Best Kept Secrets(13)

was a news bulletin. Alex felt like a lightning rod, because

she certainly attracted electric currents. Some, she sensed,

were unfriendly.

A Crystal Gayle ballad about love lost was wafting from

the jukebox. It competed with "Hour Magazine" on the fuzzy

black-and-white TV mounted in one corner. Male impotence

was being discussed to the raucous amusement of a trio of

roughnecks. The nonsmoking movement hadn't reached Purcell,

and the air was dense enough to cut. The smell of frying

bacon was prevalent.

A waitress in purple polyester pants and a bright gold satin

blouse approached them with two cups of coffee and a plate

of fresh, yeasty doughnuts. She winked and said, "Mornin',

Reede," before ambling off toward the kitchen, where the

cook was deftly flipping eggs while a cigarette dangled between

his lips.

"Help yourself."



Alex took the sheriff up on his offer. The doughnuts were

still warm, and the sugary glaze melted against her tongue.

"They had this waiting for you. Is this your table? Do you

have a standing order?''

"The owner's name is Pete," he told her, indicating the

cook. "He used to feed me breakfast every morning on my

way to school."

"How generous."

"It wasn't charity," he said curtly. "I swept up for him

in the afternoons after school."

She had unwittingly struck a sore spot. Reede Lambert was

defensive about his motherless childhood. Now, however,

wasn't the time to probe for more information. Not with

nearly every eye in the place watching them.

He devoured two doughnuts and washed them down with

black coffee, wasting neither food, nor time, nor motion. He

ate like he thought it might be a long time before his next

meal.

"Busy place," she commented, unself-consciously licking

glaze off her fingers.

"Yeah. The old-timers like me leave the new shopping

mall and fast food places out by the interstate to the newcomers

and teenagers. If you can't find who you're looking

for anyplace else, he's usually at the B & B. Angus'll probably

be along directly. ME's corporate headquarters is just

one block off the square, but he conducts a lot of business

right here in this room."

"Tell me about the Mintons."

He reached for the last doughnut, since it was obvious that

Alex wasn't going to eat it. "They're rich, but not showy.

Well liked around town."

"Or feared."

"By some, maybe," he conceded with a shrug.

"The ranch is only one of their businesses?"

"Yeah, but it's the granddaddy. Angus built it out of nothing

but acres of dust and sheer determination."

"What exactly do they do out there?"



"Basically, they're a racehorse training outfit. Thoroughbreds

mostly. Some Quarter Horses. They board up to a

hundred and fifty horses at a time, and get them ready for

the track trainers."

"You seem to know a lot about it."

"I own a couple of racehorses myself. I board them out

there permanently." He pointed down to her half-empty coffee

cup. "If you're finished, I'd like to show you something."

"What?" she asked, surprised by the sudden shift in topic.

"It's not far."

They left the B & B, but not before Reede said goodbye

to everyone he'd said hello to when they came in. He didn't

pay for the breakfast, but was saluted by Pete the cook and

given an affectionate pat by the waitress.

Reede's official car, a Blazer truck, was parked at the curb

in front of the courthouse. The space was reserved for him,

marked with a small sign. He unlocked the door, helped Alex

up into the cab of the four-wheel-drive vehicle, then joined

her. He drove only a few blocks before pulling up in front

of a small house. "That's it," he said.

"What?"

"Where your mother lived." Alex whipped her head

around to stare at the frame dwelling. "The neighborhood

isn't what it was when she lived here. It's gone to pot. There

used to be a tree there, where the sidewalk dips slightly."

"Yes. I've seen pictures."

' 'It died a few years ago and had to be cut down. Anyway,''

he said, slipping the truck back into gear, "I thought you'd

want to see it."

' "Thank you." As he pulled the Blazer away from the curb,

Alex kept her eyes on the house. The white paint had grayed.

Hot summer suns had faded the maroon awnings over the

front windows. It wasn't attractive, but she swiveled her head

and kept it in sight as long as she could.

That's where she had lived with her mother for two short

months. In those rooms, Celina had fed her, bathed her,