Promises of Home jp-3

by Jeff Abbott

  “What?” Sister gasped. “But Davis said-”

  “I know what he said. And you and I are going to have a little chat about when you choose to keep your mouth shut, Sister. And I don’t want a single word of complaint that they’re staying here.”

  I could hear her give a long sigh. “You won’t. I’m glad he’s away from that crazy woman. Tell ’em to make themselves comfortable. And if that Cayla even looks crosseyed at me, I’m gonna punch her into next week.”

  I said a terse goodbye and dialed Steven Teague’s office. His receptionist answered, perky and sharp.

  “Mr. Teague, please.”

  “I’m sorry, he’s gone for the day. May I take a message?”

  “This is kind of an emergency, ma’am. I’m Jordan Poteet. It concerns one of his patients.”

  “I can have him return your call,” she said primly.

  “Fine. He can reach me at home. Tell him it involves Davis Foradory.”

  She repeated the message and, wishing me a good afternoon, hung up. I went back to the Foradory house to collect clothes for Davis and Bradley. I took Davis’s keys. Thankfully, Cayla was nowhere about. I quickly packed a suitcase for each of them, threw in a worn-looking teddy bear for Bradley, and came home.

  After putting their suitcases in their rooms, I took a nap. Late in the afternoon, I went back down to the kitchen to fix myself a pimento-cheese sandwich, to tide me over till Candace came home with dinner. Scott Kinnard had come over to visit and the boys were up in Mark’s room. Davis slept in druggy oblivion, and Clo sat chatting with Mama, who apparency thought Clo was a newly made Mend and was telling her about her two delightful children, Arlene and Jordan. Clo smiled wistfully at me.

  “Anne and I are having a nice chat. You want to join us?”

  “No, thanks. I think I’ll-”

  “Hello,” Mama said brightly. “Have we met?”

  I couldn’t stay. I didn’t want to be reminded of the trauma in my own family after seeing the Foradorys fall apart. I excused myself to the porch with my plate. I like a little solitude now and then, and with this house busting at the seams, I wasn’t likely to get much privacy in the next several days. I sat down to enjoy my lunch and allow myself some quiet time.

  The sky, indecisive for the past few days, finally offered dryness. The sun was edging below the horizon and the air felt brisk and cool. The clouds had scudded toward Austin, pushing in from the Gulf and finally shoving past Mirabeau. I sat on the chair and thought about poor Davis. He’d been through hell. And Clevey had been one of the devils, poking him with a hot trident. I felt deeply disappointed in Clevey. Now I had the proof of what he’d been up to. Victimizing a childhood pal for his own selfish reasons. He’d shown himself to be a blackmailer, just like Scott had suggested.

  I chewed. But what did Davis’s troubles have to do with Trey? Blackmail over Davis’s beatings couldn’t have been what Clevey was coaxing Trey to get involved in. Why share the profits? And was Davis the “gravy train” that Clevey alluded to? My mind went back to what Nola told me. Trey and Hart talking. Trey asking if anyone else knew their secret. Hart saying Steven knew.

  Just how did Steven Teague fit into this town? He’d worked here once. He’d left suddenly. He’d returned twenty years later, not exactly encouraging people to prod their memories and remember his brief residence.

  He’d lived here, and Rennie Clifton had died, carrying a lover’s baby. He’d come back, and Clevey Shivers and Trey Slocum died.

  It was time to confront Hart. Assuming Nola was truthful, he’d known why Trey left and lied. He’d apparently let Steven in on the secret. If I stayed here, I’d be nothing but a nursemaid to Davis. He needed time alone, and I needed to take action, to find closure for the giant rip my life had become.

  I finished my sandwich and went back into the living room. Mark was hanging up the phone. Scott Kinnard and Bradley sat at the table, sipping Cokes and munching chips. Bradley didn’t look at me.

  “Don’t ruin your dinners,” I muttered automatically. The chomping of chips continued.

  “Hey, Jordy,” Scott greeted me softly. “Mom said she came over and made up with you today.”

  “She did, Scott, she did.” I could see some of Nola’s strength in his face. “I think I understand your mom a little better now.”

  “We moved this afternoon.” He didn’t look at me. “Out of Hart’s place. We’re renting a little apartment over off Bluebonnet Street.”

  I knew the apartments-they were small and unkempt. “Well, I hope that everything will work out.”

  “Me, too, I’d like to stay here,” Scott said. “We’re gonna see about getting me enrolled in the school. I’ll be in Mark’s class.” He gave a satisfied smile.

  Mark spoke up. “That was Hart on the phone. He said we might be able to go riding later, if we wanted to come out and visit him.”

  I glanced at Bradley. “We’ll see, Mark. I don’t know if Bradley’s up to horse riding.” Bradley didn’t acknowledge my reference to him. He seemed mesmerized by the ice cubes in his glass, surrounded by fizzing soda.

  “Thought it might get his mind off stuff,” Mark said, shrugging. Scott looked at Mark and nodded.

  The boys suddenly made my throat catch. Bradley looking like a younger Davis, Mark the image of Trey, and while Scott didn’t look like any of my boyhood confederates, he had the aching for acceptance that reminded me of Ed. I wondered if they’d stay friends for years, if they’d watch each other grow and change and leave Mirabeau. I hoped if they kept the bonds of friendship strong that they would never have to be tested the way my friends and I had been tested these past dark days.

  “So Hart’s at his house?” I said. “Good. I need to pay him a visit.” I bade the boys farewell and headed out toward the horse ranch. Dusk was here, and a chill breeze made the damp air smell dank as a dungeon. I barreled along the road toward the Quadlander farm, ready to talk truth with Hart and find out why Trey’d felt compelled to leave all those years ago.

  19

  If it hadn’t been for the flat tire, I would have just zoomed up to the Quadlander place. And things would have been different, perhaps. Truth would have hidden for a while longer, and I don’t like to think about what might’ve happened. It might have been worse than what did happen.

  Trey once told me, long, long ago, that you had to stare death in the face to become a man. That autumn night, I stared too long.

  The tire blew, a galumphing, popping sound, about a quarter mile from the gate that marked Hart Quadlander’s property. I pulled over to the side, cussing a blue streak (that’s allowed when Candace isn’t around). The tire had picked up a nail and, being old and somewhat bald, had given quick surrender. I popped open the back of my Blazer and pulled up the carpet, staring at the flat spare.

  Nothing to do for it; I slammed the door and started the hike up to Hart’s horse farm. I opened the gate that blocked the road up to his property and closed it behind me, looping the wire back over the post to hold the gate in place. I was careful to secure it; I had to help Trey chase a horse down once that’d bolted past the gate and I wasn’t eager to repeat the experience.

  Night had fallen by the time I walked the half mile up the hill to the old house. The home Trey’d lived in all those years didn’t face down the road directly; it stood at an oblique angle, turned slightly so that it faced the scenery of the creek, the dense growths of live oaks, pecan trees, and loblolly pines, and farther, the watery smudge of the Colorado River.

  I noticed the sleek Volvo that was Steven Teague’s parked in the gravel drive. Why was he here? I’d tell Steven about the developments at the Foradorys, but I wasn’t done being suspicious of him.

  A light shone brightly in Hart’s kitchen and I headed toward it. I saw Hart’s head move past in the lit window and then move back as he walked from his fridge. The window was closer than the door and I paused for a moment, trying to see if Steven was in there with him.

  Oh, he was.
In the fluorescent glow, I saw the two men standing together, laughing at some private joke, at ease.

  And then Steven moved close and kissed Hart.

  I felt nailed to the ground. The kiss lengthened, grew in heat, and Steven’s arms went around Hart’s neck, pulling him tighter in esurient need. I stood, not breathing, until their kiss broke. Hart ran a finger gently along Steven’s lips and moved to pick up a beer on his kitchen table. He said something, and I heard the distant tone of Steven’s laughter.

  I turned and hurried away, embarrassed and shocked. I stumbled along toward the creek. Just go back and ring the bell, I told myself. Pretend like you saw nothing. But my feet didn’t obey, and I staggered down toward the sodden creek, the mud smearing on my boots. There was no dry spot to sit, so I squatted among the heavy, cablelike roots of a live oak and leaned against the rough bark.

  Hart and Steven. Hart? Gay, and I’d never known? I’d known him since childhood, and he’d never told me? Hell, I suspected he’d never told anyone in Mirabeau. Had they seen me, stumbling into their private moment? No one burst from the house, so I assumed not.

  I caught my breath and, in the beginning of moonlight, saw two distant markers among the trees. A pair of marble crosses, gleaming like silver. Louis Slocum’s grave. And next to it, Trey’s grave. Cold and moldering in their muddy tombs.

  I closed my eyes. Hart was gay. Fine, okay, whatever.

  Had Louis known, in those years he’d lived here in a drunken stupor? Had Trey ever known?

  Nola’s voice, but Trey’s words, repeating to me what she’d heard Trey say to Hart: If it hadn’t been for Daddy, I wouldn’t have had to leave.

  A glimmer of a scenario pulled at my thoughts. Hart had a terrible secret to keep. Ivalou Purcell, who had just redefined barking up the wrong tree, said Hart wasn’t around when she’d come here in that long-ago storm. What had she said? That drunken Louis was crying and saying Hart was gone.

  Oh, God.

  Where had Hart gone? Why would he be out in a hurricane? Why would Louis be upset over Hart being gone?

  And the corollary question, the one that I stupidly should have known was the key: what the hell was Rennie Clifton doing in those woods during a storm? Why would she be out there?

  Why would anyone be out in those woods?

  Perhaps looking for a bunch of stupid boys sitting out nature’s fury in a rackety tree house. Knowing that their leader was your drunken friend’s son. That was one good reason. And if a cleaning girl who maybe learned your secret was out there, too-

  Thomasina Clifton’s wry, scratchy voice came to my ear: She always liked having a man she couldn’t have…

  And Nola, telling me about Trey and Hart’s conversation, where Trey had asked, Does anyone else know? and Hart answering, Only Steven Teague.

  I felt ill. Voices sounded in my head, not giving me concrete evidence, but trying to pull together the tangled threads of now and then. I felt a tightening in my throat, as though the connecting strings of Rennie and Clevey and Trey and Hart and Steven were strangling me.

  The door to Hart’s house opened, and in the sudden brightness, I saw Steven Teague step out. He and Hart talked briefly, then Steven stepped away and jaunted toward his Volvo. There was no parting kiss on the porch. Of course not-this was Mirabeau.

  I leaned against the tree, shielding myself from the light. Steven’s car purred into life and he turned, the headlights sweeping the broad tree I’d hidden behind, and then tore off down the road. I stayed put, peering around the trunk only to see the hesitation of lights as Steven got out, un-looped the gate, drove through, halted again, and shut and secured the hasp. Then his Volvo turned and tore off toward town, its lights flickering as it passed through copses of trees.

  Hart went back inside. Back inside his safe, warm home, while near this creek Trey lay dead. But Hart had a clear-cut alibi for Trey’s death. I shuddered in the evening chill.

  I stood, anger and confusion coursing through me. I needed to head back to town, get Franklin Bedloe, tell my suspicions to Junebug. But I didn’t have a shred of proof. And I didn’t have transport home.

  And I wanted to deal with Hart Quadlander on my own terms.

  I hiked back up from the trees, only glancing once toward the cross that marked Trey’s body. I carefully cleaned my boots, scraping the mud off on a heavy, gnarled root that looked like a demon’s finger. I felt a huge, hot anger in me, but my movements were calm and measured.

  Before I knew it, I was pressing the doorbell. It felt warm beneath my fingertips and I froze a smile into place.

  Hart looked surprised to see me, but his face broke into a grin. “Hey, Jordy. How are you?”

  I made myself sound hearty and slightly annoyed. “Well, Hart, fair to middling. But I’ve gotten a flat tire down near your gate. Could I borrow your phone?”

  “Hey, sure, c’mon in,” he said, and opened the door wide.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting your dinner,” I said.

  “Nah, not quite yet. I was gonna throw a steak on the grill in a few minutes, though. I was just gonna have a drink and turn on the TV. You want a drink?”

  I’d followed him into the nicely furnished, expansive den. Preternaturally my eyes absorbed each detail: hard wood floors, polished to shine. A stone fireplace, with a blaze roaring merrily away. A comfortable couch, its upholstery decorated with Indian totems, and a matching armchair, a James Michener novel facedown on the ottoman. A glass-front bureau, with rifles lined up in it like sticks. A secretary of glossy wood, an empty ice bucket, cans of soda, and a bottle of bourbon. And a bookcase, topped with photos of Hart’s parents shyly smiling, Louis standing soberly by a prize stallion, and Trey as a boy, cowboy hat jaunty on his head, grinning with mock innocence.

  “Jordy? You want a drink?” Hart offered again.

  I glanced at the secretary he’d converted to a dry bar. Nothing cold there-he’d have to go to the kitchen.

  “I’d like a beer, please.”

  “Sure. Coming right up.” He sauntered off to the kitchen, keeping up a running chatter about town and country that I ignored. The key in the bureau was old, but it rotated easily. You don’t live out in the country and make your firearms hard to grab. I yanked out the first rifle and cracked it open to check it was loaded. It was. Thank you, God.

  I was about to have a shocking talk with someone who’d been guarding secrets for decades; I needed something more persuasive than my winsome smile.

  When Hart came back into the den, laughing and talking about some idiotic story about Nola Kinnard going shopping, I had the rifle firmly and steadily aimed at his chest.

  He jerked, as though I’d already shot him.

  “Don’t move!” I ordered. He froze. The bottle of beer slipped nervelessly from his fingers and shattered on the wooden floor.

  “Jordy. Good God. Look what you made me do! Is this a joke?” Hart’s eyes were wide with shock.

  “No, it’s not.” I shook my head slowly. “Put your hands up and don’t make any sudden moves. Move away from the door. Sit over here on the couch.”

  “Jordy-”

  “I know how to use this, Hart. Remember-you taught me. My own daddy didn’t cotton to hunting, but Trey did, and you took us out. When Trey and I were fourteen, you taught me how to shoot.” My voice dripped with bitterness; it didn’t sound like me talking, but some stranger who’d stepped into my skin.

  “Okay, okay.” He moved slowly toward the couch, keeping his hands still, and sat down. “Now, what’s got you so upset?”

  “Just your recent activities, Hart. Oh, and some ancient pastimes, too. like killing poor Rennie Clifton.”

  He took a long, steadying breath. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  I aimed the gun at his crotch. He tensed. “Yeah, you do. You killed her. You killed Clevey. You killed Trey. You shot Junebug.”

  “No. No.” Fright made his breathing hard.

  “Don’t you lie to me, Hart. Don’t you go p
retending all these years that you’re an upstanding Southern gentleman when you’re a goddamned liar and murderer.” I stared at him along the sight. “I didn’t just now get here, Trey. I saw you and Steven Teague exchanging endearments.”

  He shivered, his dark eyes open pools of shock. “Listen, Jordy, I don’t know what you think you saw-”

  I moved the rifle and fired. A vase five feet to his left shattered into powder, the bullet’s percussive scream deafening in the room. I’ll give Hart credit, though-he didn’t scream. His eyes were tightly shut, but he opened them slowly. I pumped the rifle.

  Silence hung between us for long seconds.

  “I don’t care about your sexual orientation, Hart. Truly I don’t. But I have a theory about what might have happened in this house twenty years ago. I’m going to share it with you. You’re going to listen.

  “You were a happy family here. You and this man named Louis you hired, and his son, Trey. Three decent fellows. Except Louis had a bit of a drinking problem. He wasn’t a fellow to take much responsibility for his actions. And when a pretty girl caught his eye when she came here with her mother to do some work, he decided to have her.”

  Hart didn’t move a muscle.

  “So Louis and Rennie had a little affair. She got pregnant. You found out. That put a crimp in your plans, because you and Louis were already lovers.”

  “Jordy-”

  “Hear me out, Hart. Oh, you don’t have a choice about that, I forgot.” I smiled tightly. “It’s just a guess, but I’m trying to think why you might have reason to kill Rennie Clifton. Let’s say you and Louis were lovers. Your devotion to his memory has always been unusually strong. And he was a rough-and-tumble man who’d take pleasure in something and not feel much guilt over it. Or maybe he did-and that fueled his drinking. And it might explain why you’d keep a drunk like Louis on your payroll for so long. But Louis liked women, too. After all, he’d produced Trey. And so he took another lover, maybe in an effort to prove something to himself. He picked Rennie.