He took umbrage. His face puffed up like an adder. "Did
you send my wife some of your ill-gotten money?"
"Yes. From the looks of her and your kids, I thought she
could put it to good use."
"We don't need your money."
Nora Gail sat forward and, with a lazy smile, spoke softly
to Fergus. "You haven't thrown it back in my face, either,
have you?"
His mouth puckered like a drawstring purse. "I never reject
a gift that God so generously bestows."
"No, I'm sure you don't." Nora Gail complacently
dropped two cubes of sugar into her coffee. "That's why I
want to make a deal with you, Reverend Plummet."
"I don't deal with the ungodly. I came here as a messenger
of God, to warn you of His wrath, to hear your confession
of--"
"How would you like a new church?"
The flow of evangelism ceased abruptly. "Huh?"
Idly, Nora Gail stirred her coffee. "How would you like
a new church? A big, grand church that would put all the
others in town to shame, even the new First Baptist." She
paused to sip her coffee. "I can see I've left you speechless,
which in itself is a blessing."
Again, she smiled like a cat that had just licked clean a
saucer of cream. "As soon as Purcell Downs is completed,
I'm going to be very rich and very respectable. It would be
to your benefit, preacher, to accept my generous donations,
which would be sizable and given on a regular basis. Then,
when Texas Monthly or '60 Minutes' comes out here to
interview me as one of the state's richest businesswomen,
they can also report what a generous and benevolent person
I am.
"And in return for this fancy church I'll build you," she
said, leaning forward again, "I would expect you to keep
your loud mouth shut about racetrack gambling. There are
plenty other sins to keep you occupied. If you run out of
sermon material, I'll be more than glad to provide you a list
of sins, because I've committed them all, sugar."
He was gaping like a fish washed ashore. The madam
definitely had his attention.
"And, you wouldn't be pulling any more stunts like you
did at the Minton ranch a week or so back. Yes," she said,
holding up her heavily jeweled hand to stem his denials, "I
know you did it. You caused a valuable horse to get put
down, and that really chaps my ass."
Her eyes narrowed on him. "If you do anything that stupid
again, I'll pull the pulpit right out from under you, preacher
man. I make plans, see, and I knock down anybody who
stands in the way of them. If you have a problem you want
solved, come to me. Leave the revenge-getting to somebody
who knows how to get it and not get caught." She leaned
back in her chair. "Well?"
"You've . . . you've given me a lot to think about."
"Not good enough. I want your answer today. Right now.
Do you want to become a religious big shot with a shiny new
church, or do you want to go to jail? Because, you see, if
you don't say yes to my offer, I'll call my good buddy Reede
Lambert and tell him I've got an eyewitness to that vigilante
raid out at the ranch. What's it gonna be, sugar--a pulpit or
prison?"
Fergus swallowed visibly. He struggled with himself, with
his conscience, but not for long. His head gave one swift nod
of agreement.
"Good. Oh, one other thing," Nora Gail continued in the
same lilting voice. "Stop treating my sister like a doormat.
You were overheard dressing her down in public at the sheriffs
office the other night. If I ever get wind of it happening
again, I'll personally cut off your pitiful pecker and feed it
to the next dog I see. Okay?"
He swallowed hard.
"I'm sending Wanda Gail to a spa up in Dallas, where
she'll stay and be pampered for two weeks, which is little
enough vacation from you. How do you expect to attract folks
to your new church if your own wife looks like a downtrodden
toad? This summer your kids'll go to camp. They're gonna
have new bicycles and baseball gloves, because I'm overturning
your rule about no games of any kind and signing
them up for Little League next spring." She winked. "Their
Aunt Nora Gail is gonna be the best goddamn thing that ever
happened to those kids. Are you getting all this, preacher?"
Again, Plummet gave a brusque nod.
"Good." She sat back in her chair, calmly swinging a
shapely leg back and forth through the slit of her robe. ' 'Now
that we've cleared the air, let's talk terms. You'll receive the
first donation the day the licensing is finalized, and one on
the first of each month after that. The checks will be drawn
on the NGB, Incorporated account. I'm going to need the tax
deduction," she said with a throaty laugh.
Then, dismissing Fergus, she looked at her sister. ' 'Wanda
Gail, don't wait till I send you to Dallas. Use the money I
sent you the other day to buy you and your kids new clothes.
And for crissake, do something with your hair. It looks like
shit."
Wanda's eyes misted. "Thank you, thank you."
Nora Gail reached out to touch her sister's hand, but
thought better of it and lit one of her black cigarettes instead.
Through a dense cloud of acrid smoke, she replied, "You're
welcome, sugar."
Forty-four
"Junior?"
He turned away from the bar, where he'd been mixing his
second drink in ten minutes. ' 'Good morning, Mother. Would you like a Bloody Mary?"
Sarah Jo crossed the room and yanked the bottle of vodka
from his hand. "What's the matter with you?" she asked,
speaking in a much harsher tone than she usually used with
him. "Why are you drinking this early?"
"It's not that early, considering what time I got up."
"You went out. I heard you leave. Where'd you go?"
"I'd like to know that myself," Angus said, coming into
the room. "I need to talk to you."
"Let me guess," Junior said with feigned cheerfulness,
"it's about Judge Wallace."
"That's right."
"And my marriage to Stacey."
"Yes," Angus said reluctantly.
"I'll bet you're going to tell me why it was so all-fired
important that I marry her when I did."
"It was for your own good."
"That much you told me twenty-five years ago. It was a
trade-off, wasn't it? You got him to close Celina's murder
case in exchange for my marriage to Stacey. Am I getting
warm? Apparently, so was Alex. When she confronted the
judge with her hypothesis, he killed himself."
Looking faint, Sarah Jo covered her mouth. Angus responded
with anger. His hands flexed into fists at his sides.
"It was the best thing to do at the time. I couldn't allow an
in-depth investigation. To protect my family and my business,
I had no choice but to ask the judge that favor."
"Did Stacey know about it?"
"Not from me. I doubt that Joe ever told her."
"Thank God for that." Junior dropped into a chair. His
head hung dejectedly. "Dad, you know as well as I do that
Gooney Bud was innocent.''
"I know no such thing."
"Come on. He was harmless. You knew he didn't kill
Celina, but you let him be punished for it. Why didn't you
just let things take their natural course? In the long run, we'd
all have been better off."
"You know that's not so, Junior."
"Do I?" He raised his head and looked at his parents with
hot, intense eyes. "You know who Reede has in his bed this
morning, looking all soft and sexy and satiated? Alex." He
flopped back against the easy chair's cushions and rested his
head. With a bitter, humorless laugh, he said, "Celina's daughter. Jesus, can you beat that?"
"Alex spent the night with Reede?" Angus thundered.
Sarah Jo made a sniffing sound of disgust. "That doesn't
surprise me."
"Why didn't you keep it from happening, Junior?" Angus
demanded.
Junior, sensing his father's rising temper, shouted, "I
tried!"
"Evidently, not hard enough. It's your bed she's supposed
to be in by now, not Reede's."
"She's a grown woman. She didn't need my permission
to go to bed with him. With anybody.'' Junior pushed himself
out of the chair and headed for the bar.
Sarah Jo blocked his path. "I don't like the girl. She's as
trashy as her mother, but if you wanted her for yourself, why
did you let Reede Lambert have her?''
"It's more critical than that, Sarah Jo," Angus said tightly.
"Our future rested on Alex's opinion of us. I was hoping
she would become part of the family. As usual, Junior fell
down on the job."
"Don't criticize him, Angus."
"Why the hell not? He's my son. I'll criticize him if I
damn well feel like it." Then, curbing his impatience with
her, he exhaled a heavy sigh. "Too late now to be bawling
over spilled milk. We've got a bigger problem than Junior's
love life. I'm afraid we're extremely vulnerable to prosecution."
He left the room and slammed out the front door.
At the bar, Junior poured himself a straight vodka. Sarah
Jo grabbed his arm as he raised the glass to his lips. "When
are you going to learn that you're as good as Reede? Better. You've disappointed your father again. When are you going
to do something to make him proud of you? Junior, my
darling, it's time you grew up and seized the initiative for a
change."
Alex stared at Reede with wordless disbelief. He calmly
swept the spilled coffee grounds off the counter with the back
of his hand and continued to fill the filtered basket of the
coffee maker. Once it was dripping boiling coffee into the
glass carafe, he turned to face her.
"You look like you've swallowed a marble. Isn't that what
you expected to hear?"
"Is it true?" she asked hoarsely. "Did you kill her?"
He looked away, staring at nothing for several moments,
then back into her eyes, penetrating them. "No, Alex. I did
not kill Celina. If I had wanted to, I would have done it before
that night, and with my bare hands. I would have felt that it
was justifiable homicide. I wouldn't have gone to the trouble
of stealing a scalpel. I sure as hell wouldn't have let that
unfortunate retarded man take the rap for me."
She stepped into the circle of his arms and hugged him
tight. "I believe you, Reede."
"Well, that's something, I guess." Holding her close, he
moved his hands over her back. She nuzzled his chest.
He made a low sound of arousal, but set her away from
him. "The coffee's ready."
"Don't push me away, please. I'm not ready to stop hugging."
"Neither am I," he said, stroking her cheek, "buthugging
isn't all I want to do, and I have a strong feeling that our
conversation isn't going to be conducive to romance." He
poured two mugs of coffee and carried them to the table.
"Why do you say that?" She sat down across from him.
"Because you want to know if I know who went into the
barn that night."
"Do you?"
"No, I don't," he said with an emphatic shake of his head.
"I swear to God I don't."
"But you know it was either Junior or Angus."
He shrugged noncommittally.
"You've never wanted to know which, have you?"
"What difference does it make?"
She was aghast. "It makes a difference to me. It should
to you."
"Why? Knowing won't change a damn thing. It won't
bring Celina back. It won't alter your unhappy childhood or
mine. Will it make your grandmother love you? No."
Reading her horrified expression, he said, "Yes, Alex, I
know that's why you've appointed yourself Celina's avenger.
Merle Graham always had to have a scapegoat. Whenever
Celina did something she considered wrong, I usually caught
the blame for it. 'That Lambert kid,' she used to call me,
always with a sour expression on her face.
"So it doesn't surprise me that she laid a lifelong guilt trip
on you. She wouldn't take the blame for Celina's mistakes
upon herself. And she wouldn't admit that Celina, like every
other human being ever to grace this earth, did what she
damned well pleased when she damned well felt like it, with
or without motivation. That left you, the only real innocent
in this whole goddamn affair, to place the blame on."
He drew in a deep breath. "So, with all that in mind, what
good can it possibly do anybody to know who killed her?"
"I've got to know, Reede," she said, close to tears. "The
murderer was also a thief. He robbed me. My mother would
have loved me if she had lived. I know she would have."
"For crissake, she didn't even want you, Alex," he
shouted. "No more than my mother wanted me. I didn't go
on any quests after her."
"Because you're afraid to," she yelled back.
"Afraid?"
"Afraid of being hurt by what you find out."
"Not afraid," he said. "Indifferent."
"Well, I'm not, thank God. I'm not as cold and unfeeling
as you."
"You thought I was hot enough last night," he sneered.
"Or did you stay a technical virgin this long by going down
on all your dates?"
She flinched as if he'd struck her. Hurt beyond belief, she