by Brenda Novak
If so…Allie’s jaw tightened. Hendricks had acted as if the cap was unimportant. But maybe he didn’t know that it played a significant role in what was happening. That someone was going to use it to lean on Jed, hoping to persuade him to change his story so they could build a stronger case against Clay.
Allie’s heart began to pound as she saw the brilliance behind such a plan. If the situation was what she imagined it might be, Joe, the mayor or whoever else was out to get Clay, had played her like a pawn. They knew she’d take the attack at the cabin personally, that she’d search for evidence. So they’d planted what they wanted her to find. And not only had she found it, she’d reported it and turned it in. She’d done that a few minutes ago, on her way to Grace’s house. The fact that she’d found the cap, someone who was friendly with Clay and an ex-police officer to boot, lent Clay’s opponents even more credibility.
Allie didn’t think Joe was smart enough to manipulate the situation to that extent. And the mayor didn’t have sufficient motivation—did she? Who else wanted Clay prosecuted badly enough to remove Jed’s testimony from his defense?
“What is it?” Grace asked.
Allie covered her face and shook her head.
“What?” Madeline prompted. “I know Jed would never do anything to hurt Clay. It had to be a…a crank call or something.”
“Or something,” Allie repeated. “I have a feeling someone’s trying to get Jed to change his story.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Irene said. “He tried to confess to Barker’s murder so Clay wouldn’t go to jail.”
“Do you know why?” Allie looked squarely at Irene for the first time since she’d arrived.
“No. No one ever knows why Jed does what he does. But he’s proven his loyalty.”
Grace picked up where her mother had left off. “Exactly. So what could they threaten him with that would be worse than what he’s already risked?”
It’s amazing what some people will do…
Fowler had seemed almost…disgusted when he made that statement. Why? Was he referring to what he’d tried to do to save Irene and her kids from harm?
Allie dropped her hands. “We’re probably okay, unless…Is there any reason he might be angry with you, Mrs. Montgomery?”
Irene straightened the ruffle on her purple blouse. “Me? Of course not. I rarely see him, and we usually don’t speak when we do bump into each other.”
“He’s painfully shy with women,” Allie said. “But he had to be trying to protect you when he confessed. I can’t think of any other reason he’d do what he did.”
Irene gave a little shrug. “I have no idea why he’d care about me. We hardly know each other.”
“Could it be that he’s admired you? From afar?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she insisted.
“So you’ve had no argument with him? You’ve never done anything that might make him feel angry or disaffected?”
“Like what?”
“Like being seen with another man?”
Irene’s eyes flicked toward Grace. To Allie, it seemed that they were filled with sudden fear, as if something had just occurred to her. But she didn’t say what it was. “No, nothing.”
17
“I might have made a mistake.”
Those were not the first words Clay wanted to hear after spending twenty-four hours in jail. Especially from Grace.
He took the seat provided for him in the small, windowless room set aside for attorney–client conferences and regarded his sister. “You look great,” he said. “How’s the baby?”
“Good.” She bent closer. “Did you hear me?”
“Did Lauren come home from the hospital with you?” he asked.
Grace gave him an impatient scowl. “Yes. She’s doing fine. I’m doing fine. The weather’s been unseasonably warm. Listen, we don’t have very long. Would you please focus on the reason I’m here?”
He stretched his legs out in front of him. “You have a brand-new baby. You shouldn’t have to be doing this right now.”
“You shouldn’t have to be doing it, either,” she said.
“I don’t have a choice.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit back and enjoy Lauren while you’re locked up.” She arched an eyebrow in challenge. “So could we talk about the problem at hand?”
“What’s there to say? You’ll try to get the trial moved someplace else, where I’ll have a better chance. The other side will contest it, but the judge is Mayor Nibley’s uncle, so they’ll win. Then you’ll have to fight to get a few jurors who won’t say, ‘Roast him,’ before they’ve even heard the testimony or seen the evidence, and—”
“I hired Allie to help me investigate,” she interrupted.
Slouching lower in his seat, Clay pressed his thumb and finger against his closed eyelids. Okay, so this was the mistake. “What were you thinking?”
“I wanted someone who was talented and capable, and who was passionate about defending you.”
“Granted, that doesn’t leave you a large pool of people to draw from. But there’re always strangers. You know, professionals who hire out?”
“She is a professional, Clay.”
He wanted to remember Allie the way she’d been at the cabin, didn’t want her mixed up in the mess that was brewing. If she joined forces with his sister, her father would never forgive her. Neither would a lot of other people in Stillwater. And what was the point? What difference could she really make? The trial wouldn’t be fair in the first place. “I don’t care. You can’t involve her.”
Grace fiddled with the pen she’d taken out of her briefcase, then tossed it on top of her blank legal pad and shoved back her chair. “It’s too late. She’s already involved.”
“Aw, hell. Grace—”
She put up a hand. “Let me finish. When she came over last night, Mom and Madeline both—”
“Mom?” Clay echoed. “Grace, Mom’s not strong enough to handle this right now. You have to tell her it’ll all work out and exclude her from any conversation that isn’t entirely optimistic.”
“I realize that. But after they arrested you, it was all I could do to stop her from marching down to the police station and confessing.”
“That would only get us all in trouble.”
“I explained that. But she’s frantic. I have to include her.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t like being locked up. He’d been limited before, but at least he’d had his work and his cars and an occasional trip to town. In here, it felt like all hell was about to break loose and he wouldn’t have the chance to fight back. “I suppose Madeline wouldn’t let you exclude her, either?”
“Of course not. They’re worried about you. They have to feel as if they’re helping.”
“Which only makes your job harder.”
“When has dealing with our past ever been easy?”
He sighed. “True.”
The door opened, and a deputy poked his head in. “You okay in here, ma’am?”
“I’m fine,” Grace said.
The man smiled appreciatively at Clay’s attractive sister. “Let me know if he gives you any trouble.”
“Get out,” Clay snapped.
The glitter in the deputy’s eyes suggested he was going to respond, but Grace quickly moved between them. “Please, you’re not helping.”
“Your client had better watch his step,” he growled, but he closed the door.
Grace waited several seconds, then picked up where they’d left off. “Anyway, Madeline thinks she’ll be able to help.”
Clay’s stepsister had been his savior and his worst enemy. She hotly defended him against anyone who implied that he’d ever done anything wrong. Her loyalty and Jed Fowler’s was what had kept him out of jail this long. But Madeline was also one of the people who wouldn’t give up searching, wouldn’t let anyone forget. Thanks to her—and the Vincellis, of course—suspicion swirled around Clay constantly, and probably alwa
ys would, whether he went to trial or not. “In what way can she help?”
“She’s planning to post a notice in the paper, offering a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the man who shot you.”
“Who’s putting up the reward?”
“Kennedy.”
Clay studied her. “What do Kennedy’s parents have to say about that?”
“We didn’t ask them. We don’t care. You’re family to Kennedy now.”
Clay shook his head. “He’ll do anything for you.”
She finally smiled. “Yes, but he’s doing this for you.”
“So my defense team consists of an ex-assistant district attorney with a new baby, my overwrought mother, a stepsister who can’t know the real truth and a cop I got fired.”
“So far.”
He stretched his neck. “That’s quite a team.”
She regarded him steadily. “It’s better than you make it sound. Allie’s definitely an asset.”
“Too bad you have to fire her,” he said.
Grace rubbed a finger over her bottom lip. “I know it’s risky to include her, but—”
He leaned forward. “Risky? It’s idiotic! Are you trying to beat the charges or put me away for good?” Clay had more pressing reasons to get her off the case—but he didn’t want to tell Grace just how much he cared about Allie.
“Clay, she’ll keep digging whether we join forces with her or not. After Mom and Madeline left last night, she told me about the note someone left at the cabin, and that she found Jed’s baseball cap nearby.”
“Jed’s? That has to be a mistake.”
“It’s not.”
“But Jed wouldn’t shoot me. And he’d have no reason to leave Allie that note.”
“Allie thinks it’s a setup.”
“What would anyone have to gain by implicating Jed?”
“It’s a way to obfuscate the truth, a way to send anyone who’s trying to track down the real offender on a wild-goose chase. And whoever doesn’t like you probably doesn’t like Jed, either. So he’s expendable. After all, his insistence that our dear old stepdad didn’t come home that night is what’s stood between you and prosecution all these years.”
“That and the fact that they have no physical evidence,” Clay pointed out dryly.
“At this stage, it’s not about evidence. It’s about an old grudge.”
Sobering, Clay moved closer to the table. He’d lose his mind if they sent him to prison. He could take almost anything, but he couldn’t take being locked up. “I know.”
“Allie thinks, and I agree, that our opponents might be trying to lean on Jed, to tell him they won’t go after him for attempted murder or some other charge if he’ll testify against you.”
Clay frowned. He wasn’t sure why Jed Fowler had been such a good friend to them, but the mechanic had to know more about the night Barker died than he’d ever said. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tried to confess when they dug up Butch’s bones, which Clay had purposely relocated after he’d moved Barker’s body to the cellar. “We’ve never had a close relationship with Jed. We don’t even know why he’s stood by us. Which makes him a question mark. We can’t predict what he’ll do.”
She toyed with the pen she’d dropped a moment earlier. “Allie said something else that concerns me.”
“What’s that?” Clay was growing more agitated. He’d expected to be up against the circumstantial evidence he already knew about. He’d had no idea there’d be more. Whoever was out to get him was going to great lengths to insure he went away for life.
“She asked Mom if Jed’s ever seen her with another man.”
A jolt of alarm brought Clay to his feet. “Why would she ask that?”
“She believes Jed’s secretly admired Mom for years.”
“We’ve guessed as much.”
“True. But listen to this. She thinks we’ll be okay—unless Jed’s become disaffected with her for some reason.”
Clay paced the small room. “Is she suggesting that’s already happened?”
“No, but she’s wondering about it.”
Muttering another curse, Clay shook his head. Little did Allie know Irene had been seeing another man—her own father. She was going to get hurt. He could feel it coming and chafed at his helplessness to stop it. “This just gets better and better, doesn’t it?”
The jingle of her cell phone woke Allie from a deep sleep. She fumbled through her bedding, searching for it, and nearly knocked the lamp off her nightstand. It wasn’t until she heard her daughter running toward her, the ring growing louder, that she realized she’d left it out in the kitchen and Whitney was bringing it to her.
Rubbing her eyes, she rolled over as her daughter reached the side of her bed, saw that it was broad daylight and panicked. “Oh, no! Are we late?”
“For what?” Whitney asked.
“For school!”
Her daughter laughed. “It’s Saturday, silly. I don’t have school on Saturday.”
“Right. Thank goodness.” Taking the phone, Allie slumped back onto her pillows and covered the mouthpiece while she asked Whitney what she was doing.
“Watching cartoons,” Whitney said and ran into the living room.
Allie watched her go, relieved to see that she seemed to be adjusting to the move, then put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“Allie?”
It was her mother. Which came as no surprise. Since she’d moved out, Evelyn checked in with her often and brought more furniture each time. “Hi, what’s up?”
“Why didn’t you wake me when you picked up Whitney last night?”
“I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I wouldn’t have minded.”
“There wasn’t any need.”
“But it would’ve given us a chance to talk.”
Her father had been at home. Allie hadn’t been eager to wake anyone. “We can talk now, can’t we?”
“I guess,” she said. “How are things over there? Do you have enough to eat?”
“We’re fine.”
“Maybe we should go out today and get some groceries—a few staples. Then I won’t have to worry so much about you. It might take a while to find work, you know.”
Allie considered the job she’d just accepted. She knew her mother wouldn’t be pleased to hear that she was helping with Clay’s defense, but she didn’t see any point in trying to hide it. Gossip being what it was in Stillwater, Evelyn and everyone else would probably know by the end of the day.
“Actually, I already have a job,” she said.
Evelyn immediately pounced on that. “Really? Wonderful. Where?”
Allie swallowed a groan. “I’m helping Grace with Clay’s case.”
Silence. Allie gripped the phone a little tighter but refused to speak first. Finally, Evelyn said, “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Allie, this…this obsession of yours with Clay Montgomery has gone far enough, don’t you think?”
“Obsession?”
Her mother ignored her. “It’s up to the courts to decide his fate now.”
“How can they come to the right conclusion without the facts, Mom?”
“What facts? You’re a good detective, Allie. But even you haven’t been able to come up with anything new.”
“I can’t give up. Someone just tried to kill him. What’s going on is not as clear-cut as everyone would like to believe.”
“You know it was Joe who shot Clay. So take your old job back and go after him. He deserves it. But then forget about Clay.”
“I’m not convinced it was Joe.”
“Then you should be. When I was at the Piggly Wiggly a few minutes ago, I heard Joe’s ex-wife tell Francine Eastman she thinks Joe has your gun. She said she stopped by to get some money he owes her and saw something that looked like a gun at his house.”
“Why hasn’t she reported it?”
“There’s been nothing but trou
ble between those two. And she’s just getting her life back. She doesn’t want to step into the middle of this.”
“No one does! But what’s happening is a farce. All the people who’ve been out to get Clay are finally gaining the upper hand. And I’m not going to watch the Vincellis and others with a personal agenda use the law for their own purposes.”
“Can’t you see what Clay’s doing?” Evelyn argued. “Do you think he’s been lavishing his attention on you because he likes you?”
Allie felt her jaw drop but was too offended to be able to respond right away.
“Clay doesn’t like anyone,” her mother went on. “He’s using you. He knows he needs allies—solid, reputable allies—so he’s trying to elicit your support, hoping you can save him. And he doesn’t care if he ruins you in the process.”
“That’s not true,” Allie said. “Clay doesn’t suck up to anyone, for any reason. He doesn’t even want me in his life. He told me—” What good would it do to explain this to her mother? The people of Stillwater wanted a scapegoat and they thought they’d found the perfect candidate. “Never mind.”
“Think about the number of women he’s slept with,” Evelyn said. “You’re just another conquest to him. A calculated conquest because now, in addition to getting exactly what he wanted from you at the cabin, you’re going to help him.”
Allie hung up. She knew she shouldn’t. Her mother was her last support. But Allie was so angry, she couldn’t stop herself.
“Mommy?” Whitney called.
Allie forced back the rush of emotions that were assaulting her all at once. “What, honey?”
“Did Boppo ask you?”
“Ask me what?”
“If I can stay with her tonight?”
Allie didn’t know what to say. They hadn’t gotten that far.
“Did she?” Whitney pressed.
The phone rang again. Allie answered instead of answering her daughter.
“Are you really choosing Clay over your family?” her mother asked.
Allie cursed silently. “Of course not.”
“You are if you’re going to help the Montgomerys. Your father will take it as a personal affront, and although I’ve tried to remain neutral, this will compel me to choose his side. Do you realize that? I have to be loyal to my husband.”