Best Kept Secrets(129)
"For turning a blind eye to a whorehouse operating in your
county?"
"No."
She looked at him, completely flabbergasted. "Why not?
Because the madam is an old flame of yours?"
"Not entirely. Nora Gail's place keeps potential troublemakers
concentrated in one spot. Her bouncers keep them in
line."
"Today they didn't."
"Today was an exception. That scumbag is bad news no
matter where he is."
"I should report you for police brutality."
"He had that coming, and then some. He got off on a
technicality the last time he passed through our judicial system.
This time he'll spend a nice, long time in prison.
"And, by the way, they caught Lyle Turner in New Mexico.
He confessed to slitting Pasty's throat for screwing
around with Ruby Faye. It had nothing whatsoever to do with
you, so you can stop looking over your shoulder for bogeymen."
"Thanks for telling me." The news relieved her, but this
latest development was still on her mind. "Don't try to get
me off the subject. I'm not going to sweep this under the
carpet. Pat Chastain would love to know that there's a bordello
operating right under his nose."
Reede laughed. He took off his hat, ran his hand through
his hair, and shook his head in dismay over her naivete.
"Have you ever met Mrs. Chastain?"
"What does that--"
"Have you?"
"No. I've talked to her on the telephone."
"She's a country club hag, tanned skin stretched over solid
bone. She wears more gold jewelry than a pimp, even when
she plays tennis. She thinks her shit don't stink. Got the
picture? She likes being the D.A.'s wife, but doesn't like the
D.A., particularly in bed."
"I'm not interested in--"
"Her idea of foreplay is, 'Hurry up, but don't mess up my
hairdo,' and she would probably rather die than let him come
in her mouth."
"You're disgusting."
"Pat's got a favorite out at Nora Gail's who'll swallow it
and pretend to like it, so he's not going to lift a finger to shut
the place down. If you were smart, which I'm beginning to
seriously doubt, you won't embarrass him by letting on you
even know that Nora Gail's place is out there. And don't
even think about tattling to Judge Wallace. He never partakes,
but all his friends do. He sure as hell isn't going to stop their
party."
"My God, is everybody in this county corrupt?"
"Oh, for crissake, Alex, grow up. Everybody in the whole
goddamn world is corrupt. You might be the only person
who ever went through law school and came out believing
that the law is still based on morality. Everybody's guilty of
something. Everybody's got a secret. If you're lucky, the
next guy's secret is juicier than yours. You use his secret to
keep him quiet about yours."
"I'm glad you brought that up. It was Nora Gail you were
with the night Celina was killed."
"Congratulations. You finally got one guess right."
"It wasn't a guess. Wanda Plummet told me."
He grinned. "When did you figure her out?"
"I didn't," she admitted with some reluctance. "I recognized
her picture in the yearbook. You could have told me,
Reede."
"I could have, but you'd have started pestering sooner."
"I didn't pester her. She was most cooperative."
"She was scared. You can't tell by looking at her now
what a hell-raiser she used to be."
"I'd rather talk about her sister, Nora Gail. The night my
mother was killed, were you with her all night?"
"Wouldn't you love to know?"
"What were you doing?"
"Three guesses, and the first two don't count."
"Making love?"
"Screwing."
"Where?"
"Her house."
"Nora Gail said you were in her car."
He whipped his Blazer around a farmer in a pickup truck.
"Maybe we were. Car, house, what's the difference? I don't
remember."
"You had been to the ranch earlier."
"Yeah, so?"
"You ate dinner there."
"We've been over this already."
"This was a special night--Celina was there for dinner."
"Don't you remember talking about this?"
"I remember. You told me that you'd left before dessert
because apple pie wasn't one of your favorites."
"Wrong. Cherry pie. It's still not one of my favorites."
"That's not why you left, Reede."
"No?" He risked taking his eyes off the road to glance at