Chapter

51

“Punctuality. So rare these days,” a familiar voice snickered behind me. The scent of cheap whiskey, the same variety used to set the rackhouse on fire, filled the air around me. The same variety I’d smelled at Roger and Mary’s house …

I spun toward the sound, my eyes narrowing. “You?”

“Me,” Mary laughed.

“I don’t … why would you set the rackhouse on fire?”

Rather than answer my accusation, she motioned with the shiny .38 in her hand. Light reflected off the barrel. “Why couldn’t you leave it alone, Charlotte? You’re as bad as the rest of them, protecting this slut.” She gestured to Nancy Jeanne, who stood to my right. “At the church and later, at the diner.”

I winced. How stupid could I be? Mary hadn’t threatened me at the diner. She was talking to Nancy Jeanne, who stood in Danny’s protective arms, behind me. “People know I’m here. I have backup,” I said, thinking of Lester. Not the best choice for a savior, but he’d do in a pinch. If only I could keep her talking until he arrived.

“Oh, honey,” she said with a shake of her head, “sorry to say, Lester’s a little tied up at the moment.”

As she spoke my cell phone rang. She motioned for me to answer it. I did with a tentative, “Hello?”

“Charlotte,” Lester’s voice crackled through thick static. “Sorry, but I’m not going to make it. Someone called in a bomb threat at the sheriff’s station. It’s all hands on deck.” He hesitated. “Stay away from Nancy Jeanne. According to Mary, she’s dangerous.”

I had to laugh at that, but without a bit of humor. “I think you have it reversed.”

“What’d you say?” he asked.

But Mary had snatched the cell from my hand before I could answer. She threw it on the floor and smashed it under the heel of her boot. I winced, imagining the cost to replace it.

Why didn’t I get the insurance?

“Move,” she said, motioning me to stand next to Nancy Jeanne. I hadn’t looked at the younger woman since I’d first entered the room, but now I got a closer look. The girl was terrified, and rightly so. Mary was obviously crazy, with more than a little anger mixed in. Crazy anger once directed at her lover, and we knew how that had ended.

“It’s okay,” I said to Nancy Jeanne, but we both knew it wasn’t. Nor would it be. Mary had killed one man; a man she supposedly loved. I didn’t see her dead lover’s baby mama faring any better. I needed to do something to save us. But what? I stuck my hands into the pockets of my sweater, devising a plan.

“I’m sorry,” Nancy Jeanne whispered. “She said she’d shoot me in the stomach if I called out to warn you.” Tears rolled down her puffy cheeks. “I couldn’t let her hurt my baby …”

“Your baby?” Mary’s laugh could’ve turned the finest of whiskey to swill. “That baby should be mine. Mine! Do you hear me?”

I moved in front of Nancy Jeanne before Mary could cause the younger woman harm. “I understand killing Roger. He hurt you. Cheated on you.” I stopped, giving her a small smile. “But that’s not Nancy Jeanne’s fault. You can still end this, let us go. I promise, I’ll do everything I can to make this right for you.”

She gave an ugly snort. “I could care less who Roger stuck it to.”

“Then why …?”

She waved the gun at Nancy Jeanne. “I’d be damned if he’d leave. He owed me.”

“Owed you what?” I ventured.

“A family. A home. We had plans.” She rubbed the gun with her free hand. “But then he knocked her up. Six weeks later he planned to slip away in the middle of the night with his side piece and your Lucky money.”

“You knew Roger was stealing from us?” Anger rippled through my voice, making it tremble.

She snorted. “That’s how I found out he planned to take off with his whore over there.” She waved the gun at Nancy Jeanne. “After everything I’d given up for him. I just couldn’t let him …” She swallowed, looking sane for a second. “You understand, don’t you?”

I tried to nod, but my head stayed level.

And then her mental clarity vanished. “You act so high and mighty.” Her voice grew shrill. “Why did you have to come back? You ruined everything.”

“I didn’t—” I began.

The gun flew my way.

“What’s your plan here, Mary? You can’t just kill us. People will get suspicious when they find our bodies.” I nodded for emphasis. “And eventually they’ll track it all back to you.”

“You’re not wrong.” Her voice wavered.

I took advantage. “Let us go. Please. For your own sake.”

She acted like I hadn’t spoken. “That is, only if they find your bodies.”