Half Past Dead (26 page)

T
ORI NOTICED
the feathery trail of white powder on the garage floor when she went to check her mother's car battery. She should sell the old clunker, but that would only emphasize to her mother how near death loomed. The powder had spilled from a small green box shoved behind the old refrigerator her mother insisted on keeping in the two-car garage. Tori pried out the small box.

Rat poison.

Had rats invaded the pantry again? None of the nurses had mentioned it. She walked back into the house, calling softly, “Emilie, Emilie.”

Emilie Yates was the night nurse. Almost sixty, with thinning white hair pulled back in a knot at the nape of her neck, Emilie had a lumberjack's body and a sunny disposition. No matter how ill Tori's mother felt, Emilie could make her smile. She was a rock and Tori had counted on her for most of this year.

Emilie poked her head around the corner, a finger to her lips. “Shh! Your mother's asleep.”

Tori didn't point out that her mother was so heavily sedated these days that she usually slept twenty-three hours a day. She held out the small box of rat poison. “Are we having problems with rats again?”

Emile shook her head, adding, “I found it on the kitchen counter the other evening. I wanted to throw it out, but your mother insisted on taking care of it herself.”

“Oh.” Tori let out the word slowly. Why on earth had her mother shoved it behind the old fridge where they kept extra sodas?

“Your mother's going fast,” Emilie said, her grizzled brows knitting into a tight frown. “It won't be long now.”

Tori swallowed hard. Emilie had years of experience with these situations. No doubt what she'd said was true. Why not allow her mother to die in peace, believing Tori was going to become a Kincaid? Why tell her that Tori was seriously considering giving back the ring and moving to Atlanta?

“I'm not sure your sister should visit again,” Emilie said carefully. “Your mother was really upset after the last visit.”

“What visit?” Tori struggled to keep her voice down. She'd asked the day nurse and her mother if Kat had come here, but she hadn't seen Kat.

“The other evening when I arrived your mother was sitting in front of the television all agitated. She claimed Kaitlin had been bugging her.”

“Bugging her?”

“About the past. Why she didn't love her.” Emilie's gaze sharpened. “I guess your sister had popped in real unexpected like between nursing shifts and asked questions that disturbed your ma.”

“Mother told me Kat hadn't visited.”

Emilie tapped her head. “It's all the medication. Addles the brain. I've seen patients forget their own names and babble like loonie-tunes. Next day after the medicine cleared out of their systems, they became themselves again. It's best to talk to them just before they receive pain medication.”

“Okay, when Mother wakes up, don't give her anything. I need to talk to her.”

Emilie nodded thoughtfully. “Tie up any loose ends before it's too late.”

Tori busied herself sorting through things in the garage, making piles for charity and throwing useless items into the trash, while she waited for her mother to wake up. Had her mother poisoned Kat? Tori knew she wanted to get rid of Kat—they both did—but would she have gone that far? No. Her mother would never have resorted to poisoning her own daughter.

She finished what she could do in the garage and returned to the small condo, but her mother was still sleeping. She could go through things in the second bedroom. It would cut down on the sorting she would have to do later, but Tori was afraid her mother might notice.

Tori tried Clay's cell phone again. Still no answer. Either he'd left it in his car or he had it off. She didn't bother to call his office again.

Where
was
he?

Clearly, he'd lied. He wasn't at a deposition or his secretary would have known. Could he have gone home to Oakhurst for some reason? She couldn't imagine why he would have. The judge and Rob Everett had driven into Jackson to confer with political honchos. Only his mother would have been at home—assuming she didn't have a club meeting or a luncheon to attend.

“Your mother's awake,” Emilie informed her in a whisper.

“I'll go talk to her.”

The older woman studied her for a moment before saying, “Some medications have half lives and remain in the system for days if not longer. It could be some time until she's herself again. That'll mean she may suffer a lot.”

Tori's throat closed up and she drew in a harsh breath. “I need to talk to her. I'll make it quick.”

Emilie nodded her approval, and Tori went into the bedroom. Her mother was sitting propped up against a bank of pillows, her skin a parched gray against the stark-white fabric. She seemed to have shrunk since Tori had visited yesterday, and she realized with heart-knocking alarm that Emilie was absolutely right. The end could be days or even hours away.

“Mom,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

Her mother managed an indifferent shrug. Tori sat beside her on the bed, attempting to gauge how lucid her mother was. She took her mother's frail hand in hers and stroked her palm with her thumb. She noticed her mother's eyes drift to the engagement ring. Let her mother go to glory believing Tori would become a Kincaid. Tori could put off any decision about Clay until her mother was gone.

“Ma, listen to me. I need to ask you a few questions.”

Her mother's gaze rose to Tori's face. She appeared to be more clear-headed than she had when Tori had arrived. “'Bout what?”

Tori swallowed hard, then asked, “Do you have a will somewhere?”

“Will? I don't…need a will.”

“Ma,” she said gently as she touched her mother's cheek. “You're not getting any better—”

“I know,” she responded with a suggestion of the smile Tori remembered so well. “I'm…how do they say it? Terminal.”

The word tore at something inside Tori's chest. It was the first time her mother had used it. She ventured a slight nod, silently acknowledging they'd crossed a line and were facing death head-on. “If something should happen, you wouldn't want Kat to get half of everything you have. Would you?”

“Don't worry about it,” her mother said in a voice that seemed stronger than it had been in weeks. “Everything…goes to you.”

Tori wondered if the combination of so many medications had confused her normally rational mother. If she had no will, the state would equally divide her property between her heirs. Kat would get half.

“You think I've lost it,” her mother said.

“Well, you may not be thinking clearly because of the drugs.”

“I'm a little fuzzy after an injection,” she admitted, “but I haven't had one for hours. It hurts to breathe, let alone move, but my mind is crystal-clear at the moment.”

Tori wondered how lucid her mother actually was, but didn't dispute her. She ran out of energy very quickly. Tori needed to settle this now before her mother was exhausted.

“There's something important I need to tell you.” She patted the sheet for Tori to move closer.

Tori scooted over, more than a little uneasy. Why would her mother wait so long to tell her something important?

“All I have to leave you is this place.” She waved one frail hand to indicate the small condo she'd purchased after Kat's father had unexpectedly died.

It was in good shape thanks to Tori's contributions for upkeep and decorating. It would bring top dollar—not as much as a home like Oakhurst—but enough that with the sale of her own condo Tori could reestablish herself in Atlanta. Of course there would be outstanding medical bills and a funeral to consider, but Tori calculated that she would have enough to begin again without scrounging for pennies—if she decided not to become Mrs. Clayton Kincaid.

“I signed and recorded a quit claim deed to this place. It's yours now.”

Tori stared at her mother, unable to believe she'd taken this step without consulting her. A dozen thoughts whirled through her brain. As a real estate agent, she'd dealt with enough quit claims to know they were binding. The owner assigned all his property rights to another party. The loan and the liabilities transferred to that person as soon as the document was recorded. This condo and its small loan were now Tori's responsibility.

“What do you need to tell me?” Tori asked and her mother grinned, a strange, secret smile that frightened Tori.

“The truth.” Her mother laboriously scooted into a more upright position.

The word
truth
rang a warning bell of dread deep inside Tori. Her mother hadn't been harboring a secret, had she? Tori always believed they were close in a way that other mothers and daughters weren't. They seemed more like sisters or best friends. They didn't keep secrets from each other.

As soon as that thought rushed through her brain, Tori admitted that she didn't tell her mother everything. Even now with death so close, her mother didn't know her doubts about Clay. But Tori had always believed she knew everything about her mother.

“Truth?” Tori asked. “What are you talking about?”

“My deepest shame.” Tears filled her mother's stricken eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

What on earth was she talking about? Tori grabbed a tissue from the nightstand and dabbed at the tears. Her mother brushed her hand away.

“I never wanted to taint you and ruin your chances of being part of society.”

Tori didn't doubt it. Her mother had been obsessed with what passed for society in Twin Oaks for as long as Tori could remember.

“You did your best,” Tori assured her. She silently added that she'd done her part as well. She'd worked hard and made something of herself. Until the fiasco at the town square, Tori had discounted her achievements. Seeing how easily the judge had been taken down made Tori realize she didn't have to rely on family position. She had a track record. She could start all over again in Atlanta and be just as successful.

Judge Kincaid and his family relied too much on name and reputation. Even though May Ellen had a family name and a degree in botany from Ole Miss, she wasn't in any position to support herself. Clay and the judge had law degrees but she wondered how they would fare with the legal sharks in Atlanta or Memphis. Their success here was based too much on who their families had been.

The judge might come out a winner again, she decided. He had a predator's cunning that his wife and son didn't. She tried to imagine Clay going head-to-head with the cutthroat lawyers she'd encountered in Jackson—but couldn't. She loved him, yet sometimes she wondered if his heart was really in the law. What would he have become if he'd been raised in a single-wide trailer like Justin Radner?

Would she have wanted to marry that Clay Kincaid? He'd still be handsome and charming, but her mother wouldn't have relentlessly pushed him at her. Would Tori have been so determined to marry him?

“I didn't want the truth to ruin your life.” Her mother's words came out in an agonized rush. Her mother's flat, unspeaking eyes prolonged the silence between them. Finally, she went on, “Your father didn't die in a car accident in Florida. After you were born, Vince just up and walked out. He didn't want the responsibility of a baby.”

It took a moment for the words to register. Her father had loved her dearly. He'd been tragically killed while on a business trip to Miami. Even though she'd never known him, never heard him speak her name, she'd felt his love.

Love.

The word floated through her brain. It took several seconds to realize what she'd felt wasn't her father's love. It had been her mother's love. Always. What little she'd known about her father had been filtered through her mother.

His love had been nothing more than an illusion. She closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to come to grips with reality. The ghost of a father she'd always adored and had believed loved her—hadn't existed. He'd deserted her mother because he didn't want…Tori.

It had happened a long time ago, she reasoned. It shouldn't ache like a raw wound, but it did. It wasn't easy to let go of a lie you'd lived with for over thirty years. It became part of you, who you were, how you saw yourself. How others saw you.

“What was I supposed to do?” Tears strangled each word from her mother's lips. “I had a baby and rent to pay but no job. What do you think people would have said if they knew Vince had up and left me?”

Still numb with shock, Tori silently acknowledged that people sympathized with widows in a way they didn't with women who'd been divorced or deserted. It wasn't fair but it was true.

Torn by conflicting emotions, Tori asked, “What about Daddy's family in Memphis?” She'd never seen her aunt and cousins. Her mother had always made excuses not to visit them. Now Tori knew why.

“Vince's mother died just after we were married. His only sister married a no-good bum. Vince's pa had up and disappeared just after Vince was born. Like father, like son.” Her mother shook her head. “There was no getting help from our families. I was on my own.”

Tori tried to imagine how frightening that must have been. True, she'd worked to make something of herself, but she'd always known she had her mother as a fallback. What would it be like to have no one?

Unbidden, Kat's image appeared in her mind. Kat had known love—her father's love—just as Tori had been assured of her mother's love. But after her father had died, when Kat had needed her mother the most, Loretta had turned her back on her. Having been deserted herself, their mother must have known how devastating it could be, but she hadn't cared.
And neither had I,
Tori reluctantly conceded. Oh, she'd been tempted to help Kat, but it had been easier to walk away without getting involved.