Killing the Secret

by Donna Welch Jones

  “So my son is alive and well?” Tye couldn’t contain the excitement in his voice.

  Carr’s eyes lit up. “That he is. A fine young man and the joy of my life.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Can’t say. He doesn’t know he was adopted or that he has a brother somewhere. You come in here, Tye, and start messing with his life and you’ll tarnish his past and ruin my future.”

  “I just needed to know that he was okay,” Tye said solemnly.

  Carr sounded irritated, “He’s fine as long as you stay out of his life.”

  “You’re an old man, Carr. Will he have any family when you die?”

  The man’s body stiffened. “Nope, he won’t.”

  “You’re willing to leave him alone in the world even though he has a mom, dad and brother?”

  “His mom and dad died.”

  “I know they were his parents. They were the ones who loved him and took care of him. But he still should know that he’s not alone in the world when you die.” Tye’s voice was an up and down ebb of emotion.

  “Maybe,” a deep choking sound came from Carr’s throat.

  Tye promised, ”I won’t say anything until after you die. I don’t want to hurt him—or you.”

  “He may not forgive me when he finds out I never told him the truth.”

  “Is he that kind of boy?” Tye asked.

  “No. He’d forgive me. I know he would.”

  The sound of an engine struggling up the hill filled the air with pops and rattles.

  An old red Ford truck pulled beside the house. A tall slim young man jumped out the door like a jack-in-the-box.

  “Tye Wolfe, this is my grandson, Adam,” Carr said the words apprehensively.

  Tye started to stand from the swing but his body wouldn’t rise. He felt the tears come to the surface of his eyes and his heartbeat became so rapid that he thought the organ would jump out of his chest.

  “Are you okay, Mr. Wolfe?” Adam sounded concerned.

  Tye nodded his head and managed to say, “Just started choking for some reason.”

  “Man you look pale. Gramps I know Tye. I’m always writing stories about the sheriff’s department for the paper.”

  “And good stories they are, my boy.”

  “I didn’t know you knew Gramps.” Adam patted the old guys’ shoulder.

  “My father knew him. I just came by today to see if I could talk him into selling one of his antique plows, but apparently they aren’t for sale.”

  “No, they’re each like one of my children. I need to keep them all here in my family.”

  Tye understood the double message. “I certainly understand that. If you ever change your mind, please call me…anytime.”

  Tye grabbed the swing chain and pulled himself up. “I better get a move on. Glad to see you again.” He grasped the young man’s hand in his for a few seconds.

  “You, too. I’ll be bugging you soon about another story.”

  “Bug away,” Tye smiled, then turned and walked in a daze to his truck.

  Tye looked through his front truck window as Adam helped Carr into the house. The boy’s arm was wrapped affectionately around the old man’s shoulder.

  Tye drove without noticing the bumps and curves. Pulling off the road at the bottom of the hill, he parked in a clearing surrounded by trees. His body was suddenly taken over by heaving sobs. It was a welcome release from the emotion of seeing his son for the first time. The upheaval left as quickly as it came. He sat without movement for an hour trying to figure out how to pretend that Adam wasn’t his son.

  Backing out of the clearing, he decided to go by Jamie’s to see how her search was unfolding. He wasn’t going to tell her what he’d discovered. He and Jamie had agreed that they just needed to know if their son was well and loved. These two things he could confirm without telling her the whole truth.

  Tye knocked impatiently on Jamie’s door. No long conversations, he just wanted in and out. There was a chance there would be no talk at all, since he blew up at the school.

  Jamie swung the door open wide. “Did you find out anything?” she eagerly asked. When Tye hesitated, she said, “Come on in.” They ended up on opposite ends of the sofa.

  “I found out that Carr’s daughter did adopt our son and he is alive and well.”

  “Where is he? When can we see him?” Jamie’s excitement lit up her face.

  “Carr didn’t tell me. He doesn’t want us to mess up the boy’s life. I told him that we only needed to know that he has a good life.”

  “But I want to see him,” Jamie begged.

  “I promised Carr that I wouldn’t disrupt the boy’s life if he’d tell me the truth, and I won’t.” Tye changed the subject, “What did your Aunt Chelsea say?”

  “She said that attorney, Thomas, left town about fifteen years ago and no one has heard from him since. She knew nothing about who ended up with the babies. Both of them went out of state, she thought, but she wasn’t sure about that either.”

  “Sounds like a dead end.” Tye suddenly felt exhausted. “We’ll look until we find out he’s okay too.”

  “What next?”

  “As soon as the reunion is over, we’ll search for Thomas.” Tye promised. “He’s the only link we have with our boy.”

  “Didn’t Carr say anything else about our son? What he looks like? What he likes to do?”

  “No. He just wanted us to stay out of his life. Our son was never told he was adopted, or a twin.” Tye quickly ended the conversation. “I need to get home. I’ll phone.” He gave her a quick kiss and escaped before Jamie’s questions resumed.

  Emotions bubbled up in his head: guilt, joy, sadness, happiness, pride, fear, regret. He wasn’t capable of putting a name on what he was going through after this day of meeting his son and telling half-truths to Jamie.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Lexie was tired of making phone calls. It was unbelievable how many people were associated in some way with the girls’ basketball team. Of course, people had died and probably a third moved away. She’d decide whether or not she needed to hunt them down after she interviewed the thirty-two locals Delia had scheduled over the next three days.

  “Go home, Delia. It’s been tedious with one phone call after another.”

  “You talked me into it.” Delia didn’t hesitate to get up from her chair, but once started her body didn’t seem to want to move. “I’m stiff as I can be. This gettin’ old is for the birds.”

  “You just sat too long,” Lexie assured her.

  “I’ll be here tomorrow bright and early,” Delia said as she limped toward the door.

  “Neither bright, nor early, sound very good to me,” Lexie joked.

  Alone, Lexie made a list of questions for her potential witnesses. Five o’clock quickly moved to nine. She concluded that if she spent one minute longer sitting that she’d take out a gun and shoot her old chair.

  The sound at first was a rustling, like an animal by the back door, but then it became more intense. Her body ramped to survivor mode.

  Sliding from her chair, she sank to the floor behind the desk. Her chest heaved as she pulled her gun from its holster. Has the murderer gotten so anxious to kill me that he’ll risk coming into town?

  A sound became human babble with an occasional “damn” thrown in. The back door flung open and drunken Clay lost his balance and stumbled to the floor.

  Lexie rose with her gun drawn. “You know, I should just shoot you. A drunk deputy is useless to a sheriff’s department.”

  Dirty blonde curls camouflaged his vision and he showed no awareness of her gun or words.

  “Crawl over to the cell,” she ordered, then pushed him in the right direction.

  He lumbered, bent over, toward the cot then fell sideways onto its surface.

  “This will keep you, and the public, safe for tonight.” The bang of the cell door didn’t faze him.

  The calmness of her drive home was a welcome reprieve f
rom her long day and her liquored up deputy. Later, as she lay in bed, she remembered the fear Clay’s sounds had provoked in her. Somehow, she’d managed to brush aside the fact that someone wanted her dead. Fearful, she checked the door locks one more time then returned to bed. Her hand reached under the pillow beside her. The comforting shape of her gun gave her confidence.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Lexie’s phone beat her alarm in waking her. She heard Clay’s bellowing behind the clear sound of Tye’s voice.

  “Sis, Clay would like to get out of jail unless, of course, you’re putting him in for life, which I have no argument with.”

  “You can let him go. I assume he’s sobered up enough to drive.”

  “Yes, but he’s madder than a wet hornet.”

  “He’ll get over it, and he’s certainly welcome to quit.”

  Tye laughed. “A message I’m pleased to pass on. When will you be in?”

  “Around eight. See you then.”

  Lexie’s mind clicked off the plans for her day. The reunion was only ten days away. She needed to figure out who the murderer was before the reunion. Keeping Jamie, Beth, Loretta, and Mariah alive was a frightening responsibility. The murderer would be just one more town visitor.

  Today, tomorrow, and Friday would be spent interviewing. She would be talking to Jamie’s father, Jim, and Mariah’s father. Sean was probably going to be the most interesting conversation. Hopefully, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation test results would be in soon and she’d have more information before her interrogations.

  Parking the patrol car at the rear of the building, she entered through the back door. Gary King was already seated across from Tye. She’d purposely scheduled him first so that she wouldn’t have to spend the day dreading the interview. Gary glanced up and nodded. At least he’s not lunging toward my throat.

  “Have you found out anything to help find Abbey’s killer?” Gary said wearily.

  “We have clues, but so far they don’t add up to an answer,” Lexie answered with a frown. “I’m telling you something that I ask you not to tell anyone else. Heather left a message saying an old friend from high school was coming to see her. That was the morning she died. I believe the killer was a member of your senior class. That’s why Abbey felt safe meeting him, or her. We know that Loretta, Jamie, and Mariah had pasts that they didn’t want anyone to learn about. Did you hear rumors when you were at school? Did Abbey ever tell you anything about them?”

  “Abbey didn’t like some of their personalities but she never said they’d done anything bad. What did they do?”

  “We can’t let that out yet,” Tye answered.

  “If you’re through with me, I need to get to work.”

  Tye rose to shake his hand. Gary turned to avoid contact with Lexie.

  The rest of the morning was one person after another who claimed to know nothing about any problems of the team members. No one admitted to despising any of them, or knowing anyone who did.

  Before the trail of witnesses commenced at one o’clock, Lexie sent Delia and Tye off to get some lunch.

  “Bring me a hamburger and…” Lexie began her order but stopped when the phone rang. She waved them out the door.

  “This is Bryce from OSBI. I thought you’d be anxious to know that the prints on the tube didn’t match any of the prints you sent us. The ones that Interpol sent on Mariah Haverty didn’t match either. Also, the print didn’t match any of the criminals we have on file. No DNA on the lip gloss. It was probably never used.”

  “I appreciate the heads up.”

  “Should make it some easier for you. At least you can rule out those four women. When you get other prints to us, I’ll have the other results to you quick,” Bryce promised.

  “Sure does help. Thanks.” That was a lie. She hung up the phone. She had nothing and it was looking more and more like the lip gloss didn’t even belong to the murderer.

  Tye returned with a hamburger and fries instead of her hoped-for salad.

  “OSBI just phoned. If that lip gloss actually belonged to the killer, then Loretta, Jamie, Mariah, and Beth are in the clear.”

  “What else?”

  “Oh, Interpol sent Mariah’s fingerprints to Bryce. Of course, there was no DNA dating that far back. But we do have a hair I pulled off her brush.”

  “I hope something breaks in the next couple of days,” Tye said gravely. “We’re going to be ‘up a creek without a paddle’ as Grandpa used to say.”

  “I’m going to go talk to Jim and Sean while you interview some more of your high school gang.” Lexie smiled faintly at the prospect of escaping the office.

  Tye grumbled, “Thanks so much Sheriff Wolfe I was hoping I could sit here for a few more hours asking the same questions over and over to people who don’t have answers.”

  “Be optimistic, Deputy Wolfe. Maybe one of the next ten will remember something.”

  “Right, Sheriff. I should’ve let you quit the job when you threatened to.”

  “Too late big brother,” Lexie said with a laugh as she went out the door. She was thankful to be leaving the office and the repetitious questions behind.

  Jim was her first stop. Perhaps he was the friend from high school who Heather had mentioned. He was fifty-seven, but his tall lean body and head of curly brown hair helped him look ten years younger. Still the school basketball coach, she found him in a small office beside the locker room. Three 8 x 10 photos of basketball teams with statistics attached were lined up in front of him.

  Jim stood when Lexie entered and asked, “How’s it going?”

  “Not well, unfortunately. Jamie, Beth, Loretta, and Mariah are at risk and my clues just don’t fit together.”

  “I’ve tried to get Jamie to come stay with her mom and me, but she won’t do it. Keeps telling me she’s a big girl. What can I do for you?”

  “I need to be filled in on Jamie’s pregnancy.”

  Red tones crept into the lines on his face as he asked, “What pregnancy?”

  Lexie’s words were blunt, “You know—the twins. The ones you helped her get rid of.”

  “Don’t say it like that. They went to people who wanted them. Your brother knocked her up and he sure as hell wasn’t fit to be a father. There wouldn’t have been a scholarship or championship team if Jamie had kept those babies. She deserved her senior year.”

  “And you, Jim, did you deserve that Coach of the Year trophy?”

  He glared at her. “Yes, I did. What I did was for the best. Those babies were better off and so was Jamie.”

  “This makes you look bad, Jim. Giving away your grandbabies just doesn’t sound good. Who knew about the babies?”

  “Just the varsity players.”

  “Quite a coincidence those people are dying one by one.”

  The vein on Jim’s f0rehead popped up. “What are you implying?”

  She continued her push. “That you don’t want it to come out. You might not seem like such a great guy if people knew. Your wife might have wanted some grandchildren. That’s a motive for murder, for sure. Your image as a good husband and an outstanding coach would’ve been tarnished.

  His words were sparked with anger, “I couldn’t, and didn’t, hurt those girls! They were like daughters to me.”

  “I’d like a DNA sample and your fingerprints to prove you’re as innocent as you claim,” Lexie snarled.

  His forehead vein looked like it might pop. “Get what you need and get out. I don’t appreciate being considered a murder suspect.”

  Lexie put on her gloves and swabbed the inside of his cheek then got his fingerprints. The silence wasn’t broken during her tasks. She left without another word passing between them.

  Next was Sean. Hopefully, he wouldn’t keel over from a heart attack during the questioning.

  Sean was sitting on his front porch swing when she arrived. His gaze lifted from the hanging plant to Lexie’s face as she walked up the steps. The lines on his face seemed even more im
bedded than usual. His eyes drooped.

  “Help me, Sean. I can’t figure out what’s going on with these murders. I can’t live with myself if the other girls end up like Abbey.”

  Sean reached down and petted his dog which had inserted its head under the arm rail of the swing.”

  “Can’t help you with that,” Sean spoke slowly as if thinking it through.

  “Can’t or won’t?” Lexie kept her eyes on him as she sat down in a porch rocker.

  “What I think likely has nothin’ to do with the murders. Just and old man’s imaginings.”

  “But what if it does? Are you willing to risk your daughter’s life?” she asked gravely.

  “Don’t be hateful with an old man. I told you it’s imaginings, not facts.”

  “So Loretta’s abortion—is it a fact you arranged for her to have it?”

  His hand froze on the dog’s head.

  “It appears you have a secret, Sean, that would hurt your son-in-law’s presidential campaign. It doesn’t look good for a right-to-lifer candidate to have a father-in-law who planned an illegal abortion for a minor.”

  His breathing sounded raspy as he answered, “You don’t understand.”

  Lexie softened her tone, “Then help me, Sean.”

  “Loretta was irrational when she found out she was pregnant. Mariah told me the girl would kill herself if anyone found out. The town gossip would’ve ruined her and soiled the reputation of the whole team. You know how people gossip here, Lexie.”

  “Who was the father?”

  “They never said.”

  “Surely you have a guess, Sean.”

  “Mariah said he was from Tulsa.”

  Lexie probed, “Did you believe her?”

  Sean shook his head no.

  “Who did the abortion?”

  “A midwife in Little Rock.” Sean fingered a button on his flannel shirt.

  “Her name?” Lexie scooted her chair closer to the swing.

  “She said it was Savannah something, but I doubted it.”

  “Anyone help her?”

  “Don’t know. The girls and I waited in a restaurant across the street from the old motel where it was done.”