Best Kept Secrets

adored her with the blind passion of a child who had grown

 

up without parents. She constantly worked toward being as

 

good at everything as Celina had been, not only so she would

 

be a worthy daughter, but in the desperate hope of earning

 

her grandmother's love and approval. So it came as a stunning

 

blow to hear from her dying grandmother's lips that she was

 

responsible for Celina's murder.

 

The doctor had tentatively suggested that she might want

 

to have Mrs. Graham taken off the life support systems.

 

"There's nothing we can do for her now, Ms. Gaither."

 

"Oh, yes, there is," Alex had said with a ferocity that

 

shocked him. "You can keep her alive. I'll be in constant

 

touch."

 

Immediately upon her return to Austin, she began to research

 

the murder case of Celina Graham Gaither. She spent

 

many sleepless nights studying transcripts and court documents

 

before approaching her boss, the district attorney of

 

Travis County.

 

Greg Harper had shifted the smoking cigarette from one

 

corner of his lips to the other. In the courtroom, Greg was

 

the bane of guilty defendants, lying witnesses, and orderly

 

judges. He talked too loud, smoked too much, drank in abundance,

 

and wore five-hundred-dollar pinstriped suits with lizard

 

boots that cost twice that much.

 

To say that he was flashy and egomaniacal would be gross

 

understatements. He was shrewd, ambitious, ruthless, relentless,

 

and profane, and would therefore probably carve

 

out quite a niche for himself in state politics, which was

 

his driving ambition. He believed in the reward system

 

and appreciated raw talent. That's why Alex was on his

 

staff.

 

"You want to reopen a twenty-five-year-old murder case?"

 

he asked her when she stated the purpose of the conference

 

she'd requested. "Got a reason?"

 

"Because the victim was my mother."

 

For the first time since she'd known him, Greg had asked

 

a question he didn't already know the answer to--or at least

 

 

 

have a fairly good guess. "Jesus, Alex, I'm sorry. I didn't

 

know that."

 

She gave a slight, dismissive shrug. "Well, it's not something

 

one advertises, is it?"

 

"When was this? How old were you?"

 

"An infant. I don't remember her. She was only eighteen

 

when she was killed."

 

He ran his long, bony hand down his even longer, bonier

 

face.' 'The case remains on the books as officially unsolved?''

 

"Not exactly. There was a suspect arrested and charged,

 

but the case was dismissed without ever going to trial."

 

"Fill me in, and make it short. I'm having lunch with the

 

state attorney general today," he said. "You've got ten minutes.

 

Shoot."

 

When she finished, Greg frowned and lit a cigarette from

 

the smoldering tip of one he'd smoked down to the filter.

 

"Goddamn, Alex, you didn't say that the Mintons were involved.

 

Your granny really believes that one of them iced

 

your mother?"

 

"Or their friend, Reede Lambert."

 

"By any chance, did she provide them with a motive?"

 

"Not specifically," Alex said evasively, loath to tell him

 

that Merle had cited her, Alex, as the motive. "Apparently,

 

Celina was close friends with them."

 

"Then why would one of them kill her?"

 

"That's what I want to find out."

 

"On the state's time?"

 

"It's a viable case, Greg," she said tightly.

 

"All you've got is a hunch."

 

"It's stronger than a hunch."

 

He gave a noncommittal grunt. "Are you sure this isn't

 

just a personal grudge?"

 

"Of course not." Alex took umbrage. "I'm pursuing this

 

from a strictly legal viewpoint. If Buddy Hicks had gone on

 

trial and been convicted by a jury, I wouldn't put so much

 

stock in what Grandma told me. But it's there in the public

 

records."

 

 

 

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