Bitter Brew

by G. A. McKevett

  Normally, Savannah wasn’t cruel enough to drive a knife into the wound created by someone’s worst life experience. She knew people who gave themselves permission to do that, but she refused to.

  Usually.

  But this was a special circumstance.

  She decided, to protect society from this dangerous woman, to get her off the streets and behind bars, she needed more than the flimsy, circumstantial evidence they had.

  It was enough to point a finger at Kendall, but it wasn’t nearly enough to convict her in court. Savannah knew she had to get that confession.

  “This is about Allison, isn’t it?” she asked gently.

  “Shut up! You shut up!”

  Earlene screamed it so loudly that Savannah jumped and reached for her purse.

  Her heart was pounding as she pushed her hand inside and grabbed her Beretta. But she left both her hand and the weapon inside.

  That certainly got a reaction, she told herself. Might as well keep it going.

  “Both Brianne and Nels had just come to the decision that, since they weren’t manifesting any symptoms, they would risk having children,” Savannah said. “They probably shared that here in the group, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, they did!” Earlene literally spat the words. Savannah could feel the droplets of saliva hit her face. “They announced it like they were proud of themselves. They went on and on about how they’d found the courage to live their lives to the fullest. Like it takes courage to gamble with someone else’s life. What about their children’s lives, huh? What about the innocent, unborn kids who’d have to pay the price if their gamble didn’t pay off?”

  Savannah sat a moment, digesting what she had just heard. Deciding what it would take to get the killer to actually admit her guilt.

  Hammer her with accusations?

  Or appeal to her lacerated mother’s heart?

  “Is that what you did, Earlene?” she asked, her tone soft, her Georgia accent pronounced. “Did you find the courage to take a chance and watch your child suffer when it turned out badly?”

  “We are not going to talk about my daughter! You don’t have a clue what she was about or what happened back then. Don’t you dare give me your opinion of what I should or shouldn’t have done!”

  “I’m not going to. You did what you felt was right for you, for your life, for your child. I’ve never been in your place. I wouldn’t dare pass judgment on you. My grandmother always says, ‘It’s easy to know where you stand on life’s biggest decisions . . . until it’s you who’s gotta make them.’”

  Earlene’s rage seemed to subside a bit as she considered those words. “Your grandmother’s a wise woman.”

  “She is.”

  “No one can know what I experienced. No one understands what the people who come here feel, how hard their lives are. Their families’, too. It’s hell. And believe it or not, but the judgment, the harsh words they have leveled at them . . . sometimes that can be worse than the pain from their disease itself.”

  “I believe that.” Savannah drew a deep breath. “So, why would you judge Brianne and Nels for their decisions? Why would you appoint yourself their judge, jury, and executioner?”

  Again, rage contorted the doctor’s face, as she shouted, “Because, unlike you, I know what I’m talking about! I can make a judgment because no one knows better than I do what their children would have to suffer.”

  “I see.”

  “Yeah, you better see! It’s not like I didn’t try to talk to them. I pleaded with them. But their minds were made up. They were determined to do what they wanted to!”

  “We human beings are like that,” Savannah replied, as calmly as the other woman was agitated. “We insist on making the big decisions ourselves. And that’s what they did. They rejected your advice and—”

  “Not advice! My warnings . . . based on painful life experiences.”

  “They ignored your warnings, and you had to save them from themselves.”

  “No! You don’t get it! I had to save their children! It was all about the kids . . . and their kids . . . and their kids . . . generation after generation suffering because their parents insisted on having everything that everybody else has. Well, we aren’t like everybody else!”

  “So, you killed them. Because you felt you had to . . . ?” Savannah coaxed.

  “Yes, I did what I had to. What no one else had the strength to do. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

  Savannah felt a wash of relief go through her body and spirit. “Okay. That’s it,” she said, speaking the code words to bring Dirk inside to make the arrest.

  As she waited for her detective husband to come through the door, Savannah knew . . . this was one case, one resolution she wasn’t going to look back on with warm feelings of accomplishment.

  This one would forever be a source of sadness.

  Chapter 30

  At twilight, Savannah sat on the patio behind the giant “barnhouse” in the canyon, watching her loved ones enjoy the many pleasures the great estate had to offer.

  Ryan and John had taken a couple of the horses for a ride along with Dee. Tammy and Waycross were in the deep end of the pool, cuddling and, considering their giggles, doing heaven-only-knew what beneath the surface of the water.

  “He’s getting better now,” Savannah told Gran, who was sitting nearby, her feet stretched out to capture the warmth of the fire pit.

  “Took long enough” was Granny’s reply. “Who woulda thought it’d be a solid three months to get over the effects of that drug?”

  “He’s one of the lucky ones,” Savannah replied. “Some take a lot longer. Are you still taking it?”

  “I am, and as long as it helps me, I’m gonna keep on. My doctor says I’m doin’ okay with it. I told him about Waycross, and he said some folks do fine, others not.”

  “Everybody’s different, I guess.”

  “Reckon so.” Gran pulled her feet back under her and scooted her chair a bit closer to the pit. She picked up a stick that someone had left propped near the flame, dug into a bag of marshmallows, and speared one.

  “That’s somethin’ else about Dr. Liu, huh?” Savannah said. “Talk about a change in life circumstances. She goes from being the county’s first female medical examiner to . . . well . . . where she is now.”

  “No kidding. When I heard about it, my head plum near spun right off.”

  “What’s this?” Jennifer Liu said as she exited the back door of the mansion, a lemonade pitcher in her hand. “I believe I heard my name mentioned.”

  Savannah laughed. “You’d best get used to it.”

  “That’s for sure,” Granny said. “Folks are gonna be talkin’ ’bout you so much your nose’ll be itchin’ and your ears burnin’ day and night.”

  Jennifer refilled their glasses, then set the pitcher on a nearby table and took a chair next to Savannah’s. She was dressed in a halter midi-blouse, three-inch high mules, and cuffed short-shorts that showed off her long legs to perfection.

  “Some people have already told me to my face that I got off easy,” she said.

  “Don’t pay buttinskies like that no nevermind.” Granny held her marshmallows over the flame. “Some folks ain’t satisfied with anythin’ less than a tarrin’ and a featherin’ and a ride outta town on a pole.”

  “A couple of months in jail and a year’s suspension of your license, those aren’t exactly a slap on the wrist,” Savannah said.

  “I think my critics could have handled the fact that I didn’t get the needle a bit better if it hadn’t been for my unexpected windfall.” She waved a hand, indicating the house and surrounding land.

  Savannah chuckled. “That’s so true. I couldn’t help noticing that most of the complaints popped up after Brianne’s will was read.”

  “I, for one, am tickled pink for you,” Granny said, sampling her toasted-black marshmallow. “You put yourself in the hot seat in order to catch a killer, and that makes you all right in my book.
Nobody deserves this place more’n you.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Jennifer looked around her newly-acquired domain. “It never occurred to me that Brianne would make me her heir, over her fiancé and her brother.”

  Savannah shrugged. “She was about to dump ol’ Paul, and from what I heard, she’d already decided that her brother was more interested in her money than having a relationship with her.”

  “I’m afraid that’s true.”

  Granny added, “Besides, her brother would have squandered it like he did his own. You’ll use this place for good in her memory.”

  “I’m sure going to try.” Jennifer looked up the hill to the goat pen, where Dirk was introducing Vanna Rose to the miniature crime solvers. “I’ve offered to hold Dr. Kendall’s meetings here, now that she’s, um, otherwise occupied for the next fifty years. One of the women in the group has volunteered to lead the meetings. Afterward, everybody, especially the kids, can go up the hill and pet the goats or ride the horses. Dee wants to stay on and be involved in all of it.” She paused, swallowed, and added tearfully, “I think Brianne would like that.”

  “I know she would love it,” Savannah assured her. “No doubt that’s why she left this place to you. She knew you’d use it to help others. Besides, she knew that it would remind you of all the good times the two of you shared . . . as it did her.”

  Jennifer just sniffed and nodded.

  Savannah heard some splashing and saw that Tammy and her brother were getting out of the pool.

  “He’s looking good,” Jennifer remarked as they watched Waycross stride over to them, limp-free, his arm tight around his wife’s waist.

  “He is good,” Savannah said. “He’s great.”

  When the young couple joined them, Waycross plopped himself down on a chaise and pulled Tammy onto his lap. “When’s our birthday boy gonna come down from that goat pen? I’m gettin’ hungry for that cake!”

  “Your daughter’s done waylaid ’im,” Granny said. “It does my heart good to see how much them two enjoy each other’s company.”

  “Who would’ve thought?” Jennifer added dryly.

  “Me,” Savannah told her. “He’s not as bad as you think.”

  “Hey, I know. I know.” She held up both hands in surrender. “I have to treat him with love and respect.”

  “Well, respect anyway.”

  “If it weren’t for each and every one of you, I’d probably be in jail right now.”

  Waycross turned and saw Dee, Ryan, and John galloping up the road and turning toward the barn. He pinched Tammy’s rear and said, “Whaddaya think, sugar? Is it time yet? I don’t reckon I can wait much longer. I’m fixin’ to bust.”

  “I never heard you so eager to dig into a piece of birthday cake,” Savannah said.

  “Oh, it’s not just the cake that he’s looking forward to. It’s his big secret,” Tammy said.

  “Secret?” Savannah asked. “Why, Waycross Reid. You’ve got a secret, and you didn’t tell your big sister about it?”

  “I couldn’t,” he replied with a big grin. “You and Dirk made me swear I’d never tell either of y’all a secret I couldn’t tell you both. And this is one you couldn’t tell him.”

  “Um. Okay. I guess. What is it?”

  Tammy stood and pulled Waycross to his feet. “Everybody’s here now. Let’s show them.”

  Savannah watched as Tammy and her brother headed in the direction of the animal enclosures. She turned to Jennifer and Granny. “I guess we better go see what it is.”

  “Wild horses couldn’t stop me,” Granny said as she abandoned her marshmallows and stick and started up the hill.

  Savannah caught up with her and took her arm, while Jennifer followed them.

  “Come on over here, Dirk-o,” Tammy shouted as she and Waycross headed for the barn.

  Dee, Ryan, and John released the horses into the corral, then joined them, wearing broad smiles on their faces.

  “Somethin’ tells me them three are in on it,” Granny said. “Unlike you and me.”

  “Or at least they know what it is.” Savannah saw Waycross opening the barn door. “Oh, Lord, please don’t let it be a horse. He needs a horse like he needs a sixth piece of birthday cake.”

  “It ain’t a horse,” Waycross said, having overheard his sister. “I think you’ll approve.”

  As Dirk approached the barn, Tammy took Vanna from his arms and waved him toward Waycross. “Go on,” she said. “This is just between you guys. I’ve had nothing at all to do with it.”

  “O-o-o-kay.” Dirk gave her a suspicious look then walked over to Waycross.

  Savannah watched, her heart full and warm, as her brother draped his long, skinny arm over her husband’s broad shoulders.

  “I wanted to do something sorta special for you this year,” Waycross said, “but not just on account of what you did for me a few months back. Truth be told, I’d done started this before that. But once I got out of that clinic and pulled myself together a bit, I thought about where I’d be without my brother-in-law, and I set my mind to get this done for you.”

  “O-o-o-kay,” Dirk repeated, giving his brother-in-law an even more wary look.

  Opening the barn door wider, Waycross said, “Go on in there, big boy, and tell me if I done good.”

  Dirk turned and gave Savannah a questioning, helpless look.

  She laughed and waved him on. “I can’t help you, darlin’. I have no idea what it is. Go in and find out.”

  “Yes,” Granny said. “The suspense is fixin’ to kill me.”

  Dirk walked inside with Waycross beside him, Savannah behind him, and the rest bringing up the rear.

  The first thing Savannah saw was a powder blue fender, glistening in the light of the setting sun. Then, as Ryan and John pulled both of the barn doors completely open, letting in even more light, the 1962 Buick Skylark was fully revealed in all its exquisitely restored grandeur.

  Savannah couldn’t recall ever seeing a more beautiful vehicle.

  Except, of course, her own Mustang.

  She heard her husband gasp in a way that she had only heard come out of boxers who had caught a direct blow to the solar plexus.

  “Well? Do you like it?” Waycross asked him, giggling.

  “Like . . . it . . . do I . . . do I . . . like it?” Dirk reached out and touched the side panel with one finger, as though to convince himself it was real. “It looks . . . looks just like my old car!”

  “That’s because it is your old car,” Waycross said, patting Dirk on the back.

  “It can’t be! After the wreck, the junkyard told me they were gonna smash it. ‘Flat as a Frisbee,’ they said.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Waycross laughed. “I told ’em to say that. I bought it off ’em for fifty bucks.”

  “But . . . but it was totaled!”

  “Eh, one man’s ‘totaled’ is another guy’s ‘restorable.’ ”

  Dirk turned to Savannah. “You told me to move on, give it up, put a period to my grief. You told me that my Buick had gone to Automobile Heaven, where all good cars go.”

  Savannah was as flabbergasted as Dirk. “I really thought it had! I swear, I had no idea about any of this.”

  She walked up to the car and looked thorough the windshield at the interior that was impeccably restored. She had never seen the car looking so pristine—or even basically tidy, for that matter—before the terrible wreck they’d suffered inside it.

  She grabbed her brother and enfolded him in a bear hug that took his breath away. “I can’t believe this, sugar! I can’t even imagine all the work you had to do to . . . oh, Waycross!”

  The others were crowding around the car and were adding their praises to the cacophony.

  “Splendid job, lad!” John exclaimed. “Can’t say as I’ve ever seen its match!”

  “Really,” Ryan said. “You outdid yourself, Waycross. Fantastic!”

  “I’m mighty proud of you, grandson,” Granny said. “I declare, when
you set your mind to somethin’, you keep at ’er till she’s done!”

  She pushed Savannah away so that she could hug him even harder.

  He blushed, turning bright red under the praise. Or from his grandmother’s embrace. It was hard to tell. “Shucks. I didn’t work that hard. It ain’t work if you’re enjoyin’ it.”

  He walked over to Dirk and opened the driver’s door. “Hop in. Try it on for size.”

  Dirk started to get in, then bent over and looked at something under the dash. “Holy cow,” he whispered. “This really is my old car.” He turned to Waycross. “This is like a miracle. Man, I’m gonna owe you forever!”

  “Aw, you don’t own me nothin’, brother.” Waycross laughed heartily, the laugh of a man with his debts paid and his conscience clean. “I reckon I might’ve,” he said, “but I don’t now, huh?”

  “That’s for sure.” Dirk got into the driver’s seat, reached across, and opened the passenger door. He waved to Savannah. “Come on, Van. Let’s take her for a spin!”

  Feeling like a sixteen-year-old going on her first date, Savannah climbed inside. Moments later, Dirk was driving it carefully out of the barn.

  “See ya in a few!” he shouted out the window as they took off.

  “Seriously, did you know about this?” Dirk asked her the moment they reached the road.

  “Nope. Nothin’. Nada. Zippo. Remember, we tell each other everything now.”

  Dirk revved the old muscle car up as they sped through the canyon. “She runs like new. Better than she ever did!”

  “That’s because Waycross Reid tuned her up. He’s famous for that back home. They say you can lay your hand on the hood of a car he’s tuned and not even feel a vibration.”

  Her curiosity getting the better of her, Savannah leaned down and tried to see beneath the dash. “What was it you were looking at?” she asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Before you got in, you looked under here somewhere and said, ‘Holy cow, this really is my old car.’ How did you know for sure?”

  “Nothin’. Just somethin’ I sorta scratched under there one time. No big deal.”

  “Yeah, well, I know you pretty well, and from the embarrassed look on your face, I’d say it is a big deal. Or, at least, a medium deal.”