There was little conversation between Trey and Lindy on the way home. When had Lindy grown up? She was a woman now, in love with Jace Hill, for better and most likely worse.
Finally, Lindy spoke. “Do you really believe Jace is innocent now? After all this time, you’ve changed your mind?”
Trey glanced at her. He could hardly believe it himself. “Yeah. I think he took the rap for someone who got off scot-free.”
“I’m glad.” She sighed and leaned back into the seat.
“Lindy,” he began. “Do you think a relationship with Jace is smart? He’s twisted by prison, bitter, and mean.”
“Don’t.” She wagged a finger at him. “I know what I’m doing.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Trey’s heart ached at the thought of his little sister in love with a man who might never gain his freedom. If they couldn’t figure out a way to prove his innocence, they would all pay for it.
“I won’t,” she said. “What about you and Summer?”
“What about us?” he hedged. “There is no me and Summer.”
“There could be. Tell her that you believe in Jace. It’ll mean the world to her.” Lindy punched him in the arm. “So there, big brother.”
He grinned at her wondering when she’d gotten so smart.
His smile faded as they turned into LeFleur’s driveway. He glanced at Lindy, her face etched by sadness. A few cars sat in the lane, but not the Chief’s big Cadillac. Trey hoped Jody had found the Chief. Trey would check in with him as soon as he saw Lindy safely inside. He led her in the house.
A few people stood in the front room, gathered around talking among themselves. Trey skirted them, his hand on Lindy’s lower back. “Let’s find Etta and let her know you’re home. I want to ask her if she’s heard from the Chief.”
In the kitchen, Etta looked up from a cake she was cutting. Her knife clattered to the floor. She flew to Lindy and took her in her arms. “Oh, my baby.” She reached for Trey. “Both of you. You’re home.”
Trey submitted to her tight embrace for a moment. Then he pulled away. “Any word from the Chief or Jody?”
Etta shook her head. “Not a thing.”
He reached for a piece of cake. “I’m going to call Jody. Then I have something I need to do.”
“Let me go with you.” Lindy’s big, brown eyes pleaded with him.
“You need to stay here,” he said. “I’ll be back soon and let you know what I find out.”
“Promise?” Her voice cracked.
“I swear.” He hugged her and Etta again and went to the den. He picked up the phone and dialed Jody. He answered on the second ring. “Have you found the Chief?”
“Not yet. No one’s seen him. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of,” Jody said. “But he’s faded like fog on a hot day.”
“I need to talk to you. Where are you?” Trey asked.
“Coming in from the lake. I thought the Chief might’ve gone to his boat, but it didn’t look like he’s been there anytime lately.”
“Wait by the turnoff to Shantytown. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.” Trey hung up and hurried to his car.
In a few minutes, he climbed out of his car and in with Jody. “Drive toward Shantytown and I’ll tell what I found out today.” As Jody drove, Trey filled him in on the day’s events.
At the end of his spiel, Jody shook his head. “Man, I can’t believe your sister’s been with Jace all this time. You really think if we find out who killed Leroy and your mama, we’ll know who killed Soloman, too?”
“I’m convinced of it,” Trey told him. “It finally clicked what the message on Mother’s mirror meant. Not my family, like the Chief thinks, but Mother, MiLann, Leroy, and Buford.”
“What about Jimmy Ray? He makes five, not four.” Jody waved his hand. “And Soloman’s six.”
“I don’t think either of them counts in this equation. I believe the killer is referring to the four who are left now. If I could only figure out who wrote the message. It wasn’t Jace. Lindy was with him and she swears to his whereabouts.”
Jody lifted his eyebrows and said, “Do you mean they were getting busy?”
“Yeah.” Trey didn’t want to think about his sister and Jace in a sexual way. He blinked away the image. “Someone has to have a motive.”
“Why are we going to Shantytown? Shouldn’t we be warning Miz Hill and Krebbs?”
“Lindy said Candy told her one of the girls from out here was with Soloman at Jimmy Ray’s place partying right before he died. I think Carlene might’ve heard something about who he was with from her girl. Maybe even something about the person who killed him. If she does, we can head off the killer before they try to get the last two.”
“Maybe this hooker did him in,” Jody suggested. “We’ll question her, too.”
“We can’t. She’s dead.”
Jody shot him a look, raising his eyebrows. “There are a lot of people dying around here all of a sudden.”
“Do you think her death is related to this mess, too?” Trey asked his friend. “I understand this woman died a few years ago. But maybe she died because she knew too much?”
“We’re going to find out.” Jody’s expression was grim. “I’m thinking Jimmy Ray ties in too. If it’s true the picture was taken at Mugs-n-Jugs, then that brings him into this in a big way. Maybe it explains why he died now when he’s made so many enemies over the years.”
“We also need to question Buford Krebbs,” Trey said. “Trying to talk to MiLann will be a waste of time. I don’t think she’s well enough to know what day it is.”
“We’ll go there next.” Jody parked the cruiser. “But first, let’s find out what Carlene can tell us.”
• • •
When no one came to Carlene’s door, they opened it.
She raced toward the river in a scarlet camisole and a pair of tap pants that barely covered her ass.
They chased her and Jody grabbed her around the waist, spinning her around.
Panting, she winked and licked her full lips. “You boys just can’t stay away, can you?”
“We need to ask you a few questions,” Trey said. “Why’d you run?”
“We’ve already been down this road,” she said with a pout. “I can’t think of a thing to tell you that I haven’t already.”
“I can.” Trey was sick of her runaround. “What can you tell us about a woman named Marie Lennox? A few years ago she went to party in town with a man named Deke Soloman. He raped MiLann Hill and was later killed himself.”
Carlene’s features became guarded. “I don’t know nothin’ about that business.”
“Let’s take this down to the station.” Jody handcuffed her and led her to his patrol car.
• • •
Carlene glared at them. “I don’t have nothin’ to tell you.”
“Sure you do.” Jody flipped open a small notepad and scanned a page within. “Marie Lennox was one of your girls. They don’t make dates without your say-so. Marie wouldn’t have gone into town without your knowledge and consent. So, the question is, what do you remember about her arrangement with Deke Soloman?”
With a heavy sigh, Carlene looked off into the distance. “Maybe it’s time this all came out.”
“What?” Jody looked at her coolly.
She let out a long sigh. “Marie told me she had a date with a man in town. I usually don’t agree to that. The girls can get into trouble when they’re not at their own place, but she insisted. Said he’d pay her well.” Carlene shrugged one pale shoulder. “I said what the hell, she could do what she liked. A few hours later, she came down with the flu or some bug. She couldn’t go, so I took her place. Soloman didn’t give a damn. He just wanted a woman, and he was willing to pay well.”
Jody made a note in his notebook. “Did you tell him who you were?”
“Nope. I just went. The girls don’t make money, I don’t make money.” She waved her hand in the air. “I have to keep my place running somehow.”
“When was this?” Trey asked, the edges of a memory playing on one corner of his mind.
She leaned back and crossed her legs. “Honey, I think you know the answer to that don’t you?”
“Don’t play games with us,” Jody warned. “Just answer the question.”
“Make me, sugar.” She ran one finger along the strap of her satiny top, sliding it down her arm. Half of her freckled breast was exposed.
“Pull up your shirt,” Jody said coldly. “Or I’ll do it for you.”
“What happened to Marie Lennox?” Trey asked.
“Nothin’.” Carlene tugged up the strap of her top and focused her cinnamon eyes on him. “I already told you.”
“How did Marie Lennox die?” He leaned close and stared intently at her.
Staring blankly over his shoulder, Carlene said, “A john killed her, strangled her.”
“When?” Trey pushed.
“’Bout three years ago.” Carlene’s hands shook. Whether she really felt something or was pretending, he couldn’t say. “Why are you bringin’ up all that bad business?”
“We think her death has something to do with all these deaths that have happened in the last few days. Somehow, someway, that night with Soloman ties into the rest of it. Can you remember anything about the night you went to town and met him? It would’ve been the end of May, around the twenty-eighth to be exact. On the weekend.” The day of his graduation had been a Saturday.
“I know when it was,” she said impatiently. Her face took on a faraway look. “I saw him.”
“Did he think you were Marie?” Trey stared at her, riveted. He knew what she was going to say. He held his breath.
“Probably. Customers don’t care what a girl’s name is long as they get what they pay for.”
“How do you know the date?” Jody asked. “What was so special about it that you can recall it now?”
“I had to do something.” Her voice took on a bitter tone. “Tell him.”
“Who?” Trey choked out, but he knew. The memory grew, came into sharp focus like a picture lifting out of developing fluid.
Carlene looked at him and smiled gently. “Your daddy, of course.”
“What the hell are you rambling about?” Jody said. “Quit talking in riddles.”
His gaze locked on her face Trey said, “She’s telling the truth.”
“What the hell are you saying?” Jody shifted his weight. His expression suggested Trey had lost his mind.
Without taking his eyes off her Trey said, “That night, graduation. I went in the house and heard them fighting. It was over her.”
“Who, man?” Jody’s voice held an edge of impatience.
The years rolled away and Trey replayed the scene in his mind. “The Chief and Mother were in the den. The door was closed. I could hear their voices, but not all the words. I heard enough to know the Chief had been seeing another woman.”
“Who?” Jody looked at Carlene. “You? No way.”
She smirked. “Uh-huh.”
“That explains why a hard-ass like the Chief never shut down your place,” Jody said.
“It makes perfect sense now,” Trey said. “My mother waited until after the party then she went out to get even. She knew how to make the Chief pay. By slumming and taking his closest friends with her. Leroy was in love with her, he would’ve gone just to be near her. Who knows why Buford tagged along? They all went to Mugs-n-Jugs, the sleaziest joint in town. The place my father would hate her going the most.” Trey licked dry lips. “You have no idea what you set in motion that night, lady.”
“Samuel had it coming,” she defended herself. “For more years than I could count he promised me the moon, the stars, everything. I just wanted what he offered so freely, but never gave.”
“And when you heard about my graduation party plans, you realized he was blowing hot air? You went to see him, to threaten him with telling my mother the truth?” Trey forced himself to breathe, to not lunge at her and strangle her. “Why that day?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Deke Soloman, that’s why.”
“What did he have to do with you?” Trey asked, puzzled.
She looked away and clamped her lips shut.
“Ma’am? What happened with Soloman that you went to the Chief?” Jody asked.
She shook her head.
“Oh my God.” Trey knew what had made her go to the Chief. “Soloman did it to you, too.”
She looked at him without answering. The pain in her face confirmed his suspicions.
“What did he do?” Jody tapped his pencil on a pad of paper. “Miss Carter? What happened between you and Soloman?”
“The no-good bastard raped her,” Trey answered for her. He moved to touch her, to offer solace, but she lifted a hand and held him away.
“That’s why you went to the Chief?” Jody asked. “To tell him about it?”
“Yeah.” A bitter, broken laugh escaped her. “He said I wanted attention, to make him leave Emily. He said I was just a slut, that rough sex didn’t mean rape. I threatened to tell Emily about us. He said I was a whore and no one, including his wife, would ever believe a story like that from me.”
“That son-of-a-bitch.” At that moment, Trey would’ve wrapped his hands around the Chief’s throat and choked him until he died. Because he had not listened to Carlene, and taken Soloman into custody, he had been free to rape again. Trey’s mother and MiLann Hill moved in his path also because the Chief hadn’t locked him up. His stomach boiled, and Trey fought the urge to vomit. “Somehow my mother overheard your conversation and she went out partying to get even. That night Soloman raped MiLann Hill.”
Carlene nodded. “It all adds up.”
“Man, this is twisted,” Jody commented. “If only the Chief had listened to you, none of this would’ve happened.”
“The stubborn, stupid old man,” Trey said almost to himself. Then louder, “But we still don’t know who killed Soloman, or why.”
“I do.” Jody took a pair of handcuffs off his belt. “Carlene Carter, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of Deke Soloman and Emily Bouché. You have the right to remain silent … ”
“Are you out of your ever-loving mind?” Trey asked. “What in the hell are you doing?”
Pinning a cold stare on him, Jody said, “Here’s your killer. I’m taking her into custody.”
Carlene jumped up. “I didn’t kill Soloman, Emily, or anyone else.”
“She’s got no motive,” Trey said.
“Didn’t you hear her story?” Jody asked. “She as much as said it was the Chief’s fault she was raped for not arresting Soloman all those years ago. The reason she offed Soloman is obvious.”
“Why would I kill his wife now?” Her voice rose in hysteria. “I wouldn’t have a reason.”
“There are no other suspects.” Jody snapped one cuff on her wrist. “But you just gave me your reason. The oldest one in the book as a matter of fact. Jealousy. It’s been eating at you all these years. You saw your chance to kill Emily and you took it.”
“You’re insane.” She struggled to free herself from his iron bracelet. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Jody, let her go. She’s not the killer,” Trey said. “You’re forgetting ‘two down, two to go.’ Even if Carlene wanted my mother out of the picture after all this time, who are the other three?”
“You, Lindy, and the Chief,” Jody insisted, holding the twisting woman with both hands. “Sometimes revenge is sweet no matter how long you have to wait.”
“Let go of me, you nutcase,” Carlene shrieked, flopping like a bass on the end of a line. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Lindy’s not dead,” Trey said. “So, she’s not one of the two down.”
“Carlene didn’t know that,” Jody grunted. “We told her ourselves a couple days back we thought Lindy was a goner. I think this lady saw an opportunity to get even with your daddy and jumped for it. What better way to throw us off the trail than to lay a false lead? You saw her leaving Leroy’s place and she left a strand of red hair at the scene of your mother’s death.”
“Why now?” Trey wondered if his lifelong friend had gone off the deep end. He was reaching, really reaching to make Carlene the culprit. If she wanted revenge this badly, wouldn’t she have exacted it five years ago when the Chief had turned his back on her?
“Simple. You’re back in town.” Jody sounded so sure, and he had a point. “Until now, she hasn’t been able to get all of you.”
“What about Leroy?” Even as he asked, Trey remembered the Chief saying Leroy suffered from depression and there was no forensic evidence to suggest he had been murdered.
“He hung himself because of his depression,” Jody said. “End of his story.”
“If you’re even halfway right, and I don’t think you are, what made her snap now?” Trey looked at the flopping woman and had to admit she did look a bit off her rocker with her long auburn hair flying around her angry face.
“Simple. Your daddy hasn’t just turned his back on her. This time he turned his back on his baby girl.”
“Lindy? He hasn’t shown much interest in her I’ll admit, but turn his back on her? I don’t think … ”
“Trey, man, I’m not talking about Lindy. I mean your old man’s other baby girl.” Jody snagged Carlene around the middle. “I mean her little girl. The Chief’s other daughter. Candy.”
Trey’s jaw hit his chest. “What?”
“I saw the resemblance the other day when I was here, but it didn’t click until just now. When the lady here was talking about her affair with the Chief, I realized she’d had a child by him.” Jody brushed her hair out of her face. “Am I right? I know I am.”
With a jerk of her head she confirmed his story.
“But why would that make you want to kill us?” Trey could hardly believe any of this. He had a half-sister he never knew about. “Why not sue for child support or go public or something? Isn’t murder a little drastic?”
“I didn’t kill nobody.” Carlene aimed a kick at Jody’s crotch. He dodged her foot.
“Not when the Chief would move heaven and earth to find his legitimate daughter. He turned his back on Carlene when she went to him to report a rape. But she thought he would do anything to find Lindy. When you and I came out here combing the woods for Lindy, she snapped. Isn’t that right?” Jody continued, “What she doesn’t know is the Chief isn’t that worried about his legitimate daughter any more than he worried about his mistress’s child.”
“Is this true?” Trey’s entire body ached. Because she had been disbelieved, this woman had taken his mother’s life. He wanted to hate her, but all he felt was sorrow for all of them. So many lives ruined because the Chief hadn’t made the right choice.
“No,” she spat, “but you got it all figured out, don’t you?”
“You killed Soloman, too, for what he did to you, didn’t you?” Trey looked at Carlene, but saw Jace. He saw his mother. He saw MiLann. He saw Summer. And finally himself.
Bile rose in his throat.
He forced it down with Herculean effort.
A series of events had been set in motion one night five years ago that had stolen so much from so many.
Now it was over.