by Jude Pittman
Kelly nodded. "The Holiday Inn over on Southwest Boulevard."
"The Longhorn Saloon’s near there. If you wanted to drop by there about eleven, I could stop for a drink after my engagement."
"You're on," Kelly grinned enthusiastically. "I'll get settled in and grab a bite to eat. I’ll be waiting when you get there."
Kelly smiled as he strode back to the truck. That went well. And he'd be willing to bet Stella would have a pretty good buzz going by the time she got to the Longhorn which would make it all the easier to get her talking.
Kelly registered at the hotel, dropped his bag in the room and headed for the coffee shop. He was hungry after the long drive, but a big plate of chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes took care of that. He stopped at the front desk and asked for a ten o'clock wake-up call. He slept the minute his head hit the pillow.
The phone jangled him awake. Damn good thing he'd asked for a wakeup or he'd likely have slept through the night. That would've played hell with his plans.
He walked into the Longhorn Saloon right before eleven. It was packed. Kelly elbowed his way through the crowd and stood around watching for a table. Finally a young couple got up and he beat a short stringbean to the empty chair by a hair. Stringbean scowled and lead his chubby blonde lady away. Kelly grinned as he watched her leopard skin jacket mingle into the crowd. He waved down a waitress and ordered a longneck.
Energy pulsed through the crowd. And the band was pretty good, too. Kelly relaxed, drank his beer and waited. A cool hand fluttered against his neck.
"I see you found a table." Stella leaned over and spoke into his ear.
"Yep, and let me tell you, that took some fancy footwork." Kelly pulled out the chair beside him.
She slid into the seat and tilted her head. "Lively place, isn't it?" Oh yeah, she’d had a few drinks before arrival.
"What'll you have to drink?"
"I'll take a gin and tonic." She ran her fingers along his arm. "You know what they say about gin."
Kelly squeezed her fingers. "Good choice." He turned and gave the order to the hovering waitress.
The band swung into a two-step. Kelly reached for Stella's hand. "Wanta give it a try?" Stella nodded and followed him out to the floor. She had great rhythm and easily followed him through a series of intricate twirls.
Kelly decided to wait a while to ask questions. Over an early breakfast would be good. They danced and laughed and had several more drinks until the lights dimmed for the two o'clock closing.
“Seems a shame for the night to end. I saw a little café across the street when I came in. How ‘bout some breakfast?”
Stella hooked her arm under his.
“You’re on. Lead the way.”
They walked in and slid into a cozy booth. After they'd given their orders, Kelly snuggled Stella up beside him.
“Wanta hear a story?”
“Your story, cowboy? ‘Course I do.” Stella pressed her body tighter against his.
He started in by talking about his life in Fort Worth—not too much—just the highlights. Then he talked about Indian Creek and the Hideaway. And Anna.
She jerked away from him.
“You asshole! You set me up!”
"Now wait a minute!" He grasped her arms and turned her back to face him. "I just want to tell you about my friend and what's going on down there. All you have to do is listen. I won't press you. Sure, I'd appreciate it if you'd answer a couple of questions but it’s up to you. I won't push."
Stella stared at him. Just when he was sure she was about to bolt, she settled back on the seat. And talked.
Kelly grabbed a few hours of sleep and checked out of the motel. Kelly hadn’t learned anything specific but he damn sure had more pieces to play with. Gus was gonna love it. No damn wonder Uncle Andrew didn’t want Krystal talking to Anna. Krystal was coming into control of her trust in a few months but she was leaving everything in Uncle Andrew’s hands. But if Anna told Krystal the truth about the “other man” the night her father killed himself, she might just change her mind. And to Kelly's way of thinking, that added up to one hell of a motive for murder.
Chapter Twelve
Traffic crawled on Interstate 45. Construction had four lanes cut down to one for 50 miles and Kelly knew he never catch Gus before he left the station. By the time Kelly pulled off Jacksboro highway and headed for home, it was well past six.
Jake's tail started going full tilt when he spotted Old Blue turning into the driveway. Kelly grinned and played a tune on the horn. Even though he'd only been gone for a day, it was good to be home, good to know he’d been missed. For a long time after Lynda, there’d been no one to care if he came home, but finding Jake changed all that. Kelly wrapped his arms around Jake's neck, and collected a few licks on the chin.
They walked up the hill to the cabin. Kelly glanced at the phone. The red light flashed on the answering machine. One call from Gus and two from Krystal. He sighed, shoved his bag off the recliner and sank back into the seat. Of course Krystal wanted to know what he’d found out in Houston, but he didn’t have a clue in hell how to tell her. Or what to tell her. It was a touchy situation. Kelly hated lies but this was one of those times when there didn't seem to be any options. He'd have to tell her something. Knowing her grandmother had been behind Anna running away wasn't going to come as much of a shock. The old lady was dead and she and Krystal hadn't been close. In fact, Krystal hadn’t liked her much at all. What he hadn't decided was how much, if anything, to tell her about her uncle's involvement.
The telephone rang and Kelly braced himself for Krystal’s voice, but it was Gus.
"Well, how'd it go down there?" Gus' voice boomed over the wire.
"Better than I expected. I tried to get back earlier so I could drop in at the station but that damn 45 was a nightmare."
"Ain’t it always? Why don't you run on out here? Betty's been bugging me to bring you home and we were just talking about throwing some steaks on the grill."
"Now that's an offer I can't refuse. I was about to open a can of beans. Mind if Jake comes?"
"Hell, no. Bring him along. We'll see how he hits it off with Scooter."
Kelly hung up the phone and turned to Jake. "Well, boy, better get your butt in gear 'cause we got us an invitation to a barbecue."
Gus and Betty lived in a small subdivision half way between Fort Worth and Arlington. Kelly hit the tail end of rush hour. Memories flooded his mind as he picked his way through traffic. He and Lynda had been frequent visitors to the neat little rambler where Gus and Betty had raised three kids and an assortment of dogs, cats and rabbits. Kelly swallowed a large lump when he pulled into the familiar driveway. It never went away. He reached over and opened the passenger door. Jake jumped to the ground and perked his ears toward the house. Betty must have heard the truck from the kitchen because she was standing on the front porch waving both hands and smiling the big, warm smile Kelly remembered so well.
"Land sakes, boy." She met him at the foot of the steps and reached her chubby arms around his neck so she could plant a big kiss on his cheek. "I was convinced you'd up and died on us, until Gus came home and told me he'd found you hiding out down there at Indian Creek."
"I've missed you, Betty."
She smiled up into his eyes, blinking a bit to keep back tears. "You get yourself into the house and tell that big lug of mine to dig you a cold one outta the fridge."
"It's good to see you, Betty." Kelly pulled her back for another hug. "It's been too darn long."
She tilted her head and gave him a sharp look. "Now you're back and I'll expect to see you around real often." Her eyes shone with affection and Kelly choked back another lump.
"This place gets darn lonesome now that the last of the young’uns has gone off and got herself hitched," Betty said. Then, mindful of the emotions gripping them both, she shook her dishtowel and herded him toward the door. "Off with you now. Gus is in the study. I've got to get back to the kitchen. There's a p
an of that jalapeno corn bread you always liked so well browning in the oven and I don't want it burnt to a crisp."
Jake, who had hung back during this exchange, climbed the steps and joined them at the door.
"Who's this you've got with you?" Betty bent down and held out her hand for Jake to sniff.
"Jake, meet Betty," Kelly said. "She's the best cook in the State of Texas, so you'd better get on her good side."
"You go on in there too, boy," Betty said. "Four-legged critters is as welcome as two-legged ones in this old house."
Kelly headed straight for the study where he found Gus stretched out in the same well-worn leather recliner he'd had for as long as Kelly could remember.
"I got you all fixed up." Gus pointed to the can of Budweiser stuck in a Koozie and setting on the whatnot table beside Betty's old armchair.
Kelly sank down in the soft cushion, raised his long legs up on the flower print footstool Betty always kept parked in front of her chair and let out a deep sigh.
Jake carefully sniffed the room and then padded over to a throw rug in front of the patio doors. He eased himself down on his haunches.
Gus laughed. "Smart dog. He's scented Scooter right off. Hey, Scoot! Get your butt down here."
A thumping scuffle echoed along the hallway and moments later, a black-and-white cocker spaniel skidded into the room and slid to a halt in front of Gus.
Jake's ears perked forward and the muscles rippled along his haunches.
"Go on over there and join our guest." Gus pointed to Jake.
Scooter padded across the room, sniffed the edge of the rug and parked himself nose-to-nose with Jake.
Gus chuckled as the two dogs eyed each other warily. "They'll get acquainted. Now, let's hear what you've been up to. I hope I don't find myself ass deep in alligators come Monday morning."
Kelly laughed. "Nope. I didn't even ripple the pond while I was down there. Matter of fact, I had the luck of the Irish riding with me the whole trip. I ran down Krystal's Aunt Stella the first night and let me tell you, that woman's a pistol. We met over at the Longhorn Saloon and dusted up the floor for a couple of hours. And after we quit the club, I took her out for some grub and told her why I'd come to town."
"You told her the truth?"
"Yep!" Kelly grinned at Gus' surprised expression. "It just seemed like the right thing to do. Of course, it was touch and go at first as to whether or not she was going to walk out and leave me wishing I'd kept my mouth shut but she came around in the end and boy, did she give me an earful."
"Well, don't keep me waiting. What did she have to say?"
Kelly grinned and picked up his beer can. Gus glared at him while he took a long swallow and then set the can back on the table. "For starters," Kelly said, "I found out why Anna dropped out of sight. It seems the other man in Anna's life was none other than Krystal's Uncle Andrew."
Gus frowned. "No wonder he's been scrambling to keep us from digging too deep into Anna's past."
"Yep. The family kept the lid on the story for years. Even Stella didn't know what happened until Vivian Davis developed Alzheimer's. Vivian never liked Stella but as the disease progressed, Stella took on her personal care and Vivian began treating her like a confidant. Then, during one of her memory lapses, she started talking about Anna. Stella urged her along and Vivian told her the whole story."
"So what's the story?"
"In a nutshell, Clayton came home early from a business trip and caught Anna and Andrew in bed together. It seems the shock was more than Clayton could handle. He walked out of the bedroom and went straight downstairs to the study and blew his brains out."
"That checks with the suicide story." Gus said, nodding his head.
"Anna and Andrew heard the shot from the bedroom and raced downstairs. As soon as they realized Clayton was dead, Andrew took off for his mother's house. Vivian lived just a couple houses from Anna and Clayton. When Andrew told her what had happened, she told him to stay at her house while she went over to Clayton's and dealt with Anna."
"Kind of strange behavior for a mother, wouldn't you say? Telling Andrew to stay at the house when her oldest boy’s just killed himself?"
Kelly shrugged. "Don’t think Vivian was exactly your normal kind of mother. Once Andrew told her Clayton was dead, looks like she decided it was more important to protect the son she had than mourn the one she'd lost."
"Sounds that way. What was Anna doing while Andrew was chasing off after his mother?"
"Pretty much sitting there in shock. Vivian told Stella when she got to the house, she found Anna crouched over Clayton's body holding the gun."
"Oh, ho!" Gus' eyes lit up. "So that’s where this is going."
"Oh, yeah. My guess is soon as the old lady realized Clayton was dead, she knew she had her golden opportunity. Stella says Vivian laughed like a madwoman when she told her how she got rid of 'that hussy'."
"So how’d she work it?"
Kelly shrugged. "Just like you think. Ultimatum style. Either Anna signed everything over to daughter Krystal with Andrew as guardian and get the hell out of Dodge, or Vivian’d make sure she went to the gas chamber for murdering Clayton."
"Even though Anna was with Andrew when Clayton shot himself?"
"Andrew’d swear to anything his mother said and Anna knew it just as well as Vivian did. And besides, what with the circumstances of Clayton's death, she probably believed she was guilty, at least morally, if not legally. The Anna I knew would. I doubt if she even tried to fight the old lady at that point and later, even if she wanted to change her mind, well, it was just too late."
"Leaving Andrew in control of everything until Krystal came of age."
"Exactly! But Krystal’s turning twenty-five in a couple of months and that's when Andrew's guardianship is scheduled to end."
"Then if Andrew's about to lose control anyhow, not much benefit to him from killing Anna."
"Oh, but there would be. Krystal told me she doesn't have any interest at all in getting involved with either the business or her own estate. She's already told Andrew she's perfectly content to let him manage them both and from what I understand, she’s planning on signing an agreement extending the trust when she does turn twenty-five.”
"I'll be damned." Gus whistled. “Come to Papa.”
"Exactly. All Andrew had to do was keep Krystal away from Anna for another two months and he'd have been set for life. I figure he must've damn near had a coronary when he got the call from Jack Boscon saying he'd been hired by Krystal to locate her mother and the two of them were meeting that weekend."
"So the next question is where the hell was Andrew Davis last Saturday night?"
"You read my mind." Kelly grinned and reached for his beer. "I kind of figured maybe you'd get on the horn to Houston come Monday morning."
"Monday, hell. I'll give them a call first thing in the morning. I wasn't exactly anxious to stir up a hornet's nest with the Davises based on what we had. But this shit changes things.”
"So where does that leave Cam?"
"For now, right where he’s sitting. Old Bill’s been screaming his head off for us to either charge him or let him loose. So the DA's decided to charge him with burglary. And I need Cam locked up to keep the heat off until I've had a chance to look into this Davis angle."
Kelly nodded. "I understand but Cam's got his whole life wrapped up in that bar of his. If you nail him on a burglary rap, the TABC will yank his liquor license. You might as well fry him as take the Hideaway away from him."
"I know that but like I said, I can't do anything else right now. But if your friend, Cam, didn't murder the old gal and we catch the killer, I'll go to the DA and recommend he drop the burglary charges. And if you tell anybody I said that, I’ll call you a liar."
"Thanks, Gus. ‘Cause I'd bet Old Blue against that broken down recliner of yours Cam's innocent."
"Okay, that's settled. I'll call Houston in the morning and pass it by Captain Jeffrey. If he gives me the
go ahead, I just might take a little trip down there myself. Now let's get those steaks on the grill before Betty comes out here and pins our ears back."
The rest of the night was a trip down memory lane for Kelly. Some of it was painful, especially when he wandered into the living room and saw his and Lynda's wedding picture still sitting in the same spot Betty’d put it fifteen years ago.
Mostly though, he thoroughly enjoyed himself. There was nothing like being with old friends to give him the feeling of having a special place in the human race and the Grahams were more than friends. Kelly hadn't had any contact with his dad in over twenty-five years and his mom had died the year after he and Lynda were married. Gus and Betty were all the family he had besides Jake.
It was eleven-thirty when Kelly got home. He didn’t intend to call Krystal until morning but the light was flashing on his answering machine and when he punched the button, she pleaded with him from the tape.
"Kelly, this is Krystal. I hope you don't think I'm being a pest but I can't stand the suspense. Did you get in touch with Stella? Call me, please. I don't care what time it is. I won't sleep anyhow for wondering about you."
Kelly smiled and picked up the telephone. Lynda had been like that. She couldn't stand waiting.
The phone only rang once.
"Hello!"
"Hello, yourself. I got your message, so I took you at your word about being awake. I'm sorry to be so late getting back to you but I've just now come from Gus' place."
"I'm so glad you called. I've been holding my breath ever since you left."
"Well, you better breathe then." Kelly chuckled. "To answer your question—yes, I did get in touch with Stella. I met her over at the Longhorn Saloon, we danced a bit and I took her out for breakfast. You were right. She was friendly and she answered most of my questions."
"Oh!" She inhaled sharply. "Are you going to tell me what she said?"
"Sure." Kelly crossed his fingers. "Most of it won't be any news to you and there isn't anything to keep you from getting a good night's sleep. How ‘bout I take you out for dinner tomorrow night and talk about it then?"
