Authors: Jude Pittman
“Uncle Andrew.” The pain was back in Krystal’s voice. “You do think he killed my mother.”
“No.” Kelly reached out and took her hand again. “I just think there’s a possibility he knew you’d found her. Maybe he told somebody about it and that somebody had a reason for keeping you and your mother apart.”
She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t think so. Uncle Andrew didn’t act like he knew anything. He was stunned when I told him.”
Fearful of setting her off again, Kelly smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t want to push her. “You’re probably right but I’d still like to find out why Anna ran away from her family. Will you help me do that?”
“Of course. I don’t believe Uncle Andrew killed my mother but if he did, I wouldn’t want him to get away with it. What do you want me to do?”
Krystal’s voice was showing the strain of their conversation and Kelly squeezed her hand. “What I really want is information on your mother’s past. You were just a child then, so rather than you trying to deal with this, maybe you can think of someone else who might be willing to talk to me?”
Krystal stared at him for several moments, then a wry grin twisted her lips. “Stella,” she said with an edge to her voice. “She’d be willing enough to talk to you, if you went about it the right way.”
“Your uncle’s wife?”
“Being Uncle Andrew’s wife doesn’t bother Stella, if you know what I mean. She likes cowboys and she especially likes tall, well-built men. Do you happen to own a cowboy hat?”
Kelly laughed, then immediately choked it off. “I’m sorry but that sounded so funny coming from such a sweet, little gal.”
“I’m not always sweet,” she said with a harsh little laugh. “I know I have a blind spot where Stella’s concerned. She made my childhood miserable and that affects my attitude but I’m serious about the kind of woman she is. She and Uncle Andrew stopped sharing the same bedroom years ago and she doesn’t even pretend to be a faithful wife.”
“Even if that’s true, would she be willing to tell me things that might be damaging to your uncle?”
“I don’t think she’d care. She likes damaging people. She’d probably be happy to see Uncle Andrew charged with my mother’s murder because then he’d go to prison and she’d have all his money. Grandmother Davis made her sign a prenuptial agreement before she married Uncle Andrew and if she leaves him, all she gets is a monthly allowance.”
“Do you think she knows anything about your mother and father? That all happened quite awhile before she married your uncle, didn’t it?”
“I don’t know. Uncle Andrew is not the confiding type and Grandmother Davis wouldn’t have told her anything. She didn’t approve of Stella at all. Still, Stella’s sneaky. If there’s a skeleton in our family closet, she wouldn’t have quit until she found out what it was.”
“Have you any suggestions about how I might approach Stella?”
“Oh sure, that’s easy. Just tell her you’re an acquaintance of mine who wanted to get in touch with me. When she tells you I’m away at school, act disappointed and mention you were hoping I’d show you a bit of the night life. Stella will take care of the rest.”
“I’m not quite sure how to take that. Still, it might work, at least for starters. I’ll eventually have to tell her who I am but maybe I can soften her up a bit before I start with the questions.”
“I’m sure you can.” The edge was back in her voice and Kelly winced.
“I doubt if there’ll be a mutual attraction,” he said. “I don’t like cold, calculating women.”
Krystal blushed. “I’m glad,” she said and lowered her head until her voice was barely audible. “Because I like you.”
“I like you too.” Kelly smiled and brushed his fingers across the palm of her hand. “That gives me another reason to find out who killed your mother. I’d like us to get better acquainted and I don’t want Anna’s death hanging over our heads.”
She lifted her eyes to his and they held the gaze for a long moment while words passed unspoken between them. Finally, Kelly took a notebook from his pocket and handed it across the table.
“Here, write down the address and phone number in Houston, then let’s forget this stuff and enjoy the rest of the evening. There’s a band in the other room. Do you like to dance?”
“I love to.” Her eyes sparkled as she bent over the notebook.
Chapter Eleven
Kelly jerked up in the bed, tangling his arms in the sheets and grappling thin air with his hands.
“Did you nip my foot?” he asked and glared at Jake, who lay sprawled across the foot of his bed basking in the early morning sunlight.
Jake hopped off the bed and stretched his legs, then opened his mouth for a big yawn and padded across to the door.
“I don’t suppose you give a damn that I didn’t hit the sack until two a.m.,” Kelly muttered.
Jake shook himself and aimed an expectant look in Kelly’s direction.
“Okay, I get the message,” Kelly muttered and climbed out of bed to open the door. “You go check out the neighborhood while I get myself together, then we’ll see about some chow.”
Kelly showered, dressed, made a pot of coffee and filled Jake’s bowl, then cup in hand he wandered into the living room where he spotted the light blinking on his answering machine.
Kelly hit the playback button and Gus’ voice boomed off the tape. “Where the hell are you? I want to talk to you about your buddy Cam. Give me a ring as soon as you can. I’ll be in the office all morning.”
“Shit!” Kelly swore. His date with Krystal had chased Cam’s arrest out of his mind. “I’d like to kick his ass for lying to me,” Kelly muttered, as he picked up the receiver.
When the desk sergeant answered, he asked for Gus and was told to hold the line. Kelly frowned at the phone. It would take some fast-talking to get Gus to approve his trip to Houston now they had Cam locked up.
“I was beginning to think you’d eloped,” Gus boomed over the wire. “That must’ve been some date.”
“It was.” Kelly smiled to himself. “I think we were the last ones left on the dance floor when the band quit for the night.”
“Good for you. I guess you’ve heard that we picked up Cam.”
“Yeah, I heard. Are you nailed down on this, Gus?”
“No, not nailed down but what we’ve got looks good. Why don’t you meet me over at the White Bull? We’ll have a cup of coffee and mull things over a bit.”
“Good idea. I’ll catch you there.”
Getting ready to go, Kelly allowed himself a smile of satisfaction. Gus’ willingness to meet and talk was a sure sign he had a few doubts about the case. One thing Kelly knew about his former partner—if Gus had been convinced of Cam’s guilt, there’s no way he’d set up a meeting to discuss things with Kelly. That being the case, Kelly might still get the approval for his trip to Houston.
With that in mind, Kelly packed a bag for an overnight stay, gave Jake an affectionate rub and headed for Old Blue. Enroute, he stopped at the bait house. The sun had its high beams on and Bubba was sprawled out in a lawn chair reading a Louis L’Amour paperback and taking advantage of the warmth.
“Hey, Kelly, what’s up?” he asked when Kelly hopped out of the truck.
“I’m headed for Houston. I’ll probably be back early tomorrow afternoon but just in case I’m held up, how about keeping your eye on things. There’s nothing going on at the flea market, so if you’ll just do a walk around later tonight, that’ll be good enough. Jake’s got plenty of food and water but maybe after you’ve done the market you could stop off at the cabin and make sure everything’s copacetic.”
“Sure, Kelly. No problem.”
“Thanks. I’ll catch you later.”
The White Bull on 28th Street had been one of Gus and Kelly’s pit stops back in the days when they were a team. It felt good to Kelly, sliding across the cracked red plastic of the same old booth they’d always chosen.
“Like old times,” Gus mumbled, his mouth stuffed full of biscuit. Kelly nodded and called the waitress over.
“I’ll have the biscuits and gravy,” he said, pointing at Gus’ plate. “And throw a couple of eggs on the side.” She nodded, filled his coffee cup and headed for the kitchen.
“Well!” Kelly took a sip of hot coffee and looked at Gus. “Are you gonna tell me what’s been going on?”
Setting his fork on the plate, Gus leaned back and met Kelly’s look. “It seems your friend left out a couple of things when he told you about his run-in with Anna.”
“I’d kind of figured that out,” Kelly said. “Okay, let’s hear the worst.”
“We found Cam’s prints on that box of Anna’s. Of course her’s were on it and Bubba’s, but he had a reason—so he said. We had enough to get a warrant on Cam though, and it’s a damn good thing we did. We weren’t inside his place ten minutes before we found Anna’s note tucked away in the bottom drawer of his desk.”
“What’s his story?”
“About what you’d expect. He claims he went down to Anna’s cabin to see if she’d come back from the flea market. He says the door was unlocked so he walked in and went to her bedroom to see if maybe she’d passed out on the bed. That’s when, according to his story, he spotted the box pulled out of the floor and busted open. He claims the note was right on top and without thinking, he grabbed it and got the hell out of there.”
“He’s probably telling the truth about that door. Most of the Creek folks leave them unlocked and Anna was no exception.”
“Yeah well, she may have left her door unlocked but not the box. Cam admits he went inside her cabin looking for that note. That nails him for burglary right there.”
“Sure it does but you’re not after a burglar, for God’s sake. You’re after a murderer.”
“What makes you so sure that if we’ve got one, we haven’t got both?”
“I don’t know. Call it my gut if you like. And don’t try and tell me that you’re locked in on this either. I know you, Gus. If you were set on Cam for the big one, you wouldn’t be wasting time jawing with me. You’d be out busting your ass to get your case against him nailed down. So what gives?”
“I have been busting my ass, as you so delicately put it but I admit there’re a couple of things bothering me. For one thing, it’s not like you to get on your high horse the way you have about this Cam character. That bothers me a bit.
“Then there’s the scarf. How the hell did Cam get his hands on it? We’ve already established that he never left the Hideaway Saturday afternoon, which is when Krystal says she lost the scarf.
“What really bothers me though is the note. Cam admits knowing Anna’s will cancelled his debt, so if he killed her, why in hell would he take the note? It just don’t make sense.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. If Cam killed her, he’d have hauled ass back to the bar and built himself an alibi. He’d have been stupid to go to her cabin and steal that note and Cam’s not stupid.”
“Maybe he got so damn scared after he killed her, that his brain wasn’t working.”
“I don’t believe it. If Cam had committed the murder, his first thought would’ve been how to cover his tracks.”
“Well, I’m not filing it but I’ll level with you Kelly. I’m getting a lot of pressure from upstairs and until something better comes along, Cam is just going to have to cool his heels.”
Kelly nodded. “I know all about the politics. Besides, Cam shouldn’t have lied. It won’t hurt him to simmer for a couple of days. Meantime, I’ve got an idea that might open up another line.”