

  Lane had been opposed to Will visiting Miss Edith at the jail, but her son had insisted that he wanted to see his grandmother. She supposed Will would always think of Kent’s mother that way. Even knowing the part she had played in the recent events that had resulted in death and tragedy for so many, Will’s kind heart urged him to comfort a woman whom he had once loved so dearly. Perhaps in her own way, Miss Edith still loved Will, too.

  Johnny Mack waited with Lane, he a tower of strength in comparison to her being little more than a bundle of nerves. In the past twenty-four hours since Miss Edith had confessed to helping cover up the truth concerning Kent’s murder and the subsequent actions Buddy Lawler had taken to shield Mary Martha, James Ware had, despite Edith’s icy cold attitude, stood staunchly at her side. He had hired his wife a high-priced lawyer out of Atlanta, made funeral arrangements for his stepdaughter and found time to plead with Johnny Mack and Lane not to turn him in to the police.

  “Give me a chance to return the money I stole from Edith,” James had said. “All I want, all I’ve ever wanted was to be with Arlene. We can find a way to make it just fine without Edith’s money.”

  But even now, Miss Edith kept the deepest, darkest family secret. The sordid little tale of incest and a child conceived in that sinful act. Neither she nor Johnny Mack saw any need to reveal that truth, not when it could serve no purpose.

  Lane would never forget how close she had come to dying, how easily Buddy Lawler could have pulled the trigger. She owed her life to Johnny Mack. He had killed a man to protect her. And in an odd way, she had Miss Edith to thank. After all, her former mother-in-law had provided Johnny Mack with the weapon.

  T. C. Bedlow walked alongside Will, bringing him out from the holding cells in the back of the building into the heart of the police station. The apologetic sergeant had bowed and scraped and said I’m sorry a dozen times over, and they had assured him that they didn’t hold him responsible. After all, he’d had no way of knowing that Buddy had snapped and become a danger to those around him. No one had even suspected.

  “I’m ready to leave now,” Will said as he approached his parents.

  “How did it go with Miss Edith?” Lane asked.

  “Okay, I guess.” Will shrugged. “She’s got herself a lawyer coming in from Atlanta. A guy named Steve Whitaker. He’s supposed to be every bit as good as Quinn Cortez.”

  “Yes, we know,” Lane said. “I spoke with James this morning. He’s the one who arranged for Mr. Whitaker to defend Miss Edith.”

  “She’s sure the judge will set bail this afternoon and she’ll be home by tonight,” Will said. “She asked me if I could ever forgive her.”

  Johnny Mack laid his hand on Will’s shoulder. “What did you say?”

  “I told her I didn’t honestly know.”

  “Lane, why don’t you and Will go on home,” Johnny Mack suggested. “I have a little unfinished business here that I need to take care of before I leave.”

  “Will it take long?” Lane asked.

  “No, not long.”

  She clutched his arm. “We could just wait for you in the car.”

  “No, don’t wait. After I finish up here, I plan to drop by the mayor’s office. Then I want to take a walk around Noble’s Crossing. I have some decisions to make and I need some time alone.”

  “All right. We’ll see you at the house later.” She kissed his cheek. He offered her a half-hearted smile.

  Lane hurried Will out the door and onto the sidewalk. He didn’t question why she was rushing, but once they were seated inside the car, he reached over and hugged her.

  “It’s not about you, Mama,” Will said. “Johnny Mack killed a man yesterday. That’s what’s wrong with him. Even though he did what he had to do to save your life, he’s the kind of man who’d regret taking any human being’s life.”

  Lane ruffled her son’s hair. “When did you grow up and become so smart?”

  Johnny Mack took a good hard look at Edith Ware. Not even dealing with her daughter’s death and spending the night behind bars made the woman appear any less regal. She had been born Noble’s Crossing royalty, and she would no doubt die the same.

  “Come to gloat?” she asked.

  “Nope. Came to make a deal with you. It’s a win-win situation.”

  “What sort of deal?” In a giveaway gesture of nervousness, she ran the tips of her red nails over the legs of her black slacks.

  “Lane and I know the truth about Kent. That he sexually abused Mary Martha for years and that he forced her to abort his child.”

  “Y’all know too much. If I’d been thinking straight, I wouldn’t have shared so much information with you two. I should have just told you and Lane what I told the police, that my daughter’s mental problems reached a severe point and she didn’t know what she was doing when she killed her brother.”

  “We wouldn’t have bought that explanation and you know it.”

  Edith nodded, the weak smile on her lips quivering ever so slightly. “I realize you don’t owe me anything, and I’m not asking for myself, but for—”

  “Lane and I don’t intend to mention anything about Kent and Mary Martha’s incestuous relationship. Not to the press. Not even to the police.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “Our silence will cost you.”

  “What do you mean it’ll cost me?” Edith’s sharply defined eyebrows rose as her eyes widened with curiosity.

  “Well, it seems your husband has been embezzling money from your accounts for the past few years and—”

  “What!”

  “I’d say he’s got at least a hundred thousand stashed away, if not more.”

  “Why, that weasel, that boot-licking, cowardly little bastard!”

  “Here’s the deal, Miss Edith”—he couldn’t help grinning when she ceased her tirade and glared at him—“you give James an uncontested divorce, pay him a hundred-thousand-dollar settlement and swear you won’t have him prosecuted for embezzling. If you do all that, then your family’s dirty little secret is safe. Lane and I will take it to our graves. Of course, I can’t swear Mrs. Russell won’t—”

  “Nelda Russell is a loyal, trusted servant.”

  “All the same, I’d give her a really good Christmas bonus this year.”

  “Why do you care about James? The two of you were never friends.” Edith’s mouth twitched in an almost smile. “You do realize that James knew exactly what Buddy and Kent did to you fifteen years ago. He didn
’t do a thing to try to save you.”

  “I’m well aware of James’s past sins.”

  “Then, why help him?”

  “Let’s just say that I know what it’s like to make some bad mistakes and then to finally get a second chance with the only woman you’ve ever loved.”

  “James has a woman on the side?” Edith’s expression hardened. “Is that what you’re saying? I should have known. He certainly wasn’t warming my bed.”

  “Do we or do we not have a deal?” Johnny Mack asked.

  “We have a deal.” Edith smiled. A wicked, powerful-people-never-lose smile. “Tell James that once the divorce is final, he’d better take his money and his whore and leave Noble’s Crossing for good. Because I’ll soon be back home and I never want to see his lying, cheating, thieving face again.

  “I don’t intend to serve any prison time. Steve Whitaker should be able to easily prove that Buddy was the villian in all this, that I was afraid to cross him. You see, he loved my daughter to the point of madness, and what I did, I did out of fear he would harm her, which in the end, he did. I was so traumatized by seeing Mary Martha kill Kent that I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”

  Edith laughed. A cold, vicious sound that scraped up Johnny Mack’s spine like a dull-bladed knife.

  Where was the sad, regretful, pitiful mother who had held her dead daughter in her lap and had taken full responsibility for her children’s ruined lives? Eaten alive and swallowed by the real Edith Noble Graham Ware, the self-centered, self-serving bitch who would survive at any cost. He didn’t doubt for a minute that she would come out of this ordeal with little or no jail time. Using her wealth and the power she wielded in this county and state, she knew the odds were in her favor.

  And the strange thing was, he didn’t care. He didn’t give a damn if Miss Edith got off scot-free. Actually, he didn’t give a damn what happened in Noble’s Crossing once he was gone. He could never stay here in the town that had scorned him, belittled him and in the end disposed of him like yesterday’s trash. The sooner he got back to Texas, the better.

  “I’ll let James know that you want a divorce,” Johnny Mack said.

  “You do that.”

  When he turned to leave, she called after him. “You’re not planning on staying in Noble’s Crossing, are you?”

  Without giving her even a backward glance, he replied. “No, ma’am. I’ll be leaving soon, and this time it’s for good. I won’t be back.”

  Lane removed her navy blue straw hat and laid it on top of the dresser, then kicked off her navy heels and stretched her toes. Without removing her suit, she lay down on the bed, flat on her back, and stared up at the ten-foot ceiling.

  Mary Martha’s funeral had been bittersweet, much like the woman herself. Sunshine had flooded through the stained-glass windows. The choir had sung several hymns that brought tears to everyone’s eyes. Flowers had filled the sanctuary to overflowing. And a black-clad Edith Ware had sat beside James on the front bench, her head held regally high as she had cried silently.

  A rap on her bedroom door ended Lane’s musings. She sat up, ran her fingers through her hair and scooted to the edge of the bed.

  “May I speak to you?” Johnny Mack asked through the closed door.

  “Yes, of course. Please come in.”

  He entered just as she stood to meet him. The sadness that had prevailed at the chapel seemed to have followed them home. Standing there in his gray, pinstriped suit, Johnny Mack looked at her, a somber expression on his face.

  “I’ve been putting off talking to you about this.” He bowed his head a fraction and gazed down at the floor.

  Lane’s heart stopped momentarily. She held her breath. “You’re leaving,” she said.

  He nodded. “Yeah. I’ve done what I came here to do. I’ve met my son and gotten to know him. And we found Kent’s real murderer. Mary Martha’s been laid to rest, and Miss Edith’s trial is slated to begin in a couple of months.” He lifted his gaze to Lane’s face. “I can’t stay in Noble’s Crossing. I don’t belong here. My life is in Texas.”

  “Your life is in Texas and my life is here. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Not exactly. I’m just trying to explain that I can’t live here in Noble’s Crossing.”

  “So, you’re going to leave me…leave us. Again.” Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry. If he can leave you so easily, then he doesn’t love you. He never has.

  “That’s just it,” he said. “I don’t want to leave you and Will. I love you, Lane. I think I always have. And I love my son.”

  “Then, how can you talk about leaving?” She took a tentative step toward him, her heart filling with hope.

  “I can’t stay here, but you and Will could come with me. And Lillie Mae, too.”

  “You want us to come with you?” Fifteen years ago she had begged him to take her with him. Fifteen years ago, she would have gone without a second thought. But how could she just pack a bag and go? She had responsibilities. She still owned forty-nine percent of the Herald. She had her family’s home entrusted to her. And Will. What would Will think about moving to Texas? She wasn’t sure he would want to live with his father.

  “You’re taking way too long to answer me. I remember a time when you wouldn’t have thought about it; you’d have just said yes.”

  “Things were more simple then. My life is complicated now. Back then I was a teenage girl, not a woman with commitments and responsibilities and—”

  “The decision isn’t complicated, Lane. It’s very simple. Either you love me enough to go with me to Texas and become my wife or you don’t.”

  Johnny Mack’s wife. The dream of a lifetime. To be the one woman on earth he truly loved.

  “I love you,” she said, holding out her hands beseechingly. “I’ve never loved anyone else. But you’re asking me to make an instant decision, to uproot Will, to change my entire life, to leave the home that’s been in my family for generations. You could stay here with us. We could build a good life together. You and Will and I.”

  “You don’t know me as well as I thought you did if you think I can stay in Noble’s Crossing. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but it can’t be here. I’ll live with you anywhere else on earth, but not here.”

  “I love you, too, but—”

  “I’m leaving tonight,” he said. “I’ve neglected my business in Houston long enough. If you change your mind…”

  He left her standing there in the middle of her bedroom. Stunned. Hurt. Angry. He expected her to give up her life to go with him, but he wasn’t willing to do the same for her.

  You’re a fool if you don’t go with him, an inner voice told her. If you give up this chance for happiness, you’ll never get another.

  “Mama?”

  Lane glanced up and saw Will standing in the doorway. “Will, sweetie, what is it?”

  “I’m afraid I was eavesdropping,” he admitted. “I heard Johnny Mack ask you to marry him and go to Texas to live.”

  “How would you feel about leaving Noble’s Crossing? About my marrying Johnny Mack?” she asked. “Could you live in Texas with your father?”

  “I could live in Texas,” he said. “I could live anywhere as long as I’m with you, Mama. Don’t you know that? And if you love Johnny Mack and want to marry him, it’s okay with me. I’d say it’s high time you two got together permanently, wouldn’t you?”

  “Do you mean it? You really could live in Texas with Johnny Mack?”

  “Sure. Why not? What kid doesn’t want to live with both of his parents?”

  “Oh, Will.” She grabbed him and hugged him fiercely.

  “Don’t you think you’d better go tell Johnny Mack the good news and put the man out of his misery?”

  Lane laughed. “You’re right. You’re so right.”

  She found him in his bedroom, placing clothes in his suitcase, which lay open on the bed.

  “May I come in?” she asked.
<
br />   “Sure.” He didn’t look up from the task at hand, just continued fitting socks and underwear alongside his shirts and jeans.

  “I’m not going to sell this house,” she said. “And I’m keeping my forty-nine percent of the Herald. I’d like to give both to Will one day or to Will and whatever other children we might have. Is that all right with you?”

  He looked up, and the corners of his mouth lifted gradually into a smile.

  “I want a small, intimate wedding, performed by a minister. I want Will and Lillie Mae to be our witnesses. And I want a honeymoon. Nothing fancy. Just a few days alone with you.”

  “How does a week at my ranch in the Texas Hill Country sound?”

  “It sounds wonderful.”

  Johnny Mack opened his arms, and Lane flew into his embrace. He lifted her off her feet and twirled her around and around until he fell over on the bed and took her with him.

  “I promise that you’ll never regret—”

  She laid her index finger over his lips. “The only thing I regret is that we’ve lost so many years when we could have been together.”

  “We’ll make up for lost time,” he told her, then covered her mouth with his.

  Epilogue

  Lane rested in the big wooden rocker on the porch, two-year-old Cathy Sue Cahill sleeping peacefully in her lap. Four-year-old Michael Cahill wrestled on the floor with the family’s black lab, Bailey. A cool autumn breeze floated across the wide ranch house porch. She had loved Johnny Mack’s Hill Country home the moment she laid eyes on it, five years ago when he had brought her here for their honeymoon. Since then they had spent more and more time here, until finally last year when Will had left to attend the University of Alabama, her father’s old alma mater, Johnny Mack had sold their house in Houston and moved the family to the ranch permanently.

  “Got them chocolate chip cookies ready.” Lillie Mae came outside and peered into the distance. “I thought Will and Johnny Mack would be home by now.”