One True Heart (12 page)

M
ONDAY

H
ARMONY
C
OUNTY
J
AIL

A little after breakfast Rick Matheson, Johnny's lawyer, showed up at the jail. Johnny guessed he'd finally be getting out. After a week of nothing but gray walls, even chores looked good. A man can only enjoy so much sitting around. He'd read all three books Kare, the fairy, had brought him.
Gulliver's Travels
wasn't bad and he made it through
Of Mice and Men
without too many thoughts of suicide, but
The Grapes of Wrath
almost did him in. Every time he fell asleep he dreamed of being on the road with everything he owned piled atop his car.

“Am I going home?” he asked Rick when he walked into the visitation room.

The young lawyer shook his head. “I'd about got you out, but this morning we collected another problem.”

Scarlet always said Rick Matheson was one hunk of handsome man, but now with his face all twisted up with
worry he looked like he was aging fast from his late twenties to seventy over one client.

Johnny straightened, determined not to add one more worry line on Matheson's face. “Well, whoever died or disappeared, I didn't do it this time. I've been locked up for a week.”

Rick's smile didn't look very happy. “You know the sheriff searched your farm.”

“I know. They can dig holes all over my land, but they won't find a body.” Johnny didn't like the way Rick stared. “Not one I put there anyway.” Hell, the way his luck was running half the town might have been planting not-so-dearly departed in his fields. It was the closest plowed ground to the city limits sign. Wendell was probably out there right now setting up a lemonade stand and selling maps.

Rick leaned forward. “They didn't find any bodies. Which I guess you'd say is the good news.”

“What's the bad news?”

Rick stared directly at him. “They found drugs, John. Lots of drugs hidden in your barn.”

For a second, Johnny thought of slamming his forehead against the metal table, but the way the cards were stacked against him lately, they'd charge him with destroying government property if he left a dent. Looking up at Rick, he asked, “I suppose you're going to tell me it's not as bad as it looks?”

“No, it's bad.” Rick offered no comfort. “Is there anything else you need to tell me, John? I'm your lawyer. It would just be between us.”

“Like what?”

“I don't know. I just don't want to be surprised again. I'm in the judge's office first thing this morning trying to get you out on bail and here comes half the sheriff's department hauling huge trash bags of pot into the courthouse. They were all looking like I was an idiot for standing there with my unsigned paper trying to get you out.”

Johnny had never thought of himself as a selfish person, but he couldn't help but ask, “When did this become about you, Rick Matheson?” At the rate he was piling up crimes
they'd hang him, and as he dropped, shoot him a few times for good measure. “I'm the one in jail and you're the one complaining.”

Matheson laughed. “You're right. You're the one who is going to have to believe in reincarnation to serve out your time. I'll get paid one way or the other. In fact, if you keep piling up crimes I might buy a new car before this is over.”

“Thanks for cheering me up.” Johnny had always liked Rick Matheson. They'd played football in high school together, but Johnny had to wonder if the good-looking guy got his degree out of a cereal box. “So, what's the plan?”

Rick opened his satchel. “We tackle one charge at a time. I hired a private investigator. You'll be billed for him, by the way. And I've got a friend who works in missing persons in Chicago. Give me a list of everywhere you think Scarlet might have gone. If we can hunt her down, we'll have our first problem solved.”

“So you think she's still alive?” Johnny couldn't believe she'd missed her beauty appointment last Friday. She never missed that. Last winter he'd had to dig her car out of the garage so she could get her hair colored. It took him two hours and she was so mad about being late she didn't even say thank you.

“Of course, I believe you, John, and I will until we find a body; then I'll come up with a different defense.” Rick's smile didn't quite seem real. “I'm going to be with you, fighting for you all the way. If it doesn't go in your favor, I'll be there just behind the glass when they execute you.”

“That's real comforting,” Johnny lied, knowing that no one except the fairy thought he was innocent. He was piling up crimes and the only one in his corner was probably at breakfast with her imaginary friends.

They worked for an hour thinking of places Scarlet and Max might have gone or people they might have called. Over and over Rick asked where the drugs came from, and Johnny's answer was always the same. He had no idea.

Before he had time to go back to his cell and get even more depressed, his very own fairy showed up for a visit.

Deputy Rogers moved a chair into the room and sat down, but he acted like he was reading an old copy of
Reader's Digest
. Johnny figured now that he was in jail on more than one charge, he wasn't allowed to be alone with anyone but his lawyer. Hell, if things didn't improve soon he'd probably be a serial killer by the end of the week.

“He's here for your protection,” Johnny whispered to Kare when she frowned at the deputy.

“I don't need protection,” she said, jingling her necklace loaded with tin charms. “You're innocent. I know you are.”

Johnny tried to take comfort in the fact that a woman who talked to dead people believed in him. “Maybe he's here for my protection.”

His fairy grinned. “That's not a bad idea. I'm dangerous. Hang around me long, Johnny Wheeler, and I might just steal your heart.”

Now he laughed. “Doesn't look like I'll be hanging around anywhere unless it's to haunt this place. Word is I could get the chair for killing two people with drugs involved.”

“I don't think they do the chair anymore. Do they? If so, that would be just too cruel. Can you imagine having thousands of volts of electricity running through your body? I saw in a movie once that they wet the guy's head so most of the juice will plow into his brain.”

“Stop trying to cheer me up, Kare. Do you think we could talk about something else?”

Kare nodded. “Sure. You're not going to be found guilty because you're innocent and I'll fight for you.”

“You are the only one who believes that.” He might have been depressed, but he looked into her big brown eyes about then and all he could think about was how nice it would be to hold her hand. He wouldn't mind if she did that thing of running her fingers over his palm. That had been real nice before they were interrupted by the arrest.

If he didn't count his aunts, it had been months since he'd touched a woman. They tended to hug on every occasion from weddings to funerals, or arrests in his case. Scarlet had moved to the extra bedroom last Christmas, saying she
had PMS. Apparently it was terminal because she never moved back. At the time, he told himself it was temporary. If he gave her some space? If he worked harder? If he was more understanding of her needing friends and nights out with the girls or Max? Oh, correction, that part hadn't turned out to be such a good idea.

Charms jingling pulled him out of the memory of seeing Max, nude, hugging Scarlet, who seemed surprised that she was also nude. Max had just stood there, but Scarlet had jumped around yelling at Johnny because he wasn't supposed to be home yet.

His fairy jingled again. He could almost see her in school driving some teacher crazy by never sitting still. She was smart, though; she must have paid attention sometime. Today she brought him a book about a seagull who had goals. John doubted he'd have time to read that one even if it was short. Somehow he didn't think he'd be able to get into the plot.

He stared at Kare, wondering if all that curly hair was smothering her fairy brain.

“I don't just believe you're innocent, Johnny,” Kare said in that voice that always sounded like a midnight whisper. “I know it. Did you ever meet someone and feel like you've known them all your life? Like you could tell them anything?”

“I was raised around here, Kare. Most of the people I see I have known all my life. Usually, if I do run into someone I don't know, the first thing I try to do is figure out who in town they're kin to.”

She spread her hand out across the table as if she could reach the six feet to him. “I know you, Johnny. I know you're innocent. And I'm going to do all I can to help. I swear.”

“What can you do, honey?” He was touched by her sympathy, but he didn't see how she could be any real help.

She smiled slowly and he thought his fairy was downright sexy. “I've been thinking about it and I think that your ex-wife and her lover are the ones who hid the drugs. They'll come back for the pot and I'll be waiting.”

“No.” Johnny panicked. “Don't put yourself in danger. No telling what they'd do if you caught them. I don't think Scarlet would get violent. She'd be afraid of breaking a nail, but Max? There's no telling what any man is capable of after he's spent two weeks alone with Scarlet. You can't risk confronting them. Promise me you'll forget this plan, Kare? I don't want you out there when they come back and find the drugs are missing.”

She raised her hand high, shaking her arm like a first grader asking permission to go to the bathroom. A dozen bracelets clambered along to her elbow.

The deputy finally looked up from his reading and nodded once at her, as if giving permission for her to ask a question.

“You see, Deputy Rogers, I told you Johnny didn't do it. If he had killed them he wouldn't be so worried about me being hurt when they come back for the drugs. And they will come back. I can see it happening in the future.”

Rogers looked up. “I'm not the jury, Miss Cunningham. I'm just here to listen and make sure you two aren't passing secrets.”

Kare looked disappointed. Her first plan to save Johnny obviously didn't work. “I'll find a way.”

Johnny stood and watched her leave. He didn't say a word as the deputy walked him back to his cell, which was starting to look like home. Cluttered and lonely.

“I don't think things can get much worse,” Johnny said as Rogers removed his handcuffs.

Rogers pushed him into the cell and closed the door. “They might, John. Your wife just might come back and find out you're falling in love with someone else. Nothing makes a woman want a man back worse than another woman interested. It's strange, she may not want you but you can bet she doesn't want anyone else wanting you.”

Johnny dropped on his bunk and shook his head. “You're wrong. Kare's not interested in me. She's just a zany person who lives on the fringes of reality. I've never done one wild or crazy thing in my life. I'm not the kind of man she'd need.”

The deputy turned and said as he walked away, “Seems to me you're just the kind she'd need. If you were a free man, that is.” He stopped and looked back. “By the way, that idea she had of watching over where the drugs were hidden wasn't that crazy. If we could keep the find quiet for a few days it might be worth staking out the place.”

“You believe me?”

“No, but if that little lady wants to believe in you a hundred percent, I guess I could waste a few hours seeing if she's right. I'll talk to the sheriff about it. With school starting I wouldn't mind putting in some overtime.”

“Thanks,” Johnny managed. “When I get out of here, I'll owe you a beer.”

“If you get out of here, I'll take you up on it.”

M
ONDAY

Millanie agreed to meet Kare at the Blue Moon Diner for a late lunch. The day was hot, but she decided to walk the block to Main Street. She could go out the back door of Martha Q's place and see the diner's big blue moon sign, but a dried-up creek bed blocked her path. On crutches, it was safer to go around.

Each day she felt stronger now, but she still tired easily. Kitten strength, a nurse at the rehab had called it. The feeling was new to her since the bombing. She'd always felt sorry for people not in top shape, but now she had become one. Millanie refused to think about what she might never do again. She'd consider only how she'd do one more thing, one more step each day.

Three people and a sheriff's deputy stopped to offer her a ride during the ten-minute walk, but Millanie wanted to prove that she wasn't helpless. The doctor hadn't given her much hope last week. The broken bone was healing, but there was damage to both the knee and ankle of her right
leg. At best she'd be looking at a few more surgeries; at worst, she'd limp the rest of her life.

She'd always been so strong. She'd kept fit running and lifting weights. It was part of her job to always be mentally and physically alert and ready. Now, that job and her identity seemed to be vanishing. The undercover assignment she'd been given would probably be a waste of time. What were the chances that a powerful computer expert who could launder money all over the world would be hiding out in Harmony, or any small town? He'd go somewhere densely populated, where he could blend in among strangers.

As she slowly maneuvered the steps of the Blue Moon, she mentally raced through notes. An hour ago she'd called Sergeant Hughes and found out that Kare Cunningham really was the researcher assigned to her. The girl had a promising forensic accounting career with the government waiting for her when she graduated from college. But two years ago she'd tossed it all when she found her brother. She'd quit her job, pulled out her savings, and moved to Harmony. She still handled off-site assignments now and then, but Millanie would bet that Drew knew nothing about that side of his little sister's life.

As a man walked out of the diner, he held the door for her. Millanie looked in and saw Kare sitting at the back booth. Something a lecturer at the academy once said came to her mind:
About the time you think you've got people figured out, someone comes along who doesn't fit into any mold.

Kare was one of those people. As Millanie neared, the girl was waving and bouncing in her seat like they were old friends reunited after years.

“Hi, Kare.” Millanie lowered herself slowly into her side of the booth, letting her leg stick out into the aisle.

Kare straightened. “I'm so nervous. I've never done this undercover kind of thing. In the months I worked for the IRS I never saw the agents asking the questions. I just took the information and did the research. Now I feel like I should buy a trench coat and hat.”

“Just act normal. If anyone sees us they'll just think we're friends having lunch.” Millanie couldn't imagine ever having a fortune-teller for a friend, but who knew, it might be possible.

“Right. That should work. Everyone knows you're dating my brother, so it makes sense we'd be friends.”

“I'm not dating your brother.” Millanie shrugged. “In fact, he stood me up Saturday night. I'd invited him to go with me to a wedding.” Millanie still hadn't figured out if she was glad he'd backed out or sad. In truth when she'd asked him, he hadn't really made a commitment one way or the other. She got the feeling a barn full of strangers wasn't really his thing, or maybe it was weddings he hated.

Kare leaned back. “Drew doesn't like crowds.”

“Why?” The thought that the fortune-teller had just read her mind startled Millanie, but she had no intention of mentioning it.

“I don't know.” Kare played with her napkin.

Millanie had no trouble reading Drew's little sister's body language. Kare was lying. Maybe to protect him, maybe because she didn't want to get involved, but Kare knew the why to Drew's reluctance to go to the wedding.

They ordered, giving both time to think. As soon as the waitress walked away, Millanie stepped into the reason for the meeting. “I read over your data. For what I assume was a fast job, you dug up a great deal of information. I feel like I know these people far better.”

Kare nodded. “Information is easy to find if you know where to look. I thought the listing of every person who bought a house, applied for a driver's license in Harmony County, or signed up for a post office box might help.”

“Can you get a list of people who opened bank accounts?”

“I can, but I can't legally get into the accounts.”

Millanie nodded. “What about people who join churches or contribute large amounts of money to local causes?”

“The church records would be easy, and most charities are wide open in a town this size. I'll do what I can. Give me a few hints of what to look for.”

Millanie leaned closer. “We're looking for someone who lives big, tries a little too hard to fit in. He's not from around here but acts like he is. He probably buys new cars and might have a plane and access to a landing field. I'm guessing he'll be someone who disappears on business often.”

Kare smiled. “I could ask Derwood about the airstrips. He's an old local pilot. He'd know where all the strips are and probably who flies planes. He's one of my regulars. Comes in every week for a reading.”

When the food was delivered, Millanie asked, “How'd you get into reading palms?” It didn't exactly fit with a degree in accounting.

Kare waited until she finished her first bite and dabbed her lips with the paper napkin. “A friend in college said I looked like a gypsy, so one night I dressed the part and read palms at a party. I was no good, so I studied up on it and the next party I impressed everyone. When I came here to keep an eye on my brother, it seemed like a fun thing to do to get to know people.”

Millanie thought it strange that Kare came here to watch over Drew. He'd told a different story. Again she had the feeling that he didn't know his little sister as well as he thought he did. He'd said he didn't even know Kare existed until a few years ago. She'd found him after he took the teaching job at Clifton College.

One of them was hiding something, but which one?