“Okay. At least there are no signs of blood.” He went on to the set of French doors. “Locked. Let’s see if we can find a way in.” They walked around the house without finding an unlocked window at ground level.
The sky continued to darken. Kayla cast a fretful glance at the thunderous black clouds rushing toward them.
“I don’t like the looks of that sky, Lee.”
He paused to look up and cursed. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
“We’ll never outrun it. Maybe the garage is unlocked.”
They sprinted for the two-car garage. The knob twisted freely under Lee’s hand as the first large raindrop landed with a splat. Kayla ducked inside behind him. As her eyes acclimated to the interior, Kayla peered around. Other than a riding mower and a few tools, the garage was an empty shell that swayed in the quickening wind.
Kayla frowned. “Jason’s car isn’t in here.”
“Maybe he took her to the hospital.”
“You do think he hurt her!”
Lee shrugged. “There was some sort of physical altercation out back.” Thunder echoed across the sky. Hail began bouncing off the roof.
“I’m not so sure we’re safe here,” Lee announced.
“There’s a door over there near the back.”
Lee strode over to it. “This goes into the house and it’s unlocked. Come on.”
“Isn’t this illegal?”
His teeth glinted in the darkness. “Only if we get caught.”
“Goody. For a minute there I was worried.”
Thunder rumbled, loud enough to shake the ground. Wind battered the house, which suddenly felt as sturdy as so much cardboard.
They found themselves inside a spacious laundry room with two wide windows.
“Look at the size of that hail!” Kayla heard the tension in her voice and tried to control it.
“Does this place have a basement?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never been inside before.”
The house shuddered. Kayla shuddered right along with it. Lightning splintered the sky, illuminating the kitchen straight ahead. The loud crack of thunder made them both jump.
“I don’t like this.”
“That makes two of us. Crouch down over here beside the washer. You’ll be away from the windows.”
“No way. I feel safer staying with you.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m afraid I’m not much protection against Mother Nature.”
“Could you have a few words with Father Nature? Maybe he could tell her to knock it off.”
Lee grinned. He stepped into the dark kitchen and peered around. Kayla followed. She was serious about staying near him. It wasn’t just the storm that was spooking her. A pervading sense of malignancy seemed to hang in the very air around them.
“Not exactly the tidy sort,” Lee murmured, eyeing the messy kitchen.
Lightning flared, briefly illuminating a figure standing in the archway leading to the dining room. Kayla gasped. Lee spun around.
“We had to let the maid go,” Elizabeth said from the shadows.
As she took a step into the kitchen, Kayla realized this was not the carefully groomed Elizabeth she was used to seeing. This Elizabeth had frizzy hair fanned around her head in wild disarray. A shadow marred her cheekbone. Her lip was split and she was barefoot beneath the billowy caftan she wore.
“Are you okay?” Lee asked.
Her laughter came on a blast of thunder, shrill and grating, bordering on the hysterical. Another intense streak of lightning followed by a deafening thunderclap brought the sound to a merciful halt. Kayla shivered at the sense of wrongness.
“What are you doing in here?” Elizabeth demanded.
“The garage door was open,” Lee explained. “We were taking shelter from the storm.”
“We rang the intercom,” Kayla added.
Elizabeth stared at her, then turned around and disappeared into the dining room without responding. Lee gave Kayla a “what was that all about” sort of look before he followed. Kayla had no idea. She didn’t know Elizabeth all that well, which was fine with her. She hurried after them despite every instinct she had screaming to her to get out of there.
“Elizabeth, is there a basement?” Lee asked.
“Go away,” Elizabeth said, without looking at them.
Lee grabbed her arm, halting her progress.
“Where’s the basement?” he demanded.
“We don’t have one.” She pulled free and skirted a room next to the dining room. Kayla noticed she was weaving slightly.
“Elizabeth, we just want to help,” Lee told her.
That eerie laughter came again. Kayla rubbed her arms. They should have ridden out the storm in the car.
The living room lay in brooding darkness, alleviated only by flashes of lightning. There was barely enough light to see by, but an open photo album and an open bottle of Scotch with a nearly empty glass sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. Gracelessly Elizabeth sank into the elegant white couch and refilled her glass without looking at them.
“I don’t need help,” she told them. “Not anymore.”
“Did Jason do that to you?” Lee asked. “The bruise on your face?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied sullenly.
“Where is he, Elizabeth?”
She took a swallow and looked up with haunted eyes. The shadow on her cheekbone became a clear bruise.
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Don’t worry. He won’t be coming back.” She took another gulp from her glass. “The money’s all gone now, too, you know. My daddy said I should keep control. Jason hated that, but I did it anyhow. The property, the house, even the bank account. I kept it all in my name, but it didn’t last. Nothing lasts. Jason had to sell his precious Porsche to make payroll lash...last month. We were going to sell the house next.”
Lee hunkered down beside her and the coffee table. He motioned for Kayla to sit. She perched uneasily on the edge of the nearest chair, listening to the sound and the fury of the storm overhead. In a flicker of lightning, Kayla realized the book wasn’t filled with just any photos, it was Elizabeth’s wedding album.
The sense of wrongness practically screamed in her head. Something heavy struck the back of the house, making even Lee jump. “The patio furniture,” he told her.
The storm was getting worse.
“Where’d Jason go, Elizabeth?” Lee asked.
This time her laughter strangled on a sob. As rain battered the windows, she glared at him. “The police were supposed to arrest you. He had it all planned.”
Lee looked at Kayla. She knew her expression must reflect the horror she was feeling, but at the same time there was an overwhelming sense of relief. Lee and Alex were innocent and Elizabeth was their proof.
“Are you saying Jason murdered Fay?”
Elizabeth stared down at the open book. “She wanted your money. Barney was going to take lewd pictures of you with some prostitutes to prove you were an unfit father. But Jason got cold feet. He was afraid the women would be traced back to him, so he never hired the prostitutes.”
She took a drink from her glass and glanced at Lee. “He hated you, you know. You have everything he wanted.”
Bitterness scattered her words at them like buckshot. “He was afraid of you because you were a cop. He worried you’d find out if he hired those women. He’d be the one you’d come after if Fay followed through with her plan.”
Thunder boomed. Kayla rubbed her arms to stop the chill that seemed to permeate the house.
“I heard them on the phone that afternoon,” Elizabeth continued. “They were arguing. They didn’t know I’d picked up the extension. Fay laughed at Jason. She said she had no intention of marrying him. She called him a loser. She said, if he wanted his daughter, he’d better help her set you up.”
Kayla inhaled sharply. Lines of sorrow carved paths of destruction on Lee’s f
ace. She felt his pain so clearly.
“She actually told Jason that Meredith was his child?” Lee asked softly.
Elizabeth looked up with a haunted expression of her own. She too was being torn apart inside by the betrayal of the man she’d loved and a woman she’d once called friend.
“She taunted him with it,” Elizabeth said, then she went back to staring at the photo album with sightless eyes. Her voice took on a hollow tone, nearly drowned out by the rolling thunder outside.
“Barney picked you up at the restaurant and dumped you in the room. When he left to get his camera, Jason told Fay he hadn’t hired the other women. He said she was mad, but she didn’t seem surprised. Jason saw her slip something in his champagne so he switched drinks with her.”
“Why would she try to drug Jason?” Kayla asked.
Elizabeth lifted her head to give her a mocking look. “Because he didn’t get the prostitutes. She needed someone to put in that bed with Lee. She was going to have Barney pose Jason with Lee. She figured Lee would still look like an unfit father.”
Her tone rose, anger seeping into her voice. “Everything was ruined and all because of that damn brat! That’s all he could talk about. Being her real father. It wasn’t my fault we couldn’t have kids. The doctor said so! But he wouldn’t go for testing himself. Oh, no. He knew it was my fault. He never loved me! He only married me to get my money because she wouldn’t marry a nobody like him. Everything was a lie! Our whole life was a lie!”
With an angry swish of her hand she sent the album crashing to the floor. The bottle of Scotch teetered and would have fallen if Lee hadn’t caught and steadied it.
“I knew he was still seeing her. The whole time we were married, he’d sneak away to be with her. I pretended I didn’t know what he was doing, but I knew. I told myself it didn’t matter as long as he came back to me. She was married, too.” She turned her glare on Lee. “But then she divorced you and moved back here....” Her eyes clouded with tears.
“Did Jason kill her?” Lee asked gently.
For a moment, Kayla thought she wouldn’t answer. Even the storm seemed to hold its breath.
“He told me he did. After she passed out, he shot her with your gun, then locked you both in the room and told Barney Fay changed her mind and wanted to talk to you alone. When Barney returned, he put him off by saying Fay had changed her mind about taking pictures and wanted them both to leave. He kept talking about how he’d seized the moment. He was crazy. Scared, but wildly excited. He told me everything when he came home. The police would arrest you for Fay’s murder and Meredith would be ours.”
Elizabeth abruptly slammed her glass down on the coffee table so hard it cracked. She barely seemed to notice. Her anger raged like the storm.
“I didn’t want his bastard child! He was going to humiliate me in front of the whole town! My ancestors founded this town!” She reached out before Lee could stop her and drained the cracked glass. With the same suddenness, she heaved it across the room where it shattered against a wall, leaving behind an ugly stain and the potent smell of Scotch.
“The police were supposed to arrest you,” she began to whine. “Why didn’t they arrest you? Everything would have been okay then. He was so scared when they didn’t. He even lent Barney his rifle. Barney was going to shoot you.”
Kayla knew her mouth fell open, but she couldn’t help it. “Why?”
“Because Barney was in love with her, too.” Her head swayed from side to side. “Poor, stupid Barney. When Jason told him Lee killed Fay, Barney wanted ret...ret...”
“Retribution,” Lee supplied grimly. To Kayla he said, “I think we’d better call Hepplewhite.”
Elizabeth lifted her head. “The phone went out with the power.” She reached for the bottle, but Lee pulled it away.
“I think you’ve had enough, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth stood up so suddenly she knocked over the coffee table. “No! This is my house! Get out! Both of you just get the hell out!”
She threaded her way out to the main hall, stepping on a picture of a beaming bride and her groom.
Lee righted the coffee table and set down the bottle of Scotch. The stench seemed to fill the room. Kayla wanted to gag.
“I’d better go after her,” he said. “Wait here.”
But Kayla had no desire to stand there all alone. She picked up the photo album and a piece of paper fell to the ground. It was hard to read in the brief flashes of lightning, but, apparently, Elizabeth had been writing a suicide letter. The rambling, barely legible words detailed Jason’s indiscretion and his part in Fay’s murder.
After a moment of indecision, Kayla crossed the hall into the dining room to show Lee.
Lightning and thunder exploded simultaneously overhead.
For an instant, the outside wall appeared transparent. Then, with the sharp scent of ozone lingering in the air, a large maple tree toppled onto the house. The wall in front of her collapsed in a cloud of dust. A giant limb thrust through the living room where she had been standing. The front door buckled and sagged beneath the weight of another limb.
Trembling with shock, Kayla found herself backed against the doorway of a small room off the dining room, still clutching the sheet of paper. She realized that miraculously, she wasn’t hurt. She started to call to Lee and froze.
Jason Ruckles sat behind an expensive teak desk. His head rested on a fancy malachite blotter. One hand lay outstretched toward a lead glass paperweight. Blood pooled beneath his face. A great deal of blood.
Chapter Ten
“Kayla!”
Lee’s yell brought her out of her stunned sense of shock.
“Lee! Over here.”
He pulled her into arms that hugged the breath right out of her.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Talk to me!”
She struggled loose, fighting an hysterical urge to laugh and cry all at the same time. “I’m fine, but...”
“I thought you were dead. I thought the tree...”
“Never mind the tree! Look!”
His gaze followed the path of her extended arm. Lee swore. While fear squeezed her insides, he hurried into the room. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the grisly scene. Even though it was obvious to her that Jason was dead, Lee checked for a pulse.
Ridiculously, she found her gaze riveted on Jason’s extended hand. The palm was down, the knuckles clearly bruised. So much for wanting to see his hands, she thought frantically.
Lee automatically reached toward the telephone.
“He’s dead,” Elizabeth enunciated precisely.
Kayla whirled. Elizabeth held yet another glass in one hand, but it was her other hand that sent new terror through Kayla.
“Hand me the gun, Elizabeth,” Lee requested softly.
Instead, she brought the muzzle up so it pointed straight at him. Despite all the alcohol she’d consumed, Elizabeth’s hand was rock steady. Kayla felt her heart thud to a stop.
Elizabeth set her glass on the bookcase inside the door. “I’d been thinking I’d have to kill myself.”
Kayla held up the piece of paper. “I know. I found your note.”
“Give me that!” Elizabeth demanded.
Kayla let the paper fall to the floor, but Elizabeth wasn’t distracted.
“I couldn’t see another sho...solution. Then the two of you showed up and it dawned on me. I don’t have to die. I can become a tragic heroine. The police want him for one murder. Why not two? You broke in and shot Jason. I had to shoot the two of you in self-defense.”
Lee shook his head. He was balanced for action, but he didn’t move. The desk was between them. He could never reach Elizabeth before she fired. And she would fire. Kayla had no doubts about that.
“They won’t buy it, Elizabeth. I’m not armed,” he told her gently. He took a single step sideways. Kayla realized he was going to try to play hero. It would never work.
Unless Kayla could distract her.
“A tree j
ust came down on the front of the house,” Kayla reminded her. “Don’t you care?”
She also moved, closer to the desk.
“Stand still. Both of you!”
Kayla would swear, in that moment, Elizabeth looked completely sober.
“You can’t just shoot us,” Kayla protested. She stepped in front of Jason’s lifeless, reaching hand and the chunk of lead crystal. Elizabeth swung her head to follow that step, but not the gun. She knew who the real threat was. The gun stayed on Lee.
“She’s not going to shoot us,” Lee interjected. Kayla twisted to look at him, letting her hand snake out toward the crystal. Lee caught her eye, but he kept on talking. “Elizabeth knows the forensic evidence wouldn’t back up her story.”
Kayla’s fingers closed over the heavy paperweight.
“Besides, Elizabeth, you don’t have to kill anyone else. This was clearly a case of self-defense. You’ve got the bruises to prove it. We’ll back you up. Won’t we... Kayla!”
Kayla took her cue and heaved the glass paperweight with all her might. Belatedly Elizabeth swung the gun in her direction. Lee flew around the desk in a low tackle. The gun discharged in a clap of sound, echoed by the thunder overhead. The bullet went through the ceiling while the paperweight missed, falling harmlessly to the carpeting a good foot from where Lee was subduing Elizabeth.
Lee wrenched the gun from Elizabeth’s hand.
“You okay, Kayla?” He didn’t look in her direction as he rose. His attention centered on the huddled woman at his feet.
“I’m fine. What about you?”
“I’ll live.”
Lee yanked Elizabeth to her feet. He tugged her out of the den and into the dining room where he thrust her into a chair. Elizabeth burst into uncontrollable sobs.
“Find a phone. Call Hepplewhite.”
Kayla couldn’t bear to go back inside the den, so she ran to the kitchen. The phone was as dead as Elizabeth had claimed, but it occurred to Kayla that someone like Elizabeth probably had her own cell phone. She hunted until she found the other woman’s purse. Over the sound of Elizabeth’s sobs, she dialed the much too familiar number.
When Kayla returned to the dining room, she heard Elizabeth pleading for the glass of Scotch she had poured. The hopelessness on the other woman’s face obviously bothered Lee as much as it did Kayla. After a moment’s hesitation, he gave a nod and Kayla retrieved the glass from the bookcase. It was the last Scotch Elizabeth was apt to taste for a very long time.
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