“Me?” Mina felt her stomach twist with nerves. “What can I do? They’ll be on their way here to get me next.”
“Tell them he slipped. Tell them I didn’t kill him.”
Mina nodded without saying anything, her mind racing through the events of that terrible evening. “It was an accident.”
“Of course it was an accident. We panicked. It was stupid to try and hide that I was there. To take the dogs. It was all so stupid. I knew it when you suggested it but my mother had been bugging me to ask you for one and I thought—”
“You gave one to your mother?”
“I know, I know. It’s just…she’s good at putting the guilt trip on me.”
“For what? What did you ever do to her?”
“She said she was rushing home to be with me when—”
“She was drunk. Did you make her to drink and drive, too?”
“Yes. Probably. It isn’t easy being a single mother. And then I didn’t visit her in prison for years...”
“Kimber would have kicked you out of the house if you’d gone to see her. Did you tell her that?”
Lyndsey sighed. “I know. Yes. I told her.”
“How dare she?” Mina could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.
“I can’t go there right now. I need you to get me out of here. I don’t know how long I can talk.”
“Yes. You’re right. Of course. I need to figure out what I’m going to tell them. You know you’re not allowed to be upstairs. Why were you up there? And don’t give me that cock and bull about wanting to see the puppies either. All the litters we’ve had since you’ve been here and you haven’t asked to go see them since the very first time.”
“He asked me to come up.”
Mina jerked back her head so fast something in her neck twanged. She slapped her hand to her neck and rubbed the spot. The idea of Kimber inviting the girl to his sanctuary refused to compute. “He wouldn’t—”
“He did. He wanted to talk to me.”
Lyndsey’s tone grew hard and Mina suffered a pang of something she couldn’t place.
Jealousy?
“Talk to you about what?”
Lyndsey paused before continuing, “I can’t say. I don’t want to talk about it yet.”
“You don’t want to say?” Mina heard the screechy tone of her own voice and looked behind her to see if the girls were watching. They weren’t. She moved farther down the porch and away from the front door, just in case. Usually, if one of the twins didn’t have her nose in her business, the other did. It was like being watched by a pair of owls. Or those little girls in The Shining…
“How am I going to get you out of prison if you won’t tell me why you were up there?”
“I can’t. It might make things worse.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Mina swallowed. “He didn’t try to…you know…”
“No!”
Mina could tell by the shock and horror in Lyndsey’s voice that she’d barked up the wrong tree. Thank God. “I had to ask. He wasn’t right in his mind.” She opened her mouth and then shut it again, deciding against telling her that Kimber had grabbed her butt just a week or two before he died. No sense telling people about his shame. He didn’t know what he was doing.
“I know. Just come be my alibi. Tell the police it was an accident and you saw it happen. Tell them you were there.”
“But I wasn’t. Not when he fell.”
“But that doesn’t matter. You know I didn’t kill him. Tell them you told me to take the dogs.”
“What do the dogs have to do with it?”
“They’ve got me for stealing the dogs, too. They think I killed him to steal the dogs.”
“Why would you kill Kimber for a litter of puppies?”
“They’re show dogs. They think it’s about money, even though I gave them away.”
“That’s right. You passed them out all over that neighborhood. I’ll never understand why you did that.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Well, not give one to your mother for starters.”
Lyndsey released a little scream. “Stupid, stupid, stupid. That’s how they caught me. That’s why they think I killed him.”
Mina took a deep breath and expelled it. “I’m afraid.”
“Of what?”
“If I tell them I found you there that night, they’ll make me an accessory or something. They’ll be wondering why I didn’t say something sooner.”
“So you’re going to let me go to jail for murder?”
“That’s just it.” Mina paused to chew on her lip. “You didn’t kill him.”
“I know. That’s what I need you to tell them.”
“No, you don’t understand. He was still alive.”
“What?”
“When you left with the puppies, I went into his bedroom and he wasn’t dead.” Mina whispered the last two words. She wasn’t sure why.
“But he was dead. We both saw him.”
“I know. But then he wasn’t. I opened the front window and called out and tried to catch you but you didn’t hear me. I ran downstairs to get my phone to call nine-one-one. I saw Payne. I didn’t want to upset her, so I talked to her for a bit and let her know it was no big deal—”
“No big deal?”
“I didn’t want her to worry. But I took too long or—” Mina stopped to catch her breath. With every word of her story it felt as though her chest grew tighter. “I ran back upstairs but by the time I got there he was dead.” A racking sob rose in her throat. “I should have stayed with him. Maybe he would have lived if I’d stayed with him and done something.”
Lyndsey groaned. “I should have called nine-one-one instead of freaking out and hiding when I heard you coming.
