“We’ll be fine,” she assured him once again. “You just focus on what you need to do to get back home to us.”
Again there was a weighty pause. “Kiss my daughter for me?”
Tears burned in her eyes as she heard the thick emotion in his voice. “Tonight and every night until you’re home with her again.”
“Amanda, whenever you leave the house for anything take my gun with you. I have a sick feeling in my soul that the killer isn’t finished yet.”
If his wish was to further frighten her with his words, he succeeded. A moment later as she hung up the phone she fought against a terrible sense of foreboding and wondered if she was already marked as the “swamp monster’s” next victim?
LUCAS LED SAWYER BACK to his cell after Sawyer finished with his phone call. “Everything all right at home?” Lucas asked.
“As right as it can be under the circumstances,” Sawyer replied. He stepped into the cell and winced as the door clanked shut behind him. “Amanda thinks Helen may be responsible for Erica’s murder and the attack on Amanda.”
Lucas leaned against the wall just beyond the cell bars and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ll tell you this much, her alibis for both nights are weak. She claims she was in bed asleep on both nights, but since she lives alone there’s no way to corroborate the alibis.”
Sawyer frowned thoughtfully. “She never tried to hide her feelings about Erica. She hated her. But even given that, I still find it difficult to imagine Helen as a cold-blooded killer.”
“Maybe Jackson can use her to create reasonable doubt for you,” Lucas replied. “And in the meantime I’m doing everything possible to solve this case.”
“So, you really don’t think I’m guilty?” Sawyer realized it mattered to him that Lucas truly believed in his innocence.
“Never did. Still don’t.” Lucas eyed him curiously. “You still think I slept with your wife?”
Sawyer looked into the eyes of the man he considered one of his closest friends. He’d known Lucas since grade school. Over the years they had shared triumphs and tragedies. “No. I don’t believe you slept with her,” he finally answered. Nor did he believe that Lucas had anything to do with her death.
Sawyer had been grasping at straws, pointing fingers at somebody, anybody who could be responsible. But he knew in his heart the guilty person wasn’t Lucas Jamison.
Sawyer said, “Remember the night in college that I told you I had a bad feeling about you flying home the next day?” Sawyer sat on the lower bunk.
“You screwed around with my alarm clock, and I was nearly two hours late to the airport,” Lucas replied.
“But in those two hours your dad’s plane mechanic found a problem that in all probability would have resulted in a midair crisis.”
“Why are you reminding me of that now?” Lucas asked curiously.
A knot of tension pulsed in Sawyer’s jaw. “Because I have that same kind of bad feeling right now.” He didn’t wait for Lucas to reply, but rather stretched out on the bunk and closed his eyes, hoping, praying that his bad feeling was nothing more than his imagination.
Chapter Fourteen
Amanda pulled away from the house with all her senses on full alert. Melanie was buckled into the passenger seat and thankfully appeared unaware of Amanda’s tension.
There’s no reason to be nervous, Amanda told herself firmly. She hadn’t seen anyone lurking around the house or on the property as she and Melanie had left and gotten into her car. They were only driving a short distance down the road to the Cordells’ and she had a loaded gun in her purse as an added measure of security.
The alarm was set on the house, and the doors were locked. She’d left lights on in nearly every room, so they wouldn’t return to darkness.
“How do you spend your time when you stay the night with James and Lillian?” Amanda asked as she checked the rearview mirror for the hundredth time. Nobody behind her, nobody in front of her. She liked it that way just fine.
“Sometimes Aunt Lillian and I play dress up. She lets me wear her jewelry and we put on makeup. If she’s working in her studio then Uncle James plays games and watches movies with me.” Melanie shot her a quick grin. “I always beat him at checkers. I think he lets me win. He told me one time that if he had a little girl he’d want her to be just like me.”
“That’s nice. So you like spending time with them?” Amanda turned into the Cordells’ driveway.
“Not as much as I like spending time with you,” Melanie replied. “I wish you could be my mommy.”
Amanda’s heart stuttered. She pulled up next to Lillian’s car, cut the engine, then turned to face Melanie. “Honey, I love you with all my heart, but I can’t be your mommy because I’m your nanny.”
Melanie’s brown eyes darkened. “Well, I’m going to pretend that you’re both,” she exclaimed firmly as she unbuckled her seat belt.
Amanda was at a loss for words. At that moment the front door of the house opened and Lillian stepped out on the porch. She waved to them, a smile lighting her pretty features. Melanie flew out of the passenger door. “Aunt Lillian, I got a puppy.”
“A puppy? And what’s your puppy’s name?” Lillian asked as Amanda joined them on the porch.
“Buddy, ’cause he’s my best buddy after Daddy and Amanda.”
“Come inside. Your other buddy, Uncle James, has been waiting for you all afternoon. He’s sure that this evening he’s finally going to beat you at checkers.”
Melanie giggled, then darted into the house ahead of Lillian and Amanda. Lillian shook her head. “What I wouldn’t give to have a tenth of her energy.” Her smile faded as they stepped into the impressive entryway. She took one of Amanda’s hands in hers. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine. I’m just hoping the judge sees fit to grant Sawyer bail so he can come back home on Monday.” Please let him come home, she inwardly prayed.
“Let’s all hope that’s what happens,” Lillian said. “And now come inside and let me show you around. Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes. I hope you’re hungry because I think Cook has outdone himself.”
The Cordells’ two-story home couldn’t have been decorated more differently from Sawyer’s. Where Sawyer’s was muted colors and sturdy, traditional furnishings, Lillian’s dramatic and artistic flair was evident in the living room of her home.
Huge abstract paintings on the walls drew attention with their vivid reds and yellows and splashes of royal blue. The bland, light gray sofa and love seat didn’t even attempt to compete with the other items in the room.
A bookcase held exotic-colored vases in unusual shapes and styles. The overall appearance of the room should have radiated chaos, but somehow Lillian had made it all work together to be stunning.
“It’s lovely,” Amanda said as she walked around, looking at each and every piece.
“Thanks.” Lillian grinned. “James is always complaining that the room is overstimulated with color and textures, that he’d prefer something a little more soothing. I always tell him he can have soothing with his next wife.”
Amanda laughed. “Like that would ever happen,” she replied. “That man is absolutely crazy about you.”
Lillian smiled with a touch of smugness. “Please don’t let him know that I’m just as crazy about him.”
They finished the tour of the house and headed back down the stairs toward the living room. “After we eat I’ll take you out to my studio in the back. That’s where my heart and soul is.”
Dinner was delicious and the conversation pleasant, and for the first time in a week some of Amanda’s tension ebbed away. “Guess what I got this afternoon?” James asked Melanie.
“What?” She swiped her mouth with her napkin, erasing the sauce that had decorated her lower lip.
He named the latest popular movie that everyone had been talking about, a new animated film for kids. “I thought maybe after dinner we could pop it in and watch it.”
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p; Melanie’s eyes brightened with eagerness as she looked at Amanda. “Could we? Could we stay to watch the movie? It would be such fun.”
“While they’re watching the movie, you and I can go out to the studio,” Lillian said. “I’ve got a coffeemaker out there and a killer caramel coffee to die for.”
Amanda hesitated. If they stayed to watch the movie it would be late before they returned home. But as she glanced out the window she realized evening had fallen and night would be here before they left in any case. “Okay,” she agreed, deciding an extra hour and a half wouldn’t hurt anything.
The rest of the meal passed with conversation about movies and favorite foods and Melanie’s new dog. With each moment Amanda found herself relaxing more and more.
This was what life was supposed to be like, good food, good friends and easy conversation. How she wished Sawyer were here sharing it with them. She shoved him out of her mind, not wanting to wonder what he was eating for dinner or how he was spending the long night in a jail cell.
After dinner James and Melanie settled into the living room with the movie playing, and Lillian and Amanda left the house by the back door and headed for what appeared to have once been a carriage house.
As they passed an area of thick brush and trees, Lillian pointed to a small path that was just barely visible in the moonlight illumination. “If you follow that path it will take you right to Sawyer’s house. That’s how Erica and I used to run back and forth.”
When she opened the door to her studio, the scent of turpentine and oil paint drifted out to mingle with the hot night air. “Erica knew that I often worked nights here, so whenever she couldn’t sleep or just felt like talking, she’d walk over here and we’d have coffee or she’d call me and we’d meet at her place.”
The studio was huge. Along one wall Mardi Gras masks were displayed on hooks. They were stunning, with bright colors and feathers, sequins and rhinestones. “Oh, my gosh,” Amanda exclaimed and stepped closer to get a better view of the intricate work involved on each one. “These are absolutely amazing.”
“That’s my bread and butter. It was never my intention to be known as a mask artist, but I made a couple and they sold and word quickly spread.” She gestured Amanda toward a seating area with two chairs, an Oriental rug and a reading lamp. “Sit and I’ll make us that coffee.”
Amanda sank into one of the chairs as Lillian busied herself at a nearby counter with a sink. “So, if you didn’t want to be a mask artist, what kind did you want to be?”
“World renowned.” Lillian flashed her a quick smile. “I thought I was going to set the world on fire with my oil paintings. Unfortunately, I suspect the few I’ve sold have been pity buys from friends.”
“I doubt that.” Amanda leaned back in the over-stuffed chair and gazed at the paintings that hung around the room. “I love the bright colors.”
“I have a collection of paintings stored upstairs that are from my dark period,” Lillian replied. The scent of rich coffee and sweet caramel filled the air. “Those are all in shades of blacks and grays and evoke utter despair.”
“I can’t imagine you creating anything like that,” Amanda exclaimed. “You’re always so upbeat and full of fun.”
Something dark flashed in Lillian’s eyes. It was there only a moment, then gone, and she laughed. “My dark period was just a silly phase.” She poured the freshly brewed coffee into two oversize earthen mugs. She handed one of them to Amanda, then sat in the chair next to her and breathed a sigh of contentment.
“This is my own little sanctuary. I spend a lot of time working out here, but I also spend a lot of time just being alone. I’m one of those people who require a lot of time alone. Even James knows not to bother me when I’m out here.” She paused and took a sip of her coffee and eyed Amanda over the rim of the cup. “I’m surprised you’re still here,” she said as she lowered the cup from her mouth.
Amanda looked at her blankly. “What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.
“I mean here in Conja Creek. You’ve been brutally attacked and the man you work for has been arrested for murder. If I were you I’d run, not walk back to Kansas City and put all this behind me.”
Amanda took a sip of the sweet coffee, then smiled. “I can’t leave now. Aside from the fact that I’ve allowed my heart to get totally involved with both Sawyer and Melanie, they need me more now than ever.”
“But what if Sawyer is convicted? Surely other arrangements will have to be made for Melanie.” Lillian reached up and twirled one of her blond curls between two fingers.
“Actually, Sawyer has asked me to stay on in the house and raise Melanie if that happens.”
“Really?” Lillian dropped her hand from her hair and looked positively stunned. “You must have made some impression on him. Are you going to do it?”
Amanda sighed. “I don’t know. I haven’t had much time to process things. On the way over here Melanie told me she wanted me to be her mommy. There’s a part of me that would like nothing better.”
“How about some cookies to go with the coffee?” Lillian stood abruptly, and her coffee sloshed over the rim of her cup and splashed on the Oriental rug. “How clumsy of me,” she exclaimed. She set the cup on the counter, then grabbed a white hand towel.
A slow-building horror filled Amanda as she saw the familiar monogram that decorated the towel—WWW, exactly like the one they’d found in Erica’s souvenir box.
SAWYER SAT UP on the bunk as if electrified by the thin mattress beneath him. Since Amanda had found the box of things that had belonged to Erica, the picture frame had tantalized him. And now he remembered where he had seen it before.
That particular frame had held a wedding photo of Lillian and James and had always been displayed on an end table in their living room.
James.
Sawyer had never considered the man a possible suspect, because James had been married to Erica’s best friend. Sawyer had been a fool to overlook the obvious, that Erica would have taken deliciously perverse pleasure in seducing her best friend’s husband.
Rising from the bunk, Sawyer’s mind raced. It certainly would have been convenient for James and Erica to carry on an affair. A short walk through the woods would have put them in each other’s arms.
Had James fathered the baby Erica had carried? Had Erica threatened to tell Lillian about the affair, about the baby? Was James the swamp monster Melanie had seen from her bedroom window that night?
James could have easily been watching the house the night that Sawyer had left to go for a walk. He could have then slipped inside to attack Amanda.
Although Sawyer had no idea what motive James might have had to hurt Amanda, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Melanie and Amanda were with James and Lillian tonight and James knew Sawyer was in jail and would be unable to protect the two women he loved.
“Lucas!” The name billowed out of Sawyer on a cloud of fear.
Deputy Maylor stepped through the door. “Sheriff Jamison isn’t here. He and everyone but me in the office went to take care of a six-car pileup just north of town.”
“You get him on the radio. Tell him it’s an emergency. I need to talk to him now.” Sawyer grabbed two of the bars that held him captive as a horrible sense of danger welled up inside him.
Chapter Fifteen
“WWW, those are odd initials for you.” Amanda was grateful her voice betrayed none of her shock. She’d recognize that towel anywhere.
“James got me these towels last year for Christmas. He told me the initials stand for wild, wonderful woman, but I have a feeling he picked them up cheap on a clearance table in some store.” She laughed and threw the towel next to the sink.
James.
Hadn’t Lillian told Amanda that Erica had slept with somebody right here in her studio while Lillian had gone to the store?
James.
His name thundered in her head. He’d had an affair with Erica. Amanda knew the certainty of it in her heart
, in her soul. And how easily it would have been for him to sneak through the woods that terrible night and confront Erica on the dock.
“You sure you don’t want a cookie to go with the coffee?” Lillian turned and opened one of the cabinet drawers.
“No…thanks.” Amanda looked at the display on the wall. A swamp monster, that’s what Melanie had said she’d seen, a swamp monster with feathers.
The masks whirled before Amanda’s eyes, their creaturelike shapes and feathered heads spinning so fast she felt ill. That’s what Melanie had seen—one of Lillian’s masks.
The swamp monster smells bad. Melanie’s words thundered through Amanda’s head. Turpentine, was that what swamp monsters smelled like? Turpentine and oil paint? How could they have been so blind? Why hadn’t they realized it was James?
“Actually, I’m not feeling very well.” Amanda was sickened by her suspicions. They hadn’t considered him a viable suspect before because of the strength of his marriage to Lillian, because of his apparent commitment to his wife. But now she wondered how much of that had been nothing more than a facade, a pretense to hide an affair with the neighbor next door.
Did Lillian know? Did she even suspect her husband’s infidelity or her best friend’s utter betrayal?
“I think I’ll just get Melanie and we’ll head on home. She can watch the movie another time.” Amanda stood.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Lillian said, and turned from the cabinet to face Amanda.
Amanda stared at her blankly, trying to make sense of the gun Lillian pointed at her chest.
“Amanda, Amanda.” Lillian shook her head sadly. “I warned you not to get too close to Sawyer. After I hit you over the head that night I’d hoped you’d be frightened enough to go back where you came from. But you are stubborn, if nothing else.”
Shock waves crashed through Amanda as she grappled to make sense of things. “You attacked me? But why?” Body tensed with fight-or-flight adrenaline, Amanda wanted, needed answers. She somehow needed to know what on earth was going on.
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