Kelsey was surprised to see Declan and Pike arrive together. Pike had barely known Eve and she knew Declan had only spoken to Eve at the reception after Lori’s funeral. Since this morning, Kelsey’s eyes had remained stubbornly dry when crying would have been a release. Now, looking at the two men who’d come to pay their respects to a woman who’d been a friend to her family and especially to her, Kelsey’s throat tightened. She drew a long, shuddering breath, and Helen Norris reached over and clutched her hand. Dear Helen, Kelsey thought. She’d loved Eve, too. She’d loved everybody who’d been lost in just a few weeks.
And, finally, there was Bradley Fairbourne, dressed impeccably, his face stony, his eyes cold. He stared at Kelsey almost constantly and she pretended not to notice. But no one else was pretending, especially Pike and Declan. Pike rarely took his dark gaze from Brad, and Declan’s intense blue eyes blazed at him.
When the service ended, the mourners – all of them, including Brad – went back to the March home for a short reception. Helen had baked two pies, a cake, cookies and muffins. Hot coffee and tea were waiting for everyone, and she began serving quickly as if satisfying everyone’s hunger and thirst was the only activity that could hold her together.
People ate and drank self-consciously in the uncomfortably quiet March living room. Kelsey finally asked Giles how his mother was doing after her surgery. He immediately beamed and began giving details about her operation. Then he caught Nina’s disapproving eye and abruptly stopped talking. Helen asked Nina when her baby was due. Nina smiled beatifically and announced, ‘Two weeks and I’m going to name him Declan. I love that name.’ Her husband Harry’s face turned bright red and he nodded. Now he’s obligated, Kelsey thought. Clever Nina.
They struggled on for twenty minutes until Isaac announced he was needed at home to help his wife with the youngest of their four children, who’d picked up a bad cold from a neighbor’s child. Kelsey could almost hear the sighs of relief as everyone set down their refreshments and came up with reasons why they must leave as soon as possible. Brad, with a long, malignant look at Kelsey, was the last to go.
Kelsey was helping Helen clean up when her cell phone rang. ‘Oh, I hope this isn’t business!’ she complained. The Caller ID read ‘UNASSIGNED.’
‘If it’s one of the Sandersons, I swear I’ll—’
She clicked the phone on and said sweetly, ‘Hello?’
‘Kelsey? Miss March?’
‘Yes.’ The voice sounded familiar.
‘This is Janet. Janet O’Rourke from Conway’s Tavern.’
‘Oh. Hello, Janet. Are you in Atlanta?’
‘No. I didn’t go to Atlanta.’ Janet paused, and then asked breathlessly, ‘Are you alone?’
A tingle of fear crawled up Kelsey’s spine. ‘How did you get my cell phone number?’
‘You gave me your business card a couple of months ago. I never throw away business cards. I know it’s almost time for Miss Daley’s funeral, but I wanted to talk to you.’
‘The funeral is over, Janet. It was originally scheduled for three o’clock but we’re supposed to have thunderstorms, so we moved it up until eleven and told people who we knew would be attending about the change in time.’ With the exception of Brad, she thought, who’d obviously called the cemetery to check the time of the burial.
‘Oh. It was a good idea to miss the storms. Are you alone?’ she asked again.
Kelsey walked out of the kitchen, through the dining room and out on to the terrace. ‘Now I’m alone. Go ahead.’
‘Oh, gosh, Miss March, I’ve got some real important things to tell you.’
Kelsey could hear the tension in Janet’s voice. The young woman wouldn’t be calling to talk about her abusive husband. She’d barely mentioned him in the past. Something else was going on and Kelsey knew that, whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
‘Janet, please call me Kelsey,’ she began, keeping her voice even and calm. ‘Take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong.’
‘OK. Well, this all started about three months ago. You see, I knew Vernon Nott. I’ve known him for years.’
Kelsey stiffened. ‘I see,’ she said tonelessly.
‘No, you don’t see. I can tell by your voice. I’ll try to explain it right. My full name was Janet June Nevins. O’Rourke is my married name.’
Janet June Nevins! Kelsey remembered the photograph of Nott that Pike had shown her. The inscription had said, ‘Here’s my favorite guy, J. J. N.’
‘I grew up outside of Lawrenceburg,’ Janet went on. ‘My family was really poor, and Daddy died when I was little. Mama had a lot of boyfriends, some not very nice. Vern – Vernon Nott – lived next to us. His family was bad, too, especially his stepfather. He was so mean to Vern. He beat Vern and burned his face with cigarettes, and his mother didn’t even care. Vern had a lot of anger in him, but he could be sweet. He was eight years older than me and for some reason he liked me. He treated me like a little sister and protected me from Mama’s boyfriends. I know he got arrested later on for assaulting women, so it really doesn’t make sense that he was so nice to me – but I think the women he hurt reminded him of his mother or something psychological like that. Anyway, even after Vern went to prison the last time he was arrested, we stayed in touch. I’d married Joey O’Rourke to get away from home. I hardly knew him and right off realized I’d made a mistake, but I figured I’d made my bed so had to sleep in it. Joey knew about Vern and said I couldn’t see him or talk to him, so I kept my letters to Vern a secret. Then Joey and I moved to Louisville and I got the job at Conway’s. I wrote all about it to Vern, and after he got out of prison he moved to Louisville, got a job, and started coming to Conway’s regularly. His mama was dead, he didn’t have any brothers or sisters, and he didn’t have anyone else but me. He said I was his family. He was always so nice to me, Miss March … Kelsey.
‘When Rick started asking me about him because he came to Conway’s so regularly, I told him the truth,’ Janet continued. ‘Even though he knew how good Vern had been to me when I was little, I could tell that at first Rick didn’t like him coming to the bar. But when he saw how well-behaved Vern was, he calmed down – especially when I told him that if my husband knew about Vern, Joey wouldn’t let me see him. The bar was the only place we had to meet that was safe, and Rick knew that Vern meant a lot to me. Without Vern, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me when I was just a little girl. Rick said that he had great parents and felt bad for people like Vern and me who’d had bad home lives when we were young.’
Kelsey heard tears in Janet’s voice. She sympathized with Janet’s position, but she couldn’t imagine Vernon Nott as anything but a monster who’d assaulted women and killed Lori. She barely managed to say, ‘Go on, Janet.’
‘So Vern came in twice a week. I knew he didn’t come so often just to see me. He really liked the place. He said it felt warm and happy. He also liked it when someone played the piano and people sang along. Then one evening I saw Rick talking to him. Later I asked Vern what Rick had said and Vern told me Rick was just being friendly, asking a few questions about his life and if he had kids. Rick didn’t say a word about Vern to me. Vern coming twice a week didn’t seem to bother him. And Joey never came to the bar after my first couple of weeks there, so I thought everything was fine. But then things changed …’
Kelsey’s anxiety level ratcheted up a notch. ‘How did they change, Janet?’
‘I wish I’d paid more attention and given the situation more thought, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. Rick says that.’
As she listened, Kelsey wandered around the terrace and looked at the cypress birdhouses. No bluebirds darted and soared today. It was almost as if they too mourned for Eve.
‘Anyway, I noticed Rick talking to Vern several times. When I went to Vern’s table for another order, they’d just be shooting the breeze and laughing. Then Rick changed my station. I didn’t work in Vern’s section anymore, but Rick still sat and talked to him and I could tel
l they were talking about serious stuff. Then Vern began seeming sort of … gosh, I don’t know how to describe it. Kind of nervous and excited at the same time. I used to see him look that way when we lived next to each other and he was going to do something he shouldn’t.’
Janet sighed. ‘Kelsey, I’m not a brain so I shouldn’t throw stones, but Vern wasn’t real smart. He did awful in school and dropped out. He couldn’t read very well. People made fun of him and he hated it. When he was around certain people he’d try to show that, no matter what other people said, he was smart. He’d get a look on his face – I guess I’d call it eager. Also, he wanted terribly to please people he admired … Does all of this make sense?’
‘Yes. I think I understand.’ Kelsey sat down on one of the terrace chairs, trying to ignore the increasing pace of her heartbeat and the soft beep on her cell phone that meant the batteries were low. ‘When Vernon talked to Rick, did he have that eager look?’
‘Yes! I could tell he looked up to Rick, who’s handsome and really intelligent and has his own business even though he’s just thirty-five. And Rick can charm the birds out of the trees. You know that. Poor Vern would get tongue-tied every time he tried to talk to someone he didn’t know.
‘So the night Vern … oh, God I can hardly say it … shot your sister … well, I was so surprised and horrified I could barely think. I felt so guilty for bringing Vern into your sister’s life I thought I’d die too. Then people kept saying Vern was a stalker, but I never knew of him getting crazy over any real girl, much less one he just saw in a magazine. The whole thing didn’t make sense to me but I didn’t say anything. Then Detective Pike talked to Rick. They were in Rick’s office and I eavesdropped. Rick said he’d only talked to Vern once. He lied to a policeman. Why? I got kind of worried, but I thought Rick must have been protecting me because I hadn’t told Detective Pike that I’d known Vern for years. That was really bad of me not to tell Detective Pike, but the whole situation was so awful and I was scared.’
Kelsey’s cell phone beeped again. ‘I can understand you being afraid,’ Kelsey said truthfully.
‘Well, I just let things drift with Rick,’ Janet went on. ‘We never talked about what happened to your sister – about Vern shooting her, that is. And Rick was a hero. But when people said his parents must be proud, he said they were dead. Just the week before, he’d told me they were planning a trip! Then when we were at your house after your sister’s funeral, your grandfather thought he recognized Rick. It didn’t seem bad at all to me and everything was straightened out. At least I thought it was. I’d ridden with Rick in his car, and on the way home he said he couldn’t believe your grandfather thought he recognized him. And a few minutes later he brought it up again. Then Rick started talking about it a third time, and he seemed upset. It didn’t seem natural, Kelsey. Your grandfather had just been confused, but Rick got really wound up. I started thinking that although Rick wasn’t the person your grandfather thought he was, he did recognize Rick. Then that night your barn was burned and your sweet grandfather got caught in the fire …’ Janet’s voice caught and she sobbed softly. ‘What happened was horrible, but Rick didn’t seem upset anymore. Not one little bit!’
‘He didn’t?’ Kelsey’s voice was raspy. Her hand tightened on her beeping cell phone. ‘Are you sure Rick wasn’t just … well, hiding his feelings?’
‘If he was hiding his feelings, he’s one fine actor,’ Janet said sharply. ‘Then this past Monday afternoon he took off around four o’clock without a word. He usually says where he’s going and when he’ll be back, but not on Monday. We get a lot of business on Mondays, so he always likes to be there when it starts, a little after five. But he didn’t get back until around six-thirty. He seemed tired and distracted. He had on different clothes than earlier and I could smell strong soap on him like he’d just taken a shower. His hair was damp and he was favoring his right side, like he’d pulled muscles in his arm and side. And Kelsey, I saw some blood behind his ear. Not a cut or scratch – just a little streak of blood behind his ear lobe and down his neck a tiny bit – and something made me think “That’s not his blood.”
‘The next day, your employee, Nina Evans, came in and told me about Eve Daley. My gosh, Kelsey, Eve was so nice and pretty and … Well, hearing she was dead just about broke my heart – and hearing she’d been murdered just about stopped it. I mean, my heart actually skipped a beat, especially when she said Eve had been thrown through a skylight three stories high. Somebody strong would have had to do that and it could still have caused strained muscles. By that time, Rick had come up to talk to Mrs Evans. He acted shocked and upset and made a big deal about what a terrible thing Eve’s death was. But his carrying on just didn’t ring true – something about him was wrong. That’s when I knew I had to do something. I’d told Rick that over the past weekend Joey had said we were moving to Atlanta, and that I’d said I wasn’t going and Joey’d got rough with me. Which was true.’
‘Nina told me she saw bruises on your wrists,’ Kelsey said above the annoying beeps of a dying battery.
‘I have more bruises than those but I held my ground. So Joey went alone, but he said he’d be back this weekend. When I heard about Eve, I just burst out to Rick that I’d decided to go to Atlanta with Joey. In front of Mrs Evans, I told him that Wednesday would be my last day. Rick didn’t like it, but I showed him some of the bruises I’d gotten on Sunday – they hurt but came in handy. I thought that if Rick called up the place where Joey worked to check whether or not he’d really quit to go to Atlanta, at least he’d find out I was telling the truth.’
‘Well … I don’t know what to say.’ Kelsey felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. She could barely hold on to the phone, which was beeping. ‘Janet, are you staying in Louisville now?’
‘Oh, you bet! I’ve been staying with a friend, so if Rick goes by my apartment he won’t find me. It did occur to me that I should have called Detective Pike about all this – I have his card with his phone number – but I don’t know anything. From watching television, I realize that the police want evidence. But I don’t have any. I didn’t even tell that handsome private detective who talked to me. I have his card too, but I didn’t know if I could really trust him. He’s not the real police.’
‘You can trust him, Janet. He used to be a police officer in New York City.’
‘Every time I’ve thought about calling either of them and just saying what I think based on what I’ve seen, I’ve been worried about getting Rick into trouble if all of this is just my imagination running wild—’
Kelsey’s phone beeped maddeningly. ‘Janet, you should stay away from Rick!’
‘You, too. Did he came to the funeral?’
‘Yes, and the reception at the house afterward.’
‘But he’s gone. Right?’
‘I saw him drive away. I don’t think he came back …’ Kelsey felt panic rising. ‘Janet, get help!’
‘I will, Kel—’
The phone died.
NINETEEN
Kelsey closed her eyes, a cloying sense of dread descending over her. Janet had been trying to warn her of imminent danger, but she was too late. Kelsey had a ghastly feeling that danger had already arrived. But how did you fight danger? By thinking clearly. By maintaining calm. By being smart.
Kelsey walked into the kitchen, expecting to see Helen, but the room was empty. She slipped out of her shoes and crept back to Helen’s suite to find no one in the small sitting room or bedroom. She picked up the receiver of Helen’s landline phone beside her recliner. Dead. She glanced around both rooms for Helen’s cell phone but she couldn’t find it.
As she left Helen’s suite, she stopped herself from calling Helen’s name. If her intuition was right, someone was in the house – someone who didn’t belong – and she didn’t want to betray her knowledge. Silently, she padded through the dining room and living room and lifted the receiver of the landline phone. Like Helen’s phone, it was dead. She hung up
quietly and picked up her handbag lying beside the phone. Her spirits sank even lower when she felt how light it was. In spite of Declan warning her not to carry her gun, she’d ignored him. And now the gun was missing – someone had taken the Glock, which she’d carried since the night Gatsby had been left in the alley. Her only protection was gone.
‘Don’t panic,’ she whispered to herself. ‘Think.’ What could she use as a weapon? The silver candle holder sitting beside her handbag? It was better than nothing, she thought, grasping it in a sweating hand. She could swing hard with her right arm.
Kelsey wondered if her father had retreated to his study after everyone had left. She crossed the wide hall that divided the house, moved to the door of his paneled study and peeked through the doorway. He wasn’t sitting behind his large desk, or on the leather chair near the bay window.
As she stood by the doorway, she heard a noise upstairs. Someone tapped on a door and dishes rattled. Kelsey heard her father call ‘Come in.’ A moment later she heard Helen say, ‘I’ve made some ginger tea for your headache. It always helps.’
Oh God, Kelsey thought. Her father had felt one of his migraines coming on and gone to his bedroom. She rushed up the curving staircase and started across the landing leading to her father’s room.
‘I took a pill for my migraine,’ Truman was saying.
‘But Sofie always made ginger tea for you.’
Just a Breath Away Page 27