“What the hell time is it?”
“Don’t tell me I got you out of bed,” Junior said incredulously, opening the screen door and stepping into the living room. “It’s late for you, isn’t it?”
“What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“That’s what I was hoping you could tell me. Alex hasn’t answered her phone all night. Do you have any idea where she is?”
From the corner of his eye, he noticed the pallet in front of the hearth, then a movement. Turning slightly, he saw her standing in the hallway leading to Reede’s bedroom. Her hair was tousled, her lips full and red, her legs bare. She was wearing the top to the pajama set he’d given Reede when he’d had his appendectomy. She looked wanton and well-screwed.
Junior fell back a step as the breath left his body. Slumping against the wall, he looked toward the ceiling and uttered a short laugh.
Reede laid a hand on his arm. “Junior, I—”
Junior angrily shook off his friend’s hand. “It wasn’t enough you had her mother, was it? You had to have her, too.”
“It’s not like that,” Reede said in a steely voice.
“No? Then, you tell me, what’s it like? You gave me the green light the other night. You said you didn’t want her.”
“I said nothing of the kind.”
“Well, you damn sure didn’t say hands off. You moved faster than a sidewinder when you found out I was interested, didn’t you? What was your rush? Were you afraid that if she slept with me first, she’d never want to give up quality for low life?”
“Junior, stop it!” Alex cried.
Junior didn’t even hear her. He was focused on Reede. “Why is it, Reede, that whatever I want, you take? Football trophies, my own father’s respect. You didn’t even want Celina anymore, but you made damn sure I didn’t get her, didn’t you?”
“Shut up,” Reede snarled, taking a threatening step forward.
Junior aimed his finger at the center of Reede’s chest. “Stay away from me, you hear? Just stay the hell away from me.”
He slammed out the front door. The racket echoed through the small house. After the Jag’s roar had faded, Reede headed toward the kitchen. “Want some coffee?”
Alex was stunned by what Junior had said, and even more shocked by Reede’s cavalier reaction. She ran into the kitchen. Coffee grounds showered from the metal scoop when she grabbed his arm and spun him around.
“Before I fall completely in love with you, Reede, there’s something I’ve got to ask one final time.” She took a sharp breath. “Did you kill my mother?”
Several heartbeats later he replied, “Yes.”
Chapter 43
Fergus Plummet stood at the side of the bed, looking down at his sleeping wife, his body quivering with indignation. “Wanda, wake up.” His imperious tone of voice could have awakened the dead.
Wanda opened her eyes and sat up, groggy and disoriented. “Fergus, what time—” Everything sprang into clarity when she saw what he was holding in his hand—five incriminating one-hundred-dollar bills.
“Get up,” he ordered before marching from the room.
Trembling in fear, Wanda got out of the bed. She dressed as quickly as she could and ruthlessly raked her hair back, not wanting him to find more fault with her.
He was waiting for her in the kitchen, sitting straight and tall at the table. Like a penitent, she timorously approached him.
“Fergus, I… I was saving it as a surprise.”
“Silence,” he bellowed. “Until I tell you to speak, you will remain silent and soul-searching.” His accusing eyes pierced straight through her. She bowed her head in shame.
“Where did you get it?”
“It came in the mail yesterday.”