“Mainly because of how it was between her and Reede. I knew Junior would always be her second choice. It galled me that she could even exercise a choice. She wasn’t worthy of the right to choose,” she said bitterly.
“But Junior adored her, no matter what I said. Just as I feared, he fell in love with her.” Suddenly, her eyes focused sharply on her guest. “And I have a sick feeling that he’ll fall in love with you, too.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll see to it that he does. Reede, too, probably. That would round out the triangle again, wouldn’t it? Don’t you want to pit them against each other, like she did?”
“No!”
Sarah Jo’s eyes narrowed with malice. “Your mother was a tramp.”
Up to this point, Alex had carefully controlled her tongue. But since her hostess was maligning her late mother, she dismissed her manners. “I take exception to that slanderous remark, Mrs. Minton.”
Sarah Jo gave a negligent wave of her hand. “No matter. It’s the truth. I knew she was common and coarse the first time I met her. Oh, she was pretty, in a lush, flamboyant way. Much like you.”
Her eyes moved over Alex critically. Alex was tempted to get up and walk out. The only thing that kept her sitting in that spindly chair was the hope that Sarah Jo would inadvertently impart some scrap of valuable information.
“Your mother laughed too loud, played too hard, loved too well. Emotions were to her what a bottle of liquor is to a drunkard. She overindulged, and had no control over exhibiting her feelings.”
“She sounds very honest,” Alex said with pride. “The world might be better off if people openly expressed what they were feeling.” Her words fell on deaf ears.
“Whatever a man needed or wanted her to be at the moment,” Sarah Jo continued, “she was. Celina was an unconscionable flirt. Every man she met fell in love with her. She made certain of it. She would do anything to guarantee it.”
Enough was enough. “I won’t let you disparage a woman who’s not around to defend herself. It’s ugly and cruel of you, Mrs. Minton.” The room, which had been as fresh as a greenhouse when she had come in, now seemed suffocating. She had to get out. “I’m leaving.”
“Not yet.” Sarah Jo stood up when Alex did. “Celina loved Reede as much as she was capable of loving anyone except herself.”
“What concern was that of yours?”
“Because she wanted Junior, too, and she let him know it. Your grandmother, that stupid woman, was giddy over the idea of a match between our children. As if I’d let Junior marry Celina,” she sneered. “Merle Graham even called me once and suggested that we, as future in-laws, get together and become better acquainted. God, I would have sooner died! She was a telephone operator,” she said, laughing scornfully.
“There was never any chance of Celina Graham becoming my daughter-in-law. I made that quite clear to your grandmother and to Junior. He moped and whined over that girl until I wanted to scream.” She raised her small fists, as though she still might do so. “Why couldn’t he see her for what she was—a selfish, manipulative little bitch? And now you.”
She stepped around the small tea table to confront Alex. Alex was taller, but Sarah Jo had years of cultivated anger to make her strong. Her delicate body was trembling with wrath.
“Lately, all he can talk about is you, just like it used to be with Celina.”
“I have not led Junior on, Mrs. Minton. There could never be a romantic entanglement between us. We could be friends, maybe, once this investigation is resolved.”
“Don’t you see,” Sarah Jo cried, “that’s exactly how it was with her? She abused his friendship because he was clinging to the vain hope that it would develop into something deeper. All he is to you is a suspect in a murder case. You’ll use him, just like your mother did.”
“That simply isn’t true.”
Sarah Jo swayed, as though about to swoon. “Why did you have to come here?”
“I want to know why my mother was murdered.”
“You’re the reason!” she said, pointing a finger straight at Alex’s heart. “Celina’s illegitimate baby.”
Alex fell back a step, sucking in a sharp, painful breath. “What did you say?” she gasped.
Sarah Jo composed herself. The suffusion of color in her face receded and it returned to its normal porcelain hue. “You were illegitimate.”
“That’s a lie,” Alex denied breathlessly. “My mother was married to Al Gaither. I’ve seen the marriage license. Grandma Graham saved it.”
“They were married, but not until after she came back from El Paso and discovered she was pregnant.”
“You’re a liar!” Alex gripped the back of the chair. “Why are you lying to me?”