If You Ever Tell (44 page)

Carmen walked behind Teresa and Daniel as they tramped across the back of Teri’s property until they came to the narrow, rutted lane where Carmen had left her car. She ordered Teresa to drive while she sat in the backseat, clutching Daniel against her until he cried out in protest. “Be quiet, little boy,” Carmen hissed. Then to Teri, “I’m holding the gun. If you try
anything
, Teresa, and I mean
anything
, I will shoot you and then the kid. Do you understand me?”

“I understand,” Teri said evenly. “I’ll do exactly as you say. Just don’t hurt Daniel.”

“Don’t
make
me hurt Daniel. If I have to blow off his head in this car, it will be your fault.”

Daniel whimpered, and Teresa briefly closed her eyes. How could this be happening? How could Carmen—her friend—have so quickly turned into such a monster?

But the woman hadn’t abruptly changed character tonight. For years, something dark, ugly, and deadly had coiled beneath her lovely face, her beautiful eyes, her warm and protective manner. Teri asked herself why she hadn’t seen it. Why hadn’t her mother seen it? Why hadn’t Gabe seen it?

Daniel made small mewling sounds and twice Carmen had told him to shut up, the second time with an intensity that frightened Teri. If Daniel didn’t be quiet, the woman was going to lose control and kill him, Teri thought. She had to do something to distract Carmen. “I suppose this is going to be my last night on earth,” Teresa said almost casually, “so would you mind answering a few questions for me? It seems only sporting.”

Carmen let out a bray of laughter. “
Sporting.
How quaint! All right, as long as you concentrate on your driving. You haven’t forgotten your way to the TNT Area, have you?”

“Not a chance.” Teresa had reached the end of the rutted lane. Unnecessarily, she put on her blinker, and turned onto the highway. “First of all, I’d like to know how you got into our house that night eight years ago. Dad had the locks changed after the divorce.”

“And he had to give the housekeeper one of the new keys because she came in so early. I dropped by every few weeks to see you—usually when Wendy was out. Emma always left her purse in the laundry room. One morning I simply removed the house key from Emma’s key ring, had a copy made, and stopped in again that afternoon. I had an excuse ready for visiting a second time the same day, but I didn’t need one. The back door was usually left unlocked during the day, so I came in quietly and replaced Emma’s key with no one the wiser. No harm done.”

“Except the police suspected Emma because she had a key to the house—a key that either she
or
Mac could have used.”

“Yes, well, the more red herrings the merrier. Nothing happened to either of them.”

“Not that you would have cared if it did.”

“No, I didn’t care. As your father always said, they were just the hired help, and no one cares what happens to the hired help.”

Teresa glanced at the speedometer. The last thing she wanted was to be stopped by the police. Carmen would shoot both of her hostages before the cop even made it to the car door. “I know on the night of my birthday you made an excuse to go to the restroom at Club Rendezvous, then slipped out and left that note in my car. It wasn’t a spontaneous move. You’d even brought a newspaper clipping along, which means you’d planned on leaving the note. That’s probably why you insisted we go to the club in the first place. I also know you must have sent the fax the next morning, the one supposedly from my father. Why did you feel it necessary to start tormenting me after eight years?”

“If you’re smart enough to figure out that I lured you to Mac’s club so I could leave the note and clipping for you, you should be smart enough to figure out the reason. But I guess not. Try Celeste. Celeste, after eight years of glorious silence, started blabbing her head off in Bennigan’s right after I’d passed her table. I was afraid she’d recognized me
then.
I thought if she hadn’t definitely recognized me, she at least had the glimmer of an idea I’d been the one who’d killed her mother. She looked right at me before I stabbed her. I’ve been trying to get at her for ages, but Fay and Jason kept her so well protected I never got a chance.

“After a few years, I didn’t think I needed a chance. But then she started talking. Most people thought she was nuts, so I didn’t believe she’d be considered a reliable witness, but just in case
anyone
took her halfway seriously, I needed to throw suspicion back onto you, just as I’d originally planned. The first step was to have you start acting jittery, scared, right after Celeste began to talk. You had to act as if her talking really shook you because it put you in danger. After all, not
everyone
believed Roscoe Lee Byrnes killed Hugh and Wendy.”

Carmen suddenly laughed again. “And then lo and behold, the very next morning the son of a bitch recanted his confession! Talk about a stroke of luck! I knew then there was no such thing as justice in the world. I’ve always known it, but I never had
proof.
That was my proof. If justice existed, Roscoe would have gone quietly into that good night called death and you would have been forever exonerated of killing Hugh and Wendy. But there
is
no justice. Don’t you see, Teri? There… is… no… justice!”

“It would seem you’re right.” Teresa kept her voice neutral. She knew showing contempt for Carmen might be a fatal mistake. “What about the night someone in a long black coat with a hood like yours left Snowflake on my porch? That couldn’t have been you, Carmen—I was on the phone with you.”

Teresa glanced in the rearview mirror long enough to see Carmen smile. “I had a key to the Farr house. I’ve gone in and out dozens of times. I took that night-light years ago. I don’t know why—maybe because it came from Trinkets and Treasures, which the munificent Hugh so generously gave me as a parting gift.

“A couple of months ago, I caught a teenage boy shoplifting in the store. He was terrified. He begged. It was his third offense. I finally said I wouldn’t tell the police as long as he promised to do me a favor someday. I made certain he knew I was serious—he did
not
have a free pass. Well, I finally demanded my due. I lent him this coat, gave him the night-light, and told him exactly what time to leave it on your porch, making sure you caught a glimpse of him—hood, makeup, wig, and all—just to give you even more of a scare. And I knew he wouldn’t dare tell anyone—they might go to the police and if so, I had a surveillance tape showing him shoplifting. If I went down, so did he.”

“It was a good plan,” Carmen said with satisfaction. “I called you at the time I’d told him to arrive. Even if you’d had the slightest doubt about me being involved in your recent harassment, you couldn’t suspect
me
of leaving the night-light—I can’t be in two places at once. So, everything worked perfectly.”

“And it never occurred to me that if you’d been as frantic as you’d seemed, you would have called the police to come check on me, not hung on the phone screaming,” Teresa said. “I was stupid.”

“Yes,” Carmen answered with mild amusement. “Stupid.”

“You also took that videotape of my sixteenth birthday from Dad’s house, picked the lock to my house, and put on the tape just before I got home with Mac.”

“You told me you were going out to dinner with him. Sierra didn’t react too badly when I came in—she knows me. But you were so slow. I waited until I saw the headlights of Mac’s car coming toward your house before I stuck in the tape and went out the back.”

“Clever. You also left Mom’s scarf in Dad’s house, didn’t you? The woman next door is definitely paranoid, but she was right about seeing lights upstairs.”

“I knew the very day the house sold. The real estate agent dropped into Trinkets and Treasures just brimming with the news. I took a chance that you couldn’t resist going in the house one last time and rummaging through Marielle’s junk. I still had the copy of Emm’s key to the house. I left the scarf that night. I went back the next night to make sure the scarf still had that distinctive, deceptively fresh scent.”

“Oh, it did. You’ll be glad to know that finding it scared the hell out of me.” Teresa paused. “But I saw Mom wearing that scarf just days before she disappeared. She didn’t leave it behind in the house for you to pick up on one of your secret tours. When did you take the scarf from Mom, Carmen?”

Their gazes met in the rearview mirror. “On the day she came to see you, Teri. On the last day of her life.” Carmen gave Teri that odd, tilted smile again. “Well, we’re finally at the TNT Area. Let’s see what it has in store for you and Daniel.”

While Celeste wrote, Mac hung over her shoulder, nervously jingling change in his pocket and yelling, “Carmen did
what
?” and, “She made them go
where
?” until Celeste would have screamed, if she could have. When she finished, she held out the paper and he jerked it from her trembling hand, read it again, and burst out with, “Oh, my God!” Then he rushed to the phone.

His anxiety had communicated itself to Sierra, sparking another barking fit. Celeste knew Mac was trying to talk to the police, so she dragged the dog into the kitchen and grabbed one of the strawberry cupcakes arranged on a platter, crumbling it up and tossing it into a dog dish. Sierra promptly stopped barking and began eating as if she hadn’t tasted food for a week. When she finished, they returned to the living room just as Mac hung up the phone.

“The police are headed for the TNT Area, but they don’t know where to go when they get there. The place covers hundreds of acres. Do you have any idea where Carmen was taking Teri and Daniel?” Mac was still shouting at her and Celeste clapped her hands over her ears and grimaced while shaking her head. “No idea at all?” Mac yelled.

Celeste gave up trying to make him understand that her hearing was fine. She shook her head sadly. Mac muttered, “Damn.” Then he boomed, “Celeste, I have good news for you. The police just told me that your father is alive!” Celeste’s blue eyes flew wide. “That’s right. Your father was stabbed, but the wound wasn’t fatal. A neighbor called nine-one-one and the paramedics came immediately. Your dad is in surgery, but they think he’s going to be all right.” Celeste beamed. Then Mac said more softly, “I’m afraid your grandmother didn’t make it, though. I’m very sorry.”

Celeste’s head drooped. Mac leaned down, took her face in his hands, tilted it upward, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Everyone has been looking for you, honey. I told the police where you are and they’re coming to get you.” Celeste shook her head and pointed at Sierra. “They’ll take her, too. You run and find one of her leashes. I think Teri keeps them on a hook in the kitchen.”

When Celeste returned with a leash firmly attached to Sierra’s collar, Mac looked out the window. “I see a police car coming up the road now. Everything is going to be fine, kiddo.”

Five minutes later, a patrolman gently escorted Celeste and an exuberant Sierra to a police car. Mac leaned in before the policeman closed the door. “I’m sorry I have to leave you, Celeste, but I want to help the police find Teri. You’ve been an incredibly brave girl. I’m so proud of you. Teri would be, too. And I want you to remember something, Celeste. Teri loves you very much and she has tremendous faith in you. She’d want you to know how she feels about you, no matter what happens.”

As Mac shut the door, Celeste smiled tremulously, tears spilling over her cheeks. She hadn’t been able to save Grandma, but Daddy was alive, and maybe, just maybe, Teri would survive this horrible night, too.

At 2:30 a.m., the highway was nearly deserted. Mac knew the police were ahead of him although he couldn’t see any police cars. He remembered that Marielle’s parents had owned a building near the entrance to what was now the McClintic Wildlife Preserve and had willed the building to her. Maybe Carmen had taken Teri and Daniel to the building. At least Mac hoped she had because it was easy to find and he could think of nowhere else to look. He’d directed the police to the building.

As he drove, Mac finally tried to absorb the fact that Carmen, of all people, had killed Hugh and Wendy Farr, stabbed Celeste, pretended to be Teri’s friend for years, killed Fay Warner and injured Jason, and now taken Teri and Daniel hostage. Mac had known the woman since he used to mow lawns for the Farrs and she’d been friends with Marielle.
He’d
had only a speaking acquaintance with her, but she’d always been nice to him. She’d been so kind to Teri and she’d always seemed so
normal
that he still couldn’t completely believe Celeste’s story. Oh, he was certain someone had kidnapped Teri and Daniel, but perhaps Celeste had made a mistake about
who
had kidnapped them. She’d been a traumatized girl for so long. She was traumatized again. Maybe she was basing her accusations on old, tangled stories and misunderstandings. She
had
to be wrong.

Except that for some reason Mac couldn’t quite identify, he didn’t believe Celeste was mistaken. Attractive, hardworking, funny, charming Carmen Norris was a cold-blooded killer.

Four miles north of Point Pleasant, Mac turned in at the wide Y-shaped entrance to the wildlife preserve. His headlights pierced the unusually dark night, revealing a paved road edged by well-cultivated corn and soybean fields. Just beyond the fields, he saw the outline of the building owned by Marielle and the flashing of lights atop patrol cars. He pulled into the parking lot, jumped out of his Lexus, and without switching off the engine dashed to the nearest policeman.

“Anybody here?” he asked nervously.

The young patrolman shook his head. “The building is locked up tight, Mr. MacKenzie. We’ve searched all around it and we can’t find any recent signs of people being here—not even fresh car tracks. I’m afraid no one is here.”

“I’m not surprised,” Mac said hopelessly. “This place is too open—too close to the road, too visible to anyone passing by. Carmen would have taken—” Mac broke off, unable to say “Teri.” “Her and the boy somewhere more isolated.”

“Do you have
any
idea where that might be? After all, this place covers over two thousand acres.”