Chapter Twenty-Three
Butch raced past his father to the front of the tractor to see the pile of bloodied, black fur. Butch rested a hand on the big head. The dog panted heavily as he lay still.
“I never saw him.” John’s hand shook as he reached to the tractor, needing the support to steady his shaking legs.
“You didn’t do it. He’s been shot. Help me get Chubsy up on the tractor. Dad, listen to me. You need to get out of here. Trudy has been the one behind the accidents, behind the murders. She has Kate somewhere.”
John suddenly looked old to Butch, unsteady. “Not Trudy.”
“I know. The world has gone crazy. Help me.” Together, they lifted the dog onto the deck of the tractor. He yelped in pain but didn’t fight them.
“Why?” John wiped a hand across his forehead. “For God’s sake, why?”
“That’s the first thing I’m going to ask when I find them. I sent Mom to the Reverend’s. Get Chubsy to the vet. Please.”
Butch jumped into the back of the truck and held on again to the light bracket to get a better view across the field. He slapped on the top of the cab. “There, Jeb. The hay is matted down. There’s a trail. I’m going to follow it.”
“There’s something in the road ahead.” Jeb brought the truck to a stop “It’s a golf cart.”
Butch leaned into the little window as Jeb scanned back and forth with binoculars. “It’s Trudy. She was showing it off this morning. Do you see her anywhere?”
Jeb scanned slowly to the left and then the right, stopping at the pond. “She’s on the fishing pier.”
“Kate?”
“I don’t see her, so I can’t be sure.” Jeb pulled the strap over his neck. “We’ll leave the truck here. You follow the trail and hope to God it leads to Kate. I’ll work my way in from the side.”
Butch followed the trail of matted hay as it cut across the field. He studied the ground. There were no footprints, no boot prints, but he caught the impression of hands and deeper gouges. She was crawling.
The trail brought him back out to the road near the pond. Trudy sat on the edge of the pier with her feet in the water. He stayed low, hidden by the tall grass, but could find no sign of Kate. Over the pounding of his heart, Butch heard Trudy singing one of the love songs he had written. Her blond hair, hanging freely down her back, swayed as she rocked to the rhythm.
Butch took a deep breath. It took every ounce of his self-control not to rail at her for Kate’s location. That wouldn’t help anyone. Butch looked around but didn’t see Jeb. He took another deep breath.
“Hey, Trudy. Enjoying the day?” He fought to keep his voice light.
“I enjoy every day, Butchy. Did you and Miss Kate have a nice talk?”
Butch shook his head. “She wasn’t at work. You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”
Trudy stood and walked around the edge of the pier, keeping her eyes on the water. “Now that you mention it, she did stop by our house. We had a nice cup of coffee, but she left in a hurry. She went to have a chat with your daddy. ”
“My house,” Butch said. “The one I share with Kate.”
Trudy waved her hand dismissingly. “I’ll never understand what you see in her. She can’t keep a house. She can’t cook, she can’t dress. She’s a social disaster. What kind of wife would she be for you?”
“She wouldn’t be the kind of wife you would be?”
Trudy stood facing Butch, only the width of the pier between them. “That’s right, Butch. That’s exactly right.”
“I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where Kate is, we get her out of here healthy and strong, and I’ll marry you.” Butch held out his hand to Trudy.
Trudy beamed at him. Sunlight danced in her hair, and her eyes were glassy with happiness. She took a step toward Butch and saw him take a half-step back.
He swallowed hard, holding his eyes fixed on her.
“You’re lying. You’re lying, Butch McCormick. Shame on you!” Trudy pulled the gun from her pocket and raised her arm to his heart.
A streak of red shot out from the bush and hit Trudy. Trudy landed near the walking path, Kate in the middle of the pier. Trudy bounded to her feet, angry. Kate staggered, stumbling as she tried to gain her feet.
“Katie!” Butch lunged at her and caught her around the hips. She fell against him as he pulled her to her feet. “Are you hurt?”
Trudy stood on the pier with the gun firmly focused on Kate. “Get away from him. He’s mine. You heard him.”
“She drugged me. She put something in my coffee.” Kate couldn’t stand. She staggered like a drunk and repeatedly blinked, widening her eyes until Butch could see all the whites around her foggy, blue pools. “I can’t find Chubsy. He was with me before.”
“Stay behind me.” Desperate, Butch shoved her behind him.
“She drugged me,” Kate said again, leaning her head between his shoulder blades. “The world is spinning. Get out of here, Butch.”
“Shut up, Kate. Do what I say. Hold on to me, and don’t let go.” Butch put her hands on his hips to steady her. He couldn’t move, not without exposing Kate, and he wasn’t doing that. He needed to stall until Jeb arrived. “Trudy, the deal was Kate leaves here healthy and in one piece. Then I’ll get down on my knee and ask you properly.”
Trudy paced and sweat broke out on her brow. She licked her lips, looking at Butch from the tops of her eyes.
The gun didn’t waver as Trudy walked around the pier, her steps jerky and coltish. Butch tried to stand his ground, but Kate kept falling over, and he had to move to keep his body in front. Butch didn’t think Trudy would shoot him, but his every instinct said if he stepped away from Kate, she would be dead.
“Katie. I need you to stand still.”
“I am.” Kate swayed and took another step to her right.
Butch pulled on her left hand until he felt her along the centerline of his body. “Wrap your arms around me.”
Trudy railed as Kate’s hands wrapped around his chest. “She shouldn’t be touching you like that!”
“She’s sick, Trudy. You know she is.”
“Get away from her, Butch. I mean it. We’re officially engaged, and I won’t put up with any woman putting her hands on you.”
Butch held his hand out, palms up. “You have always taken care of me, haven’t you, Trudy?”
“Damned right, I have.”
“You took care of Angie for me, didn’t you?”
Trudy snarled at Butch. “She was making a fool out of you, and you just let her. She begged money out of you to buy those tits and then showed them off to any man that smiled her way. You didn’t see them, laughing at you in the bar.”
“I don’t care what people think, Trudy. Not like that. Is that what happened with Fawn?”
“Did you see what she did to me? The pictures on the internet were horrible! She deserved what she got. You never thanked me, you know. Not that I expected it but, honestly, what she would have cost you.”
“I’m thanking you now, Trudy.”
“It was all so easy. Fawn walked right up to the front door and then let me drive her rental car. She called me her redneck chauffer. She isn’t laughing now. And I knew the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. I used her work truck.” Trudy leaned around Butch, yelling at Kate. “I had to work hard to drag Fawn’s skinny butt over to that wall. Why couldn’t you just GO HOME? After being arrested for murder, any sensible person would leave. But not you. You. Stayed. Right. Here.” She stomped with each word, the wood vibrating beneath her feet. “Butch finally dumps you, and you still came back. Don’t you care that he kissed up to that slut Abbey McNeil?”
Kate’s head bounced off his shoulder. “The picture, Butch. She must have sent the picture.”
Butch drew Trudy’s attention back to him. “What about Hyde, Trudy? What did our friend do?”
“He found that bitch’s hotel key in my car. He wanted to know who I was sleeping with. I
tried to get it back, but he said he was going to give it to Jeb to dust for fingerprints. Then he fell.”
Butch felt like he’d been hit with a sledgehammer. “Good Lord, Trudy. Hyde is like our brother.”
“Ask her about your other wife,” Kate said.
“Tessa? Did you have anything to do with Tessa’s accident?”
Trudy lifted her chin. “I had to stop her. You were letting her take advantage of you, just like Angie always did. That’s your problem. You’re just too nice. Lucky for you…you have me.”
“I have to agree with you, Trudy.” Jeb stepped into the road. His eyes were flat, that of a predator, as he held the gun trained on Trudy. “Put the gun down.”
Trudy stomped her foot in a show of temper. “I’m the one in control. You put your gun down, Jebediah, or I’ll shoot Butch.”
“You don’t want to do that, Trudy. You love Butch. We all know you’ve loved him for a long time. Tell him. Isn’t it about time you told him?”
Tears filled Trudy’s eyes and raced down her face. She blinked hard. “I love you, Butch. I’ve loved you since Bobby Willard knocked the ice cream cone out of my hand and it splattered on the ground. Do you remember? I was sitting on the swing crying. I had to save for a long time for that ice cream. Then you came over with a double scoop.”
“I remember,” Butch said. “It was a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate with sprinkles. I didn’t know which you liked, so I got you both. And who didn’t like sprinkles?”
“You swept me off my feet. I never had nobody do something that nice for me. My daddy always said I was nothing. He was wrong. I showed him he was wrong. And so did you. You always did nice things for me. That’s how I knew you loved me. I’ve been waiting for you to come home and realize it was me you needed all along.”
Butch’s gaze darted between Jeb and Trudy. He looked for some sign from his brother on what he should do.
Jeb kept his eyes on Trudy. “Butch does love you. That much is true.”
Trudy’s brows came together in exquisite agony. “He doesn’t. But he could,” she said softly. Then she hardened. “If it wasn’t for her.”
Trudy jerked her head back to Butch as Kate lost her balance and fell beyond the shelter he provided. Trudy pulled the trigger.
Butch dove to the right to shield Kate’s body. A searing pain shot through his arm, and he pushed back, throwing himself and Kate into the pond. Butch went under, and the cold water stole his breath before he came back to his senses. He came up shouting for Jeb. “Where’s Kate?”
The pop of the handgun had been echoed by the shot fired by Jeb. The bullet flew true. Trudy had collapsed to the wooden decking. In silence, the decades-old ache in Trudy’s heart finally stopped.
Kate dug her fingers into Butch’s chest, but still the world spun. She flew. She closed her eyes against the dizzy array of blues and whites that swirled around her. Then the cold engulfed her. She opened her eyes to a murky, colorless world. She tried to kick her feet, but couldn’t tell down from up. She was exhausted. Simply too tired to care. She stopped fighting and drifted to sleep.
Kate’s face stung as if bitten by a wasp. She rolled her head to escape. A quick sting hit the other cheek. Then another. Kate flailed her hands in front of her, protection from the invasion.
From far away a voice called her name.
Then it came closer.
“Come on, Katie. Open your eyes.”
She tried to answer but couldn’t remember how.
Butch stroked back her hair and kissed her lips. “Please, honey. Open those beautiful eyes for me.”
Her lashes fluttered. “Butch?”
Her voice was weak and breathy, but he heard it. “That’s right, baby. It’s Butch. Open your eyes and look at the man you’re going to marry. Jeb’s calling the preacher. He’s going to meet us at the hospital.” He dug in his pocket and then slid the promise back in place.
Kate rolled her head side-to-side and forced her eyes to open. “Want a dress.”
Butch looked down at her with tears of joy in his eyes. “Then you’ll have a dress. We’ll have an old-fashioned wedding right here at the house we’re going to build.”
The EMTs rolled a stretcher onto the pier. Butch held her head as she was lifted onto the cushion.
Kate frowned, her brows pressed together in confusion. “Where are we going?”
“To the hospital, honey. You just rest, everything is going to be fine.” Butch let go of her hand as they rolled her into the ambulance. He went to where Jeb crouched over Trudy’s body. Jeb’s face was an unreadable mask, but Butch felt Jeb’s loss as real as his own. “You tried to get her to shoot you.”
Jeb nodded. “Didn’t work. I didn’t think she would shoot you.”
“She didn’t. I just got in the way.” Butch looked down at his arm. “It’s not much more than a scratch. I’m sorry you had to do that. I’m sorry you had to be the one to stop her.”
Jeb looked down at Trudy’s face, so serene in death it was hard to believe what she was in life. “Yep. I’m sorry, too, for all the good that does any of us.” Jeb walked away from the body.
Something about it felt to Butch like Jeb walked away from him, too. Butch rubbed his throbbing arm as he walked to the ambulance. “Clyde, if that’s what you think, you’ve got another think coming.” He climbed into the ambulance, sat, and took Kate’s hand in his. “Now about this wedding…”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The October sun shone down on the happy couple as they stood under the arbor and exchanged their vows. In Kate’s mind, she’d been married to Butch for nearly four months now, but if he wanted a fancy party, who was she to deny him? He was handsome in a charcoal suit that matched his eyes. Kate’s fingers itched to slip through his wild, untamed hair.
She looked around the courtyard of their home, the one they had built together. Today it was filled with family and friends. Kate cried when her father and uncle walked her down the aisle. She felt the tear on her father’s cheek as he kissed her and put her hand in Butch’s for the keeping. Tom stoically took on the role as her “man of honor.” She had persuaded him by telling him there was no one she would want to stand for her except him. When she promised he wouldn’t be in a dress or have to do the “girly” things, he had agreed, nearly breaking her ribs when he hugged her.
Jeb stood somberly next to Butch. At Kate’s smile, he winked and smiled back, taking years off of his face. Trudy’s death had cost Jeb, and he was working off the debt. He left the sheriff’s department and started a security firm with Butch’s agent, Landon Finch. Chameleon Securities had kept Jeb busy traveling over the past few months, but Butch made sure his brother knew where his home was. Butch had pushed to get Jeb’s wing done first. They had locked themselves in Jeb’s office for a whole afternoon. When they came out, they went to his rooms, and by that evening, Jeb was home.
While the Reverend Marcus’s voice droned on, Kate looked around her and was overcome with love. John and Emily had signed over the old house to Butch, Jeb, and Kate, ensuring their sons would stick this time. One of Emily’s dogs had given birth to a litter of puppies, the largest of which looked the picture of his father, Chubsy. Taylor, the broad-chested black Lab pup, leaned against Kate with unfailing fidelity. At four months old, he was over thirty pounds of unconditional love that rarely left her side. Chubsy sat on her foot, tail wagging. The limp the vet said he would have the rest of his life slowed him down, but he didn’t seem to mind leaving the running for the younger dogs. Hyde sat in the front row, laughing, with his arm around Nurse Betty. They had their own date set for the spring. The Cicada building was open for business, and CEO Chuck Allen had become a local celebrity with his outreach for women. He just signed the papers to have Kate and Tom design a distribution center for him in a distressed county that wanted the jobs every bit as much as Cicada needed workers.
Kate was happy beyond her wildest dreams. And right there in the middle of the ceremony,
well before the “I do’s,” Kate rose on her toes, and kissed Butch on the mouth.
Butch wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. The guests giggled and hollered while Butch tucked Kate under his shoulder and proceeded to marry her. She wept with joy as Butch slid his ring over the finger of her manicured hand and proudly put her ring on him.
Under a painted sky, rich with red and orange and dappled with cotton-candy clouds, Kate laughed as Jeb spun her in a circle and brought her back against his hard body.
“Clyde, this is Tennessee, not West Virginia. You can’t be making a move on your sister, and that’s exactly what she is now that I married her.” Butch grabbed Kate by the waist and spun her in a circle.
A thin smile crossed Jeb’s face and lit his eyes for a quick moment. “Clyde, that’s just sick.” The phone in his pocket vibrated. Jeb absently pulled it out to check the text message. He frowned.
“What is it?” Butch asked.
“An old friend. I have to take this.” Jeb left the couple to their guests and disappeared into the lower level of the east wing of the house as the band took a break and Butch’s latest CD was put on.
Butch pulled Kate tight against him. “You’re too good for me. Four top-ten songs all inspired by you.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “You could write some nice ones about me. ‘Stinkball Shotgun?’”
“That’s a nice song about a girl who gets what she wants. It’s especially popular in Texas, I hear.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “What about ‘In the Hay Loft?’ And ‘Chicken Surprise’ is definitely not nice.”
A voice behind Butch cleared. “Do you think an old man can get a dance with his best girl?”
Butch spun Kate and saw Jeb sneak out of the courtyard. “Absolutely.” Butch delivered Kate into her father’s hands, kissed his wife, and went after this brother.
“Sneaking out of my wedding? You know there isn’t going to be a next one. You miss this one, you’re out of luck.” The wind blew Butch’s long curly hair around his face.
Lost in Tennessee Page 36
