Stepmother? Jesus. He wished his dad had bothered to remarry. ‘Well, um, ma’am, I had information for him on a case. It’s kind of private.’
‘Ah. He was here but went to the courthouse. His office is on the first floor. If the building’s not open you could knock on his window. Fifth window on the left from the entrance. If he’s not there he’s probably with his girlfriend.’
‘Thank you, ma’am.’ Alex let Irina Mosley live and headed for the courthouse. He waited for forty minutes, running the AC in the Taurus until he saw Whit Mosley come out of the courthouse, run – in this heat, running – to a white Ford Explorer and get in and roar off. He pulled out after him, staying two cars back, blending in with the busy summer weekend traffic.
The judge had driven past the old marina, an old, for-sale television studio, the high school auditorium. Like he was checking out real estate to buy. Following him was becoming more difficult if not impossible. He was looking for something and he wasn’t getting out of his car where Alex could grab him and run. He was hanging so far back he was not always keeping Whit Mosley in sight, worried he would be noticed, and finally the judge turned around and drove through Port Leo and north toward Black Jack Point. Alex followed.
Next to him on the car seat, his cell phone rang. Alex kept his eye on Whit’s car. ‘Hello?’
‘Hello, asshole,’ Gooch said. ‘Want to deal?’
35
‘We need to talk,’ Whit said. Lucy lay across Patch’s fat leather couch, a cool cloth on her forehead, a bottle of aspirin and an opened can of ginger ale on the floor.
‘Okay.’ She didn’t open her eyes.
‘About you and Stoney Vaughn.’
She didn’t open her eyes, but she folded her hands across her stomach.
‘Lucy, Jesus, look at me.’
She opened her eyes, turned her head.
‘You know him.’ He kept his voice steady.
‘Yeah.’
‘You knew Stoney was hiding at a fishing cottage.’
A long silence. ‘Did he turn himself in?’
‘No. Gooch has him.’
Now she sat up. ‘Has him?’
‘Stashed somewhere,’ he said. ‘Gooch grabbed him. He’s using him to get at the guy who killed Patch and Thuy. Gooch found him by following you.’
‘Shit,’ Lucy said.
‘This Alex guy. Do you know him, know his real name?’ She hesitated and Whit said quietly, ‘Answer me, Lucy, right now.’ Christ, who are you? he thought.
She raised her chin. ‘Don’t speak to me that way.’
‘You knew who killed Patch. And you said nothing.’
‘No, baby, I didn’t know. Not when it happened. I found out later.’
‘You sure know how to keep a secret,’ he said. ‘That’s a new one.’
‘I did it to protect you,’ she said. Now she tossed the washcloth on the floor.
‘Protect me. You’re one great shield, Lucy. You’ve just destroyed my career. Everything your cousin said about me in the paper today is going to be considered holy writ. You lied to me, to the police.’ Whit stopped, sat down. ‘Forget being a judge. I could care less. You’ve destroyed us. We’re done. That’s a thousand times worse.’
She reached for him; he moved away from her, as though her touch might scald. ‘I said nothing because I didn’t know for sure. And I knew if I came forward I’d lose you.’
‘You’ve lost me. Jesus, you thought I’d stay with you?’
‘So much for true love.’ Her jaw quivered but her eyes were dry. ‘I love you, Whit. That’s why I did this. Stoney came to me when Patch wouldn’t sell the land to him. Said he’d buy my land. I didn’t even know about the treasure he wanted to move. But before the dig, he told me. Wanted me to be sure Patch was out of town. I was scared he’d do something to me if I said anything.’
‘Right.’
‘I gave Thuy and Patch that trip to Port Aransas to get them gone. Baby, I didn’t know he’d changed his will. I swear. I swear, Whitman.’
‘This isn’t a courtroom.’
‘Yes, it is. It’s the court of Whit and you’re judge, jury, and executioner.’
‘Who killed them?’
She swallowed. ‘Stoney says Alex.’
‘Jimmy Bird?’
‘Alex, probably.’
‘The coins in Jimmy’s pocket?’
‘They’re not Patch’s. I guess they’re from the dig. I guess Jimmy swiped them and Alex didn’t know it.’
‘Where is Alex?’
‘Stoney… he told me where he was hiding. I went to the cottage with Patch’s gun. Ready to kill him for what he’d done. But I couldn’t just shoot him, not even him, in cold blood. He asked me to shoot Alex. Alex knows about you, was there when you came to Stoney’s house. I followed Alex to the Surfside Motel. He’s staying there, at least he was.’ She stared at him. ‘I thought of killing him. Make it look like a random shooting. I even knocked on his door in the night, just shoot him and run. Nothing to connect me with him. Because he might hurt you. But I chickened out. I’m… scared.’
He saw she was: rough, tough Lucy, breaking under the weight. He wanted to hold her, wanted to scream at her. His chest felt like it might explode. ‘Where is this gun?’
‘In my purse.’
He went to the purse, pulled out the gun with a tissue, checked the bullets, put on the safety, stuck it into the back of his pants.
‘You running around with a gun.’ He shook his head. ‘Is there anything else I should know, Lucy?’
‘I love you.’
He covered his eyes with his hands.
‘I love you, too. I did… why did you do this?’
‘I thought I was doing the right thing.’
‘For you. Screw Patch. Screw Thuy.’
‘If I turned on Stoney, I was afraid of what would happen to you.’ She crossed her arms. Tell me something, Whit, you being all high and mighty. You say Gooch grabbed Stoney. Have you called the police?’
‘No. I have reason to think Stoney went voluntarily with him.’
‘Reason to think.’ Her voice went low, angry, ‘Bullshit. Stoney wouldn’t. Don’t tell me that lunatic Gooch gets a free pass and I don’t?’
‘This isn’t a double standard.’
‘The hell it’s not. You lecture me, you tell me that we’re done, that loving each other doesn’t make a fucking difference, but Gooch commits a kidnapping and you don’t turn his ass in?’
‘Fine. I’ll call the police right now.’ He picked up the phone. ‘I’ll tell them about you, too. This’ll make David Power’s day for the next year. Then I’ll resign and-’
She grabbed the phone from his hand. ‘Listen. I did this because I needed to make a lot of money, fast. I got debts, Whit, a lot of them. I didn’t want you to know-’
‘Just like David said.’
‘I didn’t want to beg for help, but I didn’t know all this would happen. I swear. Please.’ She put the phone back in its cradle; he let her. ‘Okay. Stoney might have gone with Gooch voluntarily. Stoney’s scared shitless of
