Beads of Doubt (25 page)

“I’m going to check again.” I stuck my head out. I could still see Sergeant Dwayne Granger walking on the outside of the building. He was two windows from the door. “He’s getting closer. We’ve got to do something fast.”

“Got a screwdriver?” she asked.

“Why?”

“It’s a metal building—maybe we could take it apart.”

“Beth! Think. We can’t get trapped in here,” I said. My brain felt like it was in overdrive. “Oh, wait. I’ve got it. We walk through the crowd and out the offices at the other end.” I had one hand on the door ready to make my move.

“We better hope there’s a door to the outside in that office. What if they start handcuffing people?”

I turned to her. “Then I expect you to keep us safe by offering Granger sexual favors. I’d do it, but you’re more his type.” I took a breath. “Okay, don’t stay too close to me. I’m a tad conspicuous.”

“No kidding.” She grabbed my elbow. “And I’ll have sex with him, but only once, and it has to be someplace comfortable. And if he comments on my weight then all bets are off.”

“You’ll never make it in the sleazy underbelly of crime.”

I went first. I didn’t see Granger or any other cops that I recognized, so as nonchalantly as possible, I moved toward my table, smiling at people as I went. My stack of chips was still in place, ready for me to start betting. Damn, I hated to leave them, but this was an emergency.

I kept on going, my eyes scanning the room like some kind of extraterrestrial robot. I still hadn’t spotted Granger, but I did see Gregg at the far end of the room. I needed the man’s name and his card. This was getting way too complicated for my nervous system.

The cowboy and one of the college kids were chatting at the first table I’d sat at, and I went toward them, as close to the wall as possible. Beth was taking a more middle route, but she seemed to be hiding behind a couple of men who were sauntering toward the door. That was an idea that might work. I slipped by the table, nodded at the cowboy and kept on going. That’s when I saw Granger come in. He was scanning the room, too.

I froze, half behind the cowboy, half out in the open. Granger’s gaze went right past me. Of course! He wouldn’t recognize me like this, if I could just maintain some distance and keep my head turned away. I pretended great interest in the wall, where there was some light graffiti written in pencil:
Be alert; the world needs more lerts
, and
Gary is hott
.

While I was reading I kept my feet moving forward at a normal pace; the last thing I wanted to do was make a big move that would catch Granger’s attention.

I was so intent on not being seen I almost smacked straight into Gregg.

“Excuse me,” he said.

“My fault.” I didn’t dare look for Granger, but I had to know where he was. “Gregg, do you see a man of about five-eleven, average weight, brown hair, midfifties, with a thick mustache? He just came into the building.”

I slipped behind Gregg while he looked. Luckily he was big enough to hide me almost completely. “No,” he said. “No one of that description—wait. There he is. He’s wearing a brown Windbreaker, and he’s with another man. They’re talking to the woman at the entrance.”

Gregg didn’t seem to find it unusual that I was standing in back of him while we talked, and he didn’t question my request. “That’s him,” I said. “Please don’t turn around.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“Good. I have to get out of here before he sees me. And I’d like one of your cards. I need a lawyer.”

“Don’t start walking until I say to. I suspect bumping into the man you mentioned could be a problem.”

“Good suspecting.”

The arrival of the police hadn’t caused any ruckus at the poker tournament, at least from what I could see. The men were still casually talking, and no one seemed to take any special notice of the newcomers. Okay, so it wasn’t a raid. Maybe they were just after us.

It was less than a minute later that Gregg said, “It’s time. If you’ll get on my left side, I’m going to start across the room. I might even point at some things by the office, so you can turn your head that way. He won’t see your face.” Next he pulled out his wallet as we began to move. I stayed just a half step behind Gregg so he was blocking my view completely.

“Where is he now?” I asked.

Gregg raised a finger to his lips, so I kept quiet. He didn’t change his pace at all, and we moved slowly, easily toward the entrance. When we got there he stepped between me and the rest of the room, and the next thing I knew we were breathing fresh night air.

There were poker players sprinkled around the parking lot, some drinking, some smoking, and some eating. No one seemed to notice us.

“Here’s my card.” He handed it to me. “The cell number will reach me almost anytime.”

“Thank you.” I heaved a big breath. “And thank you for getting me out of there.”

“Every man wants to rescue a damsel in distress at least once in his life.”

“I suspect you’ve done it more than once.”

He smiled. “I try.”

“I’ll be calling you tomorrow or Monday. Oh, and I’m Kitzi. Kitzi Camden.”

“I know.”

A hissing sound came from behind one of the parked cars. “Kitz.” It was Beth. She was hiding behind a dark blue Mini Cooper. “Let’s go!”

I waved to Gregg and hurried toward her. We ducked and ran using the vehicles as shields to keep us out of the sight of the windows. I didn’t think Granger could spot us unless he was actually standing at a window looking out, but we weren’t taking any chances. My slip-on shoes were giving me a problem, and I almost fell out of them.

“Grrr.”

“Keep moving,” Beth said.

As we ran I dug in my purse for the keys. When we were just two pickups from the Land Rover, I hit the remote; the lights started flashing and the horn blared.

“Shit!” It was Beth.

I was too busy punching buttons to cuss.

“The button on the left,” someone called.

I pushed it and sure enough the alarm stopped. Within seconds Beth and I were in the car. “Go,” she said.

“I’m going.” I put it in gear and backed up carefully.

“Faster.”

“It’ll be noticeable if I run someone over. Trust me, it will slow up our exit by a bunch.”

But it was safe now and we both knew it. Beth was sucking in huge amounts of air. “Granger doesn’t have jurisdiction out here,” she said between breaths. “We’re in Williamson County, not Travis.”

“He’s police. He doesn’t even have authority outside the city limits.” I was on the narrow lane, still too close to the metal building for comfort. I knew I’d feel a whole lot better once we were on the highway doing seventy miles an hour away from here. At least it was night, which hid us a little, and my Land Rover was dark. “I figure he was out here looking for us.”

“That’s possible,” she said. “But why make the trip? He knew where we’d be tomorrow. Unless it was urgent.”

“Maybe he found out Andrew went to the tournaments.”

“And he was just following a lead?”

“I can’t think why else he’d be there. Besides, I think I prefer that explanation.” I turned right onto the highway and we were headed to Austin. Not a moment too soon, either. A car had pulled out of the parking lot right after us. It wasn’t far behind. “Look back there,” I said, gesturing.

I was driving a bit over the speed limit so I slowed down. I couldn’t imagine that it was Granger on our tail, but on the off chance that he’d spotted us leaving and had followed, I didn’t want to give him any excuse to stop us. I didn’t think he knew my car, and I didn’t think he’d recognize me with my floozy red hair, either.

“The car just turned this way,” Beth said.

I have never wanted to speed so much in my life, but some instincts just can’t be obeyed and I was pretty sure that was one of them. “What kind of car is it?”

“I don’t know. It’s big and black.”

“SUV?”

“One of those monster ones.”

“Like Nate’s?” I asked.

Beth looked back again. “Who knows? It was too dark, and now all I can see are headlights.”

We drove awhile in silence; all the while my eyes were zigzagging from the side mirror to the rearview mirror. The lights stayed back there, pretty much keeping pace with us. We hadn’t quite reached the city yet. The road was a bit narrow, despite the two lanes going in each direction, and I was surprised that on a Saturday night there were so few cars. Where were those crazy teenagers who were supposed to be driving too fast and going too far? What about the families, leaving grandma’s house and headed for home? And where were all the highway lights? Didn’t the Texas Department of Transportation have standards? I wasn’t expecting chandeliers or automatic fog lights, but one or two plain old ordinary streetlights would have been nice.

We drove on another three or four miles before I turned to Beth. “You know,” I said, “we’re not being followed.”

“We aren’t?”

“No.” I was beginning to see small businesses on the side of the highway. Not all together, and not many, but a few. “Someone else just left the tournament about the same time we did, and since they are headed to Austin, and we’re going to Austin, we’re on the same road.”

“I believe you,” Beth said, turning to face forward. “Are you buying it?”

“Yes, I think I am. That car back there has nothing to do with us.”

“Good, then stop in that convenience store over there and let me get a cup of coffee.”

I looked mirror to mirror and finally said, “We’re not that far from the Manse. I’ll make you a pot of coffee myself.”

“You don’t drink coffee, and the stuff you make is terrible. Besides, that was a test. I wanted to see if you really accepted the SUV as coincidence.”

“I do,” I said. “I have only a 10 percent reservation.” I reached over and patted her leg. “But even a 10 percent risk is a big one when your best friend is taking it. I’d worry when you got out to get coffee, while I was safely locked in the car.”

“You could have gotten out of the car and gone with me.”

“Why, that never occurred to me.”

And then I remembered that stupid candlestick hidden under Beth’s bed. I know they say you can’t take it with you, but if I’d known that those things were going to cause me so much grief, I’d have asked to bury them with my grandmother. Or maybe I could have forced them on Houston. They’d look good with the Mashad rug he had in his office.

“You didn’t tell me what you did today,” Beth said. “Did you visit Tess?”

“Only for about half an hour. She looked a lot better today,” I said. “A lot.” But it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about right now. Every time I thought of Tess I felt a hole in my chest that went through my heart. I said, “I also went to visit the Yancys. Andrew’s clients.”

“The ones who were arguing with him on Thursday. It was Thursday, wasn’t it?”

“It was. And I learned some interesting things.” We were coming closer to Austin, and the road now had lights. Even stoplights. There was a restaurant, families, and dozens of cars. Behind us, and in front, was a stream of vehicles all intent on getting someplace. I gestured toward them. “Where were all of these when we needed them?” I asked.

“Probably right here,” she said. “So, what did you find out from the Yancys? And what were they like?”

I thought about that for a moment. “They were nice. They live near Balcones Country Club, and their home is lovely. A little dated, but what would have been termed
gracious living
in the seventies.”

“How old are they?”

“Also seventies,” I said. “But they both seem pretty athletic. They can swing a golf club, so why couldn’t they swing a candlestick? And both of them were at the party Thursday night—”

“Wait. What’s this about a candlestick?”

I took a deep breath. “You can’t tell a soul this, but that’s what killed him.

“Someone clobbered him with a candlestick?”

I nodded. “It gets worse.”

“How could it?”

“I found the other one under your bed.”

“What?” The look of utter shock on her face was visible even in the faint light of the dashboard, and any doubts I might have had about my friend evaporated.

“Have you told the police?” she asked.

“Of course not,” I said. “They’ll wonder why it was there—and why I didn’t mention it earlier.”

“Well, what do we do now?” she said.

I changed lanes, in preparation for getting on the freeway. “I don’t know. Try to figure out who put it there?” I glanced in the rearview mirror. “By the way, is our faithful follower still behind us?”

“Who can tell? What candlestick was it, by the way?”

“One of the two from the mantel.”

“One of yours? Those big ones you don’t like?”

“Yes,” I said, my brain furiously putting together other associations. “The Yancys’ grandson was killed in a car wreck when he was in college, and Andrew was also in the car,” I said. “It would give them a motive for killing him, don’t you think?”

“Yes, it would,” she said. “But how did they get him into the Dumpster?”

I thought about that for a moment. Swinging a candlestick I could see. But the Dumpster Andrew had ended up in had six-foot sides, and I just couldn’t see a seventy-year-old—even two seventy-year-olds—heaving a grown man into a Dumpster. Unless one of them drove a forklift. “You’re right,” I said. “That is a flaw in my theory.”

“Do you know if the accident was Andrew’s fault?” Beth asked.

“I don’t know. There was at least one other young man in the car, and he was paralyzed from the accident. Donovan, the grandson, was several years older than Andrew, but that doesn’t mean he was driving. It’s one of the things I want to check out tomorrow.”

“Did they say why they were having a disagreement with Andrew?” she asked.

“I assume it was because of the
High Jinx
.” I explained about the boat—or would that be considered a ship?—and how it was to be revamped and sold for a profit. “People do that with houses and cars all the time, so it sounds like a logical investment.”