With an unhappy Murphy locked in his crate at the guesthouse Thursday night, Chase and Annie headed over to Beth and Ethan’s. They lived only about a mile from Richard and Jackie’s, so the trip was short. When they arrived, Gordon’s car was there, parked alongside Stacy’s.
“Hey, looks like Ethan made some progress on the garage today,” Chase said as he pulled in next to the other vehicles. Ethan and Beth had decided to add a garage to the farmhouse, and the foundation had been poured on Monday.
“He was looking forward to getting it done,” Annie said, headed to the front door. “Walls going up this weekend?”
“Sunday, as long as it doesn’t rain. He’s recruited me and Jason to help.”
Ethan met them at the door. “Come on in if you dare.” As soon as they stepped inside, the smell of burnt garlic hit them.
Chase made a face. “Beth’s cooking, huh? Hi, Stacy, Gordon.” When Annie lightly smacked his arm, he flinched. “What?”
“Be nice to your sister. Ethan probably burns food too. Don’t you?” she asked.
“All the time, sure, I do.” He gave her a thumbs-up and a tense smile as everyone chuckled.
“Oh, boy. This should be good.” Stacy patted the seat next to her on the couch. “Come sit and watch them dig themselves deeper, Annie. Gordon and I are having a blast so far.”
Annie grinned. “It’s always a good, fun time, watching this crew go ‘round and ‘round. Just think—it hardly ever turns to bloodshed either.”
Gordon laughed, quickly turning it into a cough when both Ethan and Chase shot him perturbed glares. “Allergies. Yep.”
There was a loud, metallic clatter from the kitchen, and Ethan winced. “Excuse me.” He hurried through the open room to the back of the house. “Beth, you’re going to burn yourself!”
“I’m not completely incompetent in the kitchen, thank you very much, Ethan Moore. And this bread? I set the oven to the right temperature. I did exactly what the box said to do. And it still burned!” There was another loud clang. “Explain that to me, please?”
Ethan’s response was muted. Beth’s groan was not.
“Of course they’re here.” She poked her head around the corner of the kitchen, her cheeks red, and smiled at everyone. “Welcome to Bedlam. Ahh, here comes the last lunatic.” She waved at Jason, who had just come up on the porch.
“Do you need some help?” Annie asked.
“No. I need an oven that isn’t older than dirt. Where did you get that thing?” she asked Ethan as he came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.
“It came with the house. I’ve never had any problem with it.”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Dratted thing must be a female. I have a reputation to protect now that I’m finally able to do more than boil water, and that stove is determined to sabotage me. It has to go.”
“Hey, what’s going on, everyone?” Jason asked as he came in. “What’s that smell? Oh, Beth’s cooking. Do we need to order pizza?”
Hands on her hips, Beth tsked him. “Oh, et tu, Jason? No dessert for you. Come on, everyone. Most of dinner is ready. We’re having spaghetti and salad without bread, ha-ha. Hope that’s okay. Where’s Hannah?”
“She can’t make it tonight. She asked me to tell everyone hi,” Jason said as everyone took their seats around the table.
“Hi back,” Beth said. “Did Joely and the folks get on the road okay this morning, Annie?”
“As far as I know,” she answered. “They left about ten, and things seemed pretty normal to me.”
“Maybe they were normal for Mom, Dad, and the kid, but I got a phone call this afternoon from Ethel,” Chase added.
Beth and Jason shot him a sympathetic wince.
“What did she want?” Jason asked.
Chase shrugged. “Not much. Some attention, some great-grandchildren, the usual. Oh, and Beth, she wanted to know if she could borrow Ethan for the weekend. I think she’s feeling lonely now that J.R.’s gone.”
Ethan, who had just taken a large sip of his tea, choked. He turned away from the table, swearing, coughing, and sputtering, as Annie and the siblings laughed.
“The hell she did,” Ethan said once he could speak, glaring at Chase. “That isn’t funny.”
“What are we missing?” Gordon asked, exchanging a confused look with Stacy.
Annie passed him the salad. “Apparently their grandmother thinks Beth should have married some stuffy accountant or something and kept Ethan as a lover. After having a couple heirs, of course.”
“Wow…” Stacy pursed her lips, clearly torn between laughter and stunned shock. “That had to be an interesting conversation. Is she always like that?”
“Oh, she’s something else,” Jason said dryly. “Pass the meatballs, please.”
“You know, my family is strange, but that…” Gordon said. “That’s pretty ballsy.”
“We’ll let you adopt her if you want. She’d probably think you’d make an ideal lover too,” Beth said in an offhand manner. When there was utter silence at the table, she looked up to find everyone glancing nervously between her and Ethan. “What?”
Ethan was glowering at her down the length of the table. “You might want to expand on that remark a little.”
“Um, okay… which remark? Adopting Ethel?” As what she’d said dawned on her, her eyes grew huge. “Oh, my God. I didn’t mean it like that!”
Back before she and Ethan had figured out their relationship, Beth and Gordon had become fast friends. Their closeness was something Ethan had had a bit of difficulty learning to accept.
Ethan crossed his arms. “Then how did you mean it exactly?”
Chase couldn’t tell if Ethan was truly angry or just pulling Beth’s leg. Across the table, Gordon looked as though he would rather be anywhere except where he was.
“I meant… he’s just… oooh. You know I didn’t mean a thing by that, you stubborn man. He’s dark and tall and a little exotic-looking. You’re both alpha males. Apparently that’s her type. No offense, Gordon.” She kept her eyes on Ethan, who was tapping his fingers against his arm.
Gordon waved. “None taken. But if I’m going to get the crap beaten out of me, can I finish dinner first? It was a long day.”
“Even guys like you and me deserve a last meal, I suppose,” Ethan said. The tiniest hint of a smile appeared on his lips, then he laughed. He picked up his fork and pointed it at Beth. “You I’ll deal with later.”
“Is that a promise?” she asked, her smile wicked.
He grinned, a flush highlighting his cheekbones as the air between them fairly crackled. “Absolutely. Geez, people, lighten up. It was a joke.”
The tension at the table evaporated as everyone chided him.
“It’s almost as bad as knowing your parents have sex, you know?” Jason said to Chase. They both grimaced as laughter spread, and the meal resumed.
“So not to be nosy, but what’s the deal with your grandmother?” Stacy asked. “Why doesn’t she like Ethan?”
“It isn’t just Ethan,” Jason said. “She’s never approved of Mom either. Grandma thinks the Olman blood is beneath the Hudsons’.”
“When Mom and Dad got married and Dad decided to stay in medical school instead of going to law school, Ethel and J.R. basically cut him off,” Chase said. “If it hadn’t been for Pops and Grandma, he probably wouldn’t have been able to finish school.”
“I’ve never understood that,” Ethan said, “why she thinks Jackie is so far beneath her. Even after seeing the family dynamics from the inside, it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Ethel’s biggest problem is that she buys into the whole aristocratic lineage crap that her mother always spouted off,” Beth explained. “But do you know what Chase has dug up?”
“You had a pirate in the family tree?” Gordon asked, smiling.
Chase laughed. “Even better. We had two horse thieves, one of whom was hanged for such, and a great-grandmother of ill repute who was won in a card game by the first horse thief, married him, then ran off with the other after the first one’s death. Plus, we come from the Scots-Irish clan with the worst of the worst reputations, so bad they were run out of Ireland on a rail. And that’s only the Chase side. Ethel swears I made it all up, but it’s true. We’re no more blue bloods than any mongrel pup.”
“Oh, and Ethel’s named after the fallen woman,” Jason chimed in. “How’s that for irony?”
Gordon raised his glass. “I knew there was a reason I liked you people. You make me feel like I fit right in the mix.”
Glasses were lifted all around the table in a toast.
“I don’t know how ironic it is, really—that Ethel’s named after the harlot,” Ethan said. “Considering she advised her grandchildren to marry and take lovers afterward. Sounds rather fitting to me actually.”
“Did you just call our grandmother a harlot?” Chase asked, surprised.
“In a roundabout way, I suppose I did. Want an apology?”
“After what happened the other day? No. Besides, it’s nothing more than the truth.”
“Not to change the subject,” Jason said, “but what’s going on with this letter I’ve heard about?”
Chase sat back in his chair and covered the high points. “Stacy took it down to Louisville for analysis. Any word yet, Gordon?”
“Nothing good. There weren’t any fingerprints on it that didn’t fit. As a matter of fact, the technician who examined the card and letter said that the paper had been rubbed down as best she could tell. There wasn’t any DNA on the glued parts of the envelope, and they’re waiting to test under the stamp. There was no trace evidence. Unless some of the contents of the letter give us a clue, the only thing we can do is send it out for profiling.”
“They did a profile on the suspected killer earlier this year, didn’t they?” Annie asked. “I think I remember hearing that.”
Gordon nodded. “They did. They’ll take the letter and compare it to their profile. It won’t prove it’s the same guy, but it could give us an idea if it’s someone else. Which we all are pretty sure it isn’t.”
“So where does this leave the investigation?” Ethan asked.
“Basically at the same place it was until something else happens.” Gordon shrugged. “Except that now we know this guy is aware of Chase and some of you may be in danger, which I believe makes this a complete and total cluster—you get the gist. Sorry, gang.”
Chase sipped his water. “So what do you propose we do about that threat?”
Gordon looked at Beth and Annie. “The killer seems to think the two of you are Chase’s Achilles’ heels. That doesn’t mean he won’t target someone else close to you, so everyone should be careful, but the two of you especially need to be alert. I’m sure you’ll be sticking pretty close to Beth until we get a break?” he asked Ethan, who nodded. “Good.”
“I’ll be staying at the guesthouse with Annie until we can get a security system installed there,” Chase said.
It was testament to the seriousness of the situation that no one teased them about the arrangement.
“And after that?” Jason asked. “No offense meant, Annie. I know you can take care of yourself, but a security system is only good if you’re in the house, it’s armed, and no one tries to break in. What if the guy waits for you outside some evening?”
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I carry pepper spray, and I’ve had multiple self-defense classes, as you know. Beyond being vigilant and not being stupid, what should I do? Stay in the house day and night? Those aren’t options.”
“The department’s going to increase patrols out here—we already have, as a matter of fact,” Stacy chimed in. “That will help some, but I agree it isn’t enough. The best option would be for you to not be alone. Are you still not a fan of guns?”
Annie shook her head. “No, I’m not. And please don’t take this the wrong way, but last year, a gun didn’t do Beth any good. She carries, and look what happened.”
Beth sighed. “I know, but I still feel safer with a gun than without. I have another question. What happens if you can’t catch this guy? How long do we put our lives on hold for this man?”
Chase clenched his hands into fists under the table. “I don’t want to hear that we might not catch him, damn it. And I don’t want to hear that we might not be able to protect you all.”
“That’s why the ladies do what they can and we do our parts as well,” Gordon said, shaking his head. “As for how long you put your lives on hold, you don’t. Not beyond taking extra-careful precautions. Right now, the threat is so nebulous it may never come to anything. And by cowering in fear, that’s giving him a power he doesn’t deserve.”
“Why haven’t the Feds taken over Kiely’s case? No offense to the cops in Lexington, but wouldn’t you do a better job?” Ethan asked.
“I was wondering that myself,” Chase added.
“Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple,” Gordon said. “I can investigate the letter Chase received. It crossed state lines and was sent via the USPS, which makes the letter’s case federal jurisdiction. However, as much as we all know that letter is from the killer, there’s no absolute proof. Until and unless we have that proof, we can’t jump in and take Kiely’s case away from Lexington. Right now, the letter is circumstantial evidence, and it’s only a big hunch that Kiely’s murder is connected to those other eight we’re investigating. The profile fits, but again, that’s someone’s opinion. And there’s another complication.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this,” Chase said, on the verge of losing his temper for real as he considered all the things that could go wrong with no end of this mess in sight. “It just gets better and better.”
Gordon sent him a look full of sympathy. “I did a little digging around, and it appears that Neal Bledsoe, Kiely’s brother-in-law, has a friend or two in the Lexington police department.”
“What kind of friends?” Annie asked.
“The kind with power,” Gordon said. “The kind you can’t ignore. I still have a friend or two down there myself, in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, and they tell me that there’s speculation about the new detective they have on the case—Greg Hart. He may or may not be in Bledsoe’s pocket. I’ve talked to him a time or two. He seemed to know what he was doing, acted interested in solving the case, but you can never tell. Bledsoe’s a state representative with a lot of money behind him, and money talks. That would be bad enough, but Bledsoe’s convinced that Chase is responsible for Kiely’s death, and I’m afraid his influence is going to affect the investigation into these letters.”
“So we have a killer who’s sending letters after ten years of silence, a detective who may or may not be crooked, and a politician who has the money and influence to wield a heavy sword if need be and has a personal vendetta against Chase. And it’s an election year in Kentucky,” Beth said. “Does that about sum it up?”
“Pretty much,” Gordon replied. “You left out the part about little to no evidence connecting Kiely’s murder to the others.”
“Oh, well. We certainly can’t forget that.” She swore under her breath. “We’re all going to be in hock up to our eyeballs with Mom’s swear jar before this is over. I’m glad they aren’t here to see this right now.”
Ethan stood and went into the kitchen for dessert. He was frowning thoughtfully as he came back in with a cake and plates. “Gordon, do you have anything up your sleeve? Anything at all?”
Gordon hesitated. “I might have one thing, but I can’t tell you about it. No offense. I need to follow proper channels on this.”
“None taken,” Ethan assured him. “But tell us this—do you think it will work?”
“I have no idea, but it’s all I have, so I’m hoping it does. Unless this guy decides to make another move, we’re pretty much stuck in the mud.”
“Then God help us, I hope he makes another move soon,” Beth said. “And that it’s a stupid one that doesn’t cost anyone even a drop of spilled blood or tears.”
There was a chorus of agreement around the table, and as they accepted slices of cake, they made a concerted effort to lighten the mood, if only briefly.
Looking around at most of the people he loved and many of the people he loved most, Chase had to force himself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. He rolled his shoulders against the tension building there and tried to relax. There was nothing he hated more than waiting for the next shoe to drop, and he had a bad feeling the game was only getting started.