“And Beau Holland was asking the questions.”
Nadine’s eyes narrow, but I can see hatred burning in them. “It’s guys like Beau Holland who make me want to use the cache to blow the Poker Club to hell and gone, no matter what it costs the town. How bad was the waterboarding?”
If I were in her place, I’d probably ask the same absurd question. “Worse than it sounds. The name sounds vaguely related to wakeboarding. They need to rebrand that little technique.”
She lifts a finger to her mouth and shakes her head. “I should have gotten you out of there faster.”
“You did fine. I survived.”
We both jump when her iPhone rings. She checks the screen, then answers and puts the phone in speaker mode.
“It’s me,” she says.
“Sorry it took so long,” Tim Hayden says. “I drove out toward Marsh—toward his house—and a police car followed me. It peeled off at the county line, and a sheriff’s deputy picked me up. When I turned back toward town, he stopped me. Searched my car, made me open my trunk. He was furious not to find anybody hiding in back. As if Marshall would fit in that shoebox.”
“But he let you go?”
“After he made two cell phone calls. Are you guys okay?”
“Yes. You get home. And thanks. I owe you a big one.”
“Glad to help. Even though I don’t know exactly what this is about, I feel like I just stuck it to the Man.”
“You did, Tim,” I tell him. “In a big way. Adam would be proud.”
“Then I’m glad.”
After Nadine hangs up, we regard each other over the worn table.
“What now?” she asks.
“We’ve come to the heart of it. Sally’s motive. What you know about her plan, and her death.”
She looks anything but pleased at this prospect. “You have to meet the Poker Club at eight a.m. You look wiped out. Are you sure you want to go into that now? You could grab some sleep on that couch.” She points at a broken-backed relic against the far wall.
“I’m too wired to sleep. And I need to know the rest.”
“I know. I’m not avoiding. But I don’t think you realize how exhausted you are. You need to be on top of your game when you face Buckman. The future of this town’s on the line. Not to mention our lives.”
My mind goes to Ben Tate and the Terrell brothers, who are working to produce an edition of the paper that—if everything goes well—will hit the unsuspecting Poker Club like a laser-guided bomb. “Have you been out to the fishing camp?”
Nadine nods. “I took them a bunch of stuff from Walmart. Rubbing alcohol, small paintbrushes. Aaron Terrell texted me a long list.”
“How about we make a run out there? Talk on the way.”
She sits back in her chair, clearly surprised by my suggestion. “Do you think it’s safe?”
“If we can get across town to Cemetery Road without trouble, we should be all right. Besides, what can they really do to us?”
“Cave in our heads and dump us in the river?”
She hasn’t forgotten Buck. “No. For all they know, if we die, the cache automatically hits the internet. They just let me out of jail, didn’t they?”
She doesn’t look convinced. “They didn’t have control of both of us. And just because Buckman says he’s willing to cut another deal doesn’t mean some other guys in that club wouldn’t kill us if they got the chance. Man, I wish I had set up something like that. An insurance policy.”
“If the cache wasn’t in your safe-deposit box, we’d do it now. But we can’t help that. Where’s your car?”
“My Acura’s parked just up the alley, behind a friend’s shop. Why do you want to do this?”
“Honestly? This may be the last edition of the Bienville Watchman ever printed. If my father can’t be there to see it, then I will. I want to be able to tell him about it tomorrow.”
Nadine looks at me for a long time. Then she says, “What the hell. What did Tim say? Let’s go stick it to the Man.”
“Now you’re talking!” I slap the table. “Let’s go. And don’t forget your gun.”
She gets up and retrieves her purse from the floor. “Wouldn’t dream of it. It’s my new essential accessory.”
Chapter 44
Nadine got us to Cemetery Road without incident. We hardly spoke until she turned east, away from the river. Even then, I sat silent as we rolled over the gully where Jet dumped Max’s hammer and gun. Two miles farther on, we passed the turn for my parents’ neighborhood, then the overgrown path that leads to the Weldon barn, which is probably buried under a jungle of kudzu by now. When we’re almost out of the city limits, I switch on my burner phone in my pocket.
“Think I should cut over to the Little Trace for a few minutes?” Nadine asks. “Less chance of passing a sheriff’s car?”
“Nah. We’re only five miles from the turn to Dad’s camp. I say go for it. Just don’t speed.”
We’ve left the only streetlights along Cemetery Road behind us. After we pass a lighted self-storage facility and a small-engine repair shop, full dark closes around the car.
“What do you want to ask me?” Nadine says.
“Do you believe Sally killed herself? Was she trying to frame Max?”
“I think that was her plan. I’m not sure she didn’t try to kill him at the last minute instead, forcing him to kill her in self-defense. Or that Max didn’t murder her outright, before she could try her plan.”
“So when you and I were dancing to Jerry Lee Lewis at the Aurora Hotel, you knew she planned to commit suicide later that night?”
Nadine’s head snaps around. “God, no! I had no idea of her real intentions or her timeline. I had to drag what I know out of her over the course of ten days. We had three private meetings in person. At first she told me she was having marital problems and didn’t trust Max. She wanted me to hold something for her. She asked me to get a safe-deposit box. I figured she was preparing to divorce him.”
“You didn’t question her further at your first meeting?”
“Sure, but she wouldn’t open up. She seemed afraid, or deeply disturbed. They’d been married so long, I didn’t think Max was beating her, but I didn’t know. I worried about sexual abuse—of Kevin, I mean—but I didn’t bring it up at that meeting.”
“She gave you the cache then? At your first meeting?”
“No, the second. And she was a lot more upset at that meeting. I got the feeling she was conflicted about whatever she was thinking of doing. That’s when she told me that the cache could destroy not only Max, but all the men in the Poker Club. When I questioned her motive, she told me she’d discovered that Max was a truly evil man. Not merely weak, like most men, but evil. Her word. She’d always known that he cheated with other women. This was different. But she wouldn’t tell me how.”
“Do you know more than you originally told me about the affair between your mother and Max?”
“No. We never discussed that directly. Sally and I drank a lot of wine at that second meeting. At one point she said all human beings make terrible mistakes, and that she was no exception. When I asked what she’d done, she said she hadn’t paid attention to what was right in front of her. She’d taken things for granted.”
“Oh, man. Still, that’s pretty vague. She didn’t confide that she was terminally ill?”
“No. I could see she was deeply depressed, and I did wonder if she might be ill. But she never let on. Sally wasn’t one for self-pity. She didn’t want anybody thinking she was mortal. A hard road, but that was her generation, you know? Like my mom.”
“When did she tell you about Max being Kevin’s father?”
“Third meeting. Two nights before she died.”
“Where were you?”
“My house. That time, she didn’t seem upset at all. In fact, she was eerily calm. Looking back, everything seems as clear as day, of course. She’d made her peace with death. I was the one who was upset that night.”
“Did you suspect she was considering suicide?”