Midnight Secrets

chapter

THIRTY-THREE


Savannah felt as if she’d fallen into a parallel universe where the alter egos of good people lived. Never in a thousand years would she have suspected that Lamont and Nesta had anything to do with her parents’ deaths.

She turned to Lamont. “You killed them. But why?”

“Don’t be silly, dear,” Nesta said. “Lamont couldn’t hurt a fly. I did it.”

Slender, petite, barely over five feet tall, Nesta Kilgore didn’t look strong enough to lift a five-pound sack of flour without help. There was no way she could have committed the murders.

“Nesta, please,” Lamont said. “This is all so unnecessary.”

Nesta shook her head and threw a pair of handcuffs onto Lamont’s desk. “Unfortunately you both have made it very necessary.” She nodded at the cuffs. “Handcuff yourself to the arm of the chair, Lamont.”

“No, I most certainly will not. Put the gun down, Nesta. This instant.”

Cool steel pressed against Savannah’s forehead. “You’ll never get the bloodstain and brain matter off your desk,” Nesta told him. “And I know how you hate a mess.”

With a look of profound apology to Savannah, Lamont complied, cuffing both his hands to the arm of the chair. When finished, he looked at his wife again. “Now what?”

Nesta pulled up a chair and sat next to Savannah. Though she was still pointing the weapon at her, at least it wasn’t pressed against her head anymore. Releasing a silent breath of relief, Savannah considered her next move. She hadn’t had the chance to call Brody, but Zach would be back at some point. She had to figure out how to disarm Nesta before that happened. The thought of Zach walking in with no warning of what was going on chilled her blood. There had to be a way to get Nesta to see reason.

“Before we get started on our chat, let me ask a very important question of you, Savannah. What did you think of my chocolate chip cookies?”

“What?”

“My cookies. Did you like them? I have a very special secret I only share with a few. I mix a box of store-bought cookie mix in with my homemade mix and then add in a little extra brown sugar and of course extra chocolate chips, too.”

Speechless, Savannah didn’t answer.

Apparently not happy with Savannah’s lack of response, Nesta snapped, “I’ve won awards.”

That cookie now threatening to come back up, Savannah managed weakly, “It was delicious.”

As if that had been the most important issue on her mind, Nesta settled back in her chair with a satisfied smile. “Good.” Then, with scary speed, she switched subjects. “I guess you’re wondering how all this took place.”

“Nesta, please … don’t.”

“Lamont, if you don’t hush up, I’m going to gag you. Now, let me tell the story.” She turned back to Savannah. “After all, it’s my story to tell.”

As if she was lost in the past, her eyes focused on the wall behind Savannah. “It all started so innocent. Your mama and daddy had that fight at the country club and then Beckett just ups and leaves. Poor Maggie was so upset.”

She glanced over at Lamont with a sad smile. “We took her home and then we went home. Everything was just fine until Lamont started in about Beckett.” Her gaze moved to Savannah. “We had a terrible argument and Lamont stormed out. I just knew he was going to see Maggie.” Her gaze shifted back to Lamont’s. “I always felt like second best.”

“Oh, Nesta honey, you know that’s not true.” The surprise and pain in Lamont’s voice seemed real.

Feeling completely lost, Savannah said, “But why would you feel second best?”

“Because Maggie was Lamont’s first love.” Nesta’s mouth trembled. “He never stopped loving her.”

“Nesta, that is most definitely not true. From the minute we met, you know I only had eyes for you.”

“You were a good husband, Lamont, I agree. But I still felt that if Maggie hadn’t fallen for Beckett, you would have married her instead.”

As Lamont shook his head in denial again, Savannah scrambled to make sense of it all. “Mama was your best friend, Nesta. How could you hurt her?”

“You’re right, she was. And I adored Maggie. When I went over to the Wilde house, looking for Lamont, I had no intention of hurting anyone. I didn’t see Lamont but I decided to go in and talk to Maggie. I know she wasn’t encouraging Lamont. She adored your father and never would have cheated. But someone as beautiful as Maggie didn’t need to encourage anyone. She attracted men like bees to honey.

“Maggie got angry with me and told me to stop being so paranoid. I guess I was a little too emotional that night, too. I lost my temper, something I rarely do. Next thing I knew, I had a butcher knife in my hand and Maggie was on the floor, screaming, and there was blood everywhere.”

The calm, unemotional confession was the eeriest one Savannah had ever heard. Nesta was as matter-of-fact as if she were giving directions. Savannah remembered the coroner’s report. She’d seen classic overkill enough to recognize the pure rage that had ensued during the murder. Eighteen stab wounds to her mother’s chest and torso. Nesta’s “a little too emotional” had put her in a killing frenzy that night.

Telling herself that she could carry on a conversation with her parents’ brutal murderer at gunpoint, Savannah took controlled breaths, searching for and finding the center of calmness that had helped her deal with traumatic events.

“Then what happened?”

“Well, I was horrified, of course. I mean, it’s not like I planned it or anything. She just made me so mad.” She shook her head and sighed. “Anyway, I knew I was going to need help, so I called Harlan.”

“Harlan Mosby, the police chief?”

Nesta nodded. “Few people are aware that we were distantly related. We didn’t care for him, of course. He was from the trashy side of the family, but I must admit, he was extremely helpful.” She grimaced. “He made me call Lamont. Said he couldn’t handle it on his own. I didn’t want to. I knew Lamont would be upset with me. Poor man was in a bar, drowning his troubles because of our fight.” She gave her husband another loving smile. “After the initial shock wore off, he couldn’t have been more supportive.”

“And my father?”

“That was unexpected but ended up working out quite well. Our plan had been for me to go home and clean up, then come back and find Maggie dead. It was going to look like a random burglary gone wrong. But then Beckett came home and caught us. I panicked. There was a heavy crystal bowl on the dining room table. I picked it up and smacked Beckett over the head.”

She sighed. “Such a shame. Anyway, that’s when Harlan came up with the idea. We would make it look like Beckett killed Maggie in a rage and then felt guilty about it all and killed himself.”

“So Harlan and Lamont hung my father?”

“No, dear, you keep acting as if Lamont was involved. He wasn’t. His only crime was loving Maggie. And though it grieved me to lose my best friend, in some ways, I think Maggie brought it on herself.”

“But Lamont was there, wasn’t he?”

“I was there,” Lamont answered in a hollow, sad voice. “I couldn’t do anything but watch. Beckett was unconscious. Harlan strung him up.”

“After it was over, we made a pact to never talk about it.” Nesta’s sweet face went hard. “And we never would have if you hadn’t come back home and started prying into things that weren’t your concern.”

Arguing that the murder of her parents was most definitely her concern would do no good. “And Harlan Mosby? Did you kill him, too?”

Nesta’s eyes gleamed with admiration. “Very perceptive of you, Savannah. I’m impressed.”

“How did you know I was even suspicious?”

“The library, dear. I volunteer there. When I saw what you had been looking at, reading for hours, I knew you’d somehow figured out all was not what it seemed.” She cocked her head. “How did you figure it out, by the way?”

“My grandfather wrote letters to my grandmother. I found them when I started packing. He didn’t believe it was a murder-suicide.”

“Letters to your grandmother?” Nesta shook her head. “Well now, that’s something I never even considered. What did he say?”

“Just that he didn’t believe it was true. What did you and Harlan Mosby do to him?”

“Nothing, of course. Well, almost nothing. A couple of dead animals here and there, some subtle threats from Harlan about you girls. It really took very little effort to keep him quiet.”

That was because protecting his granddaughters had been his top priority.

“And Gibby? Why hurt her?”

“I admit, I panicked a bit. I just didn’t know what she knew. She’d never mentioned her suspicions to anyone but I couldn’t let her talk to you in case she did know something.” A proud gleam entered her eyes as she continued, “I thought it was very inspired of me to stuff our gardener’s shoes with socks and wear them. They made nice, lovely prints on the tile.”

“The dead possum? The fire? The hit man? All your doing?”

“Yes. The possum was roadkill.” She grimaced. “So disgusting. But I thought a dead animal might work, since it worked so well with your granddad. I must say, you have much more backbone than Daniel.”

“My grandfather was the finest of men. He was protecting us.”

“Oh heavens, dear, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.” Nesta looked truly concerned that she had offended Savannah. “He was an incredibly fine man and did a wonderful job raising you girls.”

“Why me, Nesta? Everyone in town knew we had launched an investigation. Why did you want to kill me specifically?”

“Because you stirred up a hornet’s nest, Savannah. Everything has been so wonderful for the past eighteen years. Ask anyone in Midnight and they’ll tell you what good people we are.” Tears glazed her eyes as she glanced tenderly over at her husband. When she looked back at Savannah, a cold, unemotional woman had replaced the sweet, slightly quirky Nesta she’d known forever. “You deserved to be punished for messing everything up.”

“And you did this all on your own?” Savannah shook her head in disbelief. How could a tiny middle-aged woman who didn’t look as though she could send back a bad meal at a restaurant be responsible for all that had happened?

“I’m very versatile. Lamont will tell you that.”

Savannah turned to Lamont. “Did you know she was doing these things?”

Looking as miserable as any human being she’d ever seen, Lamont shook his head. “I swear I didn’t.” He looked at his wife. “Nesta, things would have been just fine if you’d left it alone. They had no proof.”

“But I didn’t know that, Lamont. I had to take care of this. I know I put you in a bad position. I needed to fix things.”

How long had Zach been gone? Twenty, twenty-five minutes? He would be back soon. She needed to decide on her plan of action. Lamont wasn’t a concern. Not only was he handcuffed to a chair, his expression of sad defeat said it all. Nesta, with the gun and her bizarre, unpredictable behavior, was the worry. So how to defuse the situation and get all of them out alive before Zach came back? The gun in her purse was her backup plan. For now, she wanted to see if she could talk some sense into Nesta.

“So what’s your endgame, Nesta?”

She blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry, Savannah. I don’t understand that terminology.”

“Where do you see this ending? Surely you don’t think killing me in Lamont’s office will solve the problem.”

She laughed in that little-girl way that Savannah had always thought was sweet. Little had she known that it was hiding a cold-blooded murderer. “Of course not, dear. That would be impossible to explain.”

“Then what are your plans?”

Instead of answering, Nesta stood and walked over to Lamont. Her face one of loving devotion, she used the hand not holding the gun to caress her husband’s face. “You know I’ve loved you from the moment I met you? That will never change.”

“Nesta,” Lamont whispered, obviously horrified at what he was seeing as not good news for him. “What are you going to do?”

She turned to Savannah. “After your parents’ deaths, Lamont and I made a vow. In honor of our dear friends Maggie and Beckett, we pledged to make a difference. We volunteered, became model citizens. When Lamont was elected mayor, our number one goal was to get a good, decent chief of police in Midnight. Then Zach came home and we knew we’d found our man. Even though he’s the product of that floozy Francine Adams and that a no-account Ralph Henson, he turned out to be a fine man. And when you came home, we did our best to bring you back together.”

“You know that Ralph Henson is Zach’s father?”

Nesta waved the gun in her hand. “Everybody knew that except poor Zach. After what Ralph and Harlan did to that poor boy before he left for the army, they both should’ve been strung up.”

“You know about that, too?”

“But of course. There aren’t too many secrets in Midnight.”

“And how are you going to keep secret that you murdered me?”

“Another murder-suicide. Poor Lamont was being questioned by Savannah Wilde. Realizing she was onto him, that she suspected he was the murderer of her parents, he killed her in a panic. Then, realizing there was no way he could explain Savannah’s death, he took his own life.”

“Nesta. No.” Lamont’s shocked, whispered plea almost made Savannah feel sorry for him. But she had no sympathy left. Nesta might have done the actual deeds but Lamont was guilty of covering it up.

“As soon as the shots are fired, people will come running,” Savannah reminded her.

“I’ll just run through Lamont’s private door over there.” She nodded to a small door beside the window. “He had that put in right after he was elected into office. That way, when someone comes to visit that he doesn’t want to see, he can leave without hurting anyone’s feelings.

“I’ll come running in the front door along with everybody else and be properly horrified.” She glanced down at Lamont again. “The grief will be real. We’ve been married almost thirty years, and in all that time, we’ve never spent a night apart.”

Savannah seized on an idea for distraction, hoping like hell it didn’t backfire. Nesta still believed her husband had been at a bar, drinking, when she had killed Maggie. “That doesn’t mean he’s never slept with anyone else, though.”

She didn’t know who was the most horrified. Lamont’s eyes went wide and his face became ghost white. Even though Nesta had already admitted she was going to kill him, he didn’t want her to know about his infidelity?

“What are you talking about?” Nesta snapped. “Lamont has always been faithful.”

Savannah lowered her right hand. Her purse hung from the arm of her chair. If she could distract Nesta long enough, she could grab it and turn the tables.

“But that’s not true, is it, Lamont? Henson’s not the only one who slept with the town’s floozy.” Savannah winced as she said the words.

Nesta whipped around and stared at Lamont. “No, that can’t be true. Tell me you did not sleep with that whore!”

Lamont started sputtering excuses as Nesta screeched like a crazed banshee. Savannah acted. Grabbing the gun from her purse, she unlocked the safety and held it steady, pointed directly at Nesta. Thankfully the woman was too busy screaming at Lamont to notice. Now to get the woman to drop the gun before she shot Lamont in her rage.