Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel)

by Naigle, Nancy

  “It’s better than sitting around waiting for another surprise.”

  “Some surprises are good,” he said.

  “Sometimes they’re not.”

  “I don’t want you to worry. Things are going to work out, and I like having you around.” He pulled her onto his lap.

  “I was thinking about taking Jake with me and going home from Arty’s house. Von can give me a ride.”

  The chair tipped back a little. “Why?”

  “I can’t stay here forever. Jake’s got school. I’ve got to figure out my employment situation, and you’ve got an album to put together. I don’t want to put you behind on that.”

  Cody wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t want you to leave, and the album is on schedule. Pete’s been down there with his head in the earphones mixing every free moment he’s had. I need to sit in and take a listen to what we’ve got so far, but he’s the genius on that stuff. Besides, you don’t want to take Jake to a funeral. Leave him here with me. You can go home this weekend. What’s another day or two of kindergarten? I don’t think that’s going to ruin his education.”

  She didn’t respond, but that made him even more nervous. “What’s going through that pretty head of yours?”

  Kasey slid off his lap and hiked herself up on the desk in front of him. “Cody, it’s fun here, but I have a real life to go back to.”

  “Why can’t I be part of your real life?” There, he’d said it. It was out there.

  She pulled back. Then looked away. “You are part of my life. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t consider you a very special friend.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “No. You’re not laying that friend crap on me. Scott can be your friend. Hell, Pete can be your friend, but I’m more than that. What you and I have… that’s not just friends. There’s something special here. Don’t tell me you don’t feel it.”

  “I…”

  “Kasey, I felt it when you were with me a year ago. This is very real to me.”

  “I’m just a photographer.”

  “You’re just about the best thing that’s ever walked into my life, and I’m not letting you slip away.”

  She jumped down off the desk. “I have a say in this.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Desperation was showing and it wasn’t an emotion he was familiar with. “Please just stay through the weekend. We need to talk about this.”

  She walked toward the window. With her back to him he wasn’t sure what her thoughts were, but when she turned around her eyes were glassy.

  “Don’t cry. If there’s one true love for me, Kasey… I believe it’s you.”

  She sucked in a breath and walked over as he stood and took her into his arms.

  She leaned forward and kissed him. “You scare the hell out of me, Cody.” She laid the palms of her hands on each side of his face. “I do feel it. I won’t lie to you, but this is huge. I have a son to think about. I have me to think about. I’m just finally getting through each day after losing Nick. I never thought I’d love again.”

  “But you can.” He inhaled her scent, wanting it to last longer. “I wish I was going with you tomorrow,” he said. “I could fly with you and wait in the plane.”

  “No. I’d rather you were here with Jake. Pete will be there, and Von. I’ll be okay.”

  “I know you’ll be fine. I just want to be with you.”

  “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

  “You will?”

  She nodded. “I’ll be back.”

  “Thank you.” He kissed her full on the mouth. His heart was pounding with such force that he hoped he hadn’t kissed her too darned hard. “You’re not going to regret this. I’ll be waiting. Are you comfortable leaving Jake?”

  “Yes. I trust you to take good care of him, and he’ll be thrilled with the idea.”

  “It’ll be fun.”

  “You might want to hold that opinion until after tomorrow. You’re liable to be sacked out after playing with a five-year-old all day. Trust me. It’s a job.”

  “Will you come to Kentucky with me for the show day after tomorrow? It’s not that far. We’ll take the buses. You can bring Jake or Mom can watch him.”

  She looked hesitant.

  “Don’t say no. I’m sorry. I’m not good at slow.” He held his hand up. “Don’t say anything. We can talk about it tomorrow when you get back. Come on. Let’s get some rest.”

  He led her up the stairs and walked her to her bedroom door. “Is this where I kiss you goodnight?”

  She lifted her face to his and just as she began to answer, his lips brushed hers, and she kissed him back. It’s hard to kiss when your mouth wants to smile.

  His lips explored hers. He pulled her into an embrace, his fingers laced through hers as he buried his face into the crook of her neck, sucking in a breath and hoping for the strength to walk away. Slow down.

  “I guess I better go.” He nodded toward his room and took a step back, still holding her hand. Follow me. Come on.

  She tugged him toward her room, and he followed her there.

  He crawled alongside her on the comforter. The kisses came naturally, he felt her heartbeat against his chest. His hands explored her body, every curve he’d longed to touch.

  Her breathing was as anxious as his.

  “Mom?”

  They froze, then Cody forced himself to roll away from her and stood by the bed. “I may have to use the zip line to burn off this adrenaline, but I guess since we don’t want Jake to know about that either… I’ll just go swim some laps.”

  She giggled. He loved the sound of her laughter.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Cody. “See, my life can be complicated.” She jumped out of bed. “Coming, Jake.” She straightened her top as she went to his room.

  He heard her talking to him as he snuck by the open door. He went downstairs and then stripped down to his nothings and dove into the pool. When he came up for air, he shook his hair from his face and glanced toward the balcony. She stood there in the moonlight like an angel.

  My angel.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Kasey dressed in her black slacks and borrowed a dress shirt from Denise to wear to Arty’s funeral. She said good-bye to Jake and Cody and then walked outside where Denise was sitting in her car waiting to take her around to the airstrip.

  Denise handed Kasey a newspaper and a manila envelope. “I don’t like to subject myself to this junk, but I wanted you to be prepared for what’s being said out there. Don’t tell Cody. I like him to think I don’t even bother, else he’d always be worried about my feelings.”

  A mother’s love. Kasey knew exactly how Denise felt. “Thank you, Denise.”

  “We’re Hills through and through. Folks can call him Tuggle all they want, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts and that boy is every bit the gentleman his daddy and grandpa Hill were. We both know he’s innocent and hopefully this will all be behind us soon.”

  Denise slowed to turn off the main road. “Now, don’t you worry about Jake. I know what you’ve been going through. Honey, I promise you that boy will be safe. I will not let anything happen to him. Cody and I are going to take Jake horseback riding today. That’ll take our minds off everything and there’s nothing better than a horse to teach a boy responsibility.”

  “Thank you, Denise. I’m trying so hard to put that anxiety behind me, but it—”

  “Don’t say it, honey. I know. I’m a mother. I totally get it. Now, more importantly, don’t put yourself in any harm’s way trying to snoop around. Just let this thing ride its course.”

  They pulled in front of the hangar. “Thank you, Denise.”

  “By the way, Cody mentioned that he asked you to go to the benefit concert with him tomorrow. I don’t want to try to tell you what to do… but I want you to know I’d be thrilled to take care of Jake if you want to go.”

  If she refused Denise’s offer she’d take it personally. “Let’s
see how I do today, but thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome, honey. You’d better run. Looks like everyone else is already on board.”

  She settled into the seat next to Pete and fastened her seat belt for takeoff.

  As the plane took off she looked out the window. From here she recognized the buildings and landmarks of Hillcrest now. The barn, the pond, the studio, and Hillcrest rose above it all with its gleaming blue, solar-tiled roof. She wondered if Jake and Cody were watching the plane take off from where they were.

  She lifted her hand to the glass.

  Pete leaned in. “You okay?”

  She turned and nodded. “Yeah. I’m good.” She eased back in the fine leather seat. “How about you? You ready for today? I bet the press will have a hundred questions about Cody not coming.”

  He shrugged. “That’s fine. I’m used to it.”

  “Cody said Annette told him she wasn’t going to be there. I’m sure she usually diverts some of that for you.”

  “Not really,” he said with a smirk. “The more she diverts from Cody, the more they come to me.”

  “Hadn’t thought of that. Well, it should be interesting.”

  “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. Arty wasn’t all that well liked. I’ll be curious to see how many people actually show up aside from those of us he’s represented… out of duty.”

  She pulled a folder out of her tote bag. “I wanted you to take a look at these pictures with me.”

  “Sure. What do you have here?” Pete took the folder.

  “It’s pictures from the party at Arty’s house. The night of the murder. Cody and I’ve been through them, but I thought you might take a look and see if there was anything you noticed that we didn’t mark.”

  Pete flipped through the pictures, nodding. “This looks like… no…” He went through the stack and came back to that one picture. “I’m not sure, but that looks like this girl we call Georgia Peach.” He squinted.

  Kasey pulled her computer out of her tote bag. “I can pull it up on my laptop and maybe you can see it better.”

  “Yeah. Do that.”

  She hit the power button and waited for the machine to come to life. The picture was high-resolution so she was able to blow it up pretty big with good clarity. “Here you go,” she said, passing him the computer.

  He used the trackpad to scan across and over. “Yeah. It looks like her.” He leaned over. “That girl right there. I swear it’s her. I wish Cody was here to confirm it. He’d know for sure.”

  “I’ll text him. He still has a copy of these there. What do you know about her?”

  He filled her in on what little he knew. Kasey texted Cody, then sent the details to Von to see what he could track down between the guest list, car log, and other details he’d gathered.

  Pete put his noise-canceling earphones on and closed his eyes.

  It was just a short hop from Nashville to Virginia. It seemed like they were already descending. She could get used to this mode of transportation, especially into these tiny airports. No wait. No TSA pat-downs. No problem.

  As the plane started to touch down Kasey noticed Von’s truck parked next to a limousine. Probably the one that had been hired to take the band over to the service. She felt a nervous energy about going to the funeral. She didn’t really know Arty, but it hadn’t hit her until just now that the last funeral she’d attended was Nick’s, and suddenly that dull ache found its way back into her bones. She rolled her shoulders and let out a breath.

  The whole band was already up and stretching before they came to a complete stop.

  She was the last one off the plane. She walked over to Von and gave him a hug. “Good to see you.”

  “You too. Riley sends her love.”

  She could tell that he’d already thought about how the day might make her feel. He had that big-brother I’ll-take-care-of-you look on his face.

  “Y’all can ride with us,” Pete said.

  “That’s okay. We’re going to lay low. Y’all go on. We’ll be right behind you,” Kasey said. “You ready?” she asked Von.

  They followed the limousine to the church where they were having the service because the original plan for an elaborate service at the estate had become impossible with the police still around.

  Kasey took her camera out of her purse and put fresh batteries in it, then tucked it into her pocket. Then she put a pen and paper in the other pocket in case she needed to write anything down.

  “I feel like I’m on an undercover mission,” she said.

  “We kind of are. Welcome to my world,” Von teased.

  “This’ll have to be better than sitting around on surveillance. That part of your job sucks.” She remembered from when they’d been trying to track down Jake. Hours of sitting in his SUV was no party.

  “It’s all a matter of perspective,” Von said.

  Pete couldn’t have been more wrong about the attendance of Arty’s service. The parking lot overflowed with folks and the press hung out in clusters trying to catch a shot of someone famous.

  Kasey took advantage of the flood of people to take pictures of everyone as they started moving toward the church. It was grasping at straws, but she couldn’t sit idly by with fingers pointed at Cody until they solved the case.

  Pete walked over to Kasey. “I’ve seen some of Cody’s superfans. I guess they were hoping he’d be here. Guess who else is here?”

  “The peach? From the picture?” she guessed.

  “See the girl standing by that silver Toyota truck? That’s Georgia Peach. She’s at every concert within driving distance.”

  Kasey snapped a couple pictures and zoomed in for another. “That does look like the girl from the party photo.”

  “Now that I see her again, I think so too.”

  “See any others?”

  “Let me see,” Pete craned his neck. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Over there. The girl in the bright blue.”

  “That’s easy to spot,” Von said. “Don’t think she’s trying to blend into the crowd.”

  “And look. I guess Annette changed her mind. She’s here, and that’s Lou walking with her with that girl. Is that Amy?”

  Kasey nodded. “Looks like her.”

  “That’s just wrong. I can’t believe Arty did that to Cody,” Pete said.

  Von locked his truck. “Let’s go on in.”

  Pete went up to the front of the church and sat with the band in the area that had been reserved for them. Kasey and Von sat toward the back so Von could see everyone coming and going.

  There was no body, simply a picture of Arty at the front of the church. Most people probably thought it was just the way the guy wanted it to be, but Kasey knew that they hadn’t released the body yet.

  It was a nice service, though there wasn’t a tear in the place. Not even Amy, who looked sad, but didn’t cry. It was the most unusual and unemotional service Kasey had ever been to.

  Afterward, she and Von caught up with the guys in the parking lot.

  “That was short and sweet,” Pete said.

  “I know. I think the flight was longer,” Kasey said.

  Von took pictures of the cars in the parking lot before everyone left. “Never know what will come in handy. Anyone say anything?”

  Pete shrugged. “Nothing but sorry to hear about it. I guess word’s getting out about Amy because even Georgia Peach told me to tell Cody how sorry she was that Arty had betrayed him like that.” Pete shoved his hand in his pocket. “Oh, and here’s her real name and address. I told her I had something for her from Cody and she gave it to me. Don’t let me forget to actually send something.”

  “You’re awesome.” Kasey took the scrap of paper, but she wondered how Georgia Peach would have found out about the secret so soon. It wasn’t totally unlikely that she could have heard Annette talking to Lou.

  The limo pulled around and the guys piled in. “We’ll meet you back at the plane,” Pete said.

  “W
e’re right behind you.” Von got in the truck and they followed the limo to the airstrip.

  Kasey took a picture of the information Pete had given her before handing it over to Von and promised to e-mail him her files as soon as she got on the plane and connected. Von was planning to stay in town and do a little more digging.

  She called Cody’s number to check in on Jake while they got ready to take off. She could barely get a word in edgewise as Jake went on and on about his day riding horses and that Miss D had given him a cowboy hat that used to be Cody’s when he was a little boy just like him.

  “We’re getting ready to come home. I’ll see you in about an hour. I love you,” she said.

  I don’t think he even missed me. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but she hadn’t had that surge of panic that she usually got when she was apart from him, and that had to mean progress.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The next morning Kasey got up early to get Jake ready to go with Denise for the day. Jake was still on a high from the previous day of riding and was raring to get back down to the barn with his new best friend, whom he now just called Miss D, and his new favorite horse, Hillcrest Flashback.

  Denise had come down on horseback to pick him up and he had thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. She’d had to call after him to have him come back and give her a kiss good-bye.

  After struggling with what to do with Jake, it was Cody who had come up with the perfect solution. Well, probably not perfect for him—he wouldn’t get what he wanted—but perfect because it would give Kasey the chance to let Jake out of her sight again for a little longer, but be nearby at the same time.

  Cody stepped up behind her as she watched Denise and Jake ride off toward her place. He dropped a kiss in the crook of her neck. “I wish you were coming with me, but we’ll be back tonight. Can I ask you out on a date for when I get back?”

  She cast him a sideways glance. “What did you have in mind? Because I’m not going zip-lining.”

  “I’ll be too tired for zip-lining after the concert anyway. I was thinking you and me, on the rooftop balcony—”