Disturbing the Dead

by Sandra Parshall

  “Wait a minute.” Tom flipped the pages in the folder, hoping something would jump out at him. He stopped when he came to an account of his interview with Bonnie and Jack Watford. He skimmed the interview notes, went back and read a couple of quotes a second time. “Let’s think about Bonnie and Jack. Seems to me they felt a lot of resentment toward Pauline. Still do, even after all these years. And Bonnie was at Pauline’s house right before the disappearance. Screaming at Pauline about something, but Mrs. Barker couldn’t make out what it was about. Let me find—”

  He shuffled papers and found the account of his last interview with Mrs. Barker. He read it quickly. The scenario taking shape in his mind was so far-fetched that he didn’t dare put it into words. Not until he was sure it was possible. He pushed back his chair and rose. “Hold on a minute. I need to make a call.”

  ***

  “Hey, Tom,” Reed Durham said when he answered the phone. “I heard about Natalie McClure. I am flat-out amazed, but I guess we should have suspected something like—”

  “Reed,” Tom interrupted, “I need some information.”

  A brief silence. Tom could envision Durham bracing himself to deflect intrusive questions. “I’ll help if I can,” he said, his tone turning brisk.

  “Where was Mary Lee born?” Tom asked.

  “That’s what you want to know? Florida. Palm Beach, I believe.”

  “How did Pauline and Adam happen to be in Palm Beach when the baby was born?”

  “Well—” Durham paused. “What’s this about?”

  “I don’t have time to explain. Why were they in Florida?”

  Durham hesitated, and Tom knew the lawyer was trying to figure out what kind of trap he was walking into. “It was winter,” Durham said at last. “Pauline was having a lot of morning sickness and backaches and so forth. She wanted to be in a warm place.”

  “How long was she down there?”

  Another silence, this one stretching out. Tom tapped a pencil on his desktop and waited.

  “About six months, I guess,” Durham said. “Adam wasn’t with her the whole time, he had his work at the bank, but he flew down a lot. She was about three months pregnant, I guess, when she left. That’s a hard time for a lot of women. My wife—”

  “Pauline was in Florida from the third month of the pregnancy until after the baby was born?”

  “Right.”

  “Tell me this. Did you ever see Pauline looking pregnant?”

  “What kind of question is that? She started wearing looser clothes, and…Well, no, I guess I never saw her really heavy. Why?”

  “Thanks.” Tom dropped the receiver into its cradle.

  Back in the conference room, he faced the sheriff’s displeasure. “What are you up to?” Willingham said. “Who’d you have to call in such a hurry?”

  “I’ll explain everything.” Tom leaned his palms on the tabletop and swept the three men with his gaze. “We know Mary Lee isn’t Adam’s daughter. What if she’s not Pauline’s daughter either?”

  Chapter Forty-one

  “Now you’re not making any sense,” Sheriff Willingham said. “Pauline gave birth to Mary Lee. How could the girl not be her daughter?”

  “If she’d given birth in Mason County General,” Tom said, “and she’d seen a local doctor throughout her pregnancy, I wouldn’t question it. But she went off to Florida before the pregnancy was even showing, and she came back with a baby.”

  “So what?”

  Tom repeated what Durham had said and Willingham lost his inclination to argue. “I’ll be damned,” he murmured. He frowned at Tom. “Then whose baby was it? Mary Lee’s got to be related to the Turners. She looks just like them.”

  “She’s related, all right,” Tom said. “Here’s what I think happened. Adam and Pauline couldn’t have children. But Pauline’s sister Bonnie was a baby-making machine. She had four sons and a daughter, one right after the other, when she was in her teens and early twenties. I’ve heard from several sources about Bonnie’s emotional instability, her bad nerves. She was overwhelmed. Maybe when she got pregnant again, a sixth baby was the last thing she and Jack wanted.”

  “And along came Pauline to take the kid off her hands,” Brandon said.

  “Right. We’re probably not going to find any records after all these years, but I’d bet anything that Bonnie Watford was in Florida with Pauline, and she probably used Pauline’s name when she saw a doctor and when she had the baby.”

  “But why go to so much trouble?” Dennis asked. “Why didn’t Adam and Pauline adopt her sister’s baby? Or some other baby.”

  “Because Adam’s mother wanted real grandchildren. She wouldn’t have accepted an adopted baby. Robert told me the only reason the elder Mrs. McClure tolerated Pauline was because she was the mother of her grandchild.”

  Willingham slumped back in his chair. “Okay, let’s say all this is true. What does it have to do with the murders?”

  “I think it’s the reason for the murders,” Tom said. “Maybe Bonnie and Jack regretted giving up their child. They wanted some contact with her, but Pauline wouldn’t allow it. When I talked to Bonnie and Jack, Bonnie said something like ‘I just wanted to see her now and then, but Pauline treated me like poison.’ I thought she was talking about seeing her sister, but she might have been talking about her daughter.”

  Willingham frowned. “I don’t know, Tom. This is all pretty hard to believe.”

  “Another thing,” Tom said. “Pauline sent Mary Lee to boarding school and wouldn’t tell anybody where she was. From the time Mary Lee was twelve, she spent almost no time in Mason County. Everybody says Pauline was trying to protect her from the fuss the McClures stirred up about the girl’s paternity. But maybe she was hiding Mary Lee from her real parents.”

  “What are you thinking?” Dennis asked. “Bonnie or Jack killed Pauline? But why would either of them kill Amy? Maybe Mary Lee found out the truth and flew into a rage and killed Pauline? Why would she kill Amy?”

  Brandon said, “Mary Lee thought Amy was trying to take her place with Pauline. And she felt threatened after she found out she wasn’t really Pauline’s daughter.”

  Tom shook his head. “I’m not sure who did the murders. Shackleford’s one possibility. Mary Lee already had access to a trust fund, so she had money to pay him off. He could have killed O’Dell too. But if Shackleford’s not guilty, I’m convinced he knows who is. Let’s get him back in here.”

  ***

  Troy Shackleford, in handcuffs, halted in the conference room doorway and surveyed the uniformed men. “I’m not talkin’ anymore without a lawyer.”

  “Sit down, Troy.” Tom pulled out a chair. “Listen to what I’ve got to say before you decide whether to talk.”

  With an elaborate sigh, Shackleford sank into the chair. “I’m all ears.”

  Tom took his seat across from Shackleford and switched on the tape recorder between them. “If you don’t cooperate, you’ll be arraigned tomorrow morning on capital murder charges, based on what Natalie McClure told us. You meet us halfway, tell us everything you remember about the night Pauline died, and we might reconsider. If your story jibes with what we already know.”

  Shackleford’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t answer for a long time. His gaze roamed the room, his breathing rasped. When his eyes met Tom’s again, he drawled, “You don’t know a damned thing. There’s a lot of stuff you’re never gonna figure out, ’cause you don’t know the right questions to ask.”

  Tom smiled. “We know that Jack and Bonnie Watford are Mary Lee’s parents.”

  Shackleford’s mouth dropped open. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said slowly. “You’re a real detective after all, Deputy Dawg.”

  Tom wanted to whoop in triumph at this confirmation, but he said coolly, “We also know Rudy O’Dell helped you hide the bodies.”

  Shackleford shifted in his chair, ran his tongue over his lips. “Rudy’s dead. He ain’t been tel
lin’ you nothin’.”

  “He told somebody else about it. That’ll be good enough. You waited too long to kill him.”

  “I didn’t kill Rudy. And I told you, I took Natalie’s money but I didn’t kill Pauline.”

  “Prove it. If you don’t, Natalie McClure’s going to put you on death row.”

  “What kind of a deal am I gettin’ out of this?”

  “Tell us your story and we’ll decide what it’s worth.”

  Shackleford looked down at his bound wrists and didn’t answer.

  Changing tack, Tom asked, “Did you know from the beginning that Mary Lee was Bonnie and Jack’s child?”

  “Naw.” Shackleford wiped the back of one hand across his mouth. “I didn’t hear about it till the girl was a teenager. Jack got drunk one night and told me. Amy wasn’t but two months old when Bonnie got pregnant again. And her already a nervous wreck. Jack didn’t want any more kids, but Bonnie wouldn’t get rid of it. So Jack sold it to Pauline and Adam. They all went down to Florida and Bonnie had the baby and Pauline and Adam’s names went on the birth certificate. ”

  A tide of revulsion rose in Tom, disgust with Jack and Bonnie, Pauline and Adam in equal measure. “But Jack and Bonnie kept trying to see Mary Lee, didn’t they?”

  “Not at first. They got a chunk of cash to move out of state, but after nine, ten years—before Adam died—they come back home. And the trouble started. Bonnie wanted her little girl back.”

  Tom could imagine the panic Pauline and Adam felt when the Watfords reappeared. “But the McClures wouldn’t let them see Mary Lee.”

  “Adam paid ’em to get lost again. They left for a while, but Bonnie kept comin’ back, tryin’ to see the girl. Jack couldn’t control his own wife. When Adam died, Pauline had to send Mary Lee off to boardin’ school to keep Bonnie away from her. Bonnie was already nuts, but it made her crazier, not bein’ able to see the little girl Pauline took away from her. And Pauline made it worse by takin’ a shine to Amy. She ought to’ve had more sense.”

  “Bonnie felt like Pauline was taking her other daughter away from her too.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Shackleford said. “That was the last straw. They had a big fight about Amy spendin’ so much time at Pauline’s and puttin’ on airs like she was better’n her own family. So it was all set to blow. Pauline was just askin’ for it.”

  “What do you remember about the night of the murders?”

  “Didn’t happen at night,” Shackleford said. “It was afternoon, late. I was fixin’ the light over the kitchen sink and Rudy was out cuttin’ the grass when they walked in, Bonnie and Jack and Amy.”

  Tom’s vague mental picture of the murders dissolved and a fresh one sprang up, but he didn’t know whose hands had held the ax. “Go on.”

  “Bonnie heard somewhere about Mary Lee comin’ home for a visit before she headed off to start her first year at college, and her and Jack and Amy hightailed it out to Pauline’s place, hell-bent on seein’ Mary Lee and tellin’ her the truth.”

  “What happened when they showed up?”

  Shackleford placed his hands on the table, the cuffs rattling when they struck the wood. He grinned, but his dark eyes were cold. “Things got out of hand. People got killed. I can tell you who killed who, but I got more to offer too. I can give you a juicy little morsel that’ll make you drool like a dog sniffin’ a bitch. I’m keepin’ it to myself, though, till y’all guarantee in writin’ to let me off on the murder charges.”

  “No guarantees till we know what you’re offering,” Tom said.

  “Well, then,” Shackleford said, rising, “if you gentlemen will excuse me, I’m startin’ to miss my deluxe quarters in your fine facility. I’m done talkin’.”

  ***

  Rachel studied Joanna’s enclosed porch with a critical eye. “Yeah,” she told Holly. “We’ll have to improvise, but this will do. Help me move the furniture out of the way.”

  The supplies Rachel had ordered would arrive the following morning, and as long as no patient needed emergency surgery, she’d be able to carry on at Joanna’s house for a week or so, until the parts of the clinic that hadn’t been burned were cleaned up and made usable. Soon she would have her insurance payout and could begin rebuilding.

  Holly’s eyes had a faraway look and she answered in monosyllables when Rachel spoke to her. Watching Holly’s face, Rachel could track her emotions, the grief and anger and bewilderment that crashed through her in relentless waves.

  After they set up a card table for small animal exams, Rachel touched Holly’s arm. “Don’t force yourself to work if you’re not up to it.”

  Tears filled Holly’s eyes. “But you need to be ready, and it’s my job to help you.” Her voice caught on a sob. “I can’t believe Mama’s really dead.”

  Rachel pulled the girl into a hug and patted her back. She desperately wished she could do something to help Holly, but no one could reach into another’s heart and ease the anguish of loss. The raw misery of her grief for her own mother would never leave her completely. If that was what losing a loved one could do to you, she’d thought more than once, perhaps it was better never to feel deeply. But love couldn’t be kept at bay. It invaded her heart whether she welcomed it or not. She loved this girl who had become such a huge part of her life in only a few days. And although the possibility terrified her and made her feel like a traitor to Luke, she knew she was falling in love with Tom.

  Holly clung to Rachel and sobbed. When she’d exhausted her tears, she stepped back and pulled tissues from her jeans pocket to blow her nose and dry her face. “I keep worryin’ about Grandma. She must feel as bad as I do, and she’s all alone without me to help her.”

  Oh no. Holly couldn’t be thinking of going back. “She has your Aunt Bonnie,” Rachel said. “They’ll help each other.”

  Holly pushed hair off her damp cheeks and shook her head. “Aunt Bonnie’s kind of…She’s not real steady, you know? She’s probably fallin’ apart, and she won’t be any help to Grandma.”

  “Holly—”

  “I ought to go see her and make sure she’s all right.”

  Rachel bit back the words that wanted to pour out, the warnings, the pleas. She had no right to make Holly’s decisions for her. But she couldn’t let Holly be drawn back into her old life, and that would surely happen if Mrs. Turner got her alone for even a few minutes. “Why don’t you call her? That’ll make her feel better and it’ll set your mind to rest.”

  Holly chewed her bottom lip and considered. Rachel held her breath. At last Holly shook her head again and said what Rachel dreaded hearing. “Maybe I ought to go stay with her a while. I know you need me to work, but Grandma just found out my mama’s dead, and she needs me too.”

  “Please listen to me.” Taking her by the shoulders, Rachel made Holly look at her. “You know how it’ll turn out if you move back in with your grandmother. You might plan to stay a few days, but she’ll never let you leave again. You’ll lose your chance for a life of your own. I understand how you feel, but you have to think of your future.” Rachel paused, then added, aiming shamelessly at Holly’s most sensitive spot, “Isn’t that what your mother would want? A better life for you?”

  Holly wrapped her arms around her waist and rocked back and forth, head lowered. “Yes. And I don’t want to go back there to live.” Her head came up. “But I ought to go see how Grandma’s doin’.”

  Rachel imagined Mrs. Turner grabbing Holly and refusing to let go, whining that family came first, playing on Holly’s guilt until she gave in and stayed. Grief couldn’t be rushed, and Holly would probably be riding an emotional roller-coaster for weeks to come. Her grandmother would give her no peace or comfort. Rachel almost wished the Shacklefords weren’t in jail, so she could argue that venturing into their part of the county was too dangerous.

  “Listen,” Rachel said. “You hardly ate any lunch. Come in the kitchen and I’ll make you some hot chocolate and toast and we
can talk about this some more.”

  Rachel was mixing milk and cocoa in a saucepan when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it. It’s probably Deputy Duncan. He should come in and warm up.”

  She opened the front door, not to the deputy who was guarding them but to a stunning woman with black hair and blue eyes who looked a lot like Holly as well as like photos of Pauline Turner McClure that Rachel had seen in the newspaper.

  “Dr. Goddard?” The woman’s brow creased with a slight frown. She began pulling off a white leather glove one finger at a time, changed her mind, tugged it on again.

  Another of Holly’s relatives, Rachel thought with a stirring of apprehension. This one must be rich. Her coat was white cashmere, her gloves looked like kidskin, and she’d arrived in a red Jaguar, which sat on the driveway. Deputy Grady Duncan, lost in admiration, circled the sports car slowly. “Yes, I’m Dr. Goddard. May I help you?”

  “I’m looking for my cousin, Holly.” The woman peered through the screen, her gaze shifting beyond Rachel. “Oh. This must be her.”

  Holly was coming up the hall, her step hesitant, her half-smile quizzical. “Who…?”

  The woman opened the screen door, moved past Rachel, and swooped Holly into an embrace. “It’s me, sweetheart. Mary Lee.”

  Rachel watched in amazement, struck by Holly’s stiffness and the look of confusion and alarm frozen on her face. What was going on here?

  Mary Lee released Holly from the hug and held her by the shoulders. “I know you haven’t seen me since you were a little girl.” A smile flitted around Mary Lee’s lips but didn’t take hold. “My goodness, look how much you’ve changed. If you weren’t so much like your mother, I wouldn’t recognize you either.”

  Rachel stared. Hadn’t Holly said that she’d never met Mary Lee? That Pauline had kept all the Turners away from Mary Lee? Holly had been a small child at the time, though. Could she have forgotten?

  Holly backed away, putting several feet between herself and Mary Lee. She looked at Rachel with a question in her eyes, but Rachel had no answer. She didn’t even know what the question was.