“Here’s where we are,” Uncle D said. “Randall Barber. Reverend Irene, aka Bonnie Malone, aka Elizabeth Duffey, aka Christine Haner, aka . . . well, there are several more. We’ve determined that her real name is Ana Monroe Barber.”
“Barber?” Darla gasped. “They’re related?”
“Mother and stepson.”
The news didn’t shock Lacey at all. She didn’t think anything would shock her anymore. She felt Dan take her hand. She glanced down.
She was shocked.
Darla looked at Jake, then Uncle D. “Reverend Irene is his mother?”
“Stepmother. There’s still a lot to unravel, but we know that much. She married his father when Randy was fifteen. The father died less than a year later. We’ll be looking into that.” Uncle D raised his brows. “Randy has an older brother serving in Afghanistan. We want to talk to him, of course.”
Did Dan just expect her to forgive him? She’d risked her neck. She’d needed him afterward and he hadn’t been there. Why did he think he could just nonchalantly take her hand when he hadn’t returned her phone calls? She pulled her hand away.
“They aren’t talking. They’ve both lawyered up.”
“I’ve already taken steps to ensure Randall can’t get his hands on Darla’s money for their defense,” Henderson said.
“Good,” Lacey said. She crossed her arms. She uncrossed them. She fidgeted in the chair. She wasn’t really mad at Dan. She just thought she should be. Oh, wow. She was game playing and not in some lightheartedly way. She was being manipulative. She had tried to play games with her father and look where it had gotten her. If she didn’t watch it, she would screw this thing up.
Uncle D looked at Darla. “We are certain it was Ana, your Reverend Irene, you saw at the scene of both murders. I’ll tell you why you didn’t recognize her. Ana is a petite woman, but she wore a fat suit under her kaftans and put platforms on her feet when you saw her as the Reverend Irene. It’s a scam she’s pulled before.”
“I’m so stupid,” Darla said. “I let her into our house.”
“You aren’t stupid,” Lacey said.
“She’s conned much bigger fish than you. Believe me,” Uncle D told her. He turned to face everyone in the room. “Here’s what we’ve pieced together, mostly from what we found on Ana’s computer. And from our investigation into Randy.”
He popped a Tums in his mouth at the name Randy.
“They were after money. I think that much is obvious. They’d done their homework when it came to researching the family. Except, they did screw up here and there.”
“They didn’t know Mother was alive,” Lacey said.
“No. We don’t think so. There’s no record they searched for her death certificate.”
“Randy was there when Maggot strong-armed Edward.” Lacey looked at Darla. “Remember? The two of you had just come back from the cemetery.”
Darla shook her head. “I didn’t really pay attention.”
“Okay, well. I’m sure that’s what made Randy go after Maggot. He figured he’d better find out what Maggot knew. Killed him for the file.” She looked at Uncle D. “Right?”
“Ana killed Stark.” His face said there was no room for discussion. “She also killed your father and Edward.”
“What about Honey?”
“A man killed her. We think it was Randy. However, he claimed an alibi before he asked for a lawyer. Said he was with Darla.” His expression asked Darla if that was true.
Darla shrugged. “I keep a diary. When was she killed?”
“I know when,” Lacey said. “I remember that night. You were hysterical because Randy had cancelled your date. He has no alibi.”
“Good,” Uncle D said. “Very good.” He looked pleased. “The evidence is strong. In Ana’s closet we found the outfit you described as the one your mother was wearing the night of the costume party.”
“But . . .” Darla suddenly looked pained.
“What?” Lacey asked.
“I know I passed out when I found Daddy, so she had time to run away.”
Lacey nodded.
“What about when I saw her with Grandfather?”
“Very astute, Darla.” Uncle D bounced the fingertips of both hands against each other. He smiled, like he knew the answer.
“What?” Lacey asked.
“I didn’t pass out,” Darla said. “I screamed and then I stood outside the door. People came right away. How’d she get away then?”
Everyone was silent. The answer had something to do with what the cops were doing in the library right now.
“I trusted her,” Darla said. “And him.”
“They targeted you,” Jake told her.
Uncle D nodded. “You and your sister are very lucky. I can tell you of others who weren’t.”
Darla clutched Jake’s hand. She leaned her head against his shoulder and looked at Lacey.
“Did you hear that? We’re lucky,” Lacey said.
“Smart,” Darla answered.
“Spoiled.”
“Polite.”
“Strong.”
“Strong.” Darla smiled.
Uncle D took another Tums and raised his brows. “Cryptic.”
The two sisters giggled.
“And on the same page.” Dan looked at Jake. Jake winked at him.
Lacey glanced back and forth between the two. Had they been talking?
Uncle D took a big breath. “So. Here’s why I came to the house to tell you all this. Remember, Lacey, when your mother told us there was a secret way into this house?”
“I remember.”
“Well, we’re bringing her here to show us.”
Lacey saw Darla bite her lip.
“But you believe her,” Lacey said.
“Absolutely. There are no blueprints for this house. But, we did some research. The architect is well known for designing mansions with secret rooms and passages. We figured there was a secret room attached to the library. Why else would Ana and Randy choose that room for the murders?”
“You found it? That’s what all that talk was with the deputy?” Lacey said.
“Exactly. And we think it connects with that passage your mother used to slip into the house.”
“But how would Ana and Randy know it was there?”
“I said they researched the family. They researched the house, too. On Ana’s computer we found searches on the architect’s name and she located a book about the architect at a library in Westlake Village. So we did some old fashioned leg work this morning and guess whose prints are all over that book?”
“Ana’s.”
“Randy’s.” Uncle D beamed. “Another strand in that rope. Also, the book says the architect liked secret rooms attached to home libraries. There were examples.”
“But it looks like you had trouble finding how to get in,” Jake said. “How did they know?”
Uncle D frowned and nodded. “Randy had been to the house a number of times. He could have slipped in there, looked around and finally found it. We did.”
“Wow,” Lacey murmured. She looked at Darla. “We could have had fun with that, if we’d known when we were kids, huh?”
Darla looked sick. She started to shake.
“Darla?”
“I’m all right.”
“No, you’re not.” There was fear in her eyes. Why now? She’d been doing so well.
“I remember now,” Darla murmured.
“What?” Jake asked.
Darla’s eyes were on Lacey. Then she looked at Jake. “Hide and Seek.”
“The story I told you?” Jake said. “When you were crying and we couldn’t find you?”
Darla trembled.
“Hide and Seek?” Lacey said.
“Edward put me in that room. It was dark and he had a flashlight and he told me no one would ever find me. I remember. I was scared because he always scared me. I started to whine and he told me to shut up. Did I want to see what happened to little babies
who whined?” She swallowed, unable to go on.
Everybody waited.
“He, um, he took me to this thing. This stand. It had a box. A chest. On the top.” Darla swallowed again.
“The chest in your nightmares,” Lacey murmured.
Darla nodded. She took a breath. Her words choked in her throat. “He opened it. And there were . . . there were little bones. And a skull.”
Lacey’s blood ran cold.
“And Edward laughed and I don’t remember what he said after that. But he left me there with the bones and it was dark. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there.” Darla shivered. “And I tried to move as far away from them as I could until I started to scream.”
“And we heard you,” Jake said. “But couldn’t find you. But Harper could.”
“Yes. Daddy came.”
Forty-two
LACEY STOOD AMID the cops who milled about in the foyer. There were so many, it seemed like overkill. But what the heck. They were here to help wrap up her case. She was grateful.
She watched Uncle D disappear into the library, determined to find the bones Darla remembered. Those bones corroborated Crystal’s story which gave her credibility and added to the arsenal of evidence Uncle D was gathering against Ana and Randy.
Darla sat on the stairs peering through the posts of the banister as if she were in prison. She had been in prison, Lacey thought. All of her life because of Edward. Because of Father, too.
She would never understand why the two of them deprived her and Darla of their mother. It must have been Harriet’s influence.
Jake climbed the stairs and sat next to Darla. She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled.
Watching them, Lacey smiled, too.
Dan walked up and stood beside Lacey. “Looks like things are working out for them.” She gave him a fleeting glance.
“They belong together,” she said.
“What about us?”
She turned and faced him.
“I took your hand,” he said. “You pulled away.”
“I called you. You didn’t call me back.”
“I called you twenty times.”
Lacey brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “No, you didn’t.” But Dan never lied. Now she was confused.
“Okay, nineteen.” He stared at her. “You didn’t call me back.” He walked away.
Lacey took out her phone. It was dead. She closed her eyes. It had been down to one bar yesterday. In all the confusion she’d forgotten to charge it.
Uncle D came out of the foyer. “I need Darla.”
She stood up. “I’m over here.”
Uncle D crossed to the stairs, and Lacey joined him.
“There are two other rooms off the room connected to the library. As well as a passage that extends in a maze through the house. You think you can remember enough to show us where you were? We aren’t seeing any chests.”
Jake held Darla’s hand. “You want her to go in there?” He looked at her. “Are you ready for that?” His face said he wasn’t sure this was a good idea.
Darla eyed the library. “I can try.”
“Atta girl,” Uncle D said.
“Brave,” Lacey said, smiling at her sister.
“Scared,” Darla replied.
“Only if you want to,” Jake said.
“I want to.” She slowly stepped down the stairs.
Lacey took her arm. “I’m coming, too.”
Jake started down the stairs.
“Just the sisters,” Uncle D directed.
Upon entering the library, Lacey and Darla paused. The bookcase to the right of the great fireplace gaped open. Even with the sun brightening the room, the beckoning passage was a sinister sight.
“The proverbial bookcase,” Lacey murmured.
“Yes, indeed. You’ll need these.” Uncle D motioned at a deputy who gave each of them a flashlight. “It’s wired for electricity but the power’s not on. And we’re not sure how to turn it on at this point.”
Darla pressed the flashlight switch. Then she took her sister’s hand and clutched it. Lacey guided them around the couches to the opening.
“No wonder you had nightmares,” Lacey commented, standing inside the hidden room. “I would have too.”
“It’s small,” Darla said. “It seemed so big when I was little.”
“So you remember this?” Uncle D said.
“Not this exactly. I don’t think the box was here.”
“There’s nothing in here,” Lacey said. “Besides darkness, dirt and cobwebs.” She stamped her foot and produced a small cloud of filth. Lacey beamed the light on the floor and could just make out a pattern of roses grayed from dust. “And a messed-up carpet.”
Uncle D used his flashlight. “There are two doors, as you can see.” Each door stood open offering an ocean of blackness beyond. “The room on the right has another door that leads to a corridor. That corridor tunnels off like a labyrinth.”
Darla stared at the other opening. “The left.” She dropped Lacey’s hand and stepped closer. “We didn’t go down a corridor. Grandfather put me in this room.”
“You’re sure? Because there’s nothing in there, except. Well. You’ll see. We thought perhaps Edward took you down the hall to one of the other five-odd chambers we’ve discovered thus far.”
“No. That room,” Darla said, staring. “That one.”
Uncle D went first. “Come on, then.”
They followed him in and stood fascinated. The side walls displayed serene murals of blue sky, fluffy clouds, yellow butterflies and blue birds. One mural included a pink lamb with deeper-pink flowers on its head standing in a meadow of pastel daisies, baby chicks and rabbits.
“I remember this, too. But there was other stuff. Lots of stuff.”
“Well.” Uncle D took out a Tums. “When we saw the murals that’s what we thought. The chest was in here and it got moved.” He popped the Tums.
“Harriet must have done this,” Lacey said. “A tomb for her baby who would never get justice.”
“She should have just turned the bastard in.” Uncle D stepped toward the exit.
Lacey pointed the light at the wall between the murals. It was light blue. “Wait a minute.” She turned around and flashed the light on the wall with the door. It had a sky and clouds and butterflies and birds. She turned back. “Why is this wall plain?” She looked at Darla. “Was it like that? Can you remember?”
Darla shrugged. “I just remember stuff.”
Uncle D moved to the blue wall. “I get where you’re going.” He knocked on it. “Solid.” He paced off the room one direction and then the other. “Six-and-a-half by ten. An odd size.”
“Someone sealed up the stuff. The bones,” Lacey said.
“That wall’s gotta come down.” He walked out.
Lacey moved closer to Darla. “You okay?” She put an arm around her sister.
“I’m good,” Darla said. “I am.” She nodded. “I’m trying to figure out why I was so scared in a room full of butterflies and a little lamb.”
“Because the bones were real. The lamb is not.”
“Why would Grandfather do that to me? I don’t understand.”
“Nobody understands. Our family was weird.”
Darla let out a little snort. “Weird. Should we add that to our list for ourselves?”
“No. We’re the next generation. We aren’t going to do things the same way.”
Darla hugged her sister. When she let go she was all smiles. “I feel so . . . I don’t know how to explain it. Different.”
“Free.”
“Yeah. And safe. I feel safe. And it isn’t because Randy’s locked up or because I have Jake. It’s . . . it’s because things are going to be okay. I don’t have to watch out.”
“Well. No more than the rest of us.” Lacey laughed and Darla laughed too.
Darla glanced over her shoulder. “Is he coming back?”
“Oh, yeah. No doubt. With a sledgeh
ammer.”
Forty-three
WHEN LACEY AND Darla returned to the foyer the first thing they saw among the sea of uniforms was Crystal. They both froze.
“That’s Mother, isn’t it?” Darla sidled close to Lacey so that their shoulders touched. Her voice was thoughtful.
“That’s Crystal,” Lacey replied, and she felt a twinge of animosity she knew Darla didn’t feel because of Darla’s tone.
“I can believe my eyes?” Darla said.
Lacey took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “You could always believe your eyes.”
The woman had yet to spot her daughters. With hands tightly clasped together, she shifted her line of sight from one area of the floor to another.
She’s wistful, Lacey thought, allowing her anger to lessen. This had been her mother’s home eighteen years ago. Darla’s lifetime. And yet, in the scheme of things, was that such a long time back? Not to mention that she returned on occasion to sneak in at night.
Lacey wondered if their mother had only visited Darla’s room. Maybe she wandered all through the house. Maybe sat in the kitchen and remembered happier times or fantasized about what might have been. Could she have been brave enough to have opened the door to Father’s room and watch him sleep?
More soft thoughts came. This woman of faded beauty, who wasn’t all that old, had given birth to her and Darla. She had actually raised Lacey for three years. As a little girl Lacey would have kissed her mother and told her that she loved her. She would have hugged Crystal and asked for bedtime stories. She would have relied upon her for things.
Lacey tried to remember. She had those few sweet memories of her father when she was very young. Younger than the age most people could remember. That must have been her mind clinging to something wonderful after he withdrew.
But she couldn’t remember her mother.
She tugged at her memory, almost in a panic. There had to be something. Anything. A smile. Her voice. Her touch. She took a few steps forward and suddenly something came. A scent. She remembered her mother’s perfume. In fact she smelled it now, sweet and familiar. Crystal hadn’t been wearing it in the police station, but she had to be wearing it now.
Bouquet of Lies Page 29