Best Kept Secrets(165)
her. I might have felt like it when she laughed at my offer,
but I didn't." His eyes roved over both the younger men.
"My pride was spared when one of you did it for me."
The three men exchanged uneasy glances. The past twenty-five
years had dwindled down to this crucial moment. Until
now, none of them had had the courage to pose the question.
The truth would have been too painful to bear, so they had
let the identity of the murderer remain a mystery.
Their silence had been tacitly agreed upon. It had protected
them from knowing who had ended Celina's life. None had
wanted to know.
"I did not kill that girl," Angus said. "As I told Alex, I
gave her the keys to one of the cars and told her to drive
herself home. The last time I saw her, she was leaving by
the front door."
"I was upset because she turned me down," Junior said.
"I made the rounds of the beer joints and got shit-faced. I
don't remember where I was or who I was with. But I think
I would remember slashing Celina to ribbons."
' 'When dessert was passed around I left,'' Reede told them.
"I spent the night humping Nora Gail. I got to the stable
about six that morning. That's when I found her."
Angus shook his head in bafflement. "Then everything
we've told Alex is true."
"Alex?" Reede exclaimed. "Didn't you say she was just
here?"
"Dad was talking to her when I came in."
"Where is she now?"
"She was sitting right there," Angus said, pointing at
the empty spot on the sofa. "I didn't see anything after
Junior came sailing toward me and knocked me down. Felt
like a goddamn bull falling on me," he said, jovially socking
his son beneath the chin. Junior grinned with boyish
pleasure.
"Would you two cut it out and tell me where Alex went?"
"Calm down, Reede. She's gotta be around here somewhere."
"I didn't see her when I came in," he argued stubbornly
as he rushed into the hall.
"It couldn't have been but a couple of minutes in between,"
Junior said. "Why are you so anxious about--"
"Don't you get it?" Reede asked over his shoulder. "If
none of us killed Celina, whoever did is still out there, and
he's just as pissed off at Alex as we've been."
"Jesus, I didn't think--"
"You're right, Reede."
"Come on."
The three men rushed through the front door. As they were
clambering down the steps, Stacey Wallace wheeled into the
drive and stepped out of her car.
"Junior, Angus, Reede, I'm glad I caught you. It's about
Alex."
Reede drove the Jeep like a bat out of hell. At the crossroads
of the highway and the Mintons' private road, he caught up
: with the deputies who had delivered him the Jeep and flagged
down the patrol car.
"Have you seen my Blazer?" he shouted to them. "Alex
Gaither was driving it."
"Yeah, Reede, we did. She was headed back toward your
place."
"Much obliged." To his passengers he shouted, "Hang
on," and executed a hairpin turn.
"What's going on?" Stacey asked. The Jeep's top was
off, so she was clinging to the roll bar for dear life. In her
staid world, nothing this death-defying had ever happened.
Trying to detain the Mintons and Reede had been impossible.
They had almost mowed her down in their haste to
scramble into the Jeep. She'd been summarily told that if she
must speak with them right then, she had to go along. She
had climbed into the backseat with Junior, while Angus sat
in the front seat, next to Reede.
"Alex could be in danger," Junior shouted into Stacey's
ear to make himself heard. The cold north wind sucked the
words out of his mouth.
"Danger?"
"It's a long story."
"I went to her motel," Stacey shouted. "The desk clerk
told me she might be at the ranch."
"What's so important?" Reede asked over his shoulder.
"I didn't get everything off my chest last night. She didn't
hold the pistol or pull the trigger, but she caused Daddy's
suicide."
Junior placed his arm around her, drew her close, and
kissed her temple. "Stacey, let it drop. Alex isn't the reason
Joe killed himself."
"It's not just that," Stacey said, distraught. "Her investigation
has raised questions about. . . well, we got married
so soon after Celina was killed. People thought. . . you know
how suspicious and narrow-minded they can be. They're talking
about it again." She gazed up at him imploringly. "Junior,