Not This Time

by Vicki Hinze

  “For control of SaBe, he might.”

  “Then NINA gets what it wants—whether he’s with them or their victim—and he gets what he wants. Me out of his way.” Beth continued thinking aloud. “Sara pulled the financial plug on him. He’d kill her for that. Doing what he did to his parents, do you doubt he’d do it to Sara?”

  “No.” Joe grunted his disgust. “He couldn’t get to her money through her anymore, so it’s logical he’d steal Sara’s power to access it. But then you still stood in his way.”

  Beth nodded. “But if he got me out of the way and drove Sara into an attack that killed her, then he’d have free reign with her money and at SaBe.”

  “Not if she died. If she died, he didn’t get a dime.”

  “He doesn’t know that.”

  “Maybe he does.” Joe frowned. “What if he did know and he wanted her alive? He forces her to bend to his will, you’re out of the way, and he has free reign personally and at SaBe.” Joe stilled. “Robert didn’t set you up for his kidnapping, sha. He set up Sara. If she’s alive and in jail for kidnapping him, he gets access to her money and SaBe, including whatever NINA wants to know—unless Sara countered that move and he knows that too.”

  “Okay, it could turn out to be any or all of those things. Regardless, Robert covers his bases. If he didn’t know he’d been disinherited, it makes sense. If he did, it still makes sense. Either way, he neutralizes Sara and me and he’s running everything unfettered except my personal funds.”

  Joe chewed a stick of gum.

  “Craving a cigarette?”

  “For the first time in months.” His frown deepened.

  “It’ll pass.”

  He wadded up the wrapper. “Yeah.”

  “So weighing it all, which of us do you think he set up, Joe?” Beth felt torn. “I can see it either way.”

  “I think both, but I’m still working through it.” He chewed slowly. “So say Robert knew Sara had cut him out of her will. If he got her arrested for his abduction, then she’s on ice in prison and he can spend at will.”

  “Just her personal funds. Not SaBe’s.” Beth nodded. “But that only works if Sara’s alive. He had to figure all this stress would cause an attack with high odds of killing her. He’s too sharp not to realize that.”

  “Yes. Which makes setting you up the better choice because SaBe is where the real money is.” Joe stuffed the gum into the wadded paper. “Robert might not have known what Sara had done, but he had to suspect she might. If he’s alive, he’d keep as many options as possible open to blame her or you. Give himself maximum flexibility.”

  “If he’s alive.”

  “Or if NINA brought him into Dead Game, got rid of him, and stepped into his place.”

  Robert might have started all this on his own and then NINA forced its way in. He could join them or die. “That’s possible too.” Beth looked over. “Did you find out anything on Clement?” He supposedly had proof Robert was alive.

  “He’s disappeared.”

  “NINA?”

  “Maybe.” Joe didn’t spare her a glance. “My sources don’t expect him to surface.”

  Someone had gotten to the man. Beth’s stomach soured. “So where did Robert freeze and store the blood?” Beth searched her mind, blinked and then blinked again. The answer was so obvious she’d looked right past it. “At the one place Sara and I frequently accessed and he rarely showed up. SaBe.”

  “That could implicate anyone who works there.” Joe blew out a breath. “Maximum flexibility. But wouldn’t someone notice blood in the freezer?”

  “Doubtful,” Beth said. “No one uses the freezer. I’ve never opened it. The fridge has a door dispenser for water and ice—and I’ll bet no one else has opened the freezer part either.”

  Joe shot her a questioning look. “Robert has a key to SaBe offices?”

  “Sara’s.” Beth shrugged. “He snitches it, copies it, returns the original, and he’s in. No one is around on the weekends except one security guard. He could go in and pull the blood. He’d have all the privacy in the world.”

  “That’s motive, means, and opportunity. But if he was setting up Sara, what would her motive be for kidnapping him?”

  “Other than him blowing through her money, bouncing checks, and causing her a lot of grief? Her housekeeper said Sara’s been really unhappy. Robert could use that against her.”

  “He could definitely make that work.” Joe glanced over. “We’re on target, sha. Let’s force his hand.”

  “How?”

  “We’ll run this by Jeff. If it holds up, then we leak to the press that you and Sara have been cleared in Robert’s case, we have two persons of interest, and, if things go as we expect, we’ll be making an arrest shortly.”

  “If he is alive, that’ll freak him out.” A little bolt of pleasure rippled through her.

  “It’ll have him ready to commit murder. Yours and Sara’s.” Joe looked at Beth, a frown settling deep on his face. “It’ll freak out NINA too. I’m not so comfortable with that.”

  “Neither am I. But it could be the only way we’ll ever know if he’s acting with NINA or in spite of them.” Beth mulled it over and then made the call, grateful Joe would be there, watching her back. And—no small thing—she wouldn’t have to be strong alone. If she needed to, she could lean on him, and he’d be there for her. A little shiver raced through her. Definitely a sign. It warmed her inside, down deep.

  “Talk to Jeff. Let’s flush Robert out and find out how he and NINA connect.” She shoved her hair back from her face. “But first let’s go to SaBe and check the freezer.”

  Joe’s phone rang. “Jeff,” he told Beth, then put him on speaker.

  “When will you guys be back?”

  “Fifteen minutes,” Beth estimated.

  “Go straight to Sara’s and park around back so your car can’t be seen from the street.”

  “Why? What’s happened now?” Her heart skipped a full beat. “Oh no. Is it Nora?”

  “No word on Nora,” Jeff said. “Darla Green’s called an emergency meeting and those were her instructions.”

  “What for?” Joe asked.

  “I don’t know, but she wants Mark and Roxy and Peggy here too, and she said it was a matter of life and death.”

  “Whose?” Beth cast a worried look that Joe returned.

  “At this point,” Jeff said, “who knows?”

  20

  All those summoned sat grim faced at Sara’s kitchen table.

  “They don’t look happy,” Joe whispered from beside her.

  They didn’t. Beth braced for more bad news. “Darla?” She’d called the meeting, and she’d be quickest to cut to the chase.

  She shot a dread-laced look at Jeff. “I can’t tell her this. I—I can’t.”

  Beth stepped into her line of vision. “You can tell me anything,” she spoke softly.

  “Not this.” Darla’s eyes filled with tears and she blinked hard. “I thought I could. I found God, Beth, and I thought that would make it easier, but it’s not. It’s just not.” She took a tissue Sara offered her. “Thanks.”

  Jeff vacated his chair, stood by Joe, and Beth sat beside Darla. “God doesn’t make the bad things in your life go away. He just gives you the strength to deal with them. You have to do the dealing with them.”

  “You’ll hate me.” Darla stiffened. “You really will.”

  “I know you’re working with NINA. I know you have been for a long time.”

  “But you believed …”

  “I did believe you. But a lot’s happened. What I want to know is what you’ve done. Are you Raven?”

  “No. I’m not Raven. I swear it.”

  Beth covertly looked at Peggy. She could spot a lie in a heartbeat and signaled Darla was being honest. “Who is?”

  “Nathara. She ordered me to kill Nora.”

  Everyone around Beth gasped. She didn’t. “You didn’t kill Nora.”

  “How do you know what I did
or didn’t do?”

  “I just know. Where’s Nora?”

  Looking into Beth’s eyes, Darla relived what had happened at Nora’s after she’d gotten Nora into her car …

  “I told you back at the apartment.” Darla looked over to Nora, buckled into the passenger’s seat of her car. “If I don’t kill you, they’ll kill me.”

  Nora clamped her jaw. “I know you ain’t thinking I’m gonna help you kill me, Darla Green.”

  “I don’t want to kill you. If you’re gone, they’ll think I did what I was told. You live, I live—at least until they find out you’re alive. Then we’re both in trouble.”

  “Could you slow down? You’re driving like a maniac.” Nora grabbed the dashboard and frowned. “Where are you taking me?”

  It took all Darla’s willpower not to stomp the gas pedal and pray for wings to fly. “The one place I know you’ll be safe. But if you let anyone know you’re there, we’re both dead. You understand what I’m telling you?”

  “ ’Course I understand, dearie. I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. We’re dealing with NINA. They play hardball. I just didn’t know they’d be playing it in my house. Now I see why my village is plagued by NINA. It’s not us messing up their plans. It’s me.”

  “I’d say it’s a fair share of both.”

  “My sister. Raven. Killing her own kin—or having it done. She’s a coward.”

  “She’s jealous. Envious.” Nathara hated Nora for being beloved.

  “God will deal with her.” Nora grabbed the dash again. Her wrists were red and raw from the adhesive on the duct tape. “Where’s this safe place you’re stashing me?”

  “Three Gables. The security there is the best money can buy. But even Mark or Ben can’t know you’re there.”

  Nora sighed her relief. “Take me to the back fence, then. I can cut through the grounds and get to the cottage.”

  “Can you see well enough to do that?”

  “I ain’t blind yet.”

  That was debatable, but they didn’t have much choice. “What about security? They’ll see you.”

  “I got my ways, dearie.”

  Darla drove around the edge of the Towers and saw Jeff’s black Tahoe. “Oh no. We took too long. The police are already here. There’s no way out, Nora.” Panic burned in Darla.

  “Quit your hissy fit and take the alley, dearie. Cut through over there.” She pointed to a sand-covered alleyway paralleling the beach. “Just go where I say. I’ll get us out of here.”

  And she did.

  Fifteen minutes later they pulled up to the street alongside Three Gables, and when Darla stopped near the fence, Nora turned to her. “Why are you helping me? You were right. NINA doesn’t mess around. They’ll kill you, sure as spit.”

  “If they kill me, it’s okay.” She swallowed hard. “I’ll be okay.”

  “Dead ain’t exactly okay, Darla Green.”

  She spared Nora a glance. “I know now where I’m going.”

  Nora narrowed her eyes. “What’s happened to you?”

  “God, Nora.” The back of her nose burned. “I found Him.”

  Nora clasped her forearm. “Dearie, He wasn’t lost.”

  Darla let out a hushed breath. “No, but I was.”

  Nora squeezed her hand. “Thank you for not killing me. I’m old and worn out, but I’d like to keep my life a wee bit longer. I ain’t finished with it yet.”

  Darla nodded. “Stay hidden until I come to get you, or you will be.”

  Stiffening her shoulders, Nora narrowed her gaze. “You be careful.”

  “Yes ma’am. I’ll do my best.”

  “You’ll need to be telling Jeff you killed John—and that my stupid sister is Raven.”

  “You’re assuming I killed John. But that’s okay. I promise I’ll do the right thing.” She couldn’t live with lies in her life. Not ever again.

  “Keep in mind that God forgives. Man ain’t so kindly predisposed.”

  Didn’t she know it? “It’s going to take a little time to do what I have to do. You make sure no one sees you.”

  “I understand.” Nora climbed out, reached around a fence post, flipped some kind of switch, then slipped through the wire fence and into the green-belt abutting Three Gables.

  Darla waited for the alarm to sound, but it didn’t. Apparently that switch deactivated it. Still, she watched Nora until she disappeared into the trees. “Oh, please tell me I didn’t just make the biggest mistake of my life. If anything happens to her, the entire village will stand in line to lynch me.”

  Worry about that if you survive NINA.

  Shaking so hard she could barely hold the steering wheel, Darla headed to Sara’s, determined to do everything she could to make things right.

  She arrived at Sara’s just as Jeff had. Just looking at him had her knees shaking so hard she feared they’d fold. But when she later walked outside and saw Nathara on her red phone, Darla, who had never in her life fainted, had seen spots before her eyes and her head went light.

  Nathara glared at her. “What’s wrong with you?”

  What wasn’t? “I’m fine.” She looked pointedly at the red phone still in Nathara’s hand. “Everything okay?”

  “We have a week. With Nora out of the way, we shouldn’t need it.” Nathara frowned. “You did take care of Nora.”

  Darla nodded. “I told you I did.”

  “Pity she put things together.” Raven took in a slow breath. “She always was bright. An emotional fool, but bright.”

  Darla stared at Nathara.

  “What?”

  “She was your sister.”

  Nathara’s condemnation remained unspoken but annoyed anyway. “I’m aware of that. We are twins.”

  “Yes.” Darla’s expression cooled and she stepped back. “Do I have further orders?”

  “Indirectly.” She looked beyond Darla to Tack Grady, who joined them. “Ah, good. You’re here.”

  He nodded, the brim of his baseball cap shading his eyes.

  His grim expression frayed Darla’s nerves, and she prayed to be smart enough to live long enough to tell Beth and Jeff the truth. Doubt that she would clawed at her.

  “I don’t like what I’m hearing, Tack.” Nathara glared. “The villagers are working too hard to find Nora. Don’t these idiots know people don’t get involved anymore?”

  “Nora is beloved.” Darla shrugged. Nathara was cold and ruthless but not as smart as she thought or she’d know people would search forever for Nora. Guess that made her smart on some things, but she sure didn’t understand people or tender emotions, and she sure didn’t understand her sister.

  “Why?” Nathara seemed genuinely perplexed.

  “Nora loves unconditionally and cares for those who have no one else.” Darla shrugged again. It was like explaining love itself. Or what happened with her awakening to God. It defied words and required heart. Nathara’s heart had been blackened by the evil she’d let run wild. She couldn’t grasp what she couldn’t grasp—not without divine intervention. Evil was like that. It smothered everything good until it became alien. Until even if you sensed or witnessed it, you had no concept of what you were sensing or witnessing.

  “That’s the trouble,” Nathara said. “People rely on someone else to take care of them instead of taking care of themselves. She’s to blame for that. They should hate her, and instead the idiot sheep adore her.” She grunted. “This search could complicate matters for Phoenix.” Focusing on Tack, she added, “It’s time for the next phase in this Dead Game mission.”

  Tack looked stunned. “But the election is two months away.”

  “We can’t wait.”

  Darla asked a question she feared hearing answered. “Can’t wait for what?”

  Tack shrank back, stuffed his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants.

  “For Hank Green to die of seminatural causes and Phoenix to step into the mayor’s job.” Raven revealed the original plan in the mission. “That would hav
e ended the complications we’ve encountered. Unfortunately, my sister ruined it.”

  Tack looked taken aback. “I’m running for mayor, not Phoenix.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  The lines alongside his mouth deepened to grooves and his jaw went tight, but no heat carried over into his voice. “If they find Nora’s body they’ll stop searching.” He looked to Darla. “Where’d you dump her?”

  Darla’s stomach dropped to her knees. Please, don’t let them see the truth in my face. “In the woods.”

  Impatient, Nathara pushed. “There are a lot woods here. Where?”

  “Near Three Gables.” Darla thought fast. “I figured if they found her body quickly, then their attention would be diverted.”

  “I’ll get people looking in that direction.” Tack turned away, reaching for his phone.

  “No.” Nathara lifted a hand. “Let them continue searching. It’ll diffuse focus.”

  Darla’s heart beat hard and fast. “From what?”

  Nathara gave her a smile that chilled her blood to ice. “Plan B.”

  What did that mean? Darla had seen that look on Nathara’s face before—when she’d ordered Nora’s death—and didn’t dare utter a word.

  Tack did. “Plan B?”

  “We’re going to clear the deck for Phoenix.” Not a sliver of emotion evidenced on Nathara’s face. “Kill Sara Tayton.”

  Shock rippled through Darla. “What?”

  “Don’t make me repeat myself. You wanted out of jail, I got you out of jail. I want Sara Tayton dead. Handle it.” Nathara shoved the phone into a pocket on her dress. “Tack, keep your village idiots away from Three Gables. I don’t want Nora found yet.” Nathara pivoted her gaze. “Darla, do the hit tonight. Tomorrow morning, I want word spread far and wide that Sara Jones-Tayton is dead.” Nathara headed around the side of the house toward the driveway. “I’ll be at Nora’s. Surely those Crossroads do-gooders have the place habitable again.”

  Knowing Lisa, Mel, and some of the church ladies were waiting for clearance from the police to help Annie do just that, Darla stayed quiet and watched Nathara leave. The crafty look on her face as she departed made what was going on in her mind crystal-clear.