After Dark (32 page)

    She nodded. Then when he started
to leave, she jumped up off the cot and ran after him, catching him before
he opened the back door into the alley. She flung her arms around him and
covered his face with kisses.

    "You think about me tonight
while you're dining out with Miss Edith."

    She knew James was torn between
wanting to screw her again and needing to meet his wife. Maybe she should
feel bad about making things difficult for him, but dammit all, she
didn't know how much longer she could stand it-thinking about James with
another woman. Even though he swore to her that he hadn't shared a bed
with Miss Edith in years, Arlene found it hard to believe that his wife
didn't want him. Not when she wanted him so badly.

    ''Let me go, sugar," James pleaded.

    Arlene released him, stepped back
and put a false smile on her face. "Call me, after you go to bed tonight."

    James nodded, then exited in a
hurry. Arlene slumped down on the cot. That's it, run to Miss Edith like a
good boy. Like a damn obedient little slave.

    Arlene repeatedly slammed her
fists into the pillow, wishing the blows were connecting with Edith Ware's
tight-as-dick's-hat-band face. After venting her frustration, she got
up, put on her clothes and went out into the shop to clean up the place.
She should be the one dining with James tonight, not Edith Ware. And she
should be the one sleeping in his bed every night and sharing his last name.

    Arlene couldn't remember a time
when she hadn't loved James Ware, Jr. She had known from the very beginning,
when they'd been in junior high, that they came from two different worlds.
His old man had been a lawyer to all the rich folks on Magnolia Avenue,
and his mama had been a former debutante from New Orleans whose family
had more pedigree than money. But James had loved her, too, despite the
fact that she lived across the Chickasaw River in a house not much bigger
than his family's garage.

    They had sneaked around to be together
back then, too, when they were teenagers. James had been her first. For
that much she was thankful. They had made plans for a future together,
but the minute old man Ware had found out that James was serious about
her, he'd sent James off to college and forbade him to ever see "that
white trash gal" again. She had believed James would stand up to his
father and refuse to turn his back on her, but in the end James had proved
himself to be the obedient son.

    She had up and married the first
boy who asked her. And the only reason Wade Cash had proposed was because
he'd discovered that Arlene didn't p

    out. Not for anybody. Except
James. Only James. She had been a good girl, and nothing short of love had
made her give up her virginity. She supposed folks would laugh at the
idea that Arlene Vickery Cash Motes Dothan, a three-time divorcee, considered
herself a moral woman. But she was. The only men, other than James, she'd
ever had sex with had been her husbands. And James was practically her husband,
wasn't he? In her heart, she felt as if she and James were already man and
wife. If love united two people, then they were as joined together as
any legal ceremony could ever make them.

    She had to be patient. James had
promised her that they would take her kids and leave Noble's Crossing soon.
All he had to do was put away just a little bit more money.

    When James Ware arrived at his office
the next morning, he found an unexpected visitor waiting for him. Before
his secretary, Penny Walsh, had a chance to speak, Johnny Mack Cahill rose
from the wing chair by the fireplace and gave James a speculative look.

    "It's nearly eleven,"
Johnny Mack said. "You're kind of late today, aren't you?"

    I stopped by the hospital to see
Mary Martha."

    "Ever the dutiful stepfather."

    James cleared his throat, glanced
over at Penny Walsh, who was hanging on every word of the conversation,
and then hazarded a direct look at Johnny Mack. "I happen to be very
fond of Mary Martha." James opened his office door, turned back to
his visitor and said, "What can I do for you this morning?" Well,
it isn't so much what you can do for me, as what I can do for you."

    "I'm afraid I don't catch your
drift."

    "Some information about
you has recently come into my possession and I'm willing to-"

    "Come with me," James said,
then motioned to his secretary with a wave of his hand.' 'Penny, would
you mind going over to the bakery and getting some fresh pastries and
then fix us a pot of fresh coffee."

    "Certainly, Mr. Mayor."

    The minute Penny left, James closed
the door to the outer office and confronted Johnny Mack. "I assume
you've found out about my… my relationship with a certain lady."

    "Your affair with Arlene
Dothan."

    "Yes, well. Yes."

    "Let's get something straight
from the get-go," Johnny Mack said. "I don't care who you're fucking.
I'm not here to threaten you because you're cheating on Miss Edith."

    "Then, what?" James broke
out in a cold sweat. Surely Johnny Mack didn't know about the money. Of course
not. How could he know?

    "I have one of the best private
investigators in the country poking his nose in everybody's business
here in Noble's Crossing. As far as I'm concerned, anybody who had a connection
to Kent Graham is under suspicion."

    Stay calm, James cautioned himself.
Don't let Johnny Mack intimidate you. Don't give yourself away. "I
can understand your reasoning. You're doing everything you can for Lane.
If there's anything I can do to-"

    "There is. You can confess to
killing Kent."

    "What!" Was the man insane?
There was no way anyone could connect him to Kent's murder. And even if
there were, he had an alibi. Arlene would swear on a stack of Bibles as
high as a mountain that she was with him, giving him a manicure. That
had

    been his story to Buddy Lawler, who
probably suspected Arlene had been giving him more than a manicure.
But come what may, he planned to stick with that story.

    "Did you kill Kent?"
Johnny Mack asked.

    Damn but Cahill scared the shit
out of him. He always had. He was big, lean and mean. And with a killer stare
that put the fear of God into a person.

    "No, I didn't kill Kent. Why would
I have killed my stepson? Kent and I had been friends all our lives. I
was even his best man when he married Lane."

    James noticed Johnny Mack flinch
and surmised that Lane's marriage to Kent was a sore spot with him. Best
to stay clear of anything that might make the situation more intense.

    "Where did you get the money
to buy Arlene a new car and expensive jewelry and to take her on several
really nice vacations?" Johnny Mack narrowed his gaze, his eyes
becoming mere slits, as he focused on James.

    Tugging on his collar and inadvertently
loosening his tie in the process, James swallowed several times before
he even tried to reply. How the hell had he found out? Oh, yeah, the PI. But
did he know about the embezzlement? Of course he did. Cahill was no fool.
He would realize that there was only one way James could have afforded
to splurge on Arlene and her kids-by stealing from Edith.

    "You know, don't you?"
James sank down into the oxblood leather chair behind his desk.

    "I know you've been embezzling
money from Miss Edith and that you're storing it away in a secret bank account"
Johnny Mack grinned as he leaned over James's desk and looked him square in
the eye. "And I know that Kent Graham found out what you were doing
and confronted you about it"

    James trembled from head to toe,
but the worst quivers were in his hands. He laid them flat atop his desk in
an effort to steady them. Johnny Mack was bluffing, wasn't he? He was just
spouting off suspicions. There wasn't any way even the best private eye
in the world could have unearthed that kind of information.

    "You're playing a guessing
game, Cahill." James prayed that his voice sounded stronger and more
confident than he felt.

    "Kent threatened to expose
you, and you killed him to keep him quiet"

    James jumped up, leaned across his
desk and glowered at Johnny Mack. "You can't prove a word of what
you're saying."

    "You and I both know what the
truth is, don't we? We know Lane didn't kill Kent, so that means that someone
else did."

    "I didn't. I swear I
didn't"

    "Then, you don't have anything
to worry about do you?"

    "Are you… are you going to
tell Edith about… If you mention your suspicions to my wife, she'll destroy
me.

    "I came here today to give
you a chance to help us prove Lane is innocent. Any information you have
and share with us will be greatly appreciated."

    "But I don't know anything
that can help Lane." When he saw the disbelief in Johnny Mack's eyes,
he realized he had to come up with something to temporarily satisfy
the man who could ruin his future. "I know Edith has used all her influence
to see that Lane was charged with Kent's murder. She's hell-bent on seeing
Lane convicted. But I swear to you that I didn't loll Kent and I don't know
who did."

    Johnny Mack speared James with his
deadly glare.

    "If you're lying to me… Well,
let's just say that jail is preferable to what I'll do to you if I find out
that you're letting Lane take the rap for something you did."

    "I understand."

    Without another word, Johnny Mack
opened the door, but before he went any farther, James caught up with
him and stopped him. "You aren't going to say anything to Edith about…
about what we discussed, are you?"

    Johnny Mack lowered his head and
whispered close to James's ear, "Whatever Miss Edith gets, she deserves.
If you didn't kill Kent and don't know who did, then you don't have to worry
about me blowing me whistle on you. But if Lane's case goes to court
and things don't look good for her, Quinn Cortez may call you as a witness.
And if he thinks it'll help Lane, he just might have to point a finger at
you."

    Unable to move, incapable of speaking,
James watched Johnny Mack smile pleasantly and tip his Stetson to Penny,
who had just returned from the nearby bakery. Then Johnny Mack began humming
as he walked outside, leaving the door open behind him. Penny quickly
closed the door, then turned around and stared at James.

    "Are you all right, Mr. Ware?
You look sort of green."

    James's head bobbed up and down several
times.

    No, he wasn't all right. He was screwed,
that's what he was. Screwed big time. What the hell was he going to do? Something
like this couldn't be kept under wraps for long. Maybe the best tiling for
him to do was take Arlene and her kids and get out of town as soon as possible.
He didn't have as much money as he had planned for, but they would just have
to make do.

    "Mayor, is something
wrong?" Penny asked.

    "No, nothing's wrong," he
replied. "I-I have a phone call to make, Penny. Please see to it
that I'm not disturbed."

    "Of course."

    James went inside his private office,
closed and locked the door, then made his way to his desk and picked up
the telephone. After dialing, he sat in his leather chair and waited.

    "Kut & Kurl. This is Arlene
Dothan. How can I help you?"

    "Arlene."

    "Well, hello, there."
Her voice turned syrupy sweet.

    "Listen very carefully. I
want you to start making plans for us to leave town. As soon as possible."

    "What's happened? Why all of
a sudden-"

    "Johnny Mack Cahill knows about
us, about the things I've bought you and about the money I've been squirreling
away. The man hired a private detective and now he knows everything."

    "Everything?" Arlene lowered
her voice to a mere whisper. "Even about Kent?"

    "Yes, even about Kent. He doesn't
have any proof, but he's got some mighty big suspicions. And if he tells
what he suspects and there's an investigation, I'll wind up in the pen
for sure."

    "What are we going to
do?"

    "Be ready to leave when I say
the word," James told her. "And you just let me take care of everything
else."

    "But what if Johnny Mack goes
to Miss Edith or to Buddy Lawler?"

    "Don't worry. I'll handle
Johnny Mack."

    "You don't have to do this if
you don't want to." Lane placed her arm around Will's shoulders.

    "I want to," he said, despite
the fear that ate away inside him. "If I saw someone murder Kent, I
need to know, and if I'm the one"-Will looked straight at his mother-"who
killed him, then I'll have to face the truth and…" Will gulped.
"God, Mama, I'm scared."

    "It's all right, sweetie."

    When Lane gave him a reassuring
hug, it was all he could do not to fall into her arms and cry like a baby.
How could he live with himself if he discovered that he actually had
bludgeoned Kent to death? Even though, in the end, Kent had been unfair
and cruel, there had been a time when he and the man he had thought was
his father had loved each other.