Best Kept Secrets(16)

have to meet his daughter's eyes. "On the other hand, it'll

probably upset the whole damn town."

Stacey came back around. Her fingers were mutilating a

piece of clear cellophane. "Why should it?"

The judge covered a sour belch with his fist. "She's a

prosecutor in the D.A.'s office in Austin."

"Celina's daughter?" Stacey exclaimed.

"Helluva thing, isn't it? Who would have guessed that she

would turn out that well, growing up with only Merle Graham

for a parent."

"You still haven't said why she's come back to Purcell.

A visit?"

The judge shook his head. "Business, I'm afraid."

"Does it have any bearing on the Minions' gambling license?"

He looked away, and nervously fidgeted with a button on

his coat. "No, she's, uh, she's gotten the D.A.'s okay to

reopen her mother's murder case."

Stacey's bony chest seemed to cave in another inch. She

groped behind her, searching for a place to land when she

collapsed.

The judge, pretending not to notice his daughter's distress,

said, "She had Pat Chastain arrange a meeting with the Mintons

and Reede Lambert. According to Angus, she made this

grandstand announcement that before she was finished, she

would determine which one of them had killed her mother."

"What? Is she mad?"

"Not according to Angus. He said she appears to be razor

sharp, in complete control of her faculties, and dead serious."

Stacey gratefully lowered herself to the arm of the sofa

and laid a narrow hand against the base of her neck. "How

did Angus react?''

"You know Angus. Nothing gets him down. He seemed

amused by the whole thing. Said there was nothing to worry



about--that she couldn't present any evidence to a grand jury

because there isn't any. Gooney Bud was the culprit." The

judge drew himself up. "And no one can question my ruling

that the man was incompetent to stand trial."

"I should say not," Stacey said, rising to his defense.

"You had no choice but to commit Gooney Bud to that

hospital."

"I reviewed his medical records every year, took depositions

from the doctors who treated him. That facility isn't

a snake pit, you know. It's one of the finest hospitals in the

state."

"Daddy, nobody is pointing a finger at you. Good Lord,

all anybody has to do is review your record as judge. For

more than thirty years, your reputation has remained unblemished."

He ran his hand over his thinning hair.' 'I just hate for this

to come up right now. Maybe I should retire early, not wait

till my birthday next summer to step down."

"You'll do no such thing, Your Honor. You'll stay on that

bench until you're ready to retire, and not a day before. No

little upstart fresh out of law school is going to run you off."

For all her starchy show of support, Stacey's eyes revealed

her anxiety. "Did Angus say how the girl. . . what she looks

like? Does she resemble Celina?"

"Some." The judge went to the front door and pulled it

open. On his way out he regrettably mumbled over his shoulder,

"Angus said she was prettier."

Stacey sat woodenly on the arm of the sofa for a long time

after the judge left, staring into space. She completely forgot

about cleaning the noon meal dishes.



"Hello, Judge Wallace. My name is Alex Gaither. How

do you do?"

Introductions were unnecessary. He had known who she

was the minute he had stepped into the office outside his

chambers. Mrs. Lipscomb, his secretary, had nodded toward

a chair against the opposite wall. Turning, he saw a young



woman--twenty-five, if his calculations were correct--sitting

in the straight chair with all the poise and self-confidence

of royalty. It was an air she had inherited from her mother.

He hadn't had much personal interaction with Celina

Gaither, but he knew all about her through Stacey. The girls

had been classmates through eleven years of public schooling.

Even whittling away Stacey's typical adolescent jealousy,

he'd still painted an unflattering picture of a girl who knew

she was beautiful, well liked, and who held all the boys in

the class in the palm of her hand, including the only two who

really mattered, Junior Minton and Reede Lambert.

Too many times to count, Stacey's heart had been broken

because of Celina. For that reason alone the judge had despised

her. And because this young woman was her daughter,

he disliked her on sight.

"How do you do, Miss Gaither."

Judge Wallace shook her proffered hand, but no longer

than was necessary to serve propriety. He found it difficult

to consider this fashionable woman his colleague. He preferred