White Lies (21 page)

“Don’t you see? If we’re right, it means that Brad wasn’t the random victim of a home invasion robbery and neither was Valerie.”

“Don’t tell me you feel an obligation to avenge Brad and Valerie.”

“No,” Clare said. “What I don’t like is that the killer took advantage of the fact that I happened to be in town to kill twice. Whoever he or she is, the murderer had to know that if there were any suspicions about either death, they would point toward me. I think I was the fallback plan in the event that questions were asked.”

Elizabeth winced. “But it turned out okay in both cases. You’re not a suspect.”

“Thanks to the Glazebrook name, probably. Trust me, there’s nothing I’d like more than finding out that I’m wrong and that there is no conspiracy. I’ll sleep a lot better at night if that is the case.”

“I have a feeling this is a really, really bad idea.”

Clare smiled ruefully. “Wouldn’t be my first.”

Elizabeth turned thoughtful. “What about you and Jake?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t give me that whatever-are-you-talking-about look. Something is going on between the two of you, isn’t it? I can tell.”

“You’re guessing.”

“No,” Elizabeth said firmly. “I am not guessing.”

Clare nodded. “Well, you are a level-five sensitive. That means you get lots of points for intuition.”

“You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”

“Let’s just say I have discovered a new hobby.”

“What kind of hobby?”

“Skinny-dipping. Now will you answer my question?”

“About Brad’s girlfriend?” Elizabeth swiveled back and forth a couple times in her chair. “I don’t know who she was. I certainly don’t have a name to give you. To tell you the truth, I was so doped up most of the time and so afraid I was having a real nervous breakdown that I didn’t really care who she was. I just knew that he was seeing someone.”

“Do you remember how you first found out?”

Elizabeth massaged her temples with her thumbs. “Brad and I stopped having sex about a month and a half into the marriage. I told you, before the wedding and for a while afterward, he was the perfect lover. He used his sexual skills the way he did his looks and charm.”

“To manipulate people.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Yes. But he also liked sex. A lot. That part of our life came to a halt, although Brad acted as if we had a normal relationship. He claimed that I forgot our lovemaking the next morning; that I was somehow blocking it psychologically.”

“The fugue state thing.”

“Yes. That was when he insisted that I start seeing Dr. Mowbray.” Elizabeth shuddered. “It was awful. Brad used to wake me up in the morning with coffee in bed and tell me how passionate I’d been during the night. Then he would act hurt and concerned when I couldn’t remember the sex.”

“But you knew he was getting laid,” Clare said.

“Oh, yes. As I said, sex was very important to Brad. He wouldn’t have gone without it for long. Not willingly, at any rate. But I didn’t find any strong evidence until after he died. By then, of course, I didn’t care.”

“What was the evidence? You never mentioned it.”

“You know the old saying ‘Follow the money’?”

Clare nodded. “Sure.”

“After Brad was killed I had to go through a lot of his papers and files. Even though he had moved out and I had started proceedings, we were still technically married at the time of his death.”

“I remember that you had a lot of work to do to settle his estate.”

“I turned everything I could over to the lawyer. Valerie got the bulk of Brad’s money. Lord knows I didn’t want it. Anyway, for months afterward, bills and credit card statements kept turning up in the mail.”

“I think I’m getting the picture here.” Clare was suddenly aware of her pulse. “Hard to carry on an affair without spending money.”

“Turns out Brad had a credit card that I knew nothing about until the bills started arriving after his death. There was one recurring charge on the statements that caught my eye.”

“What was it?”

“Once, sometimes twice a week for almost the entire time we were married he evidently spent an afternoon at a spa in Phoenix. My intuition tells me that is probably where he went to screw his lover.”

“What the hell is going on between you and Clare?” Archer asked.

Jake dropped the club back into the bag and got behind the wheel of the golf cart.

He had been expecting the question since they teed off at the first hole. The only real surprise was that Archer had waited until the third hole to ask it. Glazebrook could be astonishingly nuanced and roundabout in his business dealings, but when it came to interpersonal relationships he was usually about as subtle as a brick.

It was Sunday morning, going on six o’clock. The temperature was still pleasant but the sun was climbing rapidly. So was the brilliance of the light. He and Archer had already put on their dark glasses.

Since his arrival in Stone Canyon Jake had begun to look forward to his rounds of golf with Archer. It wasn’t only because it gave them a secure place to talk, the golf itself was an interesting challenge. They had agreed from the beginning that, when it was just the two of them, they would play with all their senses wide open. When they were both running hot, the matches became an intriguing contest between his hunter talents and Archer’s unique strategic abilities.

The outcomes were unpredictable. There were upsides to both talents, Jake reflected. There was no question that his hunter talents gave him an edge when it came to coordination and timing. But Archer’s preternatural ability to plot strategy paid off just as often. Take today, for instance. They were both on the green in two. Now it all came down to the putting. And putting was half strategy and half timing and coordination. It could go either way.

“You don’t really expect a detailed answer to that question, do you?” Jake asked, steering the cart along the narrow path to a point close to the green.

“Damn right I do. You haven’t shown any interest in women since you got here. I was starting to wonder if maybe you weren’t the type who likes ’em.”

“Would that have been an issue for you?”

“Let’s get something straight. I don’t give a frigging damn who you sleep with so long as it doesn’t create a problem for me or someone in my family.”

“You’re worried that a relationship between Clare and me might create a problem?”

“Yeah,” Archer said. “That’s exactly what’s worrying me. This thing between the two of you blew up like a storm out of nowhere. A few days ago she hadn’t even met you. Now she’s living with you.”

“That’s how it happens sometimes.”

“You think I don’t know that? Clare is the direct result of my own personal experience with a sudden storm. I don’t want her put into the same kind of position her mother found herself in all those years ago. Is that real clear, Salter?”

“Your concerns are noted.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, damn you. This is my daughter we’re talking about.”

“Archer, I appreciate your point of view. But my personal life is just that. Personal. I don’t discuss it in depth with anyone.”

“The hell you don’t. You’re gonna damn well discuss it with me as long as your personal life involves Clare.”

Jake braked the cart to a halt. He sat quietly for a moment, studying the situation on the green.

“I’m going to tell you something, Archer. You’re not going to like it but maybe you’ll understand why I’ve got Clare living in my house.”

“I’m listening.”

“Clare is convinced that Brad McAllister was not the victim of a burglar he happened to interrupt in the course of a robbery. She thinks he was killed by someone who planned the murder very carefully in a way that would throw suspicion on her.”

Archer stiffened. “That’s crazy.”

“What’s more, she thinks that Valerie was murdered by the same person who killed McAllister. Someone who knew that if the authorities did have any questions about the death, they would be inclined to look at Clare, who just happened to be back in town.”

“Shit.”

“The reason she decided to hang around Stone Canyon for a few more days isn’t because she wants to consider your job offer. She’s staying because she plans to dig into the facts surrounding McAllister’s death. She needs to prove to herself, one way or another, if her conspiracy theory is valid.”

Archer looked as if he had taken a body blow. “Clare said that? She wants to find the killer?”

“Yes. I told her I’d help her.”

“That’swhy you’ve got her staying with you?”

“Right.”And also because I want her in my bed, Jake thought. But he decided not to add that part.

“Sweet hell,” Archer whispered, sounding as if he had just been blindsided. “Talk about a major screwup.”

“She’s made up her mind. I can’t stop her, Archer. Neither can you. But at least this way I can keep an eye on her.”

“I never even thought about that possibility,” Archer said. His voice was so low he might have been talking to himself. “Never dawned on me that it was someone else. Thought I had it all figured out.”

“What are you talking about?” Understanding crackled through Jake. “Damn. I should have known.That’s why you steered the Jones & Jones analysts away from the McAllister situation. And they bought your take on the murder because they knew what a hell of a strategist you are. If you didn’t see a connection between McAllister and the other problem, everyone assumed there probably wasn’t one.”

“Yeah, well, even a superior strategist can make mistakes when there’s personal stuff involved. It was just that I had it figured, you see. Everything fell into place. When that happens—” Archer broke off, shrugging. “You know how it is.”

“When everything fits you stop looking for other answers.”

“Damn right. When Elizabeth came back from her stay in San Francisco and filed for divorce, she was a changed woman. She was normal again. You don’t recover from a nervous breakdown that fast. I realized then that McAllister had done something terrible to her.”

“Clare thinks he may have been a powerful hypnotist. In addition he had a doctor feeding Elizabeth drugs.”

Archer nodded somberly. “Didn’t think about the possibility that McAllister was a hypnotist but that would explain a lot.”

“Including why no one saw through him.”

“Except Clare,” Archer said.

“Except Clare.”

Jake turned slightly in the seat to look at Archer. “I see where this is going. You came to the conclusion that Elizabeth wasn’t going to be safe as long as Brad McAllister was alive.”

“Bastard was too damn clever. And he had targeted my family for some crazy reason. Once the scales fell from my eyes, I figured I had to get rid of him.”

“But when he turned up dead you assumed Clare got to him first, didn’t you?” Jake asked.

“I knew she was feeling very protective of Elizabeth. Knew she didn’t trust McAllister at all.”

Jake whistled softly. “All these months you used your influence to squelch the Stone Canyon police investigation and you stonewalled Jones & Jones, as well.”

Archer studied the green. “Didn’t see any option, to tell you the truth.”

“You thought Clare really did kill McAllister. You’ve been trying to protect her.”

“I reckon I leaped to the conclusion that she killed McAllister because I was already locked into the same strategy, myself. Once I realized what he was capable of, I figured it was the only way to be sure that he didn’t cause any more trouble for my family. But I was thinking of something more along the lines of a convenient accident.”

Jake smiled appreciatively. “Yeah, I’d expect that kind of plan from you. Never did like the notion of you gunning him down.”

Archer’s brows rose. “You figured I might have been the killer?”

“Crossed my mind a few times.”

Archer exhaled heavily. “Looks like I may have caused you some unnecessary problems, Jake. Didn’t mean to mess up your project.”

“You had your reasons. But it does leave us in an interesting situation.”

“What do you mean by ‘interesting’?” Archer asked, wary now.

“My gut tells me that the McAllister murder is related to my case here in Stone Canyon.”

“How the hell do you figure that?”

“It’s been bothering me from the beginning because it’s the only thing that stands out as an anomaly in this situation. But J&J was so damned sure there was no connection I’ve been looking at other possibilities, instead.” Jake shook his head, disgusted. “Waste of time.”

Archer frowned. “No luck with any of those late-night searches you’ve been doing, huh?”

“None. But from the moment Clare arrived the other night, my senses have been running a little hot. I’m half jacked up all the time. Know what I mean?”

“Sure.” Archer snorted. “In my day, we had other words for it, though.”

“Believe it or not, this isn’t just about the fact that I’m attracted to your daughter, Glazebrook. What I don’t like is her connection to McAllister’s murder.”

“I don’t like it, either. What’s that got to do with this?”

“It all comes down to one thing. Given the low crime rate in this burg, what are the odds that she would find the bastard’s body if she wasn’t the one who murdered him?”

“Not good,” Archer admitted. “That’s why I tried to point you in another direction. But I don’t see any way there could be a link between whatever the new cabal has going down here in Stone Canyon and my family.”

“I don’t have all the answers yet, but McAllister was involved in this mess somehow. I can feel it.”

Archer was quiet for a couple beats, looking thoughtful.

“Instinct?” he asked finally.

Among the members of the Society, instinct carried a lot of weight.

“Hunter’s instinct,” Jake said.

Clare was in the kitchen when she heard the sound of a car in the drive. Hoping that it was Jake returning from the early Sunday morning golf game, she went down the hall to the front door and peered through the peephole.

Myra got out from behind the wheel of a sleek Mercedes and walked determinedly toward the front door.

Clare wondered if she could get away with pretending she was not at home. But even as that plan popped into her mind she saw Myra glance at the rented compact sitting in the drive.