A Man Like Morgan Kane (3 page)

Hordes of Jimmy's Wake Up Birmingham fans called out slurs and threats when they sawBethany.

Prompted by the crowd's actions, the police guard that Chief Baker had arranged circled the tent that provided protection and partial privacy for the family.

Eileen Dow Farraday, tiny, delicate and lovely in her black silk mourning suit sat between her eighteen-year-old stepson, James, and Anne Marie. Tears streamed down Eileen's china-doll perfect face.

How could this nightmare they were embroiled in be real?Bethanywondered. If only she could awaken and discover that the past few days had been nothing more than a bad dream.

Someone had murdered Jimmy. That unknown person had emptied all six rounds of her KBI pistol into him. She hated guns. Everyone knew she despised carrying her small handgun for protection. Seth had bought it for her two years ago, right after she'd been mugged leavingBethany's Boutique inHuntsville.

Ifonly she hadn't gone to WHNB three days ago. If only she had ignored the message Jimmy had left on her answering machine Friday afternoon. But there was no going back to change the past. She couldn't erase the scratch marks from Jimmy's face—the ones she'd put there. And she couldn't alter the fact that she had returned to his office for her shoulder bag that she'd dropped on the floor during her scuffle with him.

After she'd run out into the parking lot, anyone could have gone into his office, picked up her purse and found her gun. Anyone who hated Jimmy Farraday could have killed him. But the police weren't looking for anyone else. They were certain they had their murderer. She supposed if she saw the facts from their point of view, she would believe what they believed. That Bethany Dow Wyndham had made good on her threats and murdered her stepfather. She was the last person seen entering his office. The murder weapon belonged to her, and only her fingerprints were found on it. And the night before the murder, at a gala party in her mother's home, she had threatened—before two witnesses—to kill Jimmy.

Dear God, Maxine was going to have a difficult time proving her innocence. Considering the evidence, if she didn't know better,
she'd
think she had killed Jimmy.

"Are you all right, Mama?" Anne Marie squeezedBethany's hand as they rose to their feet after the minister finished his final prayer.

"I'm OK, honey."Bethanyslipped her arm around her daughter's shoulder and drew her closer. "I suppose I feel a bit like a hypocrite coming to Jimmy's funeral the very day I was released from jail on a half-million-dollar bond."

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"Grandmother wanted you here," Anne Marie whispered. "She knows you didn't kill Jimmy. Besides, Maxine said that it was important for you to be there. To show the world that you don't have a guilty conscience."

Coming up behind her, Seth Renfrew eased his arm aroundBethany's waist and hugged her. "I'm going to ride home with Eileen and James. Will you be all right?"

"I'll ride with Mama," Anne Marie told him. "We'll see you at Grandmother's in a little while."

Ignoring the ugly shouts and graphic threats that Jimmy Farraday's loyal fans bellowed at the top of their lungs,Bethanyeased inside the second limousine waiting in the line of vehicles. Her daughter slid in beside her.

"You should have ridden in the limo with your grandmother."Bethanyglanced out the window as the line of cars began the long, slow drive down the winding roads toward the white iron gates at the entrance of ElmwoodCemetery. Eileen's black limousine led the procession past the old crypts and impressive monuments. "I could have asked Maxine to ride with me."

"Grandmother has all the help she needs. James and Seth have hardly left her side for the past few days."

Anne Marie kissed her mother's cheek. "I thought maybe you needed me today. Having to spend the whole weekend in jail must have been just horrible for you."

Tears glazedBethany's eyes. She gripped her daughter's hand tightly as their limousine circled the small rose garden at the cemetery's entrance and followed Eileen's limo out ontoMartin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

Sometimes Anne Marie's maturity amazedBethany. She had long ago decided that the girl possessed an old soul. From the moment she'd first felt her baby move inside her, the child had become the focus of her life, the center of her world. And after she was born, Anne Marie had become more precious with each passing year.

Bethanyhad done and would do anything for her daughter. She had married a man she didn't love and endured nearly four years as Amery's wife in order to protect Anne Marie and give her child the heritage she deserved.

She had built a business—a chain of successful boutiques—by combining an investment by her business partner and her mother's friend, Seth Renfrew, with years of hard work. She had wanted not only to give Anne Marie every advantage, but had been determined to make her daughter proud of her and to look to her as a role model. She wanted her daughter to grow up strong and confident and able to meet the world on her own terms. She didn't want Anne Marie to ever be as weak and vulnerable and easily manipulated as she once had been.Bethanyintended to make sure nothing and no one ever hurt her child.

And that very devotion, that maternal protectiveness was what the prosecuting attorney could and would use against her.

What would happen if the grand jury turned her over for trial and she was found guilty? Who would take care of Anne Marie? Her mother? Eileen was hardly the personBethanywanted in charge of her daughter's formative teen years. She was far too flighty, too entrenched in her old-fashioned ways to raise a modern-thinking young woman. Besides, her mother already had one teenager to worry about.

James adored Eileen. And why not? She had been a loving, doting stepmother for the past ten years, showering him with attention when his own father had had little time for him.

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And Claudia, who adored Anne Marie, wasn't physically able to take on the responsibility. Although she knew she could always depend on dear Seth, what did a fifty-year-old bachelor know about raising a teenage girl?

No, what Anne Marie needed was her father.

Even if Amery were alive,Bethanyknew they would be divorced now, and she doubted that he would have played a major role in Anne Marie's life. Even before his death, he'd paid little attention to her.

Of course,Bethanydidn't think of Amery as Anne Marie's father. She never had.

The ride to her mother's home seemed endless, butBethanywas simply glad to be out of jail and sitting in the back of a limousine, holding her daughter's hand. If the trip had taken hours, she wouldn't have cared.

When they arrived at Eileen's huge, stone Colonial Revival house in Mountain Brook, reporters and spectators alike mobbed the limousines as they pulled into the long, narrow drive leading to the' mansion.

"What's wrong with those people?" Anne Marie clutched her mother's hand as they stared outside at the screaming, shouting horde. "Why don't they leave us alone?"

"Jimmy was adored by a lot of people here inBirmingham, and I'm afraid they're determined to see his killer punished."

"But you didn't kill him."

"I know that and you know that, but those people—"Bethanynodded her head backward as the iron gates closed behind them, shutting out the angry crowd and curious reporters "—believe I did."

The moment the limousine came to a stop, Seth opened the door and helpedBethanyout, then offered his arms to her and her daughter. Flanking Seth, they allowed him to lead them up the wide rock steps, onto the entrance porch and into the house.

"I'm afraid this whole affair is going to be nothing but a three-ring circus," Seth said. "Everyone from the governor on down will arrive shortly, and I'm afraid Eileen has even agreed to allow WHNB to send a reporter and cameraman."

"My God! How can mother be so stupid!"

"You know Eileen. She hasn't been thinking straight. It never occurred to her that your being here is what they'll focus on instead of all the people who are here to pay homage to Jimmy."

"My car is parked in the garage,"Bethanysaid. "I think I'll slip out the back way and go home. Would you ask Maxine to bring Anne Marie home later?"

Tall, willowy and strikingly attractive for a woman of forty-five, Maxine Carson approached her client.

"Did I hear my name mentioned?"

"Yes, would you—"Bethanysaid.

"I'm going home with you, Mama. I don't want to stay here."

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"I've already paid my condolences to Eileen," Maxine said. "Why don't the three of us make a graceful exit together? I'll follow you home. We have a lot to discuss, and I see no reason to delay making some vital decisions."

"All right."Bethanyturned to Seth. "Later, when she's had time to miss me, tell Mother why I left."

On the way out the back door, Anne Marie said, "I hope there aren't any reporters or Jimmy Farraday fans waiting at our house."

* * *

Two hours later, after the police had dispersed the crowd outsideBethany's home inForest Park, she and Lisa Songer prepared sandwiches and soup for themselves, Anne Marie and Maxine. Fixing supper was such an insignificant thing, but forBethanythe simple act helped her feel as if she had regained some control over her out-of-control life.

Lisa, the manager ofBethany's Boutique in the Galleria, had stopped by after the funeral to bringBethany up-to-date on the business. And as a friend, she'd stayed to give comfort.

They ate on trays in the cozy living room. A room, like the others in her house, thatBethanyhad personally decorated for homey warmth and casual livability. She had wanted Anne Marie to grow up in a home, not a museum, not a look - but - do - not - touch mansion.

When the telephone rang, Anne Marie jumped up off the beige and aqua floral sofa. "I'm taking that darn thing off the hook! If it's an emergency, Grandmother and Nana both know your cellular phone number."

Easing out of her brown suede flats,Bethanyslipped one leg under the other and leaned back against the sofa arm. "Just turn the volume down on the ringer and on the answering machine." She looked at Maxine. "Isn't there anything we can do to put an end to the phone calls? I can't believe that ten of Jimmy's devoted fans have called here in the past two hours. And two of them threatened me with bodily harm."

"We'll get you an unlisted number," Maxine said.

"Jimmy Farraday catered to some of the worst elements in our society." Lisa stacked the dinner trays and carried them toward the kitchen. "Let's face it, a lot of Jimmy's fans don't have the brains God gave a billy goat."

Maxine reached across from the chair she'd shoved up against the sofa and put her hand onBethany's arm. "While you were fixing supper, I called the Dundee Agency inAtlantaand spoke to Dane Carmichael, who's in charge now thatDundeehimself has retired. I told him that we wanted him to send someone over here to start a private investigation into Jimmy's death."

"What can a private investigator find out that the police can't?"Bethanyasked.

"For one thing, a P.I. is going to look for another suspect, and at this point, the police aren't. Even though Detective Varner has some doubts about your guilt, his hands are tied." Rubbing the back of her neck, Maxine turned her head from side to side. "The D.A. believes he has his murderer, but we know he doesn't."

"Just how expensive is a private investigator?"Bethanywas not poor by any means, but she was not a
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multimillionaire in her own right, as was her mother. She poured a great deal of her boutique profits back into the business, and her largest savings account was earmarked for Anne Marie's future.

"You don't need to concern yourself with the cost." Maxine avoided direct eye contact with her client.

"Claudia has given me instructions to do whatever is necessary to get you acquitted, and to spare no expense."

"Claudia has offered to finance my defense?" Why should she be surprised that Claudia Kane wanted to pick up the tab? Anne Marie's nana was one of the wealthiest women in the South, having inherited a small fortune when her husband died. And Amery's aunt would do anything for her and Anne Marie.

They were all the family Claudia had. Except for—

"Yes, and she's the one who suggested using the Dundee Agency," Maxine said. "Of course, my firm has used their agents before, a few times, when a client needed a bodyguard."

"A bodyguard!"

"If the threats on your life escalate, if they become more than phone calls and letters, then we'll have to do as Claudia suggests and haveDundee's send over a personal bodyguard for you."

"Claudia thinks I need a bodyguard?"

"She phoned me the morning after you were arrested and offered to pay for an investigator and a bodyguard." Maxine looked over her shoulder at Anne Marie and Lisa standing by the round, Regency table in the dining room, an open alcove off the living room. "Claudia is very concerned about you and Anne Marie. You know how she feels about the two of you."

"Yes, I know. And we love her, too."

"Bethany, do you want me to continue taking care of your personal correspondence?" Lisa called from the adjacent room as she lifted the stack of letters off the table. "And what about this package that arrived at the galleria store today? It's addressed to you, in care of the boutique."

"Oh, just leave the personal stuff,"Bethanysaid. "I'll look through it tomorrow. You've done more than enough to help me. But go ahead and open the package. It could be those perfume samples Midge Claybourne was supposed to send me."

"Mama, would you like for me to go ahead and make the cappuccino?"Bethanyasked.