Every Move She Makes (25 page)

“Come on, babe, let’s find a perfect spot to spread this blanket.”

She closed her car door, clasped Reed’s hand, and followed where he led. Off behind the huge live oaks and into a clearing close to where the winding stream joined the nearby creek. A train’s horn blew in the distance. The railroad tracks spanned a nearby bridge. Here with Reed, on the back side of the park, she had indeed crossed over from the right side of the tracks to the wrong side. Streets lined with houses that were little more than shacks lay on the other side of this hidden grove. Reed had grown up in one of those houses. His mother and sister still lived there.

Reed spread the blanket on the ground, then set the tape player to the side and pushed the “Play” button. Soft and low, a jazz tune began, a sweet reminder of last night.

Why was she so nervous? It wasn’t as if she and Reed hadn’t been together before. They had been—yesterday, last night, and again early this morning.

“I spoke to Daddy, and he’s agreed to talk to Frank Nelson about reopening the Blalock murder case,” Ella said.

“You’re kidding,” Reed laughed.

“No, I’m not kidding.” Ella sat on the blanket, crossing her legs at the ankles. “When I saw you earlier today, you didn’t mention that my father paid you a visit this morning.”

“I’m surprised he mentioned it to you.” Reed lay flat on his back and crossed his arms behind his head.

“He said that when he hit you, you didn’t hit him back. I think by showing him that you could control your temper, you impressed Daddy.”

“I seriously doubt that I impressed Webb Porter,” Reed said. “He’s just pacifying you, Ella, if he’s told you that he’ll help me.”

Ella stretched out beside Reed and looked up at the sky. With sundown, nighttime hurried to take charge, darkening the sky and cooling the temperature. The moon appeared, pale and almost transparent.

“Think what you will,” she said. “But I know my father. If he said he’ll speak to Frank Nelson, he will.

“Whatever you say, babe.” He eased up, bracing himself on one elbow as he leaned over her. “Right now, I don’t want to talk about the chief of police or your daddy.”

“What do you want to do?” she asked, her body already tightening with anticipation.

“I want to kiss you, Miss Ella,” he told her.

“Is that all you want to do, just kiss me?”

“That will be enough to start with; then I’m sure we’ll think of what to do next.”

“I’m sure we will.”

Webb Porter sat alone in his den, a bottle of bourbon resting beside his chair, and an empty glass in his hand. The armchair stood near the window, positioned with one arm to the window and the other to the room. There had been a time when harming Webb would never have been an option. But that time had long since passed. Perhaps, by being very careful and taking precise aim, the shot wouldn’t kill him but only severely wound him. Reed Conway had been alone in the room above the garage less than twenty minutes ago, so it stood to reason he was still there. Alone. Without an alibi. Whether the bullet killed Webb or merely wounded him, the mission would be accomplished. Reed would be charged with a crime and sent back to prison, thus ending any chances of having the old Blalock murder case reopened.

I must be very careful. Can’t let Webb see a shadow outside the window. Wait for the right moment…when he turns this way. I must make the shot count. I can’t risk two shots. Webb might see me. And if he lives, he could identify me. Take a deep breath. Count to ten, then aim and pull the trigger. This close, I can’t miss
.

Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. The moment Ella saw the flashing lights of the police cars in her driveway, her heart caught in her throat. Oh, God, please, let everyone be all right.

She whizzed her Jag around the corner, then came to a screeching halt at the edge of the sidewalk. Frank Nelson stood on the front porch talking to two uniformed policemen. The moment he saw Ella jump out of her car, he came down the front steps and onto the brick walkway to meet her.

“What’s happened?” she asked.

Frank grasped her shoulders. “It’s bad. I won’t try to kid you. Your father’s been shot, but he’s alive.”

Ella gasped. Tears lodged in her throat. “How? When? Who?”

“About an hour ago,” Frank said. “Your mother and Viola heard the shot and Miss Carolyn sent Viola downstairs to see what had happened. Viola found Webb and called nine-one-one immediately.”

“You said it was bad—how bad?”

“He got hit in the chest, pretty close to his heart,” Frank told her. “They rushed him straight to Bryant County Hospital. One of my boys can drive you over there right now.”

“Thank you, Frank.”

He nodded, then released her.

“Oh, Lord,” Ella cried. “Mother! She must be out of her mind with worry. I’ll have to see her before I leave.”

“Viola has taken Miss Carolyn to the hospital,” Frank said. “She insisted on going. She’s upset, but holding it together pretty good. You know what a strong woman your mother is.”

Ella nodded again.

“Goodman!” Frank called out, and a dark-haired policeman in his mid-twenties came running.

“Yes sir, Chief?”

“I want you to drive Judge Porter to Bryant County Hospital.”

“Yes, sir.” Officer Goodman turned to Ella. “Ready whenever you are, ma’am.”

She followed the officer to his patrol car. When he opened the door, she slid onto the front seat. He eased the vehicle out into the street and headed toward downtown Spring Creek. None of this seemed real. But it was real. Someone had shot her father. But who? And why?
Please, God, don’t let him die
. The very thought was unbearable. Since her earliest memories, Webb Porter had been the center of her world—a doting father, who called her “princess” and made her feel like one.

She wished she could phone Reed and tell him that she needed him desperately. Odd that he was the one person she wanted at a time like this. But even if he would be willing to come to the hospital and hold her hand—which she doubted he would—he would hardly be welcomed by her family. They’d probably even accuse him of shooting her father. But they’d be wrong. No one knew better than she that this was one crime Reed Conway most definitely hadn’t committed.

After taking a hefty swig, Reed set his beer bottle on the bar. He would have liked nothing better than for Ella to have spent the night in his arms, but that wasn’t possible. She had a reputation to uphold, and for now, their affair had to remain a secret. He was willing to accept her terms. Hell, he’d accept her on any terms, take her any way he could get her. Chuckling to himself, he shook his head. He’d gone and done something really stupid. He had let himself get emotionally involved with Webb Porter’s daughter. Why her, of all the women in the world? She wasn’t the most beautiful, didn’t have a built-like-a-brick-shithouse body, and wasn’t even the sexiest. But there was something about her that gave him a hard-on just thinking about her. She had the blackest, silkiest hair, the kindest brown eyes, the softest, sweetest lips, and a luscious, tempting body. And when he touched her, he set her on fire. He could tell by the way she looked at him that she was crazy about him. And God help him if he wasn’t just as crazy about her.

The bartender scowled at a group of particularly rowdy customers at the far end of the bar. “Hey, there, you guys keep it down for a minute, will you? I’m trying to listen to this news bulletin.” He turned up the sound on the wall-mounted television.

Reed glanced at the screen just as a picture of Webb Porter appeared. He lifted his beer and moved down the bar, getting closer to the TV.

“Tonight at approximately nine o’clock, Senator Webb Porter was critically wounded. At this time details are sketchy, but Spring Creek Police Chief Frank Nelson, informed us that there was a single gunshot wound to the chest and that the shooter stood outside the senator’s den window and shot him from no more than ten feet away. The senator was rushed to Bryant County Hospital, where at this time the family and close friends are holding a prayer vigil.”

Reed laid a five-dollar bill on the bar beside his half-finished beer and headed for the door. His first instinct was to rush to the hospital, to see how Ella was doing. Had she gone home and found her father? Had the police already been there when she arrived? She had to be half out of her mind with worry. Ella loved her daddy better than anything.

As he walked outside, the warm evening air clung to him, heavy with moisture and heat. Sweat broke out on his face immediately. He wiped his forehead with his hand and headed toward his truck. He unlocked the door, opened it, then hopped up and slid behind the wheel. Sitting inside the truck, with the door open and his crossed arms resting on the steering wheel, he gave his jumbled thoughts time to separate and settle into something vaguely resembling logic. Should he rush to the hospital to comfort Ella? Would she even want him there? Or should he drive over to his mother’s place and see if she’d heard the news. He wasn’t sure just what his mother’s relationship with Webb Porter had been, whether he was Regina’s father or not, but he knew his mother had cared about the man. Maybe she still did.

After slamming the door, he stuck the key in the switch and started the engine. Still considering his options, he pulled out of the parking lot.
Go see your mother first
, he told himself. That would give him more time to make the right decision. He could always just call the hospital and ask to speak to Ella.

Within five minutes, he pulled the truck to a stop in his mother’s driveway. The lights were on in the house, so that meant she was still up. He got out and headed straight for the porch. When he knocked on the closed front door, Regina answered.

“Reed, come on in,” his sister said. “Have you heard the news about Senator Porter?”

“Yeah, that’s the reason I dropped by. I wanted to find out if y’all had heard.”

“Mama and I were listening to the ten o’clock news.” Regina grasped Reed’s shirtfront and whispered, “She’s awfully upset. I haven’t seen her this torn apart since…I think she loves Webb Porter. She’s gone to the bathroom to wash her face. She’s been crying.”

“What do you know about Mama and the senator?” Reed asked.

“Nothing really. But I saw them kissing, only yesterday. Tell me the truth, Reed, is Webb Porter my father?”

Damn! He’d never understood why his mother hadn’t just told Regina who her father was, why she’d protected the guy who’d gotten her pregnant and never claimed his child. For years, he’d wondered if Webb Porter was Regina’s father, and he’d even considered the possibility that Jeff Henry Carlisle might be. And when his mother had married Junior Blalock, he’d even thought that maybe Junior was Regina’s father.

“I honestly don’t know,” Reed said. “I think there’s a possibility that Webb is your father, but I’ve got no proof, and Mama’s never breathed a word to me.”

“I know you were just a little kid when I was born, but don’t you remember if there was a man she was seeing?”

“Haven’t we had this conversation before? The only men Mama was around on a regular basis in the months before you were born were Jeff Henry Carlisle and Webb Porter. And that was because she worked for the Carlisles then, just as she does now.”

Regina nodded, a look of resignation on her face. “I’ll go tell Mama you’re here.”

But Judy entered the living room at that precise moment, her eyes swollen and red-rimmed. “Reed?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“Have you heard about Webb?”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“Who would do such a terrible thing?”

“A man in politics is bound to have enemies,” Reed said. Then he had a sobering thought. Hell, he was one of those enemies.
Yeah, you are, buddy boy, and sooner or later, if they don’t find their shooter, the police are going to come knocking on your door
. But this time there would be no weapon with his fingerprints on it, no weapon with which he could be connected. Besides, he had an alibi. Scratch the alibi. No way would Ella Porter publicly admit that she’d been screwing him in the park when somebody shot her father. But other than no alibi, there was nothing to link him to this crime. What about motive? The police would believe he had a motive, wouldn’t they?

And if Mark’s theory was correct—that Junior’s real killer was trying to get him sent back to prison—then it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that he could get framed for Webb’s shooting.

“The police will question you,” Judy said. “I know you didn’t shoot Webb, but I hope you have an alibi.”

“Don’t worry about me. I was with a friend.”

“Good.” Judy took a tissue from the pocket of her slacks and blew her nose. “I wish I could go to the hospital and find out how Webb is doing, but—”

“Why can’t you go?” Reed asked. “You’ve been a family friend for years, haven’t you? I’ll bet there are dozens of people there, people who don’t know the Porters half as well as you do.”

“I couldn’t go,” Judy replied. “What would people think?”

“I’m going over there,” Reed said. “You could go with me.”

“What?” Judy’s eyes widened. “Why would you go to the hospital to check on Webb? You hate the man. Besides, you know you wouldn’t be welcome there.”

“I’m going because despite how I feel about Webb Porter, he’s Ella’s father.”

“I don’t understand,” Judy said, a puzzled look in her eyes.

“Ella Porter was the friend I was with tonight.”

Regina gasped. “You and Eleanor Porter? I don’t believe it. When did this happen?”

“Recently,” Reed admitted. “Very recently.”

“You can’t mean that you and Ella are…are…You’re seeing her socially?” Judy asked.

Reed laughed. “Let’s just say that we’re involved, and leave it at that.”

“Don’t go to the hospital tonight,” Judy said. “No matter what’s going on between you and Ella, those people aren’t going to want you there with them. They’ll tell you to leave.”

“I don’t care what they tell me to do. I just want to make sure Ella’s okay and that she knows…well, that she knows I don’t want her father to die.”

“You actually care about her, don’t you?” Judy stared at him.

“I wouldn’t go that far…. Okay. Yeah, I care about her, just like you used to care about Webb.”

Gasping loudly, Judy glanced at Regina. “Perhaps we should all go to the hospital. Just drop by to let the family know that we care.”

“You go with Reed,” Regina said. “I’m not going.”

“Come on, Mama.” Reed grabbed her wrist. “Nobody is going to question your being there, and if anybody gets huffy about me being with you, we’ll tell them I’m there only because I drove you to the hospital.”

Nodding agreement, Judy slipped her hand into his. Reed didn’t know if Webb was Regina’s father. But he knew one thing—his mother still loved the man.

The surgery waiting area on the second floor at Bryant County Hospital was filled to capacity. And there had been a steady stream of concerned friends in and out for the past hour. Ella stood just outside the door, taking a breather in the hallway, which was itself fairly crowded. She could keep an eye on her mother from this vantage point and still give herself room to maneuver. She had begun to feel smothered. And every time someone new spoke to her and mentioned what a fine man her father was, she broke into fresh tears. People were already talking about him as if he were dead.

She wouldn’t let these people count him out. Her father was a fighter. He was going to fight and win this battle. He had to. She couldn’t imagine her life without him.

As always, she found herself astonished by her mother’s strength and composure. Carolyn sat in her wheelchair in the middle of the room, holding court, the composed, weepy wife of Senator Webb Porter. Ella never doubted her mother’s love for her father, and she realized that not knowing if her husband would live or die had to be excruciating for Carolyn. How did she do it? Ella wondered. How could her mother remain so calm when she herself was practically a basket case?

Suddenly, she felt arms wrap around her waist and pull her backward against another body. Glancing over her shoulder and seeing a face she dearly loved, Ella smiled.

“He’s going to live, darling girl,” Cybil said. “I don’t know a stronger, tougher man than Webb Porter.”

Ella laid her hands over her aunt’s where they met at the front of her waist. “Why would anyone want to shoot Daddy?”

“Before he became a senator, your father was a lawyer, a DA, and a judge. A man in his line of business makes enemies.”

“It wasn’t Reed,” Ella said. She knew some people thought that Reed was the most likely suspect. Of course, she knew better.

“Nobody said it was Reed.” Cybil loosened her hold about Ella’s waist, then grabbed her hand and tugged. “Let’s go get some coffee.”

“No, I can’t leave. Mother might need me, or there could be word on Daddy.”

“Okay, I won’t press you to go to the coffee shop. But why don’t we take a walk, just up and down the corridor. We won’t get out of sight of the waiting room.”

Ella nodded. They walked. When they passed the elevators several minutes later, the doors swung open and there stood Reed Conway and his mother. Ella’s breath caught in her throat. Her gaze connected instantly with Reed’s. He cupped his mother’s elbow and led her out of the elevator.

“How is Webb?” Judy asked, looking directly at Cybil.

“He’s still in surgery,” Cybil said. “They’re giving him a fifty-fifty chance.”

Judy’s mouth rounded into an oval as she gasped silently. Tears glistened in her eyes. Cybil reached out and took Judy’s hand, then led her down the hall several feet away. Ella watched her aunt with her housekeeper, the two women huddled together, whispering. It didn’t seem at all odd that Aunt Cybil and Judy would comfort each other. Even though Uncle Jeff Henry was a bit of a snob and treated Judy like nothing more than a servant, Aunt Cybil had always considered her not only a valued employee, but also a friend.

Ella glanced back at Reed. He was close. No more than a few feet away. She wished she could rush into his arms and seek comfort. She desperately needed his strength right now. He just stood there, looking at her, not saying anything. Ella felt like screaming.

“My mother was concerned,” Reed finally said. “I’m here because I drove her to the hospital.”

Tears lodged in Ella’s throat and spilled over and out of her eyes. Suddenly she began trembling.
Please, Reed, hold me. Even if for just a minute
.

“Ah, babe, don’t. Your father is going to be all right.”

Reed instantly closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms. She went without a thought of what anyone would think. Right this minute, she didn’t give a damn. Her father was in surgery and might be dying. She needed to be held and comforted by the man she loved. As Ella clung to Reed, she buried her face against his chest and wept as if her heart was breaking.

He held her tight, stroking her back tenderly and whispering, “He’ll be all right” over and over again.

“What the hell is this!” Jeff Henry demanded as he came storming down the hallway.

“Lower your voice,” Cybil told him as she hurried up the corridor.

“Eleanor Porter, get away from that man.” Jeff Henry headed toward Ella, his hand outstretched to grab her.

Cybil ran in front of him, effectively cutting off his attack. “Don’t make a scene. People can see us from the waiting room. You wouldn’t want to upset Carolyn, would you?”

“If she sees her daughter in that man’s arms, she’ll have a stroke,” Jeff Henry said. “Hasn’t Carolyn been through enough tonight? What the hell is he doing here, anyway?”

“My son drove me here to the hospital,” Judy said as she approached her employers. “I was concerned about Senator Porter.”

“Ella!” Jeff Henry ignored both his wife and his housekeeper, shoving past both women, who had tried to block his path.

Ella took a deep breath, eased out of Reed’s arms, and turned to face her uncle’s wrath. Reed stood at her side. She longed to hang on to to him for support. But she didn’t.

“What’s that man doing here? And how dare you allow him to touch you.” Jeff Henry’s round, full face was splotched, and his eyes were wild with rage. “For all we know he’s the one who shot Webb.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ella said. “Reed didn’t shoot Daddy.”