VEILED MIRROR (14 page)

Ollie rolled his eyes at her.

“That’s okay. You don’t have to decide now.”

She felt calmer, now that she knew she had nothing left. And now that they’d probably found the killer, there was no reason not to tell Jason the truth.

Her soul balked at the thought. As soon as she told him, he’d leave. He’d hate her. She hated to admit it, but she needed him to stay, even if he thought she was Ell. She’d lost everything else. She could have that for just a few more days, couldn’t she? Just for the weekend. She could wait until the inquest.

But that would do neither of them any good. It wasn’t real. She couldn’t keep lying to him. She sat up. Better to get it over with.

The storm brought an
early twilight. Jason stopped his pacing long enough to look out at the low, dark clouds. Even confronted with the truth, he had a hard time accepting it.

Ellie had lied.

She hadn’t been to her doctor. She hadn’t done a pregnancy test. He would have bet a year’s pay that Ellie didn’t care about Chris’s money. That she’d loved only the man. But there was only one reason he could think of for her to lie about being pregnant. She wanted the Pontifore fortune.

He heard Ollie’s nails clicking on the tile. A moment later Ellie and the dog entered the library. She looked tired and tense. Her nap hadn’t done her much good.
Well, that’s too damn bad. Lying is hard work.

She stiffened. She must have seen the anger on his face. He wasn’t trying to hide it.

“When were you going to tell me?” he asked.

Her eyes widened and her head lifted as if he’d slapped her, but she recovered quickly. “Now. Tonight. What finally tipped you off?”

“I tried to do you a favor. I called your doctor. Her receptionist said she’s never done a pregnancy test on you, so she had no results to release.”
No wonder Ellie “forgot” she was pregnant and was having a drink the other night.
There was no baby to protect.

Ellie relaxed. “I’m glad you know. I hated lying to you.”

His fists clenched. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“What else do you want? It was all I could think to do!”

For just a second Jason was speechless. He took a step forward. “All you could think … I thought you loved Chris for himself. I told him as much!” He’d never been so angry. All his years of self-discipline as an agent evaporated when he thought of how this woman had used and lied to his best friend. They’d both thought she was the real deal, and they’d both been so wrong. So much for his great instincts. “Was all that blather about not wanting to come between us as friends just to win me over? Were you planning this, that far back?”

She stepped back. “What are you talking about?”

“Okay, that doesn’t make any sense. Not unless you killed Chris, and even I don’t believe that.”

“Well thanks so much!” Ollie moved between them.

“Maybe you did love Chris. But I guess you couldn’t bear to lose all that money, so you lied about being pregnant. Was Beth in on it? Was she going to give you her baby to raise as Chris’s child? What are you going to do, now that she’s dead?”

Ellie’s expression was … appalled? “No! You have it all wrong!” She stepped past the dog, but Ollie put himself between them again.

Somehow he’d thought she’d come clean when confronted. Instead she was still making excuses. He shook his head. “Yeah, well listen, I don’t care. Just stop it. I won’t expose you for the sake of Chris’s memory, but you can’t go on with this. I won’t let you commit fraud. Tell everyone you had a miscarriage. No one will question that, given all that’s happened.”

“Jason—”

He held up his hand, stopping her. “I’m leaving. I won’t be back for the service.” He turned his back on her. He hadn’t taken two steps before she grabbed his arm. Ollie barked.

“Quiet!” she said, giving him a hand signal to sit. “You’re real good at leaving, aren’t you? You think you have it all figured out. Well not this time! I was too stunned to say anything last March. But now you’re going to hear me out.”

Two bright pink spots burned on her cheeks and her posture was rigid with anger. He wasn’t interested in getting into a shouting match with her. He peeled her fingers from his arm. “Ellie, don’t—”

She grabbed him with her other hand. “I’m not Ellie!
I’m Beth!
” Ollie barked again and tried to push between them. “And how dare you think she married Chris for his money! Ell loved him more than anything. Any moron could see that!”

He felt like he’d been hit in the head. “Beth?”

“The sheriff wouldn’t listen to her, Chris’s
wife
! Why would he listen to me? I didn’t know what else to do. And Ellie made me promise! She’s been after me day and night. And now that we’ve found Montenegro, I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again.”

Tears spilled out of her eyes and she dashed them away.

She waited, glaring as if she’d explained everything.

Beth was alive. Alive, and standing right in front of him.

All the little oddities he’d put down to grief started settling into place. The hand signals to Ollie. Polly shying away. The forgotten conversation. The drink. With sudden clarity he remembered what she’d actually said the other day,
Now you’re all curious about who I—she slept with?
No wonder she’d been so angry.

All the things he’d wished he’d could say to her over the last few days threatened to choke him. And all the time he’d been grieving for her, she’d been lying to his face.

He clenched his teeth on the fury and betrayal that threatened to pour out of him. Finally he grated out, “That was why you wanted to hire me as your attorney? So you could tell me this?”

“Yes! I—”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. I thought you would have known
that
much about me, for God’s sake! I couldn’t allow you to commit perjury, even if I were your attorney.”

“Perjury! What—”

“And I can’t believe you’d try to steal Chris’s money this way. I guess I didn’t know you any better than you knew me.”

Beth stared. “Are you insane? I told you why I did it! Ellie made me promise to find their killer! She wouldn’t shut up about it. She’s been nagging me constantly. And now we have.”

He stared, trying to sort out her explanation. “You pretended to be Ellie so you could find Chris’s murderer?”

“That’s what I said. No one would listen to Beth Hart. They barely listened to Ellie. I had to have some pull, and I figured pretending to be Ell was the only way to get it. But I didn’t want to commit fraud. That’s why I wouldn’t sign the insurance papers. I don’t want the money.”

“Okay, so you’re telling me this was all Ellie’s idea? It was her dying wish for you to impersonate her?”

Beth shook her head. “No. That was my idea, and when she found out about it, she was pissed. She didn’t want me making myself a target.”

“What do you mean? You came up with this idea before the accident?” He stopped, appalled by the thought that had occurred to him. “You didn’t let her commit suicide did you?”

“Of course not! She’d never do that! I only came up with the plan after she died.”

Jason shook his head, thoroughly confused. “Then how could she be pissed?”

Beth suddenly seemed to run out of steam. She let her hands drop, bit her lip, and looked away.

“Beth?”

She brought her eyes back to his. Her gaze was steady. “She talks to me in my dreams. Once in the mirror.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. She was seeing ghosts? He knew grief could do weird things to people, but this?

“I know. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. She really does come to me. She wants to find out who killed her and Chris.”

“
Dios mio!
She speaks to you?” Maria stood in the doorway.

Beth nodded.

Jason turned to Maria. “You believe this crap?”

Maria crossed herself. “You must help her find her peace, so she can go on.”

“I’m trying.”

Jason could hardly believe what he was hearing. He turned to a more practical point. “You knew about this charade?”

“
Sí.
But I did not know that the
Señora
had appeared to Señorita Beth.”

Jason looked from one to the other, and back again, feeling like he was in the Twilight Zone. Beth was alive and keeping secrets, and Ellie was dead—and talking in Beth’s dreams. And Maria, sensible Maria, was down with
all of it
? He tried to make sense of it, but it wasn’t tracking.

There are no such things as ghosts.

He had to clear his head. “I need some air.”

Maria stepped back as he passed her on the way to the foyer. “But
Señor
, it is raining, and dinner is ready.”

Jason just shook his head as he opened the front door. “I’m sorry.”

Beth listened as the
door clicked shut with a sound of finality.
Son of a bitch!
He’d bailed on her again. He’d come back eventually to get his things, but he might as well be gone for good. She felt tears welling. He didn’t believe her, about Ellie, about any of it.

She could barely hear his car start over the sound of the rain. She couldn’t blame him too much. If someone had told her two weeks ago that he was talking to dead people, she’d have told him to get his own
TV
show.
But he could have trusted me enough not to think I was trying to rip off the estate!

“
Señorita?
” Maria put a hand on her shoulder. Her expression was the most sympathetic it had been since she’d started pretending to be Ellie. “You must eat. I have chicken
molé
and asparagus and fresh tortillas.”

She wasn’t hungry. But Maria had lost Chris and Ellie, too, and she was still cooking and cleaning. The least Beth could do was try to honor her efforts. She nodded and followed Maria into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

So what, if Jason bailed on her? She could do this without him. She had information to give to the judge now, information that would force the sheriff to get off his ass and do something.

So why did it feel like she had a rock in her stomach?

Maria put a plate down in front of her. The aroma was wonderful, and her mouth began to water. “This smells terrific, Maria. Won’t you join me?”

“No. My sister is visiting and she has not been well. I must go before the storm worsens.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I hope she feels better soon.”

Just a few minutes later, Beth was alone. Rain drummed on the roof. She ate a few bites, because she’d promised Maria she would, but as good as it tasted, she just couldn’t eat. She was packing up the rest to put in the fridge when the phone rang.

“This is Deputy Morris. May I speak with Mrs. Pontifore?”

Beth hesitated, then said, “Yes?” She didn’t want to get into the tangle of explaining her deception over the phone to one of Connor’s men. She’d do that directly to the sheriff at the inquest, or maybe on Monday.

“We’ve found something about your husband’s murder. We’d like you to take a look at it.”

Murder.
He’d called it a murder. Maybe Sheriff Connor was finally taking her seriously. “What is it?”

“Well, ma’am, I’d rather not discuss it over the phone. We need your unbiased opinion. Could you meet us over where we found your husband?”

Beth looked out the window at the pouring rain. It was almost completely dark. “Now?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry to ask you out in such weather, but we’re afraid the rain will wash away the evidence.”

“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

For a brief second she wished Jason were here, but he wasn’t, and there was nothing she could do about it now. And the jerk had never given her his cell phone number, so she couldn’t call him. She dashed off a quick note. “Sheriff called. New evidence. Be back soon. B.”

She threw on a light jacket and grabbed her keys. She was just about to run out the door when she paused in front of the hall mirror. Only her own image reflected back at her. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Ellie. I hope so. The sheriff has found something out where Chris died. We’re making progress! We have a suspect. Don’t lose hope!” Then she dashed through the rain to her Civic.

She was nearly soaked by the time she got inside. With the windshield wipers whisking rapidly back and forth, she sped down the long driveway and out onto the muddy dirt road.

J
ason slowed the Taurus as the rain came down even harder.

Beth is alive!
It was Ellie who’d been pregnant. Ellie who had bled to death.He didn’t want her to be dead, but he couldn’t help being glad it wasn’t Beth.

All the grief for Beth that he’d stuffed away in the back closet of his soul exploded in relief. All the opportunities that he’d thought were gone forever, weren’t. He could tell her how much he’d missed her. How the thought of her had kept him going through the difficult weeks of rehab. But now that he had a second chance, he wasn’t sure he wanted it. She’d lied to him. For days.

His gut twisted. He ought to be feeling unmitigated joy, shouldn’t he? Beth was alive! But her deceit clouded everything.

She’d played him. God, he’d even talked to her about their break-up! And she hadn’t said a word. What a payback. Or it would be, if Chris and Ellie weren’t dead.

He didn’t know what to think. His instinct as a cop was to look at the money first as a motive, but Beth said she didn’t care about the cash, and fool that he was, he believed her.

He switched on his high-beams, trying to see better through the downpour.

Why didn’t she just come to me and ask for my help? Why did she have to lie?

After all their conversations, he’d thought he knew her pretty well. He would never have expected her to pull a scam like this. She was too honest to lie consistently over days and days—especially to him. Or at least he’d thought so.

How could I have been so wrong about her?
What else had he missed? Was it wishful thinking to believe her about the money? He was usually a good judge of character. His life depended on it. Maybe it was time for him to quit undercover work, if he could make a mistake this big. Lightning flashed, nearly blinding him. A crack of thunder followed on its heels.

She
said
she was doing it to find out who’d killed Chris and Ellie. It seemed ridiculous on the face of it, like something out of a bad movie.

But they
had
found out about Montenegro, and mostly because Beth had kept on looking when everyone around her said Chris and Ellie’s deaths were accidents.

She also claimed that Ellie was talking to her from beyond the grave.

Does she really expect me to believe that?

Maybe it was just Beth’s grief playing tricks on her.

He could understand that.

What I can’t understand is Maria going along with it!
The housekeeper was one of the most honest and sensible people he knew. How could she believe in ghosts? For that matter, why had she helped Beth get away with her lies? He would never have believed it of her. But in his work, he’d seen lots of otherwise sensible people taken in by the unscrupulous. That could be what had happened here.

Except Beth wasn’t unscrupulous.

She was just a liar.

Shit.

“Damn it!” Beth gripped
the steering wheel. She stopped in front of an arroyo running with swift water across the road. That’s the way things were done in the desert: roads ran right through the washes that were dry ninety-nine percent of the time. It generally wasn’t a problem—unless you needed to get to the opposite side during a storm.

Maybe there was another way to get to that mine shaft, but if there was, she didn’t know it. She didn’t have a map of the area and even if she did, it probably wouldn’t show any of these dirt tracks that criss-crossed the ranches.

She flicked her lights on high, but all they showed her was the water running too fast and deep to chance crossing. In a few hours the wash would be dry again, but by then whatever evidence the deputy had to show her might be gone. She hoped he had the sense to put a tarp over it. She wished again that Jason were with her, then pushed that thought aside. He’d made his choice.

Lightning zig-zagged across the sky, followed by thunder. Beth dug through Ell’s purse, tossing out old receipts and gum wrappers, looking for her cell phone. She’d call to let the deputy know she couldn’t make it.

She flipped open the phone just as headlights glared behind her. She adjusted her rear-view mirror. Was that the sheriff? She waited a second, poised to dial, wondering if he’d get out and come up to her window. Nothing happened. She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to get wet. But she wished he’d turn his brights off.

Bump! Her little Civic lurched forward nearly a yard. She dropped the phone and grabbed the steering wheel.

Beth jammed both feet on the brake. “No!” Did he think she was stalled? That she needed a push? She honked her horn.

He stopped pushing and backed up.

Thank God!
She reached for the door handle.

Suddenly the lights grew bright and the car shook as he rammed her again with a frightening crunch. The churning water tugged at her front wheels.

He drove right into me!
This wasn’t the sheriff.

She put the transmission in park before he slammed her again, but it didn’t help. He was driving some kind of big stump-jumper
SUV
that out-weighed her little Honda four to one. The bigger vehicle smashed into her bumper a third time. The Civic bounced forward, then suddenly the flood grabbed the nose of her car, jerking it into the rushing water. Fear jolted through her. The car floated for a moment, then pitched over.
Oh God! I’m sinking!
Her headlights went below the surface. Cold water flowed in around the door. The engine died.

She had to get out! Beth unfastened her seat-belt and pushed on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Water rose inside the car. She yanked on the handle again. The water was up to her waist. Was the door locked? No. She pulled and pushed with all of her strength, but nothing happened. The car wallowed as the current rolled it from one side to the other, drifting down-stream from where the truck had pushed her in..

The window. She could get out the window. Beth felt for the button and pushed. Water poured in as the glass rolled down. It stuck half-way. She pushed down with both hands but it was jammed. Was it down enough? Beth struggled free from under the steering wheel. She could see almost nothing.

Beth took a deep breath from the last trapped air, then squeezed first one shoulder then the other through the small opening. Outside the car, dark water rushed around her head. She wiggled and pulled and shifted, trying to get her hips loose. Her lungs burned, aching to take in another breath. Then with a painful scrape, she was free and tumbling in the churning, murky rapids.

Jason peered through the
windshield. This drive wasn’t helping to settle his mind. He should turn around and go back, pack up his things and leave. Let Beth sort out her own mess.

He knew there were no other cars on the road, but he glanced in the rearview mirror anyway out of habit as he backed up—and nearly drove off the road. Beth was staring back at him. Jason slammed on the brakes, taking full advantage of their anti-lock capability, then turned around. No one was in his back seat.

What the hell?
He unfastened his seat belt and looked all the way over. She wasn’t hiding between the seats, either. Was he losing his mind? He was sure she’d been there.

He slid back behind the wheel and glanced again at the mirror. Beth glared at him and gestured. Her mouth was moving but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. Was he hallucinating? His heart hammered and he stared at her as she waved her arms more frantically, then looked again at the back seat. He was still alone. And Beth was still in his mirror.
What is going on?
He reached up and touched the image.

“—hear what I said? Bethie’s in trouble! You’ve got to hurry!”

What the—
“Beth?” He gripped the mirror tightly.

“No, you idiot! I’m Ellie! The dead one! But Beth will be too, if you don’t get a move on!”

He jerked his hand back, staring at the glass where Ellie continued to rant, only he couldn’t hear her again. He was breathing like he’d run a mile.
This is crazy. There’s no such thing as ghosts.

But something that looked an awful lot like Ellie was in his mirror. He touched the rear-view again.

“—where Chris died.”

“Ellie? Is that really you?”

“Yes! Yes! How many times do I have to tell you?”

Oh my God.
“This isn’t possible. You’re dead!”

“I know. Get over it!”

“But—Why are you here?”

“I’ve been telling you. Beth is in trouble! She needs help. I’ll show you where to go. Now hurry! Talking to you like this is difficult for me. We don’t have much time!”

Jason drove down the muddy lane as fast as he dared. He glanced in the mirror and Ellie nodded. He must be insane. He was following the directions of a dead woman. Or the hallucinations of a delusional mind. He came to a fork and slowed almost to a stop, looking for guidance. Ellie gestured with one arm and he turned in that direction. The road was rutted and slick. He had to drive a lot slower than he wanted to. A minute later he glanced up and saw Beth’s twin frantically waving her arms. He touched the mirror. “What?”

“You went the wrong way!”

“But you—” He stopped himself and began backing the car. They didn’t have time to argue. Apparently ghosts got turned around in the reversed image of mirrors too. Lightning shot from cloud to cloud.

He got to the fork and took the other track. It was in even worse shape than the other one, and he had to go even slower.
Jesus!
He’d almost get there faster walking.
What is Beth doing out here, anyway?
What could possibly have enticed her to go out in the middle of a storm?

No. Not what. Who.
Had Connie told Montenegro about their visit? Was Beth out here alone because someone had lured her out here? Minutes crawled by as he jounced in slow motion over the rutted surface. Jason pushed his speed as much as he could, until the Taurus shimmied like a stripper. He couldn’t take his eyes off the road to look at the mirror, but there had been no turns. He must still be on the right path. The rain slackened.

He got to a smoother section, and the car settled down. Jason glanced up at the rear-view. She was gone. He touched the mirror. “Ellie? Ellie!”

The glass remained dark. How was he going to find Beth? Where should he look? Ellie hadn’t been specific about what kind of danger Beth was in. Was someone threatening her, or had she crashed her car in this rain? He thought about calling the sheriff, and dismissed it. He had no specific information. Cops didn’t like to be called out in a downpour because someone had a
feeling
. And he certainly wasn’t going to say his info came from a ghost.

He continued on. It was the only thing he could do. He just hoped he didn’t come to another of those cross-roads where he’d have to guess which way to go. If Beth really was in trouble, she couldn’t afford to have him back-tracking all over the county. At least the rain had nearly stopped now and he could see more than ten feet ahead.

There was light up ahead. He slowed. A big black
SUV
was parked facing away from him, taking up the entire road. It didn’t look like any of the ranch vehicles that he’d seen over the last few days. Its driver’s side door was open and its high-beams were on.

Beth’s in trouble
. Was the driver of that truck out of gas? Trying to help Beth? Or was he the source of her danger?

Jason stopped the car well back from the truck. With a flashlight in one hand and his weapon in the other, he approached the oversized truck cautiously.

“Hello? Do you need help?”

Thunder rumbled distantly.

He saw no movement, heard nothing except the rushing of the water in the arroyo. He stepped along-side the vehicle and played the flashlight beam over the interior. There was no one in the car. He walked around to the front. The wheels were almost in the water. The paint on the brush guard was scraped, the metal underneath shiny and slightly dented. Recent damage.

Now what?
He looked out at the dark, violent water illuminated by the headlights. A branch of a tree rushed by.
I hope Beth didn’t try to cross this
. It would sweep a car away in a heartbeat. But where was she? Ellie had directed him here to help Beth. Had Beth crossed the arroyo before it flooded? There was no way to get to her if she had. Frustrated, Jason examined the ground around the SUV.

Tires narrower than the
SUV
’s had scraped a furrow in the wet dirt. The tracks disappeared into the muddy water. Suddenly the scrapes on the truck grill made sense.
The bastard pushed her in!
Panic squeezed his chest. “Hello!” He shouted. “Beth! Answer me! Beth!”

He needed a search team. Jason put the flashlight on the hood, then pulled out his cell phone. No signal. “Damn it!”

He hurried along the wash in the direction the water was flowing, dodging around trees and scrub growing close to the edge. Away from where the road crossed, the bank became steeper. He stopped every ten yards or so, playing his flashlight beam over the flood, looking for her car, looking for a blond head and pale face trying to stay above water. “Beth!” he shouted over and over. “Beth!”

And where was the guy that had pushed her in? Was he out here somewhere, trying to finish his job? If he was, Jason was letting the killer know exactly where he was by calling out.

It didn’t matter. He had to find her. He shouted again, “Beth!”

Then, faintly, he heard something. “Here!” Her voice barely carried over the noise of rushing water.

He followed the voice. “Where are you? Keep talking, babe!”

“Here! I’m here!”

And there she was, on the opposite bank, clinging to a half-submerged mesquite. Her head was barely above the surface. Water churned around her, and the tree looked like it might let go of the crumbling soil any second.

The wash was maybe ten yards across here. An easy swim back in his life-guarding days—except this water was moving like a rip-tide. He wanted to dive straight in, but he couldn’t save her if he drowned himself. He’d seen a coil of rope in the back of the
SUV
. He could anchor himself with that.