by Greg Iles
He could not know that Cole, while weak where his vices were concerned, had always been a rock about the big things. Friendship. Loyalty. Fatherhood. At his core, Cole-like Waters-had struggled to live up to the John Wayne/Henry Fonda images that their fathers had revered and tried hard to inculcate in their sons. Yes, Cole might sell a pumping unit for quick cash when he was in a bind. But what he had said at the country club still resonated. I’d go down with my legs broken and a bullet in my head before I’d do something to hurt you or your family. It might be naive, but Waters believed in the ultimate goodness of his best friend. If that was stupidity, he was willing to pay the price for it.
And Penn knew nothing of Lily beyond her public face. He could not know that before she had her miscarriages, Lily had been an attentive wife and lover, but not a gifted or accomplished one. Even if she were trying to convince Waters that she was Mallory reincarnated, Lily could never separate love and lust enough to handle him in the brutally physical manner that she had last night. It simply was not in her.
Across the cemetery, the dark knot of mourners began to break up and return to their cars. Gravediggers would soon lower Eve Sumner’s body into the ground. But whatever she really was-whatever made her Eve-had vacated her body three nights ago in the Eola Hotel, if not long before. Who was the woman he had made love to for two weeks? If he was right about Cole and Lily, the answer to that question was something no one would ever believe. Not Penn Cage. Not Tom Jackson. Not anyone who hadn’t lived through what Waters himself had. Not without proof.
“I have to know,” he said aloud. “Once and for all.”
The mourners’ cars pulled out of the cemetery like a slow train with a big black Cadillac hearse for a caboose. As he watched them go, Waters knew there was only one place he could go to get the answer he needed. Home.
Walking back toward his Land Cruiser, he glanced at his watch. It was 2:24 P.M. His heart stuttered. The sight of Eve’s burial had made him lose track of time. Annelise would be dismissed from school in six minutes. Lily could be waiting in line right now to pick her up.
“Jesus,” he whispered, and he broke into a run.
Chapter 15
Waters ran a red light and accelerated to sixty-five as fear poured like corrosive acid through his veins. He’d missed Annelise at school. One cell phone call to the elementary school office had determined that Rose had picked her up, and Rose’s cell phone wasn’t switched on. Which meant Annelise might already be home with Lily. The implications of this were almost more than he could stand. At the cemetery he’d decided he trusted his wife and his best friend. That meant there was no conspiracy to drive him crazy or frame him for murder. Which meant everything “Eve Sumner” had told him was true. He had never even met the real Eve, except perhaps in the panicked seconds before he lost consciousness in the hotel. Yet while he “slept,” his hands had strangled the life out of her, guided by the twisted soul of Mallory Candler. And now Mallory was alone with Annelise, hidden in Lily’s unsuspecting mind.
Waters turned onto State Street, stomped on the gas pedal, and rawhided the Land Cruiser through two lines of double-parked cars. His fear was not for Annelise alone. Right now, the real danger was to Lily. Penn’s comment about Lily’s resurgent sex drive echoed in his mind: Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Some men might think having Lily Waters and Mallory Candler in the same body was a gift from the gods, especially if you got Lily for the day shift and Mallory at night. It was the madonna-whore fantasy brought to life. Only Waters knew that this state of affairs would not last. Now that Mallory was this close to him, she would not be satisfied to coexist peacefully with Lily. Mallory Candler did not share. She would use all her power to control Lily, to dominate her, and finally to exterminate all trace of her from the body Mallory sought to inhabit.
Then the danger would shift to Annelise. For no matter what fantasies Mallory might have of domestic bliss, she would ultimately view Ana as a threat. A living reminder of Lily. And sooner or later, she would act to remove that threat. Just as she had removed Eve Sumner.
“Mallory killed Eve,” Waters said aloud.
He hit the brakes and swerved into his driveway, then tore up toward the house. Rose’s Saturn was still parked out front, and this brought him palpable relief. With Rose still here, he wouldn’t have to wait until Annelise went to bed to see Lily alone. He skidded to a stop by the front porch, shut off the engine, and ran inside.
“Daddy!” Annelise cried from the end of the hall. She was crossing between rooms with Pebbles in her arms.
“Hey, punkin!” he called, running to her and sweeping her up in his arms. “Where’s Rose?”
“Who’s running in my house?” bellowed Rose, coming into the hall. “I should have known. I’m glad you’re here, Mr. John. I need to go early today.”
“Where’s Lily?”
“She sleeping. She been tired most all day.”
Thank God. “Rose, is there any way you can stay an extra hour?”
The maid looked doubtful. “My sister needs me to stop off at the drugstore for her potassium.”
“Is it critical? I really need you, Rose.”
The black woman studied Waters’s face, then said, “I guess I could get my no-count nephew to get them pills. If his car’s running.”
“Thank you, Rose. Can you take Annelise outside and play for a few minutes? I’ll come join you before long.”
Rose nodded, her face creased with suspicion. “Come on, girl,” she said to Annelise. “Put that mangy old cat down and bring my cell phone out to the swing set.”
“Pebbles isn’t mangy,” Ana retorted, knowing Rose’s gibes were all in fun.
“Hmm,” Rose growled.
Ana darted into the kitchen for the cell phone, then ran for the back door. Rose followed slowly, her big hips swinging with patient determination.
As soon as she cleared the door, Waters walked back to the master bedroom and opened the door. Lily lay on her side beneath the covers, breathing deeply.
He walked over and started to touch her shoulder, then drew back his hand. What could he say? How could he know if Mallory or Lily was in control at any given moment? He couldn’t simply ask Lily if she was Mallory. If Lily awakened as herself, his words would confuse and even frighten her. And if she awakened as Mallory, she might simply lie. He closed the bedroom door, but before he could think of a sensible way to learn the truth, Lily rolled over and opened her eyes.
“John?” she said in a sleepy voice. “What are you doing home? What time is it?”
“I’m back from work, babe. It’s suppertime.”
She rubbed her eyes. “God…I must have slept all afternoon.”
He sat beside her on the bed. “Do you feel sick?”
“No, just…out of it. It’s weird, like jet lag or something. Where’s Ana?”
“Outside with Rose. I asked Rose to stay late.”
“Why? I’ll get up.”
“Not yet.” He leaned over her. “Do you remember what you did today?”
Lily nodded. “Yes, I…” She blinked several times, then looked blankly around the room. “I guess I don’t remember.”
Waters looked into his wife’s bewildered eyes. All his instincts told him Lily was herself now. But even if she were, what could he say to her? I think you’re possessed by the soul of my old lover? No, what he needed to do was bring Mallory to the surface. But how to make her reveal herself? Actions speak louder than words, said a voice in his head.
Lily threw aside the bedcovers and started to get up. Waters took hold of her shoulders and gently pushed her back down. “You don’t have to rush,” he said. “Annelise is fine with Rose.”
“I’m okay,” Lily assured him. “Really. I can get up.”
Waters laid the flat of his hand between her breasts and rubbed softly. “What if I don’t want you to get up?”
Her eyes widened in surprise.
“I’ve been thinking about last night,” he sai
d. “All day.”
After staring at him for a moment, Lily reached out and touched his thigh. “That feels good,” she said.
His fingers went to the buttons of her silk nightshirt and opened the top three. As he leaned down to her breasts, he felt her hands entwine in the hair behind his head. He kissed gently at first, but as the pink flesh swelled in his mouth, he withdrew his tongue and bit the nipple.
“Hey,” Lily protested. “Easy, okay?”
Waters murmured his assent, but he knew he would have to go further to awaken Mallory. For a while he caressed Lily’s breasts in the way she had always liked. Then he kissed his way up to her left ear. “I want you now,” he whispered. “Are you ready?”
Lily shifted her thighs, then made a sound low in her throat. “I think so.”
He unbuckled his belt and slipped off his pants. Lily took hold of his shirt and pulled him across her, then kissed his mouth. As she parted her legs, he touched her cheek and said, “I want to be behind you.”
Lily looked uncertain. “I want to see your face.”
“I know.” He shut his heart and focused on what he had to do. “But you know what I like.”
Confusion clouded Lily’s eyes, but after a few moments of reflection, she kissed him, then rolled over and got onto all fours. “Go slow,” she said. “I’m not that ready.”
Waters knelt behind her, rubbing and kissing her lower back. Lily remained still. Mallory would have arched her back, catlike, against his hand. He wasn’t sure exactly what to do next, but he knew in his soul that he was right. Given the right stimulus, Mallory would betray herself. She would be unable to resist. He slapped Lily on the rump, hard enough to sting.
“Ow,” she cried. “What was that for?”
“You know what I like.” He spanked her again. “What do you like?”
“I don’t like that.”
He slapped her once more, and harder. Lily tried to jerk away, but he grabbed her hips, thrust forward, and went between her thighs. She froze. Poised in this odd position, this confusion of desire and resistance, Waters felt something change. The flesh under his hands seemed to shiver, and then, as he watched in fascination, Lily looked back over her shoulder, her eyes glinting with excitement and anticipation.
“Oh, I know what you like,” she said, pressing her hips back against him. “And you know what I like. So do it.”
Waters was paralyzed. The consciousness glittering in those eyes belonged to a woman he had first made love to more than twenty years ago, before he even met his wife.
“Mallory?” he whispered.
She laughed then, a low, throaty sound, and her eyes filled with dark amusement. “When did you know?”
Waters could not find his voice. To look at his wife’s face and see no trace of her in it was more than he could endure. As he knelt with his mouth open, Lily reached between her legs and took hold of him.
Her touch jolted him like a defibrillator jolting a dead heart. He had accomplished part of his goal, but what he needed to do next, he could not do now. He threw himself off the bed, grabbed his pants, and ran for the hallway.
“Johnny!” yelled the voice behind him.
He pulled on his pants by the back door and buttoned his shirt as he ran outside. He saw Annelise and Rose at the swing set, Rose pushing Annelise with the steady rocking motion of an oil-well pump. The moment Rose saw his face, she grabbed the chains of the swing and stopped it.
“What’s the matter, Mr. John? Where’s your shoes?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Lily’s too tired for supper. I’m going to take Ana to her grandmother’s for a while.”
Concern filled the maid’s eyes. “Are you sure everything’s all right? Lily don’t usually sleep like that. Maybe you should give Dr. Cage a call.”
“No, it’s-”
“Mama!” cried Annelise. “Daddy said you were sleeping.”
Waters whirled and saw Lily walking down the back porch steps. He ran toward her with his arms out.
“You need to rest, honey! You said you were dizzy.”
Lily squinted at him and shook her head. “I’m not dizzy. I want to see Annelise.”
“No,” Waters said firmly. “You need to lie down.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s still daylight.”
“Go back inside!”
“Daddy?” called Annelise. “Why are you yelling at Mom?”
Waters turned and saw his daughter walking up behind him. “Mama’s sick, baby. You stay right there.”
“Sick?” Ana’s voice cracked. “Sick how?”
Waters turned and saw Rose staring at him as if he had lost his mind. Have I? he thought. Then he remembered the eyes glinting in the bedroom. “Lily, please go back inside.”
Annelise began to cry.
Lily looked back at him with such a hurt expression that he felt like a Nazi storm trooper. But was she really upset? Or was Mallory reveling in a role she’d been waiting ten years to play?
“Mr. John,” Rose said in an indignant voice, “I think you the one needs to go back inside. Get yourself a drink and sit down for a while.”
Lily’s eyes remained on Waters, pleading for some explanation.
“Go back inside,” he begged. “Please.”
Lily burst into tears, then turned and ran back up the steps. Behind him, Annelise began to wail. Waters turned and saw Rose kneeling with the child in her arms, comforting her with soft words. But over Annelise’s shoulder, the maid glared at him with eyes that could melt steel.
“Keep Ana out here,” he told her. “I’ll be right back.”
He ran up the back steps and started down the hall toward the master bedroom. As he walked, he cut his eyes left and right, half expecting some kind of attack from his blind side. Mallory had done such things before, and he sensed danger now.
Finding the bedroom door closed against him, he began to doubt himself. What if Lily had snapped back to herself after he fled the bedroom? He put his ear to the cypress face of the door but heard nothing. Testing the knob, he found it locked.
“Lily?” he called.
No reply.
“Lily!”
Still nothing.
“Lily, open the door,” he called in a reasonable voice. “I need to talk to you.”
The silence mocked him. He looked down at the brass knob. There was a tiny hole at its center. Annelise had picked the lock many times with a paper clip. He was about to go in search of one when he heard a soft click from the knob. When nothing else happened, he grabbed the knob and threw open the door.
Lily sat cross-legged at the center of the bed, her palms upturned in the manner of a Hindu in meditation, her wide-open eyes burning with a light that rooted Waters to the floor.
She smiled serenely. “Close the door.”
“You can’t do this,” Waters told her.
“It’s already done. Come in and close the door, Johnny. I’ll do the talking.”
Waters did as she said.
“I want to tell you how my father died,” Lily said. “Do you remember what I told you about him?”
Waters said nothing. He felt as though someone had injected him with the most powerful hallucinogen on the planet. To hear the voice of his wife speak Mallory’s inmost thoughts-and in Mallory’s diction-pushed him into a realm beyond fear. It inverted his sense of reality, so that the familiar engendered horror rather than affection, and dread replaced love.
“You know what I’m talking about.”
For some reason an image of Penn Cage behind his desk filled Waters’s mind. “That he abused you?”
“Mmm-hmm. You never believed me about that, did you?”
He tried to guess where she was going. “Why do you think that?”
Lily shook her head in reproof. “Because I was inside you, Johnny. I know your thoughts now. Your memories.”
“Did it really happen?”
“Maybe not like you imagine. But it happened. From the time I was about ten,
I started to feel uncomfortable around my father. He said things to me he shouldn’t have said. He noticed things about me. It started as compliments, but the older I got…he talked about my beauty, all the time, of course. But then it was my body. And my ‘way,’ he called it. My ‘beguiling’ way. He’d walk into the bathroom when I was using it. Or trick me into coming into the bathroom when he was in there without clothes on.”
“Did he touch you?”
“He wanted to. My friends knew it too. Some of them. He did the same kinds of things to them. Too much time with us instead of with the grown-ups. Touches that lingered too long. It was only lack of nerve that stopped him from doing something physical.”
“If he never touched you, how do you know that’s true?”
“I’ll tell you. About fourteen months ago, when I first got back to Natchez, I wanted desperately to get into my old house. I wanted to remember what it was like, and to get some of my old things, if they were still there. I didn’t want to risk it when I was in Danny. But once I got into Eve, I felt confident enough. I took the key from under the rock in the flower bed where they’d always hidden it, and slipped inside.”
Lily’s eyes glazed with the power of memory. “I had no idea what it would be like. I found my room exactly as I’d left it. It was like a shrine. My old clothes, my posters, my photos. My cheerleading uniform. Everything. It was like going to Graceland and seeing Elvis’s old costumes on mannequins. They actually had my Miss Mississippi gown on a mannequin in the corner.” She shuddered. “I had never felt as dead as I did in that room. Anyway, I took a few small things. Some snapshots. A cross my grandmother had given me. A scarf I’d had when you and I were together. In moments like that, you know which things are important. The things you can’t live without.”
