Welcome to Temptation (28 page)

"Amy found him on the dock," Davy said, his exasperation with his sister plain. "And being a Dempsey, she thought first of her own interests and realized that if she wanted to film a sex scene there tomorrow without the police, she'd have to move the body. So she dragged it up here, and I found her when she was wrapping it in the shower curtain."

"Oh, jeez,
Amy
." Sophie looked down at the rain-spattered bundle and saw Lassie sniffing it. "Lassie, get away from there." The whole situation was surreal. It couldn't possibly be true. She nudged the shower curtain gingerly with her foot. "Are we sure he's dead?"

"God, Sophie, you're worse than the dog. Don't kick him." Davy shoved Lassie away from the body with his knee. "I checked. He's dead." Davy sounded mad about that.

"Well, what did he die of?" Sophie tried to pull herself together. This was real. She had to think.
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Then she was going to be sick, but first she had to think.

"I don't know," Davy said patiently. "Here's what I do know: Zane is dead, Amy moved the body, and we should do something soon before people start to notice and make comments."

"Okay," Sophie said. "Okay."
There's a dead man at my feet
. "Okay." This was no time to panic. She could panic later. Panic later, plan now. The rain came down heavier, pelting them even through the trees. She cleared her throat. "Okay. We can take the body back to the dock and call Wes, we can leave it here and call Wes, or we can take it someplace else. I vote for the dock and Wes."

"No," Amy said, wiping the rain from her face, and Davy said, "As much as I hate to admit it I vote no on that one, too."

Sophie said, "Why?" and he said, "Because they're going to know somebody moved the body. They can tell that, and they'll wonder why. Once she moved the body, we were screwed."

"Hey," Amy said, sharply. "We were screwed anyway. It's that dickhead Zane. Who else but us would want to kill him?"

"Half the town," Sophie said. "Moving a body is a felony or something, isn't it? This is bad."

"We have to put it someplace else," Amy said, her hands on her hips. "Some ditch maybe."

"Boy, dating the law hasn't taught you a thing, has it?" Davy said, exasperated. "We cannot put it in some ditch. And we're going to have to get this damn shower curtain off it, too." He turned to Sophie. "I'm assuming Harvard is acquainted with the shower curtain."

"Intimately," Sophie said. "He's had conversations with the mildew. Wes knows it, too. He fixed the showerhead." She looked down at the bundle again, trying to make the situation less surreal, but there was a body wrapped in that ugly shower curtain, the rain beading on the fishes. Vincent Price should be there. "Maybe Zane just had a heart attack. We could take him to an emergency room."

"Yeah, good idea," Davy said. "Except he's
cold
. He is obviously
dead
. They're going to wonder why we didn't notice that." He shook his head at his sisters, glowering at them through the downpour.

"Generations of Dempseys must be rolling in their graves, watching you two."

"They're probably too busy hauling coal in hell to worry about us," Sophie said. "Okay, I'm against moving the body someplace else,
really against
, moving the body. And I'm really, really against lying to

... people."

Amy frowned at her. "Sophie, I need your help. How can—"

"Shut up, Amy," Davy said. "You're right, Soph. You're finally getting a life of your own and here we come to screw it up by making you lie to the mayor. Go back inside, we never should have dragged you into this."

"Wait a minute," Amy said.

"She doesn't even have a motive," Sophie said to Davy. "We could tell them—"
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"Zane was leaning on everybody to confiscate the film," Amy said. "He tried everything to screw up this project while he was alive, and he's not going to do it now that he's dead. I'm going to finish this video. I'm moving him."

"Go back inside, Sophie," Davy said. "I've got this covered." Right. "You want the head or the feet?" Sophie said.

"You sure?" Davy said.

Sophie nodded. "I think this is a mistake, but I'm damned if I'll let you do it alone. This is no time to break up the family."

"If you ask me, it's the perfect time," Davy said. "Amy, get the car and back it up as close to the trees as you can." When she'd splashed off into the yard, Davy said, "She's not going to make it in L.A. "

"Thank you for sharing," Sophie said. "Can we worry about that when we've gotten rid of this body?" Once they had Lane in the trunk, Davy said, "Okay, where?"

"Someplace where they'll find him fast," Sophie said, hugging herself against the downpour. "I am not covering up a crime if this is one."

"I'm pretty sure this is one," Davy said. "You need someplace dark with a lot of people. Temptation have a lovers' lane?"

"Oh, not there," Sophie said, and Amy said, "That's perfect. I'll drive."

*

Any lingering thoughts Rachel might have entertained about ever going back to Rob were vanquished after an hour and a half spent parked with him behind the Tavern with the rain drumming on the roof.

"You know, Rache," he said. "We're really not together anymore."

"I
know
that," she said. "I don't want you.But Lanewas so awful—" She drank another slug of the scotch Rob had brought for her and wished for the four thousandth time that Leo wasn't out of town. Rob frowned at Rachel. "I still don't get what happened."

"I told you, I went out behind the house to meet you, and he was there," Rachel said. "He was staggering and he grabbed me and—" She took another drink and sniffed. "Thank God my mom doesn't know about that. Thank God my
dad
doesn't know about that."

"He'd kill him," Rob said.

"I just need a chance to calm down," Rachel said. "I just need to be calm before I see my parents again because you know—"

"Yeah," Rob said. "But I think you should tell your dad."
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"Why?" Rachel said, and then she got it and looked at him with contempt. "So he can kill Zane and you can get Clea. Get real." The idea was so dumb, she stopped shaking and took another drink. "You know, you have to get over her. She's going to eat you alive."

"She already did," Rob said, his voice smug with satisfaction.

"Oh,
gross
," Rachel said. Then, after a moment, she said, "So you're doing it."

"Yeah," Rob said.

"Fabulous," Rachel said.
You are such a
dumbass . Strangely enough, hearing about what a fool Rob was being was calming her down faster than anything. "So is she going to leave him for you?"

"If she can get the money back." Rob sounded truly disturbed. "If she can get the money, we can go anywhere, but without it, she's stuck with him." He pounded his fist on the steering wheel. "Man, I hate that guy."

"Whatever happened to true love being all you need?"

"We're talking over a million here, Rache," Rob said, sounding like a man of the world. "You don't just walk away from that kind of capital."

Rachel was willing to bet that was a direct quote from Clea, and she had to admit it was a lot of money. But if she cared about somebody, she'd go with him without the money. If Leo got wiped out and asked her to go to L.A. to help him rebuild, she'd do it in a second, and she wasn't even in love with him. She could waitress to support them while Leo found his feet again.

Rob said, "So are you okay now? Because I got things to do," and Rachel gave up her rescue fantasy and said, "Yeah. Take me home. And thank you. For this."

"Hey," Rob said. "I owe you that much. I dumped you for Clea, and you're being great."

"Oh." Rachel thought about clueing him in to the fact that she'd already dumped him, and decided there was no point. "Well, if you love her, you love her."

"I love her," Rob said, and his voice was sure as he put the car in gear.

"Good luck," Rachel said.
You're gonna need it.

Rob pulled out from the back of the Tavern though the sheeting rain, and the car bumped over something. "Shit," he said and stopped the car. "I think I hit a dog."

"Oh, no." Rachel looked back, but it was too dark. "I didn't hear a yipe."

"Stay here." Rob slammed the door and she could see him splash around to the back of the car and bend down. Ten seconds later, he was back in the driver's seat, drenched and shaking.

"I hit Zane."

"What?" Rachel froze. "What do you mean, you hit Zane? I didn't see anybody! We didn't hit anybody!"
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"I hit Zane. He's dead." Rob was sweating now. "Oh, God. They'll think I did it on purpose to get Clea."

"He's dead? Get us out of here," Rachel said.

"I just— We can't—"

Rachel grabbed his T-shirt and pulled him to her, nose to nose. "Get. Us. Out. Of here.
Now
." Rob nodded and put the car in gear. And when they peeled out of the parking lot, Rachel said calmly,

"Slow down. We don't want Wes picking us up for reckless op."

Rob shook his head and slowed down. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to do nothing." Rachel felt panic rise and stepped on it. There was already one loser in the car; they didn't need two. "We're going to go home and go to bed like good children. And we're going to be really surprised in the morning when we find out he's dead."

"I killed him," Rob said.

"Clea will be so grateful," Rachel said.

In the green light from the dashboard, she saw Rob's face change from panic-stricken to panic-thoughtful.

"There you go," she said. "Always looking on the bright side of life."

*

At eleven-thirty Phin was in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the drumming rain and waiting for Sophie to call, when the phone rang. He picked it up and said, "If this is an apology, you better be naked."

"It's not an apology," Wes said. "I'm at the Tavern. Pete Alcott just ran over Zane Black."

"Oh, Christ," Phin said. "I suppose Zane was too drunk to move out of the way."

"Too dead," Wes said. "He appears to have been murdered first. Ed's going to do a preliminary right away and an autopsy tomorrow."

"I'll meet you at the infirmary," Phin said. "Maybe Ed'll decide Zane died of a heart attack."

"I wouldn't count on it," Wes said. "There's a bullet in his back."

*

Zane didn't look good dead. He was damp and pasty and slack-jawed and squashed as he lay on Ed's table under the unforgiving florescent light.

"He was wearing your letter sweater," Wes told Phin when he came in.

"He can keep it," Phin said.

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"A lot of people didn't like this guy," Ed said from behind the table. "Nobody liked him," Phin said. "But I didn't think they'd kill him because he was an asshole."

"You taking this down, Duane?" Ed said, and Wes's deputy nodded. "Starting at the top of the head, there's a contusion on the left temple with wood fragments in it."

"Somebody hit him with a club?" Wes said. "What about the bullet hole?"

"Getting to that." Ed pointed to Zane's eyes. "Somebody also sprayed a corrosive at him. See the red patches around the eyes? Probably Mace, but not necessarily."

Mace. Sophie.

"And there are bruises on his throat where somebody choked him," Ed went on.

"That would be me," Phin said. "He was still alive after that." Ed looked at him with the contempt he deserved. "Thought you'd gotten over that temper."

"He annoyed me severely," Phin said.

Ed nodded and went on. "Then there's the bullet hole in his shoulder. A .22. Which appears to have been fired at close range from behind and below."

"Close range? Somebody shot him in the shoulder with a popgun?" Phin shook his head, incredulous.

"Why? To get his attention?"

"And there are also several cuts and scrapes on his arms and hands," Ed finished. "And his ankle is swollen. Looks like a bad sprain."

"That's not funny," Wes said.

"No, but it's true," Ed said. "And here's something else you're not going to like: None of that would have killed him. But he was definitely dead when Pete and somebody else ran over him."

"'Somebody else'?" Wes looked annoyed.

"Looks like two different tire tracks to me. Pete's truck and somebody's car."

"Then what
did
kill him?" Phin said. "The combination of wounds?"

"I'll do the autopsy tomorrow," Ed said. "My best guess right now, given the state of his clothing, is that he drowned."

Wes scowled. "Very funny."

"No. His clothes are damp clear through. He spent some time in the water."

"It's raining like hell out there," Phin said.

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"No," Ed said. "He's been underwater, not just rained on."

"River or bath?" Wes said, and Ed said, "What am I? A magician? After the autopsy, maybe; when the lab report comes back, definitely."

"That'll be Monday, at least," Wes said gloomily. "Probably later. It's Labor Day."

"Okay, then," Ed said. "Here's a guess: The river. That would make sense with all the scratches, that he fell through some brush."

"Yes, but who'd do all this?" Phin said. "If you tried to kill somebody by shooting him almost point-blank and missed, you wouldn't drop the gun and reach for the Mace. You'd shoot him again. And if that didn't work, you wouldn't pick up a club. And you sure as hell wouldn't drown him."

"More than one attacker?" Wes shook his head. "Okay, Zane pissed off everybody in town, but I find it hard to believe they all decided to get even in the same two hours."

"Maybe they, like, planned it," Duane said.

"Conspiracy?" Phin snorted. "You couldn't get four people in this town to agree to kick him on the shin on the same day, let alone kill him."

"I heard he caused a ruckus at the Tavern," Ed said.

"A ruckus, yes," Wes said. "But nothing to make anybody shoot him." Phin thought aboutGeorgia, white with rage and shame. "Maybe."

Ed pulled the sheet back over Zane's body. "Could you two go argue someplace else? I have to operate on this guy in the morning."