As Good as Dead (27 page)

Any resemblance was completely superficial, she thought, trying to convince herself now as she'd been trying to do since Reve Sorrell had come for lunch on Tuesday. Most redheads look alike in various ways. Besides, there was no way Reve and Jazzy could be that woman's children. That evil woman who had nearly destroyed so many lives.

She'd been forced to accept the fact that Farlan would never forget. How could he?

And poor Dodd, who had confessed to Beth Ellen and been forgiven, but who had never forgiven himself. And Maxwell, who'd been drawn into all the ugliness. If he ever told anyone what he knew, what he'd done…

Taking several deep breaths, Veda lifted her head.

"Are you sick?" Farlan asked as he approached her. "You look pale."

"I'm not feeling quite myself this morning," she replied.

He grasped her arm. "Perhaps you should sit down. All this talk about redheaded twins has no doubt brought back some unpleasant memories."

"You promised that we'd never speak of her."

"Did I say anything about her? Did I mention her name?"

"I suppose you and Dodd and Maxwell have talked about her from time to time, haven't you? After all, the three of you were her champions. God, what fools you men can be. She was a tramp, Farlan: A prostitute any man could have for the right price."

"Believe what you will." When Farlan glared at her, she saw undisguised hatred in his eyes. "Dodd and Max and I do not discuss her or what happened. And I do not wish to discuss it with you. Not now. Not ever."

"But you think about her, don't you? About her and-" Veda stopped herself just short of saying aloud the one thing she dared not say.

"My thoughts are my own," he told her. "Those, my dear, you don't own. You never ha-ve and never will."

With that said, he turned, walked back to his study and slammed the door behind him.

At half past one, Sally Talbot finally arrived. But not before Jazzy had called to remind her. She'd even contacted Ludie and sent her over to Sally's to encourage her aunt to keep her promise. Griffin Powell had arrived shortly before noon, and he and Caleb wound up playing several games of pool downstairs at Jazzy's Joint while they waited.

When Jazzy opened her apartment door, Sally hesitated before entering. And only after she stepped over the threshold did Jazzy and Reve realize that Ludie, who came in behind Sally, had given her old friend a gentle shove.

"Come on in and have a seat, you two," Jazzy said. She glanced at Reve. "See if anybody wants coffee while I call Caleb and let him and Mr. Powell know that she's here now."

Both old ladies declined any refreshment. They sat side by side on the sofa, solemn expressions on their faces and wary looks in their eyes. Reve couldn't help feeling sorry for them.

Better save your sympathy, she told herself. Sally Talbot may wind up being the villa-iness in this piece. How will you feel if you find out she had something to do with your being thrown in the Dumpster?

Jazzy waited by the door until Caleb and Griffin Powell arrived. Once everyone was assembled, Jazzy and Reve sat facing Sally and Ludie. Mr. Powell sat in a kitchen chair that Caleb had brought in and placed to the left of the sofa. Caleb stood behind Jazzy's chair, his hands resting protectively on her shoulders.

Silence filled the room.

Griffin Powell cleared his throat. "Would you like for me to start the questioning?"

Sally glowered at him. "I ain't answering no questions for you. I don't see why you're here. You ain't got nothing to do with this."

"Mr. Powell is staying," Jazzy said. "You know he's a private investigator who is working for Reve."

"He's working for me and for Jazzy," Reve told Sally. "She and I are sisters. The DNA results prove conclusively that we are twins."

Sally breathed heavily and nodded. "I never had no idea that there was another baby."

She looked right at Reve. "There was no way I could've known."

"We believe you, Aunt Sally," Jazzy said. "Please, tell us what you do know. And start at the beginning, with my mother… that is, with your sister, Corrine."

"It's just like I always told you-Corrine came home to have her baby. I knew she weren't married and might not have even known who her baby's daddy was. But she was my sister and I loved her. We was all the family each other had after our folks died."

"I'm not Corrine's baby, am I?" Jazzy asked.

"I know that Ludie's done told y'all Corrine's little baby girl was born dead. Pitiful little thing. And Corrine was mighty sick afterward and half out of her mind. I didn't have nothing to give her but some bootleg whiskey, so I kept her full of it so she'd rest. I-I was all broke up about the baby myself. I felt like it was my fault because I'd delivered the child and-" Sally swallowed down her unshed tears.

"You wasn't to blame,’’ Ludie said. "Them things happen. Weren't nobody's fault."

"I took me a walk in the woods to clear my head and to find me a place where I could cry without waking up Corrine." Sally ran her gaze over Jazzy. "That's when I found you.

Out there in the woods. When I heard you squalling, I couldn't believe it. But there you was, this fat, pink, healthy baby girl with all that red fuzz on your head."

"You found me in the woods, up here in the mountains?" Jazzy asked.

"Yep. Somebody had stripped you down to your diaper and stuffed you in the hollow of an old tree stump. They'd sure enough put you there to die. That's what they'd done."

"Oh, God!" Jazzy gasped. Reve reached over and clasped her sister's hand.

"I took one look at you and knew you was a gift from God. He took Corrine's baby, but he gave us you. Whoever your mama was, she didn't want you. She left you out there in the woods to die. But I wanted you. I wanted you from the minute I laid eyes on you."

Sally balled her hand into a fist and flopped her fist over her heart. "I knew in here that you were meant to replace Corrine's dead baby.

"So I brought you home with me and I gave you a bath and dressed you in the clothes Corrine had bought for her baby. I wrapped you up in that fancy white blanket she'd bought in Knoxville and I laid you in her arms."

"How did you explain me to your sister?" Jazzy asked.

"I told her that you was her baby girl, that she'd just dreamed her baby died. And with you lying there in her arms, why wouldn't she believe me? That night I slipped back out in the Woods and buried Corrine's baby. I buried her deep and put a big stone on top of her grave so the animals couldn't get to her."

"And when Doc Webster came up the mountain to check Corrine and the baby, I was the baby he saw, the baby he examined," Jazzy said. "That's how I have a birth certificate proving Corrine Talbot was my mother."

"Do you hate me, gal? I swear I thought I was doing the right thing for you and for Corrine." Sally looked pleadingly at Jazzy. "I ain't never loved nothing or nobody as much as I love you." Tears glistened in Sally's bright blue eyes.

Jazzy released Reve's hand, stood and walked over to the sofa. She knelt in front of Sally, reached out and hugged her aunt. "I love you, you crazy old woman, you." She lifted her head and the two women gazed at each other through teary eyes. "You could have told me years ago and I would have understood."

Reve turned to Griffin Powell and asked, "Will this information help you at all in the investigation?"

He nodded. "Yes, it'll help. You two do realize that the person who separated the two infants did it for a specific reason. He-or she-not only wanted both babies to die, but he wanted to make sure that if both bodies were ever found, no one would figure out that the two abandoned infants were connected in any way. Twins could be more easily traced back to the birth mother."

"We were dumped and left for dead in two different counties," Reve said. "Jazzy in a tree stump in the woods up in the mountains here in Cherokee County and me in a Dumpster in Sevierville."

Jazzy rose to her feet and went to Reve. "That report Mr. Powell gave us says that an eyewitness claims he saw a man toss something into the Dumpster that might have been a baby. Do you think that man might have been our father?"

"Our father?" Reve had never considered that possibility. "I suppose it could have be-en. I've assumed it was my mother who threw me away, but it could just as easily have been my father-our father."

"I suggest that we don't jump to any conclusions," Griffin Powell said. "That eyewitness is no longer living. And even if he was, he couldn't ID

the man. He said so at the time. Medium height, build, clothing. He never got a look at the guy's face. Besides, that guy might not have been the one who threw you in the Dumpster."

"So we have nothing to go on, no real evidence of any kind," Jazzy said.

"Once we have a list of all the twins born in northeast Tennessee around the time you two were born, we'll be able to start narrowing down the info," Griffin explained. "Until then, keep one thing in mind-whoever wanted you two dead thirty years ago might still want you dead. If he ever finds out you're both alive now and looking for answers about your past, he could try to kill both of you."

"Holy shit! That thought never crossed my mind." Jazzy snorted. "There's some nut out there somewhere killing redheaded whores, and I'm probably at the top of his list. And now I find out that there's another person out there who, if he finds out he didn't kill Reve and me when we were babies, might try to do the job right this time."

"Why would anybody want to kill two innocent little babies?" Sally asked. "What sort of monster would harm a baby?"

"Someone with something to lose if he-or she-allowed the babies to live," Caleb said.

"Exactly." Griffin Powell stood and walked over to Reve. "Ms. Sorrell, if you decide that you want to pursue this investigation any further, I'll need your permission to use any and all medical information about you, including the DNA test results."

"Yes, of course. Whatever you need, I'll see to it that you get it." She glanced at Jazzy.

"My sister and I definitely want to continue this investigation, don't we?"

"Damn right about that. We want to know who tried to ^1 us and why."

"Even if it turns out to be either your mother or your father? Or possibly both of them?" Griffin asked.

"Yes," Reve and Jazzy replied simultaneously.

"Very well. I'll head back to Knoxville and we'll proceed with the investigation."

Reve walked him to the door. They shook hands.

"I'll be in touch again as soon as I have any information," he told her.

When Reve turned around, she saw Caleb and Sally and Ludie hovering over Jazzy, each taking a turn hugging her and reassuring her. Suddenly Reve felt unwanted and un-needed. Jazzy had people who loved her, people who would die to protect her. And who did Reve have? Nobody. Not one single solitary soul. She had never felt so totally alone in her life.

"I forgot something I need to tell Mr. Powell," Reve lied. "If I go now, I can probably catch up with him." She grabbed her coat and purse, then opened the door.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Jazzy called to her.

"No. I'll-I'll phone you later."

Reve just barely made it outside, onto the open stairway, before tears welled up in her eyes.
Damn it, don't do this to yourself. What good will it do to cry? You 're Reve Sorrell.

You 're rich and powerful and people envy you. What the hell do you have to cry about
anyway?

Clutching the handrail, Reve made her way down the stairs. She hung her shoulder bag around her neck as she struggled to put on her coat. Out of nowhere a big hand reached out to help her into her coat. She yelped in fright and jumped away from the man standing beside her. After blinking several times, her vision cleared just enough for her to see who he was. Damn, she should have known. At a moment like this when the last thing she needed was somebody to kick her while she was down, who else would cross her path?

"Sheriff Butler." She sucked back her tears.

"Are you all right?" he asked and sounded sincere.

"I'm fine, thank you. And how are you?"

He reached out and lifted the purse straps from around her neck, then handed her the leather bag. "You've been crying."

"How astute of you."

"Usually when a person cries, there's a reason."

"Don't you have anything better to do than interrogate me? Don't you have a murder to solve?" She hooked the straps of her leather bag over her shoulder.

He grabbed her arm. Her eyes widened in alarm. "My truck is parked across the street.

Why don't you ride over to the Burger Box with me and I'll buy you a late lunch. Greasy burgers and fries. And a chocolate milkshake."

"Are you trying to be nice to me?"

"Yeah, I guess I am." He seemed as surprised at the thought as she was.

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't accept your invitation, but…" But she was feeling lonely and vulnerable and was thankful for a few crumbs of kindness, even from Jacob Butler. Why him, dear God, why him? she asked and had the oddest sensation that Fate was laughing at her.

Reve glanced at Jacob's hand securely surrounding her arm. His fingers were thick and long and dark, his hand large and slightly rough. "If you'll make that a burger and onion rings, I'll accept your invitation."

"Onion rings, huh?" Jacob grinned.

The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Mercy, what a smile!

She nodded. "I love onion rings."

"Onion rings it is." He tugged on her arm. "Ordinarily my dates don't eat onions of any kind since they're looking forward to ending the date with a kiss, but since we won't be doing any kissing, you can eat all the onion rings you want."

Date? Kiss? Was he crazy? This wasn't a date. This was lunch. Nothing more.

"You're right," she told him. "We certainly won't be doing any kissing."

The Burger Box was a remnant from the fifties, with curb service and waitresses on roller skates. The menu listed a lineup of artery-clogging, deep-fried delights and the best shakes and banana splits on earth.