by Brenda Novak
“I know you will,” he said. “I’m heading out. I’ll see you at the funeral home.”
* * *
Nancy hung out with Jade around the periphery of the viewing area, as far from the casket as possible. Maisey had done a beautiful job with her mother’s makeup, and Josephine’s hairdresser had done Josephine’s hair. Even in death, Keith’s mother looked lovely—although not nearly as lovely as she’d been in life. Part of her appeal had been her unrivaled confidence.
Still, she was beautiful. And yet, when Nancy had gone by to pay her respects, she’d stared down at Keith’s mother with a mild sort of aversion. Death, no matter how well packaged, was never an easy thing to face. So, after pausing briefly, she and Jade had slipped away. Now they were just waiting for the service itself—and wishing it was already over. Although she had her sister with her, which helped, Nancy still had a difficult time seeing Keith and not wanting to be with him. She would’ve given in and gone back to him—had almost done so a thousand times since he’d stopped by the store yesterday—but she now had a clearer understanding of what such a one-sided relationship was doing to her. His inability to love her in return took a small piece of her pride and self-esteem every day. She couldn’t give in, not if she wanted to be the person she knew she could be. Why devote everything she had to him only to be discarded like an old sweater when he left?
“Don’t turn around now, but he’s looking over here again.”
Her sister had been regaling her with news of Keith’s every move—and every glance—since they’d arrived.
“Stop it,” Nancy said for the third or fourth time. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters,” Jade insisted. “It’s so obvious. He loves you. He just doesn’t know it yet. And I have half a mind to tell him.”
“Don’t!” Nancy shook her head. “If he loved me, he’d say so.”
Jade grimaced. “I’m not so sure. Since he’s never been in love before, he probably figures that sick feeling he gets when he thinks about leaving you behind is indigestion. Men can be stupid that way.”
“Keith is anything but stupid. Trust me, he knows what he wants, and it isn’t me.” She’d given him plenty of chances to change his mind.
“If you say so. But I’m not stupid, either. I can tell that dress is driving him wild.”
She was wearing her Herve Leger off-the-shoulder bandage dress. And she, too, could tell that Keith liked it. She’d seen the way his eyes had skimmed over her when she first walked in, how they returned to her again and again.
“He can eat his heart out,” she said, as if she was that indifferent.
Jade’s eyebrows flew up almost to her hairline. “Whoa! You’re playing hardball.”
“When it comes to Keith, or any other man, I’m done settling. I don’t want just a part of him. I’m finally at the point where it’s all or nothing.”
Before Jade could respond, a distinguished gentleman, his black hair sporting a touch of silver at the temples, walked into the room wearing a tailored black suit. He was with a young woman who had to be six feet tall. The definition in her arms and legs, and the way she carried herself, suggested she was an athlete—maybe a softball player? When the entire room went quiet and everyone turned to stare, Nancy realized this had to be Hugh Pointer and his daughter. She looked just like him.
Curious as to how Keith would react, she quickly searched for him. His eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened when he saw that his mother’s lover had come, but he made his way over and shook Hugh’s hand.
Nancy was proud of him for being so gracious. Hard as this was for Keith, she couldn’t imagine that coming here could be any easier for Hugh. He had to be blaming himself for Josephine’s death and his wife’s incarceration. That he’d made the effort to show his face, in spite of how he was likely to be viewed, suggested he’d sincerely cared about Josephine and felt bad about her death, even though he’d admitted to Chief Underwood that he’d tried to cover up his wife’s actions.
Hugh seemed somber but friendly as he spoke with Keith. Nancy was too far away to hear what they said. She was more interested in his daughter, anyway. The girl’s mother had just been charged with murder, and yet...she didn’t appear to be upset.
“What’s up with her?” Jade asked.
The girl had a strange look on her face, one that made her seem almost...pleased. But she was only eighteen. Nancy didn’t really want to catalog her emotions as inappropriate. She lowered her voice. “People react to sadness in various ways.”
“You think she’s sad?” Jade said. “I’m getting the impression she only came here to flip everyone off.”
As Nancy started to respond, she heard a gasp and turned to find Rocki nearby, with Landon and the kids. The blood had drained from her face, and she was clutching Landon’s arm as if she was staring at a ghost.
“What is it?” Nancy heard Landon ask.
“I’ve seen her before,” Rocki replied.
He seemed as confused as Nancy was. Wasn’t Hugh’s daughter from Australia? “Where?” he pressed.
“On the ferry. She came across with me the night Josephine was killed. Her hair was a lot darker, but I definitely remember her. I remember thinking how tall and pretty she was.”
Landon leaned closer. “Did you say her hair was a lot darker?”
“Oh, my God!” Rocki murmured, and a chill shivered down Nancy’s spine as she watched Landon move to the edge of the room and eventually pull Chief Underwood to one side.
31
KEITH PACED IN the drawing room of Coldiron House while Chief Underwood sat on the couch, watching him. It’d been four days since they’d buried Josephine beneath the moss-draped tree in the family cemetery—long enough for the police chief to find a clerk in a wig shop in Charleston who remembered Marliss Pointer. Although they had the connection they’d been missing, Keith was still reeling at the knowledge that his mother had been killed by an eighteen-year-old girl. “But why would Marliss attend the funeral?” he asked. If she hadn’t done that, she probably wouldn’t have been caught...
“She was sure she’d won,” Chief Underwood explained. “It was her way of taunting us, taunting you and your sisters, with the fact that she got the last laugh, that she’d taken something precious from you, too.”
He’d been meeting with various lenders on his mother’s properties, so he was wearing a business suit. He’d loosened his tie on the ferry, but the damn thing still felt like it was choking him. Taking it off, he tossed it onto the closest chair. “I get that part. She didn’t know we’d found the wig, didn’t even know she’d left behind that fiber. She felt she was above suspicion, as if she was so young we’d never dream she could be responsible.”
“Exactly. She thought there was nothing to tie her to the crime,” Underwood added. “She enjoyed parading through the funeral service with that smug expression on her face.”
“Okay, but what I don’t understand is why Hugh would agree to bring her.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Underwood asked. “If she wanted to come? He thought she felt bad about what her mother had done. He didn’t know she was the one who killed Josephine. Lana had taken the blame with him, too.”
“But her mother was going to prison because of her! Didn’t she feel any sadness or remorse?”
“She didn’t blame herself for what was happening to her mother. She blamed Hugh for having the affair in the first place. She was proud that she stood up for her mother and did something about it.”
“That’s twisted.”
“Yes, but that’s the mind of a murderer. She’s been seriously troubled for years, Keith. The Pointers have had her in and out of various psychiatric centers, spent a fortune on shrinks and medication. She’s set fire to their house on three different occasions, once while they were sleeping!”
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He rested his arm on the fireplace mantel. “Is she crazy?”
Chief Underwood frowned as she considered the question. “Not crazy, no. Just spoiled, willful, vengeful and extremely narcissistic. With her track record, Hugh probably didn’t dare leave her behind. He told me he thought she’d be better off with him, in the States, where he could at least take her to visit her mother. He was planning to keep her here in South Carolina until she could adjust to what’s happened.”
“He never considered that it might have been her?”
“Why would he, when his wife was claiming she did it—and she had every reason to?”
“True...” Keith used his foot to smooth the thick nap of the carpet. “Her mother should never have let her know about the affair.”
“I agree, but Lana probably wasn’t thinking clearly herself. As far as she knew, Hugh had never been a man to stray. She was shocked to learn that not only was he having an extramarital affair, he’d been doing so for years. The fact that he loved another woman would be the biggest blow. I’m sure she was hurt, maybe so hurt she couldn’t hold it in. And she spent a great deal of time with her daughter, who wasn’t that great at making friends. I’m guessing she needed her daughter’s empathy and support. They probably discussed the problem constantly from the moment she found out, especially when they were in Europe together, and Lana was so worried Hugh would see Josephine during her absence. While they were on their trip, Marliss helped Lana hack into one of his bank accounts she hadn’t had access to. They saw that he’d given Josephine even more money than he’d admitted, and that he’d purchased her ticket to Australia.”
“When you put it that way, are you sure Lana wasn’t a party to the murder?”
“No. I believe she confronted your mother, just like she said, and your mother insisted she leave. Marliss was waiting for that moment and came in after her.”
“They didn’t see each other?”
“They claim they didn’t. Marliss took a cab to the ferry from the Charleston motel and then rode across on foot, being careful not to let her mother, who was in the rental car, catch a glimpse of her.”
“Fortunately, Rocki was on that same ferry and saw her at the railing.”
“Or Marliss probably would’ve gotten away with murder,” Underwood said, “since she had a mother who was willing to go to prison for her.”
Keith rolled up his sleeves, since it was warm in the house. “So when did Lana find out what Marliss had done?”
“Not until Marliss returned to the hotel the next morning.”
“It was cold that night—and it had started to storm by morning. Where did she sleep?”
Chief Underwood gestured around them. “Right here in the house. She said she stayed until five or so, then made her way down to the wharf on foot. She knew her mother would be taking the same ferry—again. And again, she was careful not to be seen.”
“It’s hard to believe her mother could miss her twice.”
“There was the rainy weather, remember? And she was wearing a costume. She’s the one who had on that wig, at least on the first trip—before she tossed it in the ocean.”
He followed the chain of events in his mind. “If Lana was trying to take the blame for my mother’s death, why didn’t she tell you she wore the wig? Sure, it goes a long way toward proving premeditation, but why did she leave that detail dangling out there when it could get her daughter caught?”
“For just that reason—because it could get her daughter caught,” Underwood replied. “She knew that if she said she wore the wig, we’d want to know where she got it, and we’d double-check and learn it was a lie. It was safer to say the wig had nothing to do with the crime, that she had no idea how a fiber had ended up in the tub or how the wig that fiber came from showed up on the beach. Everything else fit so perfectly, she assumed we’d overlook that, and it certainly seemed to be working.”
That day on the beach, when Simba ran back with the wig in his mouth, had been a good one, for more than one reason. But Keith pulled his thoughts away from Nancy and the way they’d made love that morning. “Thank God Simba found it,” he said.
She nodded. “Otherwise, all we’d have is Rocki’s testimony that she saw Marliss on the ferry—and that’s not enough to convict her of murder. We had to place her at the scene. The wig does that.”
Keith walked over to join her on the couch. “What I don’t understand is why Marliss ever told her mother what she’d done.”
“Lana got to the motel first and demanded to know where she’d been, and Marliss was so proud of herself that she confessed. She felt her mother would be glad, maybe even proud of her. She’d gotten rid of her mother’s nemesis, once and for all.”
Keith shook his head as he imagined how a mother might react to that conversation. “I wonder if she did feel a small amount of relief.”
“Because someone would go that far to defend her? It probably made her feel loved. And she’d never have to worry about her rival again. But knowing her child was a murderer? I’m sure that made the situation worse rather than better.”
“That couldn’t be easy to hear. So how did she decide so quickly that she’d take the blame?”
“She probably couldn’t bear to tell Hugh that she’d let Marliss get that involved. And she was hoping no one would have to take the blame. That’s why she called him immediately after. No doubt she was in a panic. He claims he calmed her down, had her send Marliss home and flew here to help clean up, and I’ve got flight records to prove the travel part. They were hoping to find those letters, if not the wig that’d been thrown into the ocean by Marliss, not that Hugh would know Marliss was the one who did that. If they could destroy any incriminating evidence, they felt they’d be fine. They all had alibis that would’ve held up without closer inspection.”
“But then I got in the way.”
“Yes. When they couldn’t clean up as they’d hoped, Lana realized something else would have to be done. So she decided to sacrifice herself, which fit with what she’d told Hugh, anyway.”
“That’s a big sacrifice.”
“I get the logic,” Underwood said. “Lana told me she’s lived sixty-five years. She didn’t want her daughter’s life to effectively end at eighteen.”
“Hugh never knew it was Marliss? You’re sure?”
“I’m positive,” she replied, “or he wouldn’t have brought her to the funeral.”
“That makes sense. So where is Marliss now?”
“She’s in custody. We went to their hotel in Charleston this morning and arrested her. I would’ve held her the day of the funeral if I could, but it wasn’t until Rocki recognized her that I went back to the wig shops with her picture instead of Lana’s. And that was when I found the clerk who identified her.”
Keith chuckled without mirth. “Hugh’s got to be kicking himself for bringing her to the funeral.”
“He’s got to be kicking himself for getting involved with your mother in the first place,” she responded. “He’s lost his lover, his wife, who’ll probably leave him, and his daughter. But your mother didn’t exactly get off easy. She had a helluva last day.”
Keith felt he’d dwelled on that enough. “It’s a lot easier to believe that the athletic-looking girl I saw at the funeral overpowered my mother than her smaller, frailer and much older mother.”
“I got busy yesterday and forgot to tell you that the toxicology report came back. It shows that Josephine had taken a sleeping pill, so even Lana could have done it.” Underwood came to her feet. “So...are you going back to California now that all of this is over?”
“Yeah. I fly out tomorrow.”
She scowled as he stood, too. “You’re going to leave this beautiful home?”
He’d thought Rocki would move into Coldiron House with her kids, but now that she
was staying with Landon, and they were going to work on saving their marriage and their businesses, it’d be empty. “Pippa and Tyrone will take care of it. And I’ll visit when I can.”
“What about Nancy?”
He tried to pretend he didn’t feel a twinge of remorse at the mention of Nancy’s name. He missed her already. “What about her?”
“It’d be a mistake to leave her, Keith.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
She gave him a confident smile. “Because you love her.”
* * *
She owned the flower shop. Nancy stood in the center of Love’s in Bloom and twirled around, trying to console herself with the fulfillment of that dream. At least she was moving ahead with her life. She still had her family and her friends. And Simba, of course. Somehow she’d live without Keith—although she couldn’t begin to guess how long it would take her heart to stop aching this time. It’d been a long haul five years ago. She hoped, now that she was older and more experienced with love and loss, she could bounce back more quickly. That remained to be seen.
He’d called to say goodbye, asked her to drive him to the airport since they’d returned his rental car when they were still seeing each other, but he had Tyrone to take him. He didn’t need her. She told herself she’d be smarter to keep her distance—with her luck she’d break down and cling to him—and, for a change, she listened to her own advice.
The bell rang over the door, and she turned to see Jade. “What are you doing here?”
“I just came over to take a look at your new shop.”
“But you’ve seen it hundreds of times.”
“Not since it became yours.”
Nancy smiled at her. If there was also a bit of melancholy in that smile, she couldn’t help it. “Nice, isn’t it?”
“Gorgeous! Classy. It’s going to make you a lot of money.”
