It had been two days since Victor Webb was taken to the hospital that he had financed years earlier and placed under guard. In those forty-eight hours Irene had changed in some subtle ways. It was as if she no longer viewed the town of Dunsley through a dark lens, he decided. Much of the cautious reserve with which she had treated most of the locals had dissipated.
Maybe there was something to that old adage about the truth setting you free. Or maybe, in this case, the truth had simply made it possible for Irene to give the past a proper burial.
“I understand, Sam,” she said gently.
McPherson folded his hands very deliberately on top of his desk. “Later, when the rumors started up about your mom having had an affair with someone in town, I told myself that might have been enough to push your dad over the edge. I knew that you and Elizabeth were the two most important things in the world to him.”
“Victor Webb must have been the one who planted those rumors,” Irene said. “It would have been easy enough for him to do, given his connections in this region.”
Sam nodded. “Got to admit that I had a bad time for a while after I found out that the file on the case had been destroyed. I think I knew, deep in my gut, that Bob Thornhill had engineered that little so-called accident.”
“As a favor to Victor Webb,” Irene said.
“It wasn’t a favor.” Luke went to stand behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders. “He saw it as repaying a debt. Like so many other people in this town, he owed Victor Webb. Webb had paid for his wife’s medications.”
Sam exhaled heavily. “Hell, even if I had tried to reopen the case after I took over this job, I would have been looking at the wrong member of the family. When I did allow myself to speculate on who might have killed the Stensons, I always assumed the most likely suspect was Ryland.”
“But it was Victor you called that night,” Luke reminded him.
“Thing is, I never figured him for the killer.” Sam unfolded his hands and spread them wide. His eyes were bleak. “He never acknowledged me, but he was my dad.”
“Yes,” Irene said.
Sam scrubbed his face once with his right hand. “I considered the possibility that after I called Victor, he turned around and called Ryland to confront him about the accusation of incest. There was some logic to that. I thought it was possible that Ryland had, in turn, rushed up here to Dunsley to get rid of the Stensons before the scandal broke. But that was as far as I got with my theories. Like I said, I just didn’t want to go there.”
Luke looked at him. “I’ll bet Bob Thornhill wasn’t eager to go there, either.”
“No,” Sam admitted. “He was my new boss, and he had a lot of years of experience. I was twenty-three years old, and that was the first killing I’d ever seen. When Thornhill announced that it was a murder-suicide and closed the case, I was more than willing to go along.”
“As the new chief of police, Thornhill had no problem shutting down the investigation,” Irene said.
“It wasn’t like there was anyone in town who was going to argue that there was an unknown killer running loose in Dunsley,” Sam agreed.
Irene studied him. “You called Victor because you were sure that Pamela was lying about the abuse, didn’t you?”
Sam nodded. “I just couldn’t believe it. I knew Pamela was angry at Ryland because he’d forced her to go to that boarding school. I thought she was trying to punish him so she invented the tale about the incest.”
“What about the video? Did you think she faked it?”
“I didn’t know what was on that video. She wouldn’t tell me. She just kept saying it was bad. I wondered if maybe she’d caught Ryland having sex with someone from Dunsley or something along those lines. I was still pretty naive in those days. Just couldn’t believe that my older brother had abused his daughter. So, yeah, I called Victor.”
“What did he tell you?” Irene asked.
“He said he’d take care of things, the way he always did when there was a problem in the family. He reminded me of how he had always taken care of my mother.” Sam closed his eyes for a few seconds. Then he looked straight at Irene. “He was in his office at the San Francisco store that day. Just a couple of hours away.”
There was a short, heavy silence. Luke squeezed Irene’s shoulders to reassure her and then went back to the window.
“He used an inflatable boat with an outboard motor each time he came to Dunsley to kill,” he said quietly. “Launched it in some deserted section of the lake. That way there was no risk that anyone would see him entering or leaving Dunsley. Probably didn’t worry at all about being seen when he murdered Hoyt Egan, though. No one at the apartment complex would have recognized him. Hoyt would have opened the door to him.”
“Just as my parents did,” Irene said.
“I’m betting that he used drugs to kill Pamela’s mother all those years ago,” Sam said grimly. “When he decided to get rid of Pamela, he was forced to act quickly. He must have concluded that it would be easiest to use the same method. After all, he had already done the research.”
The certainty in Sam’s voice caused Luke to turn around. “You found some evidence?”
Sam’s mouth thinned. “I discovered an empty syringe in the glove compartment of my SUV this morning. Sent it off to a lab to run some tests on it. Expect they’ll find traces of whatever Victor used to kill Pamela.”
Irene’s brows rose. “Speaking of your SUV, what reason did Victor Webb give you when he borrowed it?”
“He didn’t exactly knock on my door and ask permission to take it,” Sam said evenly. “He stole it while I was here in my office. I got a call from the chief of police over in Kirbyville saying he’d found the vehicle abandoned out near the old Ventana Estates subdivision site. We both figured some kids had taken it joyriding.”
“Victor must have been desperate to use your vehicle to try to get rid of me,” Irene said. “It meant he had to take the risk of slipping into town and stealing the SUV out of your garage without being seen.”
“Not that much risk involved.” Sam shrugged. “He probably used the old logging trail that runs through the forest behind my subdivision. Remember, he hunted around here all of his life. He knows the terrain as well as he knows his own face in the mirror.”
“Still, it seems odd that he used your SUV,” Irene insisted. “Why not his own vehicle? Or a rental? And why did he leave the syringe in your glove compartment?”
“Because he knew that things were starting to fray,” Luke said quietly. “Victor realized that there was a growing risk that the situation would get out of control. If that happened, he wanted to be sure that there was a convenient fall guy.”
Irene’s face tightened with dismay. She looked at Sam.
“You,” she whispered.
“Me,” Sam agreed. “He was setting me up. Just in case.”
None of them spoke for a while.
Eventually Sam fixed Irene with his world-weary look. “Your dad knew about the gossip that I was Victor Webb’s son. He talked to me about it once.”
“When was that?” Irene asked.
“One night when he found me pursuing my favorite hobby, getting drunk at Harry’s Hang-Out. That was just after Mom had died. I wasn’t handling things very well. He shoved me into his cruiser and took me for a ride. Talked to me.”
“What did he say?” Irene asked.
“He told me that in the end it doesn’t matter who your father is. He said sooner or later, every man has to take responsibility for inventing himself, has to decide just what kind of man he wants to be. A week later he offered me a job with the department on the condition that I never came to work drunk and never drank on duty. I promised him I wouldn’t. I know it doesn’t mean much to you, Irene, but I kept my word to him all these years.”
“It does mean something.” Irene reached across the desk and touched his hand. “It would have been important to Dad, so it’s important to me.” She rose and looped the strap
of her handbag over her shoulder. “You know, I have a very clear memory of the evening that Dad told Mom over dinner that he had given you the job. He said you had what it took to be a good cop.”
Sam frowned. “Hugh Stenson said that?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “You know, my father was an excellent judge of character.”
Sam looked at her the way a man looks at the doctor who has just told him the lab tests came back benign.
“Thanks,” he said, his voice very husky. “Thanks.”
. . .
He sat at his desk for a long time after they had left. It was as if he had been living inside a cage all of his life, Sam thought. But Irene had just opened the door. All he had to do was walk through it.
Still, like any creature faced with a sudden twist of fortune, he hesitated, giving himself time to adjust to the idea of moving into a slightly altered universe.
When he thought he was ready, he opened a drawer, removed the slender volume that was the Dunsley phone book and flipped through the pages until he found the listing.
He punched in the number with short, stabbing motions.
She answered on the first ring.
“This is Sam,” he said. “Sam McPherson.”
“Oh, hello, Sam.” She sounded surprised but not displeased.
“I was just wondering if you would like to have dinner with me some night this week,” he said, bracing himself for rejection. “Maybe go over to Kirbyville. If you can get away, that is. If you’re not doing something else. I mean, I realize that you’re really busy these days.”
“Why, Sam, I’d love to have dinner with you,” Maxine said.
Fifty
Heard that bastard Victor Webb died from complications following surgery,” Hackett said.
“No loss, as far as I’m concerned.” Luke sat sprawled in a chair in Hackett’s office, elbows propped on the arms, fingertips together. “The man murdered in cold blood at least five people that we know of. Wouldn’t be surprised if there was another victim, too.”
“Who?”
“Bob Thornhill, the man who took Irene’s father’s place as chief of police for a few months. The circumstances of his death are more than a little suspicious. Got a hunch Webb killed him after he was sure all of the evidence and records relating to the deaths of the Stensons had been destroyed.”
“Used him and then got rid of him.” Hackett shook his head. “Victor Webb must have been a complete sociopath.”
“I’m just thanking my lucky stars he didn’t realize that Irene would be a problem until it was too late. It was still one damn close call. If she hadn’t told Maxine and Tucker Mills where she was going that afternoon when Webb cornered her at the house on Pine Lane—”
“But she did tell them,” Hackett interrupted evenly. “And you saved her. Don’t waste your time thinking about possibilities that didn’t happen.”
Luke smiled. “Hey, you know, that’s good advice. I believe I’ll take it. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now what’s this I hear about selling the lodge?”
“I’m signing the papers tomorrow.”
Hackett’s brows knitted together in a troubled frown. “Why? Don’t get me wrong, no one in the family figured you’d last long in the hospitality industry, but this seems like a rather sudden decision.”
“Another one of my unpredictable little turns, you mean?” Luke nodded. “Guess it looks that way. But truth is, the lodge was never meant to be more than a temporary arrangement. I just needed a quiet place where I could work on my book for a few months.”
Hackett looked bewildered. “You’re writing a book?”
“Been working on it for a while. Another month and it will be finished.”
Hackett flattened both hands on the desk. “Why the hell didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Well, I did mention to the Old Man that I was doing a little writing.”
“‘Doing a little writing’ is not the same as writing a book, for crying out loud.”
“Cut me some slack, here. Everyone in the family assumes that I’m having problems adjusting to the real world. No offense, but I didn’t think it would be smart to give you all more ammunition for thinking I was becoming downright eccentric.” Luke shrugged. “Besides, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to finish the damned thing. Got the end in sight now, though.”
Hackett turned abruptly curious. “Have you sold it?”
“Not yet. But I’ve got an agent who likes the first few chapters and thinks she can peddle it if the rest of the book holds up.”
Hackett pondered that for a while. “So, why are you moving away from Dunsley?”
“Among other things, it turns out the place wasn’t quite as quiet as I had anticipated. Thought I’d try another town.”
“What other town?”
“Glaston Cove.”
Understanding lit Hackett’s eyes. He started to smile. “This is about Irene, isn’t it?”
“It is all about Irene.”
“You know something? I think she’s going to be very good for you. Maybe just what you need.”
“That’s sort of how I’m looking at it,” Luke said. “By the way, while we’re on the subject of my little idiosyncrasies, I would like to clarify what appears to be a serious misunderstanding of what, exactly, happened the weekend that Katy and I went away together.”
Hackett stopped smiling. “I heard that nothing happened because of, uh, your problem.”
“That’s half true.”
“Only half?” Hackett looked wary.
“Nothing happened. But the real reason nothing happened was that Katy and I came to our senses and realized that, although we will always be very fond of each other, we are never going to be in love.”
“She had a crush on you when she was a teenager.”
“That’s all it was, a crush. Lasted about five seconds, as I recall. Hell, I’m too old for her, and she’s way too young for me.”
“She agreed to marry you,” Hackett said evenly.
“Don’t blame me for that. It was your fault.”
“My fault?”
“Yours and the Old Man’s and everyone else’s in the family. Katy went along with the engagement because you and the others put the mother of all guilt trips on her. You convinced her that I was an emotional basket case and that I might crack under the slightest bit of pressure. She was terrified that if she rejected me, I might follow the same path that my mother took.”
Hackett was appalled. “I swear, we never meant to make her think that she would be responsible if you did something like that.”
“Yeah, well, that was how it went down. Guess it falls into the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished category.”
“Well, damn.” Hackett sagged a little, as though he had taken a body blow. Then he straightened. “You really aren’t in love with Katy?”
Luke gripped the arms of the chair and pushed himself to his feet. “No. And she is definitely not in love with me.”
“Wait a second. If you weren’t in love with her, why the hell did you ask her to marry you in the first place?”
Luke walked to the door. “Getting married was part of my strategy. It was one of the things I thought I needed to do to feel normal again.”
He opened the door.
Hackett was on his feet, circling his desk. “Luke, wait.”
Luke looked back at him, smiling slightly. “It’s okay, Hack. Turns out I had the wrong objective. The trick to dealing with real life is to accept the fact that sometimes things never go all the way back to normal.”
He went out into the carpeted hall and closed the door.
Hackett stood perfectly still for a few seconds, savoring the incredible sensation that was sweeping through him. He felt as if he had just been released from the weight of an ocean that had been crushing him for the past few months.
He lunged for the door, flung it open and went swiftly down the hall to Public Relations.
Jas
on came around the corner, a half-eaten wedge of pizza in one hand. “What’s up?”
Hackett did not break his stride. “I’m going to try to get a date. Wish me luck.”
Jason grinned. “This sounds like fun. Can I watch?”
“Go eat your pizza.”
He went through the open door of Public Relations. Katy was seated at her desk, talking on the phone. Her eyes widened a little when she saw him.
“I’ll get right back to you, Mr. Perkins,” she said quickly. She hung up and looked at Hackett. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong today.” He reached down and hauled her up out of the chair. “Today is a perfect day.”
She laughed, confused but delighted. “How is it perfect?”
“Luke just told me that he is not in love with you. He said he never was in love with you and you are not in love with him, and that is the real reason nothing happened that weekend when the two of you went away together.”
She went still. “He said all that?”
“Yes. Can you confirm?”
She swallowed hard. “I can definitely confirm that I am not in love with him.”
“He also assured me that in spite of the Old Man’s and Dr. Van Dyke’s fears, he is not in the slightest danger of doing himself any harm. You know what? I believe him. Luke can be stubborn and difficult and unpredictable, but he has never lied to me in my entire life.”
“Good point,” Jason said around a mouthful of pizza. “Maybe we should have listened when he kept telling us not to worry about him.”
Katy glowed with hope. “Does this mean we don’t have to be concerned about Luke anymore?”
“Luke can take care of himself,” Hackett said. “What’s more, if he does run into trouble, he’s got someone he can call on for backup now.”
“I’m guessing that would be Irene,” Jason said.
“You guess right.” Hackett did not take his eyes off Katy. He knew that his whole future was hanging in the balance. “Will you have dinner with me tonight? Someplace very private. Just the two of us.”
She put her arms around his neck. Her smile lit up the room. “I would like that very much. I’ve even got a great idea where we can go.”