Max’s gaunt face turned ashen. “I ain’t.”
Rick laughed as if Max’s words reminded him of a child’s statement.
Deke grinned. “I can smell it. Rot and stench. Lies.”
Max chewed on his thumbnail. “I heard there was a skull there.”
Heard. Didn’t see. “When did you hear?”
“Back in the day. Jeb must have mentioned it.”
The waters grew murkier and murkier. “Tell me now, Max. Did you lie about Jeb and the tire iron all those years ago?”
“No! They found it in his car, didn’t they?”
Deke crossed to the table, planted his hands on it and leaned toward Max. “Did you put it there?”
“No!”
Rick hung back but his gaze burned into Max. “Fingering Annie Rivers Dawson’s killer would have been a hell of a coup.”
“I didn’t put it there. But I heard around town it was there.”
“Where’d you hear?”
“I don’t remember, but it’s good information.”
“This is crap,” Rick said. “None of this is right.”
Chains rattled as Max lifted his hands. “I was right about the tire iron and I’m right about that skull. Let me show you!”
Deke backed away from the table. “We’ll let you sit and think. When you got more details we’ll talk again.”
Deke called for the guard and he and Rick watched the guard lead a screaming Max away. As they walked outside, both remained silent.
Inside the car, Deke hesitated before he started the engine. “You’re right. This all smells like shit.”
Rick glanced back at Tracker and rubbed him on the head. “Buddy was too sharp to be played.”
“Under normal circumstances.”
Deke started the engine as Rick adjusted his seat until he was comfortable. Two murder victims had him questioning every fact. “What if it was someone else? What if someone else set up Jeb?”
Rick shook his head. “Like space aliens or Big Foot?”
Deke ignored Rick as if he were a pesky seven-year-old wanting to tag along. “Say whoever killed Annie is killing again. All the victims have a link to her.”
Rick tipped his head back against the headrest. “Okay, I’ll play. What would set him off after thirty years?”
“Birthdays, deaths, med changes, job changes, a spouse dies. Hell, if I know.”
“Buddy could sniff out lies like no one else. He had to have believed Max was legit. Max is lying to us now but back in the day he had real information.”
Deke drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Who else wanted Annie dead?”
Rick shook his head. “She was a beautiful woman. Talented. Buddy did question other suspects during the investigation.”
“What about the husband?”
“Cleared. Was in Knoxville at the time of the murder.”
“What if he hired someone?”
“Possible. But that doesn’t explain why he’d kill again. I checked into his life. He’s done well. Remarried. Has kids. He doesn’t make sense.”
“Then who?”
“And we are back to the question that drove Buddy to near exhaustion.”
Deke imagined his father weeks before his death. “I never saw Buddy tired. The man had the energy of six men.”
“We were kids. Parents hide information from their children. He lowered his guard around Mom. She’d have been the one he’d have told about his heart.”
“He sure as shit never allowed any of his kids to keep information secret.”
A half smile tugged the edges of Rick’s lips. “Like that time you hid that bottle of bourbon under the bench in the backyard. What were you, fourteen?”
“Fifteen.”
“Buddy took one look at you and started asking questions.”
“‘Don’t you lie to me, boy,’ he kept saying.” Deke had always had a knack for secrets and hiding. Made him a great undercover officer and a lousy husband. “To this day I don’t know how he figured it out.”
“I always thought it was Georgia who ratted you out. She was about five.”
“She swore she never told.”
Rick laughed. “And you believed her? Hell, she was the only one who could fool Buddy with a fib. She had his number from day one.”
“Yeah.”
Deke pulled into traffic. “Shit. We’re all wrapped around her finger.”
“Lot’s going on in that head of hers. We hear a tenth of what she’s thinking.”
“Like always.”
A silence settled between them. “She wants in on this case.”
“Tough.”
“She’s a grown woman, Deke, not a knob-kneed kid. She’s proven time and again she can handle herself.”
“Don’t care.”
“My best advice is to not go all Buddy on her.”
“What’s that mean?”
“You’re her brother, not her father. Buddy could get away with treating her like a kid, but you can’t. She’ll come out swinging.”
Deke shoved out a breath. “Easier said than done.”
“You don’t have to fill his shoes.”
Deke shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“Buddy is gone. We all miss him like hell but he’s gone. You can’t fill his shoes. Shit. I couldn’t do it.”
Unease had him shifting in his seat. “I’m not trying to fill Buddy’s shoes.”
“Bullshit. You’re trying to hold us together. It’s why you moved back into the Big House.”
“I moved back into the Big House because it’s cheap living.”
“You hate the Big House.”
Deke glanced up in time to see Rachel Wainwright striding across the parking lot. He frowned. “It’s growing on me.”
Rick followed his gaze. “The very attractive Ms. Wainwright.”
He leaned forward in his seat. “Yeah.”
“So do you love her or hate her?”
“What?”
Rick leaned back in his seat, grinning like a cat. “Dude, with an expression like yours, it’s either love or hate. No in between with that gal.”
Deke shifted, but his gaze lingered a beat before turning away from Rachel. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t shit me, bro. Love or hate?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he fired up the car. “I’ll take you to your car, then double back to court.”
Rick grinned. “If you’re saying it’s hate then that’s good because I’d take her out in a heartbeat. She rocks those pants.”
Deke growled. “Don’t even go there.”
“I can date whomever I want.” Laughter brightened his gaze. “So it’s not hate?”
“I don’t know what the hell it is.” Deke tightened his hand on the steering wheel. “But she’s off-limits.”
Little brother had found a sensitive spot and couldn’t resist grinding into it. “For how long?”
“Not her. Not ever.”
February 1
Sugar,
A record producer gave me his card after my second set tonight. He said I got it. I don’t know exactly what that means but I like the sound of it. IT!!
Xoxo,
A.
Chapter Twelve
Monday, October 17, 1:15 PM
The news of Lexis’s death clung to Rachel like a shroud. Thinking was difficult, even putting one foot in front of the other was a struggle.