I’LL BE WATCHING YOU Page 19

  Jeff Henry rose to his feet. ‘I’ll contact Frank immediately. Then I’m getting in touch with Webb—’

  Ella grabbed her uncle’s arm. ‘No, please, don’t call Daddy tonight. Let him and Mother have one more night on the Gulf. We’ll phone them tomorrow to let them know what happened.’

  ‘Very well,’ Jeff Henry agreed. ‘No need upsetting Carolyn at this point. She’ll be heartsick as it is, but by morning Frank should have Reed Conway in jail and that will put an end to all this craziness.’

  Ella nodded, then glanced at her aunt. Cybil’s features hardened to a pinched, pained expression at the mention of her sister. The look passed as quickly as it had appeared. Only a woman who cared about a man would be jealous. Was it possible that despite her adulterous affairs, her aunt actually loved her husband?

  Although Uncle Jeff Henry insisted that he could handle matters without her, Ella insisted on going with him when the police car arrived. Before the two officers got past the foyer, Frank Nelson showed up and began issuing orders. He warned Ella and Jeff Henry to stay out out of harm’s way; then he followed his men into the house. Shortly thereafter another police car arrived and two uniformed officers – one man and one woman – began a search of the grounds. And all the while her daddy’s hounds kept baying as if they’d treed something.

  Had they? she wondered. No, of course not. The dogs were confined to the kennels, which were within a fenced area. Their howling chant unnerved Ella almost as much as the situation. And unbidden flashes of Reed Conway played inside her head: Reed running, chased by the police, hunted down, captured. And all the while he kept insisting he was innocent.

  Ella shook her head in an effort to erase those horrific thoughts from her mind. She didn’t want Reed to be the culprit. She couldn’t bear the thought of him being her stalker. But she had suspected him, even if for only a moment, last week when she’d seen him mailing a plain white envelope. But she hadn’t received another letter. So there, she told herself, doesn’t that prove that it isn’t Reed?

  By the time Frank Nelson rejoined them, Cybil had walked over from next door and stood several feet away beside the tall live-oak tree in the front yard. Wearing an above-the-knee black silk robe, she all but gave the chief of police a come-hither stare. Frank looked. What man wouldn’t? He cleared his throat.

  ‘Evening, Cybil,’ Frank said.

  Cybil saluted him with the brandy snifter in her hand, then put the glass to her lips and drank slowly, seductively. Frank hurriedly turned his attention to Ella.

  ‘There’s no one in the house,’ Frank said. ‘My people are still searching the grounds and will do a thorough check of the neighborhood.’ Frank turned to Ella. ‘I’m afraid several of the downstairs rooms were totally trashed. An act of senseless violence. The way things look, you’d think somebody just went completely berserk. From my experience, I’d say it’s someone who hates your family.’

  ‘Find Reed Conway and you’ll have your man,’ Jeff Henry said.

  ‘We’ll check the house for any kind of evidence the intruder might have inadvertently left behind, including fingerprints,’ Frank assured them. ‘And if Reed Conway—’

  ‘If?’ Jeff Henry’s face turned red. ‘Good God, man, who else would have done something so despicable?’

  ‘I can’t arrest a man without evidence,’ Frank said. ‘But I know that with Reed’s prison record and his publicly acknowledged hatred for Senator Porter, he’s the most likely suspect.’

  ‘Even without any evidence, I’d think you could lean on the man a little, now couldn’t you, Frank?’

  ‘I can speak to him,’ Frank said. ‘Find out if he has an alibi for the approximate time of the break-in. Uh, by the way, Ella, why don’t y’all have a security system?’

  ‘A security system?’ Ella sighed. ‘To be honest, I don’t believe my parents thought a security system was necessary. After all, the crime rate in Spring Creek is very low and all the doors in the house have very secure locks. And as you know, everyone in my home carries a gun permit, even Viola.’ Ella directed her gaze at Frank. ‘How did he break in?’

  ‘Through the French doors that lead from the living room to the side porch,’ Frank said. ‘Look, Ella, if I were you, I’d go on home with your uncle and then in the morning call your insurance agent. I assume y’all have coverage with Steve Williamson. I can even contact him for you, if you’d like.’

  She nodded. Of course their insurance agent was Steve Williamson. Everyone who lived on East First Street, indeed almost everyone in her parents’ social circle, used the same doctor, dentist and insurance agent. And their memberships were equally divided between two churches in town – the Presbyterian and the Methodist. There were a few Baptists and Episcopalians among her parents’ friends, but only a handful. Ella’s grandfather Porter had once been a partner in Williamson and Porter, the local insurance company now operated by Steven Williamson IV. Her father retained his father’s half ownership of the business, which added greatly to the Porters’ yearly income.

  ‘You’ll let me know when you find the person who broke in and ransacked the house.’ Ella gazed at the three-story structure that had been home to several generations of Porters.

  ‘I certainly will,’ Frank said. ‘I’ll even post a man to keep watch here tonight, until the pane in the French door is fixed. And I intend to speak to Senator Porter about having a security system installed after this.’

  ‘Yes, you do that,’ she said. ‘It’s obvious to me now that even here in Spring Creek decent citizens aren’t safe in their own homes.’

  Her uncle draped his arm around her shoulders and escorted her up the sidewalk. Ella wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. She’d been on the bench for only a short period of time, but she had presided over numerous criminal cases. She saw the dregs of local society and heard their excuses for committing crimes ranging from marijuana possession to child molestation. It wasn’t as if she were some naive innocent who wasn’t aware of what went on in the world, even in a rural county like Bryant. But seldom did bad things happen to people in her social realm. For the most part, her parents and their peers seemed immune to the woes that plagued ordinary people. She supposed that, as their child, she, too, had subconsciously felt that she was protected.

  But you aren’t their child, she reminded herself. Not their biological child. Ella didn’t spend much time worrying about who her natural parents were or why her mother had chosen to give her up for adoption. When she’d been in her late teens, she’d considered looking into the possibility of finding out more about the woman and man who had created her. But Carolyn had assured her that her natural parents had been ‘our kind.’

  ‘Your father has all the information about their medical records and education and backgrounds,’ Carolyn had said. ‘Your biological parents weren’t married, and your mother – your first mother – decided it was best to allow a married couple to raise you. The adoption was handled privately, between her and us. Milton Leamon took care of everything for us. We never met the woman … your other mother.’

  ‘Was money exchanged?’ Ella had asked, wondering if her natural mother had sold her.

  ‘If you’re asking if we bought you – if we paid your mother – the answer is no.’

  Cybil joined Ella and Jeff Henry on their trek back to the Carlisle house. The moment they went inside, Jeff Henry gave his wife a disapproving glance, his gaze fixed on the empty brandy snifter in her hand.

  ‘Why don’t you go on up and take a bath and get ready for bed,’ Jeff Henry told Ella. ‘You must be exhausted after all that’s happened.’

  ‘Thanks. I think I will.’ She kissed her uncle’s cheek, then went to her aunt and gave her a hug.

  Cybil reciprocated. ‘I’m so glad you’re all right, darling girl.’

  Practically running up the stairs, Ella left her aunt and uncle, whose voices carried so that she could hear their quarrel until she rushed into the bedroom and closed the door behind
her. Even when she’d been a child, she had been aware of her aunt and uncle’s arguments and had even asked her mother about them.

  ‘You and Daddy don’t ever argue,’ Ella had said. ‘Why do Aunt Cybil and Uncle Jeff Henry fuss at each other all the time?’

  ‘Your father and I love each other and don’t have anything to argue about,’ Carolyn had explained. ‘Unfortunately, your aunt and uncle aren’t always nice to each other and sometimes they hurt each other’s feelings. That’s when they get into a fuss. If they loved each other …’

  Ella remembered that odd, distant look in her mother’s eyes when she had allowed her train of thought to wander off. Ella had always wondered why her aunt and uncle had married if they didn’t love each other. She had sworn then and there that she would never marry for any other reason, that she wanted a love like her parents had. Of course, since then she had come to realize that even her parents’ marriage wasn’t perfect. But despite everything, they still loved each other.

  Didn’t they?

  Cybil paced the floor in her bedroom. The grandfather clock on the landing in the center of the divided staircase chimed eleven o’clock. She gazed down into the dark amber liquid as she swirled the brandy in her glass. This was her third drink. No, maybe it was her fourth. Whichever it was, she’d had enough so that she felt very little pain. Actually, she felt very little of anything. And that was the way she liked it. If Ella weren’t here, she’d call Briley Joe and ask him to meet her at the motel over on River Road, which was on the other side of Smithville, the closest town to Spring Creek. But she wouldn’t leave, not on the off chance her niece might need her.

  Her niece. Ella. The person she loved more dearly than anyone on earth.

  Cybil downed the last of the brandy, set the glass on the bedside table and then headed for the door. After opening the door, she secured the belt of her robe with unsteady fingers as she made her way down the hall. She eased open the door to Ella’s room. Her niece lay curled in a ball, fast asleep, her hair spread out on the pale pink pillowcase like black silk. Moonlight washed the room with transparent gold.

  Cybil tiptoed into the room, which they had called Ella’s room since the first time Ella had spent the night with them. She’d been two years old and by night’s end had wound up in bed with Cybil, who had stayed awake the rest of the night just looking at the precious child. Having Ella was the closest she would ever come to motherhood.

  Cybil stood at the foot of the bed and stared at her niece. If she could have given Jeff Henry a child, would he have loved her? She would never know, of course. There had never been even the slightest possibility for them.

  What do you think of me, Ella, my darling girl? Cybil asked silently. That I’m a drunk and a slut? Are you as ashamed of me as Carolyn is? As Jeff Henry is? You’ve never said, never implied that you were. I didn’t want to disappoint you. Truly I didn’t. I foolishly thought that you’d never have to know what a terrible person I am.

  Cybil sensed someone else’s presence. She glanced sidelong at the shadow hovering in the doorway. She took one last look at Ella and quietly walked out of the room, passing her husband, who eased the door shut.

  ‘Is she all right?’ Jeff Henry asked.

  ‘Yes, she’s sleeping like a baby.’ Cybil staggered awkwardly down the hall.

  Jeff Henry came up beside her and slipped his hand beneath her elbow. She looked right at him. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  ‘She should have been ours,’ Cybil said, her voice a slurred whisper.

  ‘Yes, you’re right. She should have been ours.’

  Jeff Henry assisted Cybil to her room, helped her off with her robe and then into bed. She lay there naked, her husband only a few feet away. She held open her arms to him, inviting him. She could barely make out his face through the sheen of tears in her eyes. When she blinked the tears away, she noted the melancholy expression on his face.

  He leaned over and kissed her forehead. ‘Get some sleep.’ Then he turned and walked out of the room.

  Cybil flung herself over onto her stomach, grabbed her pillow and buried her face in its softness. Sobs racked her body as she cried herself to sleep.

  16

  Reed dumped his duffle bag on the floor, then took a long, hard look at the room. Nothing fancy, that was for sure, but it was four walls around him and a roof over his head. His mother had asked him not to leave, but he’d convinced her that moving out on his own was the best thing for all of them. He felt smothered living with his mother. No man his age should live with his mother. Part of being free was not having to report in to anyone, not having to tell somebody what time you’d be home and explain where you’d been or who you’d been with.

  Damn lucky for him that the room above Conway’s Garage was empty. There was a bathroom of sorts, with a shower that produced only cold water. For now, cold showers were okay. The weather was hot and Reed was even hotter. Hot and bothered over Ella Porter. Go figure. Of course, before winter he’d have to put in a new water heater. And by then he’d either have had Miss Ella in his bed, or he would have found another way to get her out of his system.

  He’d spent the past four hours working his new place into shape. He had swept, dusted, mopped and aired out the fifteen-by-fifteen-foot square, and he’d scrubbed the toilet, sink and shower stall. The only windows in the room ran the length of the back wall and overlooked an alley that separated the garage from the back wall of the building that had once housed the local theater. The hot summer air had cooled a fraction. The overhead ceiling fan, a relic from the past that whined and moaned with each rotation, whipped the warm, humid breeze and spread it throughout the room.

  He’d borrowed bedding from his mother for the ancient metal bed. The tan sheets looked cool and crisp and inviting. He was bone weary after working all day and then cleaning his new abode before moving in. Living here should work out just fine. Since he didn’t own a car and had to borrow one from Briley Joe whenever he couldn’t get where he was going on foot, being this close to work saved him a long walk in the mornings and evenings.

  Reed removed his dirty shirt and tossed it into the plastic clothes basket he’d picked up along with numerous other items at the local Dollar Store on his lunch break today. Be it ever so humble, he thought as he headed toward the tiny bathroom. He’d been out of prison for only a few weeks, and the heady sense of freedom still seemed new to him. In a way, he was almost afraid to rock the boat, to create any waves. But on the other hand, he felt that things were moving too slowly. Every day that passed was one more day that Junior Blalock’s real killer had an opportunity to find a way to put Reed back in jail. But solving a fifteen-year-old murder wasn’t an easy task. Especially not in a town like Spring Creek, where everyone believed him guilty and the police had never investigated any other suspects. Mark’s father and then Mark had tried unsuccessfully to have the case reopened. And years ago, Reed’s last appeal had changed nothing.

  He’d gone over the possible suspects time and again, but everyone had an alibi. Of course, considering how many people detested Junior, there was always the chance that someone with a hidden motive might have taken the opportunity to slit the semi-conscious man’s throat. Reed had ruled out his mother and his sister. Even though both of them had had motive and opportunity, neither would have let him go to prison. But Regina seemed to recall only bits and pieces of that horrible night. Was it possible that she’d taken Reed’s knife, killed her attacker and then couldn’t remember what she’d done? If Regina were the killer, Reed knew he’d go to his grave keeping her secret.

  But there were more plausible suspects, people in power who could have easily used their influence to keep the law from probing deeper into the crime. First and foremost, Webb Porter came to mind. If he hadn’t killed Junior for reasons of his own, perhaps he did the deed as a service for his family. Reed suspected that Junior had tried blackmailing more than one member of the Porter and Carlisle families. There were dozens of possible scenario
s. He wasn’t quite sure how to go about untangling such an intricate web of lies and secrets.

  Just as Reed walked into the six-by-six bathroom and unzipped his jeans, a loud, demanding series of knocks sounded on the outer door. Who the hell? He glanced at the old windup alarm clock he had brought from his mother’s. Eleven-thirty! Who would be beating down his door at this time of night?

  Reed zipped up his pants, crossed the room and called out, ‘Hold your horses.’ When he reached the door, he hollered, ‘Who is it?’

  ‘Chief Nelson. Open up, Reed. We need to talk.’

  Reed flung open the door. Frank Nelson appeared a bit frazzled, as if he’d had a bad day and the night wasn’t looking much better.

  ‘What could you and I possibly have to talk about?’ Bracing his body by clasping either side of the door frame, Reed leaned forward and glared right at the police chief.

  ‘Where were you tonight, let’s say between seven and eight-thirty?’

  ‘Moving into this place,’ Reed said. ‘Why? What business is it of yours?’

  ‘Anybody with you?’ Frank asked. ‘You got someone who can verify where you were?’

  A sickening feeling of déjà vu seeped through Reed like a slow-acting poison. ‘Am I being accused of a crime?’

  ‘No. I’m simply checking out a few possible suspects. Anyone with a motive to want to create problems for or harm the Porter family.’

  ‘Ah, I see. So, naturally, mine was the first name that came to mind.’ Reed grinned. Better to try for humor in this situation, he thought. Anger would definitely work against him. ‘So, what’s happened now? Miss Ella get another ugly letter? Another breathy phone call?’

  ‘Someone broke into the Porter house and ransacked the place – destroyed quite a few priceless antiques.’