“Rebecca?” Meredith pushed her face back, wondering if she looked as bad as she felt. What did her elderly neighbor have to do with any of this?
“Rebecca saw you and Victor running toward the dam. It worried her, enough that she came to find me. We called the police.” Now it was Rachel’s turn to shiver. “Anyway, you’ve got an audience waiting downstairs if you feel able to talk. If not, they can just wait.”
The police, probably. And Zach? “No, let’s get this over with.” She shoved her feet into slippers. “I’d better not look in the mirror.”
“You look fine.” Rachel led the way to the stairs. She kept a cautious arm around Meredith’s waist all the way down.
Rachel had been right. There was an audience—Chief Burkhalter, Jake, even the assistant district attorney whose name had escaped her at the moment. But she only had eyes for Zach, who came immediately to help her to a chair.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” His eyes were dark with worry, his hair still damp, like hers. He’d changed, at some point, into dry jeans and a sweater.
“I’d rather do it now,” she murmured. She wanted to ask if he was all right, but she might betray too much emotion in front of the others if she did.
She sat down, and Rachel tucked the afghan from the back of Mom’s chair over her. Rebecca emerged from the kitchen with a steaming mug, which she put on the end table next to Meredith. After a searching look, she pressed her cheek against Meredith’s.
“God has protected you,” she murmured.
Meredith blinked back tears.
Burkhalter cleared his throat. “We don’t want to bother you, Meredith. But it would really help if you’d just confirm what we all saw. For the record. Victor Hammond attacked you?”
She nodded. “He came to the door. Said he couldn’t find Laura and thought she was suicidal. We went to the dam to look for her, and he pushed me in.”
She discovered her voice was shaking and stopped for a breath. Maybe it was a little soon to relive it.
“Did he say why? Give you any indication as to what was in his mind?” This came from the county attorney—Reilly, that was his name. Her brain must be functioning again.
“Not to me, exactly.” She frowned, trying to be sure she had events in the right order. “He said he had a gun, but this would be better. That I should just let the water take me.”
She shivered again, despite her best efforts, and Zach took her hand firmly in his.
“Can’t this wait, Chief?” His voice rasped with emotion.
“No, it’s all right. Let’s get it over with. I guess it was when Laura showed up that he said he had to get rid of me, like he’d gotten rid of my mother, because we knew too much. That he had to protect her.” She shook her head. “You have to realize he was swinging a branch at me, trying to knock me into the dam. I was just trying to hang on, but I thought he meant that he’d killed Aaron. Or that Laura had, and he was trying to protect her.” She frowned again, looking at Burkhalter. “What does Laura say?”
“Not much.” His face seemed to sag with the weight of all that had happened. “She was nearly raving. She did say that her parents wanted her to...well, have an abortion. And Aaron was trying to get her to marry him.”
“About then her attorney and her doctor showed up,” Reilly said. “She’s hospitalized now, out of reach.” He looked dissatisfied. Maybe he’d been hoping for a big case to push his career along.
“I doubt anything she said could be taken seriously as evidence.” Jake spoke for the first time. “And after all this time, you’re not going to find any other proof as to who killed Aaron Mast.”
“That’s for sure.” Burkhalter sounded relieved. Unlike Reilly, he had to go on living here in Deer Run. He’d be happy to close things out quickly. “We heard what amounted to a deathbed confession from Victor. And he was seen around the Willows at the time when that hammer must have been planted. As far as I’m concerned, that ends it.”
The two attorneys started talking simultaneously, with Jake upholding Burkhalter’s viewpoint and Reilly arguing. Under cover of their voices, Meredith turned to Zach.
“I thought you were under arrest. How did you get there to pull me out?”
His grip tightened on her hand. “Jake was making a pretty good argument about the papers you’d found. Burkhalter was already shaken when Rachel called, terrified that something was happening to you. He pretty much dropped protocol at that moment, and we all rushed over here.” His face twisted a little. “In time.”
“Yes.” In time. The danger was over, the past buried for good this time.
“Well, it’s a sad business.” Burkhalter stood, shaking his head. “And needless. The way I see it, Victor’s guilt drove him a little crazy. Attacking Margo like that—well, she couldn’t have known anything that would really incriminate him. Maybe saw him or Laura the night Aaron died, but that wouldn’t be enough to bring charges after twenty years.”
“She wouldn’t have made it public, whatever she thought she knew.” The words her mother had scribbled made sense to Meredith, now that she knew who their target was. “She... Well, she always felt that people like the Hammonds looked down on her. At most, she would have wanted to prove she was as good as they were.”
It wasn’t a particularly appealing side of her mother’s nature, but Meredith felt confident that her analysis was the right one. Her mother might have wanted attention, but not at the cost of being involved in a murder trial. That would be the wrong sort of attention entirely. Ironic, that her actions had nearly put her daughter in the role of prime suspect.
“She was always dissatisfied, poor woman,” Rebecca said, her face gentle as she looked at Meredith. “But nobody could have done anything to change that—not your daad, and not you.”
Meredith let the words sink into her heart, finding them healing. Rebecca was a wise woman.
“I’m sorry for all this trouble.” Burkhalter stopped in front of her, turning his hat in his hands. “Glad it’s over. You’ll want to get on with the funeral. I’ll see to it the funeral home is notified to move ahead.”
He gave her an awkward nod and went out, the other men trailing behind him. Jake paused long enough to bend and kiss her cheek.
“Congratulations on still being alive,” he said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Rachel escorted them to the door. After a glance at Meredith and Zach, Rebecca carried cups to the kitchen.
Zach stood, and Meredith looked at him in surprise. “You’re going?”
“You need to rest.” He touched her cheek, his fingers gentle. “Burkhalter was actually right about one thing. You need to do a proper job of mourning your mother. Afterward, there will be time for other things.” He bent and kissed her lightly. “I’ll be around.”
* * *
MEREDITH MOVED THROUGH the people who crowded the living room and dining room after the funeral service, trying to speak with everyone who’d come. She’d been overwhelmed with offers of help—a reaction, perhaps, to the revelations about her mother’s death. So much food had been brought that she hadn’t had to do a thing for the traditional reception at the house, and there was probably enough in the freezer to last her for a month or two.
Rachel and her sisters had shown up early this morning to set everything up, leaving her with nothing to do but concentrate on, as Zach had said, mourning her mother properly. For someone who had shed small-town ways years ago, he’d been surprisingly wise about that.
He’d been around for the past couple days, dealing with the police, helping to tie up loose ends. They’d traced the anonymous call about the hammer to Victor’s cell phone. He must have been desperate to get Zach out of the way so he could deal with Meredith. The ironic thing was that she’d never seriously pictured soft, ineffectual Victor as a killer.
Lau
ra had apparently collapsed entirely after witnessing Victor’s death. She was in a residential facility, and Jeannette seemed to be taking responsibility for her. Little though Meredith liked Jeannette, she had to admit the woman had proved a faithful friend to Laura.
Reminding herself of her duties, Meredith thanked the members of her mother’s garden club for the beautiful arrangements and agreed that Margo would have loved them. She glanced around, spotting Zach talking to Jake. He’d made no effort to talk to her privately in the past two days, giving her space, she thought, to get on with burying her mother before looking ahead.
But when she thought about the future, it seemed oddly blank. There’s plenty of time, he’d said, but what did that mean?
She stopped at the sight of a group of soberly dressed people congregated in a corner of the dining room, and then went forward to greet her Amish relatives. It was unusual for the Amish to attend something like this, and none of them had ever been in the house before, due to her mother’s attitude.
“I’m glad you’re here.” She clasped Onkel Simon’s hand. “Thank you for coming.”
“We thought you might need us,” he said. “Da Herr sie mit du.”
The Lord be with you. Yes, she did need to have her family here.
Sarah made a move as if to hug her and then drew back, her face expressing uncertainty. “Can you forgive me? I was so unkind—”
“Let’s forget the past, all right?” Meredith put her arms around her cousin, grateful for the warm hug in return. “We both made mistakes, but it’s over.”
“Ja.” Sarah’s eyes were misty.
Samuel gave her a jerky nod. “I am sorry for your loss,” he said carefully.
“Thank you.” Samuel didn’t come to forgiveness as readily as his sister did, judging by his stiffness.
When she would have moved away, he touched her arm, surprising her.
“I blamed myself,” he said, his voice low. “I thought my harsh words had driven Aaron to take his life. You were right. The truth is better.”
“Yes.” She managed a smile. “It is.”
* * *
ZACH WAITED PATIENTLY until the crowd left, busying himself with helping Rachel in the kitchen, not that she and her sisters seemed to need any help. Finally, as the house grew quiet, she flapped her dish towel at him.
“We’ll finish up in here. Go and talk to Meredith. You know that’s what you want to do.”
He did. He just hadn’t figured out what he wanted to say. Well, maybe it was time he did.
He found Meredith in her office, of all places, sitting in front of the computer. She looked up when he came in.
“Just making sure it’s still there,” she said, closing down. “A few days ago I thought my business was probably on the verge of collapse. Nobody wants an accountant who’s involved in a murder case.”
“But they all hung in there?” He moved to stand behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. He could feel the tension in the tight muscles, and he smoothed his hands over them gently.
“Yes, they did.” She seemed to stare at the blank computer screen. “I...I guess I’ll have to get back to work soon.” She hesitated. “And I guess you will, too.”
Was that a question? He wasn’t sure.
“I’ll have a few things to say to my sergeant when I do. The old man was right, as usual.”
Meredith focused on him, a faintly puzzled frown wrinkling her brows. “Right about what?”
“He told me I should come back to Deer Run and face whatever I was trying so hard to forget.” He grimaced. “At first I figured that advice was backfiring. I came back here, and I was right back to being that kid no one respected.”
She put her hand over his where it rested on her shoulder. “Zach...”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s what I finally figured out. All that ever really mattered was respecting myself.” He shook his head. “I wasted a lot of years thinking people were looking down on me.”
Like Meredith’s mother, with her constant need to prove she was better than others.
“I’m glad,” she said simply, her eyes warm. “If it took coming back to Deer Run to prove that to you, maybe it was meant to be.”
“There’s something else that was meant to be.” He was bone-deep sure of it now. “I was too young to really understand what loving you meant back then. But not now. Now I know, and I still feel the same.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I—”
He put his fingers to her lips. “One more thing, first. I know everything’s been crazy since I came back. I know you’re still getting used to the fact that your mother is gone. I’m not trying to rush you. We have all the time in the world, and no one standing in our way.” He managed a smile. “It’s not that far from Pittsburgh to Deer Run. I could make it in a couple hours if I bent a few speed laws.”
If she loved him, they’d work it out. If not, then it didn’t matter.
Meredith took his hand in both of hers. “You’re right. It has been crazy, and frightening, and tragic. But I don’t want to be like Victor and Laura, forever caught in the mistakes of the past. I love you.” She smiled, but a tear spilled over onto her cheek. “The rest of it we can work out.” She echoed his thoughts.
“That’s enough to go on with.” He drew her up from the chair and into his arms, and she nestled against him with a little sigh, as if she’d come home at last.
He pressed his cheek against her and held her gently. There was time, he thought again. Time for grieving, time for planning, time for passion. This time around, their love was strong enough to survive anything.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460319635
SEARCH THE DARK
Copyright © 2013 by Martha Johnson
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Marta Perry Page 25
