Sunlight streamed through the glass. He wore a dark velvet robe and slippers. His feet were propped on an ottoman. The Wall Street Journal was in his hands.
“I see the Asian market’s on an upswin-”
He turned and saw Harry and me. He froze, his eyes so wide they seemed little more than white.
“Auuh,” he babbled, waving the paper. He let his mouth droop wide, tonguing drool down his chin. He swiped his hand across his mouth, stared at his saliva in wonder.
“Give it a break, Pops,” I said.
We stepped back into the elevator. I pressed DOWN. Miss Gracie was sitting on a couch. Holding her breath.
“One question,” I said. “How did Taneesha get involved?”
Miss Gracie sighed from somewhere deep.
“I listen to WTSJ, play it soft over the sound system. Lucas liked listening, especially to Taneesha. He followed her from DJ to reporter. After it seemed clear Dr. Rudolnick wasn’t coming anymore, Lucas wrote an anonymous letter to Miz Franklin. The letter didn’t say much, just that the doctor worked for the Kincannons, had done some strange things, maybe something a reporter might check into. That’s all. I didn’t know what was in Lucas’s letter, but I did mail it for him.”
“I figured it was something that simple. You helped Lucas escape, right?”
She looked away, but I stared at her face. She said, “One of the electric locks on his door went out. Pouring water in them does that.”
I nodded, started to turn away. Her hand touched at my arm.
“You won’t tell people about…” Her eyes glanced toward the man upstairs.
“It would accomplish nothing, Miss Gracie.”
She whispered, “Thank you.”
Harry and I stepped outside. The grass of the Kincannon estate was so bright and green it seemed illuminated from beneath. A slight breeze sung through the trees. The bull statue remained upended.
“How’d you know, Cars?” Harry said. “About Daddy Kincannon?”
“Ory Aubusson put the bug in my head, bro. He said Buck Kincannon let himself go crazy because it was better than having to look at Maylene every day. It got me thinking.”
Harry frowned. “Mama Kincannon has to know.”
“I suspect they both played their roles. She got to exercise control, Daddy Kincannon got…” I tried to find words.
“Heaven?” Harry said.
“Or maybe just a form of freedom. There he sits in his own private world, everything he wants, waited on hand and foot.”
“She loves him, doesn’t she? The Grace woman?”
“I have a suspicion Daddy Kincannon and Miss Gracie go way back together. Twenty-three years at least.”
I thumped across the lawn toward the car, Harry beside me. He said, “How much of a hand you think Daddy Kincannon had in this?”
I shook my head. “We’ll never know. A finger, certainly. He knows Buck, Nelson, and Racine lived their lives poised at the brink of self-destruction. All it took was reaching critical mass, as the physicists say. Adding enough energy.”
“Lucas,” Harry said.
“Bang.”
We reached the drive and turned to the house, a white refuge tucked deep in the trees. I said, “I’ll bet Buck Senior’s spent four years teaching Lucas about the business. The boy’s ready to take over.”
“The company thrives,” Harry mused. “While Daddy continues in his own private heaven. And Mama?”
“I think she’ll stay out of Lucas’s way.”
We reached the car. I set the crutches aside and leaned against its sun-warm body, regarding the house for a final moment. Harry leaned beside me, arms crossed.
He said, “Do you think Lucas knew he was putting Taneesha Franklin in danger to accommodate his plans?”
“Lucas knew exactly what his family was capable of doing if threatened. Taneesha’s questions were a threat. Lucas needed a threat to start the ball rolling.”
Harry considered my words.
“But that would mean…”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Exactly. Lucas is every bit as amoral as his brothers, just ten times smarter.” I clapped Harry’s wide back. “Ain’t it a grand day in hell, brother?”
EPILOGUE
I dropped Harry at his house, then stopped by Dani’s home. Beginnings are always easier than endings. But endings are better when you can say you’ve learned something important. We both had that much, at least.
It was twilight when I crossed the bridge to Dauphin Island, the sky near dark, the western horizon painted with crimson. Pulling to my house, I saw Clair on my deck, standing at the railing and watching a flight of pelicans skim the foam at the surf line.
Three hours had passed and I was surprised she’d stayed. I parked, hobbled upstairs, moved straight through the house to the deck. She turned from the railing as I stepped outside, the night breeze rippling over her white sundress, her arms bare. She pushed a tousle of dark hair from her eyes as I crossed the deck.
“I’m surprised to see you here, Clair.”
“You’ve been running, going to meetings, dodging the press. I haven’t had a chance to see you alone, to tell you that…I was so afraid…”
She began blinking away tears and I drew her close. Her head leaned against my chest and the rising moon drew a white line across the water. I suddenly knew the length and breadth of her existence as fully as I knew my own, felt her heart in my chest and my breath in her lungs, as if we had lost our boundaries. The world shivered and eased to a stop. Everything became still and peaceful and silent.
“Clair?” I said.
She leaned her head back, her eyes both frightened and expectant. Her lips were parted. I pulled her close and pressed my lips to hers. It started as a chaste kiss, blossomed into something more. Long seconds passed before she leaned away, her hands on my shoulders, her eyes damp, her head shaking.
“What?” I said.
“We can’t be doing this, Carson. We just can’t.”
“Tell me why.”
“First off, I’m forty-four, you’re…you’re-”
I put my finger over her lips and smiled. “I’m thirty-three, Clair. Forty-four and thirty-three. That adds up to, what? Seventy-seven. Which averages out to, uh, help me here…”
“Thirty-eight and some.”
I said, “So what’s your gripe against two thirty-eight-year-olds kissing?”
I waited for her answer.
