Relentless Pursuit: A Novel (Secrets of Roux River Bayou) (30 page)

Chapter 35

Emily put the last of the canned goods in the pantry in Chance’s kitchen and heard footsteps moving in her direction. She turned just as Chance came through the doorway.

“Hey, you,” he said. “Why didn’t you wake me so I could help put the groceries away?”

“You needed the rest. And I didn’t mind. I’m finished.” Emily brushed her hands together and closed the pantry door.

“So did you get your errands done?”

Emily’s pulse quickened. “I did. And I filled the car. I had forty-three dollars and change left, and I put it in the cookie jar with the receipts.”

“I don’t need receipts, Emily. I trust you.” Chance pulled her into his arms and held her gaze. “I
can
trust you, right?”

She felt heat scald her cheeks and hoped she hadn’t turned red. “Of course you can trust me. I’m your friend.”

He moved his face slowly toward hers. “I’d say you’re becoming more than just a friend.”

Their lips met softly, and Chance drew her in—this time eagerly, longingly, expectantly. Emily didn’t resist, her heart hammering, her unexpected surge of passion quickly squelched by Vanessa’s voice replaying in her mind.

You can’t fall in love right now. You’ve got three more years at LSU, then MCATs, medical school, internship, residency. Romance is a distraction you can’t afford.

“I should probably cook dinner,” Emily said.

Chance left her standing there and went over to the table and sat. Was he angry?

“Emily, what are we doing here? I feel something happening. I thought you did too.”

“I do. But I think we need to take a step back.”

“That’s not what it felt like to me just then,” he said.

Emily walked over to the table and sat across from him. “We’re both leaving for college in August. No good can come from our getting romantically involved.”

“Feels pretty good to me.”

Emily sighed. “Chance, you’re grieving. I don’t think you can trust your feelings right now. For you, romance might seem like an escape. But for me, it would be all-encompassing. I don’t do things halfway, and education has to be my focus for a very long time. Allowing myself to get romantically involved right now would be foolish. I’m just being honest with you. I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I wasn’t honest with you.”

“Really?” His eyebrows came together. “When were you going to tell me you went to talk to the sheriff?”

Emily felt as if she had a wad of peanut butter stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“I picked up the phone at the same time you answered it,” he said. “I heard the entire conversation.”

“Then you know the sheriff asked me not to say anything.”

“Why was he in such a hurry to talk to you? What did he want?”

“To get my assessment of what your parents were like. I guess he thought that having you go with me might prejudice what I said. Of course, it wouldn’t. I don’t have anything to hide from you.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Just what you and Reba have told me about your parents. And what I observed.”

“Specifically what?”

Emily told him everything she could remember telling the sheriff concerning Chance’s father and mother.

Chance looked agitated. “Why would you tell him Mom had a degree in pharmacology?”

Emily shrugged. “Because she did. Is that a problem? Her diploma is framed and hanging in the study.”

“I just don’t get why he’s going around me to ask you to reveal personal information about her.”

“The sheriff said they were digging deeper into the backgrounds of all the victims, exploring a possible connection.”

Chance tapped his fingers on the table. “Did the sheriff say whether he’s talked to Alan Arceneau yet?”

Emily met Chance’s gaze. Why had the sheriff put her in such an impossible situation?

“I know you’re hiding something,” Chance said.

“I was asked not to talk about it, but I don’t see that I have a choice now. Yes, the sheriff talked with Alan Arceneau.”

“And?”

Emily sighed. “Something Alan told them is inconsistent with something you told them.”

The expression left Chance’s face, but he didn’t flinch. “What was it?”

“The sheriff wouldn’t say, other than”—Emily bit her lip—“it leads him to think you knew about your dad’s affair and might have been faking your reaction when I told you. I made it clear I thought he was wrong. Besides, I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

Chance raked his hands through his hair. “That’s because you’re not looking for anything.”

“What are you talking about? Why are you upset?”

“They know about the phone call!” Chance swore under his breath.

“What phone call?”

“Nothing. Forget it. Emily, you really need to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Please, just go home. I need to be alone for a while.”

“Chance, I—”

“Go!” His gruff tone told her he wasn’t in the mood to argue about it. “I’ll call you.”

Emily sat in her car in the parking lot at Cypress Park, her mind reeling. What phone call was Chance so upset about? What wasn’t he telling her?

Emily thought back on the questions the sheriff had asked her about Lydia Durand. The questions were basic enough. Why was Chance irritated that Emily had told the sheriff his mother had a degree in pharmacology?

Unless … Emily’s heart sank. Lydia would have known chemistry. She would have known exactly how cyanide worked. Did the sheriff suspect that Lydia and Alan had staged Huet and Joanna’s murders by poisoning the bottled water? If that were true, then who poisoned the pudding? And who killed Lydia …
Alan
?

Emily sucked in a breath. But what if Lydia wasn’t a victim? What if she knowingly drank the poisoned water when her husband did? What if she had conspired with Alan to kill Huet and Joanna … then, rather than face the consequences—and her son—decided to take her own life?

Emily blinked the stinging from her eyes, her mind racing in reverse to a conversation she’d had with Chance right after his parents died.…

“I miss Mom so much.” Chance closed his eyes, his chin quivering. “This is not the way things were supposed to happen. It’s such a nightmare.”

Emily nodded. “It really is. No one should have to endure the murder of one parent, let alone two. I hope the sheriff locks up whoever’s responsible and throws away the key.”

“It won’t ever get that far. He doesn’t have a clue who did this.”

“Don’t underestimate law enforcement,” Emily said. “All criminals make mistakes.”

“Not this time.”

Emily felt a wave of nausea and waited until it passed. Had his mother left him a suicide note? Had she explained everything to him? Was he covering up her involvement in the cyanide poisonings—and her suicide?

Emily blew the bangs off her forehead and started her car.

Lord, I have to go back. If Chance is covering for his mother, I have to convince him to go to the sheriff before he gets charged with being an accessory after the fact. Help me know what to say.

Emily saw Chance’s car backing out of the driveway. She started to pull in and wait for him to return, but something prodded her to follow him instead.

He stayed on Bayou Parkway across town and out of the city limits. She kept a reasonable distance so he wouldn’t spot her and wondered why he was turning off onto a side road. She pulled over on the shoulder and waited a full minute before following him on the road marked B-2.

She drove over a small steel bridge that crossed the bayou and continued on a narrow road that wound through acres of undeveloped land thick with live oaks and cypress trees draped with Spanish moss. Finally she spotted Chance’s black Jeep Cherokee parked in front of a house partially hidden in the trees.

An ominous feeling came over her. Should she just turn around and mind her own business? Pretend she didn’t know anything, even if she knew just enough to be suspicious? Chance was hiding something. She needed answers. And she needed them now.

She turned her car into the long, gravel driveway and pulled up behind Chance’s Jeep. She got out and high stepped through the weeds toward the tan house with a badly stained roof. It looked as if it might have been very nice in its day. A wood deck went all the way around the house to the back, where it extended out over a small yard that sloped down to a pier. She spotted several houses on the other side of the bayou and someone in a motorboat moving away from her.

Emily walked around to the front of the house and spotted a Keep Out sign nailed to a tree. She paused to consider how Chance would react to her showing up uninvited. How could she worry about that now? If she didn’t talk some sense into him, sheriff’s deputies might show up at his house—ready to charge him with covering for his mother.

Emily started to go up the front steps when someone grabbed her from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Emily?” Chance sounded surprised and angry. “What do you think you’re doing? If I’d wanted you here, I’d have driven you myself.” Chance took his hand off her mouth and gave her a gentle shove.

“You scared me half to death!” Emily said.

“Sorry. I heard someone out here snooping around. I didn’t realize it was you until I grabbed you.”

She saw what appeared to be a can of pepper spray in his waistband. “What’s going on? Why did you come here?”

“It’s not something you need to be concerned with. Get back in your car and go home.”

“I’m not leaving until you give me some answers.”

“Answers about what?”

“Your mother and Alan Arceneau.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You can trust me. Just tell me what’s going on.”

Chance took her arm and started walking her briskly toward her car. “I’m not kidding, Emily. You need to leave. And you need to do it now.”

“What are you hiding?”

“Just because I don’t want to discuss it doesn’t mean I’m hiding anything. I told you, it’s not your concern.”

“It pretty much
is
my concern. I’m in this whether I should be or not.” Emily stopped and yanked her arm free.

“You’re
not
in it. It’s a private matter that I really don’t want to talk about.”

Emily locked gazes with Chance. If he wasn’t going to volunteer anything, what choice did she have but to ask him outright? “Chance … did your mother and Alan conspire to kill your dad and Joanna?”

Chance’s eyes grew wide and animated. “
What
? Is that what the sheriff told you?”

“He didn’t tell me anything. But am I right?”

Chance gripped her wrist again and started pulling her toward the car. “You’re not going to manipulate me into having this conversation, Emily. Just get in your car and go.”

“If you’re covering for your mother, the sheriff’s going to figure it out, if he hasn’t already. And you could be charged with being an accessory after the fact.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chance said.

“Then set me straight.”

“You won’t like it.”

“That’s beside the point. How can I support you if I don’t know what’s going on?”

“I don’t need you to support me, Emily. I need you to leave.”

“You said you trusted me.”

“It’s not a matter of trust.” Chance held her chin and looked her squarely in the face. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

Emily slapped his hand away. “I’m glad you think this is funny. Stop joking around. Because I’m dead serious.”

“So am I.” Chance turned around and started up the steps. “Go home. I’ll call you.”

“Am I supposed to just ignore that your mother conspired with Alan Arceneau to kill your father and Joanna? Innocent people died—two of them little kids. This is a major murder investigation. You can’t protect your mother. It’s going to come out.”

Chance spun around. “I’m warning you: leave it alone. Whatever you think you know, you
don’t.
”

“It doesn’t matter. Sheriff Prejean must suspect something. Why else would he ask me not to mention that I talked to him? It’s just a matter of time before he figures out whatever it is you’re not telling me.”

Chance stared blankly for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

“I care about you,” Emily said. “And I can only imagine how much you want to protect your mother’s good name. I know how much she meant to you. But being charged as an accessory after the fact is serious—probably a felony. If either of us is convicted of that, we can kiss medical school good-bye. I’m not willing to let this go that far.”

Chance let out a sigh of resignation. He turned and started up the stairs. “Come inside. I’ll tell you everything.”