“Do the police have any idea who killed Gus?” Carmen asked.
“If they do, they haven’t let me in on it,” Teresa said dryly. “I had a message on my machine from the sheriff, though. He wants to talk to me about the murder. He didn’t get enough information last night. Mac cut him short when he saw that I was about to faint from exhaustion and shock.”
“I guess I have to be glad Mac was with you, then.”
“He helped me so much, Carmen. I don’t think I could have held up without him. He was extremely protective.”
“Good for him! Did he spend the rest of the night with you?”
“Only a few hours until I got sleepy.”
“Oh.” Carmen sounded relieved. “Well, at least he was there when you needed him. I tried to call you around noon to see if you wanted to be with someone, but I got no answer.”
“I’d gone to our old house. It’s been sold and Kent told me to get out anything I wanted before he had people come to put everything else in storage tomorrow.”
“How wonderful that it’s finally sold! And how nice of Kent to give you so much notice. She paused. “Teri, you should have called me, not gone to the house by yourself.”
“Trinkets and Treasures was open today. I couldn’t take you away from your store.”
“I’m sure they could have muddled along without me for a couple of hours.” Carmen paused. “How did you feel being in that house again?”
“Creepy,” Teri answered honestly. “I only found three boxes full of Mom’s stuff. Some books, some videos she’d made of birthday parties and special occasions, and her research on the book she wanted to write about all the spooky things that have happened around Point Pleasant, like Cornstalk’s Curse and Mothman.”
“Oh, Mothman!” Carmen laughed gently. “My goodness, I’d forgotten about that project of hers. I went up to the TNT Area—Mothman Central—and tramped around with her a couple of times. She thought the place was fascinating. I stepped on a snake once and almost fainted. I wasn’t much of a research assistant. And of course, Hugh didn’t approve of the whole endeavor.”
“I was happy that she had something she was excited about, but I didn’t take as much interest as I should have, and I could kick myself for that now. She was happy when she worked on that book. Anyway, I guess the house sort of got to me today. I felt uneasy.” Teresa had no idea why she was reluctant to tell Carmen about the scarf. Was it because she knew Carmen would ask a hundred questions about it or because she didn’t want to admit she feared a mentally unbalanced Marielle had come back to Point Pleasant? “I came out of the house in a hurry and there was Mac,” she rushed on. “I’d told him I was going to the house. He’d dropped by to help me carry boxes.”
“Oh? He came by to help you carry boxes. Well, now, wasn’t that sweet of him.”
Teresa rolled her eyes. “You can take that salacious nuance out of your voice. He carried boxes.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Teri, I know you too well.”
“Oh, all right,” Teresa said, only mildly exasperated. “We’re going out to dinner tonight. Just dinner.”
“Since when does Mac MacKenzie have just dinner with any female?”
“Well, I hope that’s all he does if the girl is a minor,” Teresa said lightly. “Dinner is not a commitment, Carmen. It’s… it’s dinner!”
“Very well put, Teresa. I’d been wondering what dinner was.” Carmen paused for a moment and Teri braced herself for a lecture. Instead, Carmen said in a light voice, “You’re a big girl, Teri. If you feel that having dinner is something you want to do, something that’s right for you now, then I’m not going to rain on your parade.”
Stunned, Teri muttered, “Well, thank you.”
“But I am going to ask a favor of you.”
“I knew there was a catch,” Teresa said drolly.
“Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Don’t you always go to the park to the concert and the fireworks display with Kent and Sharon?”
“Yes.”
“Good. This year Sharon’s father, Gabe, is going with them, too, and he’s asked me to come along. Will that be all right?”
Teresa blinked twice before she asked, “Gabe asked you to come? Not Sharon?”
“Sharon wouldn’t ask me to do anything except to perhaps lie down on the road so she could run over me.”
“Oh, you’re exaggerating.” Slightly, Teresa thought. “Of course I don’t mind. Does Gabe know she considers going to the fireworks display a family thing? I can’t remember a time when someone who wasn’t part of the family came with us.”
Silence thrummed on the phone for a moment. Then Carmen asked, “Teri, can you keep a very important secret?”
“A secret? Yes, I suppose, if it’s for you,” she said carefully.
“Gabe has asked me to marry him!”
“What!” Teresa nearly shouted. “Gabriel asked you to be his wife?”
“Teri, your complete shock is rather unflattering,” Carmen said dryly.
“Oh, I didn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. You’re wonderful, Carmen. You’re beautiful and smart and fun and… I just didn’t know you’d been seeing Gabe O’Brien. When did your relationship start?”
“Almost a year ago, so don’t think I’m jumping into anything.”
“But why didn’t you say something?”
“You know how Sharon is. She wants her father to act like he died right along with her mother.”
Teresa had to admit Sharon was as possessive of her father as she was of her son. “I understand why you didn’t tell Sharon, but why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to have to hide anything from her. After all, she is your sister-in-law. I hope she accepts this with a modicum of good grace, but if she doesn’t, I wanted you to have plausible deniability.”
“My goodness, you should be advising the President.” Teresa laughed. “I appreciate your concern for my relationship with Sharon, though. It’s on shaky ground lately.”
“So I’ve heard. She goes to Gabe with all her troubles and you ruffled her feathers over the riding lessons.”
“Don’t I know it! And Kent really resents the fact that when things go wrong for her, she runs to Daddy. Maybe when the two of you are married Sharon will realize she’s not Gabe’s sole focus and start acting more mature.” Teresa paused. “So when are you getting married and when are you going to tell Sharon?”
“That concerns the favor I wanted to ask of you. We want to get married the middle of September—Gabe has some time off then and we’d like to honeymoon in New England before it gets cold. That means we need to tell the families soon. I don’t want to do it as if we’re ashamed of it or afraid of anyone’s reaction. I want to make an intimate little party of it, so I wondered if after the fireworks show you could invite everyone back to your house. I’ll supply the cake and other pastries and champagne and then we’ll make the announcement.”
Teresa felt a moment of rebellion. Carmen wasn’t tossing around ideas with her. She had this announcement gathering planned and expected Teri to go along with her.
“Carmen, I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Teri said evenly. “I know Sharon is going to be upset. Maybe it isn’t fair to make her hear the news when she’s in a group of people.”
“But that’s the point, Teri. I know she won’t be happy, but she won’t throw a temper tantrum in front of people.”
“I don’t think she’d throw a tantrum in any situation.”
“Then you don’t know her as well as you think you do,” Carmen said sharply. “She doesn’t care about what will make Gabe happy, only what will make her happy. She’s always been that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t let herself get pregnant on purpose to hook Kent.”
“Carmen, Kent loved her!”
“But Hugh didn’t approve of her. I’m sure he might have tried to talk Kent into giving her up, but Kent would have been less likely to do that if
Sharon was pregnant with his child. Sharon knew that.”
Actually, the idea had occurred to Teresa in the past, but she’d never voiced it and didn’t like herself for thinking it, and she didn’t like hearing it from someone else. “Carmen, maybe Sharon’s pregnancy moved up the marriage a year or two—but he would have married her.”
“Now I’ve offended you,” Carmen said contritely. “I’m sorry. Sharon and Kent’s relationship is none of my business. I’m just thinking of Gabe now. Gabe and me. Oh, Teri, I love him so much. I loved my first husband, but not like I love Gabe. It’s like my world used to be black-and-white. After I fell in love with Gabe, it turned to the most beautiful color—and three-dimensional to boot!”
Teresa’s flare of temper flickered and died. Carmen sounded like a teenager and it was both charming and touching. She’d also sounded completely sincere. She truly loves this man, Teresa thought. She’s been alone so long, and before her husband’s death he was sick for years. The woman deserves a wonderful, genuine romance.
“All right,” Teri relented. “I’m still afraid this will backfire—”
“If it does, it does, but at least I’ll have tried to make this easier on Gabe. If he had to face Sharon alone and deliver the news… well, I don’t even like to think about it. Besides, I want to make a celebration of the announcement. It deserves a celebration!”
“Okay, I understand. But why do you want to have the shindig at my house?”
“Sharon will refuse to come to my house after the fireworks. And your place is so much prettier than mine, up on that knoll with the landscape lights. At night it looks like something out of a fairy tale.”
“That might be a slight exaggeration, but thanks. What about the food? Do you want me to bake pastries and a cake?”
“No!” Carmen sounded horrified and Teri grinned. “I mean, I wouldn’t dream of having you miss any holiday activities so you can stay in and cook,” Carmen said more calmly, seeming not to realize that Teri had been joking. “I’ll bring the food in the late afternoon and we’ll put it in your kitchen—most of it can go in the refrigerator—but if you’ll meet Kent and Sharon at their house, then there won’t be a chance of Sharon seeing it. Later in the evening, I’ll come to the park and join you. And it has to look as if I’m joining you, Teri, not Gabe. We don’t want to tip off Sharon.”
Teresa couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “Carmen, I feel like we’re CIA agents planning a secret mission.”
“Well, we might as well be,” Carmen said. “The only difference is that Sharon is tougher than anyone the CIA has ever faced!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
1
TERESA HAD JUST HUNG up when Mac arrived at her door. She greeted him almost shyly, feeling like a girl going on her first date with someone she’d just met. Teresa knew she was being ridiculous—she’d known Mac since she was a teenager—but they’d grown so far apart since she’d broken their engagement, they really seemed to be starting over from scratch.
“You look beautiful,” Mac said with an appreciative smile.
“I’ve had this dress for years. It’s nothing special,” Teresa said in a rush, not wanting him to think she’d really tried to look exceptional. “I hardly ever wear dresses nowadays.”
“Well, you should. You have great legs,” Mac said, his audacity tempered by his boyish smile. “I’m starving. How about you?”
“I haven’t eaten all day. I forgot—me with the appetite of a lumberjack. I want to go someplace where you get large servings.”
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of a house-turned-restaurant nestled in the shadow of a rolling, green hill.
“Gloria’s Lighthouse Café,” Mac said.
“I’ve heard about this place, but I’ve never been here,” Teresa said.
“Then you’re in for a treat.”
They walked inside to face a long bar, turned left, and went up two steps into a cozy dining room. A gleaming dark hardwood floor led to a tall enclosed brick fireplace with a wood stove sitting in front. On the mellow muted green walls hung paintings, some done by the restaurant’s owner. Ceiling fans with lights hung above the diners. Teresa chose a table facing long windows through which she could watch the sky turn from cornflower blue, to orchid and coral, and finally to heliotrope.
Teresa and Mac both ordered steaks with baked potatoes, salad, and rolls. Teresa was glad the restaurant wasn’t crowded yet. In fact, only two other couples occupied the dining room and they sat far away from Teri and Mac, talking quietly.
Teri fumbled with her napkin and gratefully reached for her glass when their drinks arrived. She felt as if she’d never been on a date and was certain she acted like it, too.
“Do you remember the last time we had dinner together?” Mac asked in a low, romantic voice.
“No.”
“Oh. Neither do I.” Teresa looked at Mac, then laughed. He grinned at her. “You were expecting some long, seductive description of that dinner, weren’t you?”
“Well, yes.”
“Sorry, but if anything significant happened over a last dinner together, I don’t recall it. So much for softening you up with sentimental memories.”
In spite of Mac’s joking, Teresa still felt awkward and wished she could think of a pleasant, interesting topic that would take both their minds off of what seemed dangerously like a date. She took a drink of water, then cast around her mind and finally came up with, “Won’t your club be opening in about an hour? Who takes care of things while you’re away?”
“I have an excellent assistant manager. He’s very ambitious, but he can’t have designs on my job unless he wants to buy the place. I expect in about a year he’ll want to move on and get a position in a big-city club.”
“Will there be any franchises of Club Rendezvous?”
“Maybe in two or three years. It all depends on the economy.”
“Doesn’t just about everything?” Teresa’s attempt at a gay little laugh sounded wooden. “I’d hoped to expand Farr Fields—buy more land, build a second barn—but I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep what I already have afloat after all of this trouble.” She immediately realized how self-concerned she seemed. “I wasn’t referring to Gus’s… death. That was a tragedy. I’ll never forgive myself for putting him in danger.”
“How did you put him in danger?”
Teresa looked at Mac in surprise. “Have you forgotten what happened eight years ago? Half of the town hasn’t forgotten, even when Roscoe Lee Byrnes was holding firm on his confession. But now that he’s recanted—well, you know all of the old suspicions of me have surfaced again. And I told you about the note, the fax, the night-light—I’m being stalked, so anyone who associates with me is in danger. Sharon was probably right to drag away Daniel from his lesson yesterday.”
“So you think you’re Typhoid Mary, a peril to anyone who comes near you.”
“It seems that way.”
“And this curse you embody went on an eight-year hiatus? First there was Wendy and your father and Celeste, then nothing for years, and now Gus.”
“You’re forgetting about my mother,” Teresa said quietly. “My mother… disappeared.”
“Disappeared because she was murdered? Or disappeared and died?” Mac paused, then said with emphasis, “Or just disappeared for a while?” Teresa’s gaze jerked away from him. “Teri, do you really think your mother is alive and in town?”
The question he’d wanted to ask since this afternoon was one Teri didn’t want to answer. For a moment, she stared at Mac’s earnest face—a face she’d once loved—and knew she couldn’t lie to him. “I can’t imagine that if my mother were still alive, she would have stayed away for so long. She knew how much Kent and I loved her. She wouldn’t be so cruel.”
Teresa paused. “At least, if she were herself, she wouldn’t be so cruel. But she wasn’t well, physically or mentally. She’d been released from the mental hospital, but maybe she shouldn’t have been. That l
ast day I saw her at the house—the day when Dad caught us—she was so thin and desperate. Frankly, she wasn’t even making a lot of sense. She asked me to run away with her.”
“She did?” Mac looked shocked. “You never told me.”
Their salad arrived and Teresa was glad she didn’t have to answer Mac for a moment. He repeated his question, though, as soon as the waitress left.
“I didn’t tell you anything about seeing her that day,” Teri said. “Your mother begged me not to, remember? Anyway, Mom kept saying, ‘I can’t get well here in this town. I can’t get well without you, and you need to get away from your father and Wendy. I’m afraid of what they might do to you.’”
“What did she think Hugh and Wendy would do to you?”
“I don’t know. After all, I was going to be leaving for college in September—I just had to get through the rest of spring and the summer—and both of them couldn’t wait for me to leave. Dad only fought for custody of me to hurt Mom.” Teresa sighed. “Maybe she was afraid Dad would beat me. Looking back, I’m sure he struck her more than once. And he slapped me twice the day Mom came to the house.”
“So she was afraid for you as well as being devastated at having you taken away from her,” Mac said thoughtfully. “Do you know how strong a motive that is for her killing Hugh and Wendy?”
“Yes.” Teresa spoke barely above a whisper. “I’ve known it ever since the night of the murders. But it doesn’t explain her attacking Celeste.”
“You said she wasn’t well. Maybe she just went into some kind of frenzy.”
“The person I bumped into in the hall—the person who cut my arm—was definitely not in a frenzy. That person was almost frighteningly calm.”
Mac raised his eyebrows. “You never told me that, either.”
“Well, I’ve held back quite a lot over the years. I believe I’ve told you everything now.” Mac said nothing and Teresa went on. “The point is that I’ve never been sure my mother didn’t kill Dad and Wendy. Mom disappeared after the murders, but if she died, her body was never found. No Jane Doe bodies the authorities thought might be my mother have surfaced, either. Now Roscoe Byrnes has recanted his confession, suspicion has fallen on me again, and suddenly I thought I saw my mother on the road leading from my place—running away from the barn where Gus Gibbs was murdered. And today, I found Mom’s recently worn scarf in our old house.”
If You Ever Tell Page 24