Matt ordered two Ballantine beers and he spoke quickly, glancing at me, afraid, I think, that I might interrupt him. "Then our usual, Marie, thanks."
"Okay now, so that's two Ballantine's 'n one medium steak 'n one double egg 'n fries, comin' right up!"
Matt looked at me sheepishly, "Sorry, Claire always had eggs, her being vegetarian an all."
"That's fine, Matt. Now talk to me. I can understand that this has been a terrible ordeal for you. You must miss Claire so much!"
Matt nodded but said nothing for a while. I waited, determined not to speak just to fill an awkward silence; my patience was eventually rewarded.
"It just doesn't seem possible that she's gone, y'know? When I see you, I feel real sick inside, no reflection on yourself," he added hastily.
"I understand," I said quietly, "but please talk to me, Matt."
He looked down at the table avoiding eye contact, then began to speak quietly. "I loved her so much. I dunno if she felt the same way 'bout me but she liked me an awful lot, ah know she did." He looked up then and I saw that his eyes shone with unshed tears. "She told me things, we talked, shared stuff y'know?"
I leaned forward. "What sort of things?" I asked eagerly.
"Dunno, jus' 'bout everything I guess," he said, shrugging. He looked so bereft that I covered his hand with my own.
"Matt, did Claire ever mention anything wrong about the dude side of things up at the ranch?"
"How d' you mean… what kinda wrong?"
"I don't really know. Maybe with the books or something like that."
Matt thought for a moment before answering. "Well now, she was real het up over a few things there, the dude side of things, the casino, arguments with her pa—"
I interrupted, "With our father?"
"Yeah, they was fighting big time up till the day she was killed. I even wondered if 'n he done it for a while back there."
I gasped. "You think my father…"
"Nah, I did wonder, then I realised it was a stupid idea, he adored her."
With a sickening feeling, I remembered my own early suspicions about our father. Could it possibly have been him? Would he have killed his own daughter and if so why and why involve me? I rubbed my aching temples. He had suggested that we take a break, a trip away after the party. Was that so he could arrange an accident for me too? But what could my father possibly gain from my death? I was deep in contemplation and jumped when a clatter of plates announced the arrival of the waitress with our food.
"Steak 'n fries for you and eggs for you, can I refresh y'alls drinks? No? Okay, enjoy y'alls meal now!" The waitress placed the dishes before us and we stopped talking for a few minutes while we ate the gargantuan portions of chips, eggs and in Matt's case, the biggest steak I'd ever seen.
Finally I asked, "Who do you suspect then, Matthew?"
His gaze flicked up and met mine, I lowered my gaze to my plate. I knew from that look he suspected someone. "Come on," I wheedled, "we have to catch whoever did this. After all, I could be next." Despite my bravado, I shivered.
"Look." Matt put down his cutlery. "I've got a gut feeling but nothing to go on an' I can't go around making accusations without any proof."
"But, Matt, I'm only asking you to share your thoughts with me. Work together, pool information. I won't tell anyone else what you tell me. We have to trust each other here. Look, if I share what I suspect with you, then I think you should do the same with me, agreed?" He sighed deeply but nodded. I waited and realised when he took a mouthful of beer that he wanted to hear my thoughts first. "Okay, I think Claire stumbled onto some irregularities on the dude side of the ranch and someone," I couldn't bring myself to say Liam, "killed her to protect them from exposure. When I agreed to impersonate Claire like this I was certain at first that no one would try to kill again because it was a case of a one off murder by a nut case. I know now that I was wrong, someone tried to kill Claire again the other night."
Matt slammed down his beer.
"Shit! When, how?" Matt stared at me, horrified.
"In the bath two nights ago. The lights went off and someone, I think it was a man, well, the bastard tried to drown me in my bath."
"How did you escape?" Matt was totally shocked.
"I hit him over the head with a jar of bath oil."
Matt laughed, shaking his head. "Holy cow, Nicola, you've sure got some spirit, lady!" I smiled thinly; it was all too real for me to find anything about that night amusing.
"So, who'd you think it was?"
"Well, as to that, I'm just not sure," I prevaricated.
"You mean you suspect someone right?"
I sighed, "I don't know, Matt, but I did wonder about Liam. Do you know where he was on the morning that Claire was murdered?"
Matt looked thoughtful. "Hmm, I'm fairly sure he was up on top of the bunkhouses, mending the roof. I saw him up there when I rode out to look for Claire later that morning."
I leaned toward Matt. "Could he possibly have ridden out, killed Claire and climbed back up onto the roof before you left?"
He clicked his tongue. "I was in the tack room, sorting out the order for the next six months, I jus' don't know an' that's the truth." He ran both hands agitatedly through his thick hair. "I've gone over it and over it. Your pa was away overnight, so only the housekeeper and Claire were at the ranch the night before. Liam and I were the only ones around. I didn't kill her so who are we left with?"
I leaned back in my chair and shook my head sadly. I couldn't believe how devastated I felt at the certainty of Liam's guilt.
"I personally think it has to have been Liam O'Donnell," I told Matt flatly. He nodded sadly.
"Yeah, I think so too, but why, I mean what motive can he have? It just don't make no sense… y'know?"
"Could there have been anything going on between the two of them that you didn't know about?" He looked up sharply. "I'm sorry, Matt, but I have to ask you this," I coaxed gently.
He nodded. "I know and I've asked myself the same question a million times. Liam treated Claire like a kid sister. When she finished college she was so full of herself. Thought she knew it all. She and Liam got on up 'til then. They only rubbed up the wrong way when Claire tried to tell him how to run the dude side of things." Matt stopped talking, he looked thoughtful.
"Go on," I pressed.
"Liam told her to stay out of his business in no uncertain terms. Y'know he runs that discipline set-up and likes to spank?" I flushed and nodded, oh yeah, I certainly knew that! "Well now, he threatened her an' so I went to see him, an' I told him, darn it, no one spanks my lady but me o' course. Not that ah ever did."
What was it with these cowboys and spanking?
"I bet she was just thrilled," I said sarcastically. Matt seemed to miss my sarcasm completely.
"Yeah well, I never told her that part. Anyhow Claire talked to her pa but he took Liam's side. Claire was furious but she was real hurt too. Carl eventually gave Claire responsibility for the accounts for both the dude ranch and the casino in Vegas. She accepted but chafed at not being in charge of either outfit. I think she felt Carl didn't trust her." Matt fell silent, deep in reverie. I sat quietly, pondering what Matt had just told me.
"Matt, did Claire tell you that she had found irregularities in any of the accounts?" I asked after a while.
"She was excited about something she'd found out about, yeah. I don't know if it was the books or something else."
"So when did she tell you all this?" I asked.
"About a week before her death, she asked me to meet her. She said her daddy would have to put her in charge once he knew what was going on." Matt stopped talking.
"And?" I prompted.
"That's it. She wouldn't tell me anymore, said it was a secret much too important to share. That's when we fell out."
"Tell me, Matt… please."
"I said if we were gonna be married then there must be trust between us. She said she wasn't sure about us and wanted to cool it fo
r a little while, said she needed time to think about her future. I got mad. I'm not real proud of that but I had waited for her, putting my life on hold for two years. She made me promises that now she was breaking… excuse me, call of nature." Abruptly Matt got up and walked away. I watched him weave his way between the dinner tables. He was a strange young man; he obviously found it difficult to talk about his feelings for Claire and I wasn't sure how much he was hiding from me.
I found myself wondering if Matt had been angry enough with Claire to kill her. If so, why would he try to kill me in the bath that night when he already knew Claire was dead and I was an imposter? Unless, the dark thought suddenly struck me, it was a false attempt on my life, a smoke screen to put me off the scent. Matt could have killed Claire and I could be sitting here cosily tonight with my sister's murderer. My head began to throb painfully, I was going around in vicious circles. Just as I thought I had everything worked out in my mind, something else cropped up and the whole hypothesis went awry. Matt returned and I stood up. "Look, if you don't mind, Matt, I'd like to call it a night, I'm really very tired and perhaps we could we just leave now?"
Matt hesitated then reached out and took my hand in his. "I know what you're thinking, that maybe I killed Claire. I swear I didn't, Nicola. I loved her. She was my life. I couldn't have hurt her. She was sweet and funny and beautiful and now she's gone forever." His eyes were brimming with tears and I couldn't bear to see such pain. I reached up impulsively and hugged him.
"I do know," I whispered, "I'm so sorry, Matt, what do you plan to do now that she's gone?"
Matt shrugged his shoulders. "I got draft papers for 'Nam a while back and I'm off soon as the police give the go-ahead." I was sad to think that Matt's future was a faraway war, it seemed so bleak a future for Claire's fiancée, he deserved better.
"Hey y'all two love birds, d'ya want dessert?" We moved apart and shook our heads at the waitress.
"No thanks, hon', can I have the check please?" Matt asked her.
No more was said and we hardly spoke on the journey home. He dropped me at the house and agreed to partner me for the dance on Saturday night.
Chapter Eleven - Menace
Friday and Saturday were a hive of activity. Men were everywhere, putting up a temporary dance floor with a canopy above, setting up trestle tables, hanging lights all around the outside of the barn and house. Baskets of flowers arrived and I was put to work by Sarah, making long garlands with the sweet smelling greenery. I had to twine together the flowers with yards of green and orange Mexican coloured ribbon. These were then draped around the canopy of the dance area. More flowers in hot tropical colours were to stand in huge vases in all the corners. Smaller versions sat on top of the bright orange and green chequered tablecloths. The small covered tables were arranged in the area below the dance platform, forming a bright outer circle. Chinese paper lanterns were strung above the tables and from the barn and house roof. The overall scene looked rather wonderful, magical and quite unlike any party decor that I had seen before. I was filled with anticipation, especially since the weather now favoured us with some lukewarm sunshine.
Food was brought out in bulk from the enormous walk in freezer to defrost overnight. I helped to carry frozen steaks and piles of Sarah's homemade meat loaf into the kitchen. The freezer was almost cleared out when I went back for the last remaining steaks. I was at the back of the small icy room when the door swung shut and I was suddenly engulfed in solid darkness. At first I remained calm and felt my way to the door. I banged on the thick steel and yelled. "Hello, I'm in here… hey, let me out, is anyone out there?" I listened, I could hear absolutely nothing. I felt panic rise as I began to shiver from the icy cold within the freezer. Then I recalled my walkie-talkie and pulled it out with difficulty from inside my pocket. My fingers were getting progressively numb with cold so it was hard to hold the small hand set. I pressed the transmit button but, as I did so, I wondered feverishly whether Jules would be able to receive a signal from within the thick walls of the glacial room. I kept pressing the talk button and repeating 'over' into the hand set but there was no response.
I banged, kicked and thumped as loudly as I could on the chilled metal door and I called out until I was hoarse. I decided that I must try to keep warm, so I began to jump up and down. My teeth were chattering uncontrollably and I was shivering in the invasive arctic air. Time crawled, the blackness was absolute. I tried so hard to keep moving but I ended up leaning up against the freezing metal wall, my bones were stiff with the cold that had worked its way deep inside my cringing flesh. I cried briefly but I lost energy even for that basic emotion so relentless was the penetrating frost around me. I began to feel sleepy and I suppose I must have slept briefly for I have no recollection of the freezer door opening. The first thing I recall is Liam's face looking thunderous as he studied my face and bawled for some help. He scooped me up, one arm under my shoulders another under my knees. I tried to talk but my teeth chattered so violently it was difficult to speak. Liam bent his head to mine and shushed me gently, "Hush now, sweetheart, you don't need to worry, I'm here now."
I struggled to speak. "Ttt… th… th… the door sw… shwung… h… sh… Shu… o… o… on mm… mm… me," I managed to stutter. Sarah and Kate arrived with blankets and Matt rushed up, his face strained and white.
Liam nodded to him. "I'm going to carry her inside, Matt. You go on ahead and build the biggest fire that you can. Sarah, you go make a bed on the sofa with blankets and a hot water bottle, we must get her warm—Kate go run a hot bath. Okay, stand back everyone." Liam adjusted me in his arms and when he turned, I saw that quite a crowd had gathered. I turned my befuddled face into his shoulder, embarrassed by all the strange faces staring at me. Liam shouldered his way through the throng and carried me through the kitchen door and into the house. In the main living room, Matt was kneeling at the fire place with a good blaze building before him. Sarah had cleared the sofa and placed pillows and blankets ready at one end. Liam lowered me gently onto the makeshift bed and tucked the blankets around me. Kate produced hot water bottles for my feet and then ran off to fill a bath, followed by Sarah. Liam whipped off my shoes and begun to rub my chilled feet between his hands.
Everyone started to speak at once, so I shut my eyes and lay back, clenching my teeth against their continuous chattering. My feet started to ache. "Ow… g… g… gently!" My eyes flew open and I tried to pull my feet away from Liam's grasp but he gripped me firmly and continued his fierce rubbing.
"Good, you're getting some feeling back into them." I lifted my head and glowered at him down the length of my body.
Before I could say anything else, a bellow from the doorway interrupted. "Nicola, what the hell's happened?" My father burst into the room and stumbled to my side. He knelt and took me in his arms rather awkwardly.
"I'm f… f… f… fine," I managed to say, still trying to control my chattering teeth. Then I hissed into his ear. "C… C… Claire!"
He hunkered back on his heels and looked down at me, nodding to show he understood. "Claire, what happened?" It seemed that his question was an invitation for everyone to jump in and speak at once. My father stood up. "Right, that's it, everyone out!" Most people turned and left the room at once, others lingered, staring at me until my father shooed them all out. An audible muttering could be heard, even as my father closed the doors behind them. I only realised that Liam had stayed behind in the room with us when he threw back the covers and begun massaging my calves vigorously. I jerked my leg out of his hand at the pain but he firmly pulled it back and when I kicked out at him, he gave my calf a sharp smack. I jerked my head up off the pillows and gave him a furious glare; he had the audacity to wink. Before I could scold him, my father claimed my attention, asking again what had happened to me. I explained as best I could and he looked sombre as he listened. "By design there is no way that door could have swung shut on its own," he said.
"W… w… why?" I asked."
"It's sp
rung, designed to stay open until actually pushed closed, a safety mechanism because it's a walk-in freezer. This was a deliberate act of mischief."
"Yup, I agree," said Liam nodding; my father seemed to notice him for the first time.
"Did you see anything or anyone, O'Donnell?" he asked, sounding abrupt.
"Nope, I was keeping an eye on Claire and when she disappeared for a while, I asked around to see if anyone had seen her. Sarah said she was helping carry from the freezer so I decided to check inside and—bingo."
"Thank you for keeping her safe, Liam," my father said fervently. "I've lost one special gift and I won't lose another!"
"Dad," I protested weakly, but he seemed oblivious to his faux-pas. Liam was silent and when I stole a peek at him he was engrossed in chaffing the skin from my poor legs. Perhaps he hadn't understood what my father had meant. The door opened and Jules came into the room.
"Okay, no need to explain, I know what's happened," she said before anyone could speak.
"It most certainly is not okay!" my father growled, "where the hell were you, young woman? I expected you to look after my daughter and someone has tried to kill her twice now and on both occasions you are nowhere to be seen!"
Jules glanced meaningfully at Liam. "I think you should just pipe down, Mr. Keedon! Liam, can you carry Claire upstairs; I have seen Sarah and she told me to tell you that a hot bath is all ready and waiting for our frozen chicken."
Father was beet red but he took a deep breath and turned to Liam. "D'you mind carrying her, son? Can you manage my girl all on your own?"
Liam stood up and stretched. "Yeah, sure thing, no problem, Carl." He came around to the side of the settee and before I could protest, he had me all scooped up blankets and all. He then proceeded to carry me out into the hallway. People crowded around fussing, it seemed the hall was full. I tightened my arms around Liam's neck and buried my head into his shoulder again, unable to cope with their questions and kindly curiosity. Liam dealt with them firmly and sent them all back to their tasks, continuing on up the stairs with me held gently in his arms. I marvelled at his strength and the feel of his smooth hard muscles under my hands. I told him so too. He winked again and his mouth quirked upwards in a sinful grin. My heart beat jarringly and I found myself thinking how much I liked the way his eyes crinkled up at the corners when he smiled at me like that.
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