The Ex Who Wouldn't Die (49 page)

She just couldn't see Kimball sitting cross-legged on the grass in the moonlight, requesting she hand over the gun. No, he'd want somewhere private.

She sat upright in bed. "Charley?"

He appeared standing beside her. "Right here, Babe. I
'll never
leave you."

Yeah, he'd been there, watching, when she changed clothes. "Don't
threaten
me
like that
. Hey, are there fishing or hunting cabins around the lake?"

"Lots of them. Why?"

"Does Kimball have one?"

"I don't know. Why?
"

"Maybe that's where he's going to take me for the meeting."

"Could be, but there are a lot of cabins around that lake, lots of acres of woods. It's a pretty good size lake."

She snatched up her cell phone. "I know who can find out."

Dawson answered on the fourth ring.

"I have something really important I need you to find for me."

"Okay."

"Can you search real estate records and see if Kimball owns some property close to the lake where Dianne
Carter
's body was found?"

"Yes, I can do that."

"Kimball or his dad or his wife or her family. Anybody in the family."

"Okay."

"I need it in the morning."

"No problem. Do you want to know what I found out about Sunny Donovan?"

At this point, Amanda wasn't interested in Sunny Donovan and whatever mess she and Charley had got into, but she didn't want to sound ungrateful. "Yes, of course," she replied.

"Born in Silver Creek, Texas. Her father was killed in a hunting accident when she was three years old, and her mother never got remarried. The mother only had a high school education, so it was difficult for her to raise Sunny by herself. She often worked two jobs, developed health problems, but she was determined to get her daughter educated. Sunny got a scholarship to UT Austin where she studied law, then she went back to Silver Creek to practice so she could be close to her mother and help her."

That all aligned with what Irene had told her. "Any connection to Charley?"

"She was his lawyer when he got arrested on a drug charge. Got him probation."

"That's it?"

"Nothing more that involves Charley, but I did find one thing that's kind of interesting. Sunny interned her senior year at your dad's law firm."

The connection was interesting, but Amanda couldn't see how it related to Charley or why it would be part of a big secret. Lots of law students had interned at her father's firm over the years.

She frowned into the darkness. What about those fleeting suspicions she'd had
concerning
her dad's odd behavior, the way he'd withheld knowledge of Charley's family and repeatedly bailed Charley out of trouble? Almost like Charley had a hold over her dad.

Crazy, irrational thought…had Sunny learned something about her dad during her internship, something she'd told Charley that had allowed him to blackmail her father? Charley
was no stranger to
blackmail.

Even as the thought formed, she dismissed it. Her father had nothing to hide. He was the quintessential upright, uptight citizen.

"Thanks, Dawson," she said. "I really appreciate all your help." A lump suddenly and unexpectedly formed in her throat. "You've been my friend as well as my assistant," she said quietly. "I know I can always count on you."

"Yes," Dawson said. "Of course you can count on me. And I am your friend." He was silent for a moment. "Are you okay, Amanda?"

Amanda laughed shakily. "Sorry. I guess I'm a little emotional tonight. I'm meeting Kimball tomorrow to give him the bogus gun, and it's made me kind of nervous." Made her think about things like never climbing the stairs to this bedroom again, never seeing her father or mother or Dawson again.

"That's why you want to find out if Kimball has access to some property where he might take you? Dianne was killed in her car
out by that lake
."

"I don't have a car. We can't have an intimate conversation and gun exchange on my motorcycle. If he thought the lake was a good spot for murder before, maybe he'll think that again, but this time he's going to need somewhere private. There are some cabins out by the lake. It's a long shot.
But
I'd feel a little less nervous if I
had some idea of
where we're going to meet. Maybe alert the cops."
So they could find her body if anything happened.
She had no illusions that either the Silver Creek Police Department or Detective Daggett would give any credence to an
ything she had to say before her murder
.

"Amanda, you probably shouldn't meet this guy, especially not alone."

"I know. But I have to. I don't think there's any doubt he's the one who jacked up my motorcycle, hoping I'd die. He thought Charley had
already
told me about Dianne's murder, and I've since confirmed that to him, so he's going to keep trying to kill me until he succeeds or I stop him. And now it's gone beyond that. Irene and Herbert are in danger."

"
That's a pretty bad state of affairs. I'll check on any real estate Kimball's family owns that could be used for, uh, nefarious purposes. Is there anything else I can do? What about that gun you asked me about?"

"Got a gun."

"You've got a gun? Maybe I should come down there.
I could help.
"

Amanda added
the image of
Dawson wielding a thumb drive to her images of Herbert and Irene assaulting Kimball.

"Thanks, but I need you there at your computer. That's how you can be of most help to me."

Again Amanda stretched out in bed, trying to empty her mind of the images racing through her
brain
. Kimball, Dawson, Kimball, Irene and Herbert, Kimball, her mother and father she might never see again, Kimball…

"Charley?" She spoke his name softly this time, amazed to find she actually wanted him to be there.

"Still here." She saw him standing at the window. "Just checking to see if anybody's out there."

"And?"

"I don't see anybody."

No reason for Kimball to have her followed now. She was coming to him. "Good," she said. "Go to sleep."

"I don't sleep. I'll stay here all night and watch over you."

Good grief. He just couldn't pass up a chance to do the drama thing.

This one time, she was glad he was watching.

***

The only way Amanda knew she'd slept at all was that sometimes the
scenes rushing through her mind
became surreal. Kimball was evil, but he didn't really have horns. She herself did not have twenty-one bullet holes in her chest. Kimball couldn't fly through the wall into her bedroom the way Charley did.
She
was glad to get out of bed and stop trying so hard to sleep.

Breakfast was strangely quiet. Though Amanda was certain Penny and Paula didn't know what was going on, they seemed to sense the tension in the air and were unusually subdued.

The clink of silverware on plates replaced conversation as they ate. Almost simultaneously the twins slid their chairs back, picked up their empty plates and put them in the sink.

"Bye, Mama." Paula planted a kiss on her mother's left check while Penny planted one on the right. They completed the ritual by doing the same to their father, but then, to Amanda's surprise, the girls came over to her and repeated the farewell procedure before dashing out.

When the front door slammed behind the girls, Herbert stood, walked over to his wife and kissed her, then came to Amanda's side. He placed a comforting hand on one shoulder and leaned over to whisper in her
ear. "It's gonna be okay. We're
here."

She put their lives in danger, and the family responded with love. Amanda's heart swelled, and she blinked rapidly to get rid of the excess moisture in her eyes.

Maybe Charley wasn't really their son. Maybe Irene's baby had been switched at the hospital, and somewhere in Silver Creek a depraved, psycho couple was raising a kind, loving son who should have gone home with Irene and Herbert.

Dawson called shortly after nine o'clock.

"Cardinal Corporation owns a cabin on Silver Lake. Benjamin Montgomery, father of Catherine Montgomery Kimball, owns Cardinal Corporation."

A chill darted down Amanda's spine. "That's it. That's where he's going to take me."
That's where he thinks he's going to kill me.

"It's not right on the lake. It's back in the woods. Montgomery's dad had it built in 1962. He was a big duck hunter. He died in 1980. It's possible nobody's been there since then. I didn't find anything to indicate there are any hunters in that family. Looks like they only do things that make money."

"That sounds about right. I don't suppose this cabin has a street address one can find on a GPS."

"
No, but
I can give you the legal description."

"I guess that'll have to do."

As soon as she finished talking to Dawson, Amanda called Detective Daggett. Though she assured herself she had the situation with Kimball under control and could handle it on her own, and though she knew Daggett wasn't going to believe her, she had to try one more time.

Surely, she thought, Daggett would be in the office at ten thirty on a weekday.

He wasn't.

"Can I have him call you?"

Amanda sighed and gave the receptionist her number. "I nee
d you to give him a message
."

"Go ahead."

"This is Amanda Randolph. I've spoken with him before about an individual in Silver Creek, Texas. Today I'm meeting with that individual and turning over to him a gun he thinks was used in a murder. Just in case I don't survive this meeting, I want Detective Daggett to know what happened to me." Perhaps the last sentence was a bit melodramatic…or perhaps not. "I don't know where we're meeting, but it may be in an old hunting cabin on Silver Lake. I'd like to give you the legal descripti
on. That way, at least maybe he
'll be able to find my body."

She read the description. The woman assured her that Detective Daggett would get her message, and she hung up, feeling very dissatisfied with the results of the call.

"I don't know why you bothered to call him again," Charley said grumpily. "He's not going to help you. He's not even going to talk to you. Not that it matters. You don't need him. I'm here, and I'm going to take care of you."