If You Ever Tell (30 page)

As for now, all of the horses were wandering peacefully in the field. None of them had seemed skittish or had gone off their feed. They looked calm as they pulled up pieces of lush grass and chewed it interminably. “If only I felt so serene,” Teri sighed.

While Teresa waited for Mac, she noticed the light blinking on her answering machine. The first message was from Josh:

“Miss Farr, you weren’t around, so I couldn’t tell you that I don’t think I can hang around here for the next day or two. Don’t worry about the horses. I’ve got two friends who know almost as much about horses as Dad and me, and they’re going to look after them for you. They know horses, but I showed them how you want everything done anyway and how they have to be careful not to disturb anything to preserve the crime scene. They won’t be staying in the cottage. I hope you don’t mind and I’m sorry I couldn’t ask you first, but I’ve just gotta get out of here. I’ll be back no later than July 6. If you want to fire me, I’ll understand.”

“Oh no,” Teri groaned. She didn’t trust the horses to anyone except Gus and Josh, but she could understand Josh’s desire to get away. She really didn’t know how he’d been able to go back into the barn this morning to feed the horses, not after seeing his father impaled with the rake. The image made
her
shiver. She could imagine what it had done to Josh, and she chided herself for her flash of selfishness. It was certainly best for him to escape from the scene of his father’s murder. Besides, the guys who were going to take over for Josh were his friends. He wouldn’t turn over the horses he loved to a couple of goof-offs who knew nothing about proper horse care. They were probably going to arrive within an hour to do the evening feeding and maintenance. By tomorrow morning she’d know whether she could trust the horses to them.

Still, Teresa sensed this was the beginning of the end for Josh at Farr Fields. He would no longer want to work here where his father had been murdered, and she didn’t blame Josh. She would have to hire other hands, but it would be hard to find a situation as convenient as the one with the Gibbs family had been.

The second message had been left by the county sheriff, who said he’d been to her house twice today and found her gone. He reminded her that he wanted to question her further about the murder of Gus Gibbs and expected to be in touch with her tomorrow. The idea of a police interview filled her with unreasonable terror—after all, she hadn’t done anything and had no idea who would have wanted to kill Gus—but she’d been innocent when her father and Wendy had been murdered, too, and the police had grilled her until she’d become so frightened she could hardly speak. Certainly she wouldn’t be subject to that kind of interrogation again, she thought. Such a thing just
couldn’t
happen to her twice.

Except that it could, she thought dismally.

Just as she turned away from the answering machine, the telephone rang. “Hi, Teri,” Carmen said. “How are you holding up today?”

“After Gus’s death? All right.”

“My God, Teri, I can’t believe someone murdered that poor man. The evening newspaper says the police
suspect
foul play; I’ve heard from at least eight people today that he’d been stabbed with some kind of rake.”

“That’s true. A metal rake with thick, razor-sharp tines that’s used to clean out stalls. It was awful, Carmen. Naturally I was the one to find him.”

“Of course. You seem to have been granted a dubious blessing—the ability to find bodies. Is there any chance it was an accident?”

“I don’t think so. He wasn’t lying facedown on the rake. He was sitting in the corner of a stall with the rake sticking out of his chest.” She could hear Carmen’s gasp of horror. “The police sent his body to the medical examiner’s in Charleston for an autopsy, although the cause of death is evident.”

“But it’s procedure. They did the same thing with Hugh and Wendy.” Carmen caught her breath. “Sorry to remind you. Why didn’t you call me last night? Was it because Mac was there? His name is in the paper, too, as one of the people who found Gus.”

“Yes. I’d gone to the club to tell him something and we ended up having an argument and I slapped him—”

“You
slapped
him!”

“Yes. I was furious. I stormed out of the club and he came after me. When he got to my door, he told me Eclipse was out running wild in the rain. He helped me capture her and get her back in the barn. That’s when we found Gus.”

“Oh, that’s dreadful. Is the horse all right, at least?”

“Yes, she’s fine. I can’t imagine who let her out, but my theory is that Gus surprised whoever it was and they stabbed him. I don’t think anyone came here to murder Gus Gibbs. The man didn’t have an enemy in the world.”

“At least that you know of, Teri. You were fairly close to Gus, but we never know anyone completely.”

She’s right, Teresa thought. She hadn’t known until yesterday that Gus and her mother had once been involved. Teresa would never have thought of the two having a relationship. But apparently, after all those years, Gus still thought of Marielle.

“Do the police have any idea who killed Gus?” Carmen asked.

“If they do, they haven’t let me in on it,” Teresa said dryly. “I had a message on my machine from the sheriff, though. He wants to
talk
to me about the murder. He didn’t get enough information last night. Mac cut him short when he saw that I was about to faint from exhaustion and shock.”

“I guess I have to be glad Mac was with you, then.”

“He helped me so much, Carmen. I don’t think I could have held up without him. He was extremely protective.”

“Good for him! Did he spend the rest of the night with you?”

“Only a few hours until I got sleepy.”

“Oh.” Carmen sounded relieved. “Well, at least he was there when you needed him. I tried to call you around noon to see if you wanted to be with someone, but I got no answer.”

“I’d gone to our old house. It’s been sold and Kent told me to get out anything I wanted before he had people come to put everything else in storage tomorrow.”

“How wonderful that it’s finally sold! And how nice of Kent to give you so much notice. She paused. “Teri, you should have called me, not gone to the house by yourself.”

“Trinkets and Treasures was open today. I couldn’t take you away from your store.”

“I’m sure they could have muddled along without me for a couple of hours.” Carmen paused. “How did you feel being in that house again?”

“Creepy,” Teri answered honestly. “I only found three boxes full of Mom’s stuff. Some books, some videos she’d made of birthday parties and special occasions, and her research on the book she wanted to write about all the spooky things that have happened around Point Pleasant, like Cornstalk’s Curse and Mothman.”

“Oh, Mothman!” Carmen laughed gently. “My goodness, I’d forgotten about that project of hers. I went up to the TNT Area—Mothman Central—and tramped around with her a couple of times. She thought the place was fascinating. I stepped on a snake once and almost fainted. I wasn’t much of a research assistant. And of course, Hugh didn’t approve of the whole endeavor.”

“I was happy that she had something she was excited about, but I didn’t take as much interest as I should have, and I could kick myself for that now. She was happy when she worked on that book. Anyway, I guess the house sort of got to me today. I felt uneasy.” Teresa had no idea why she was reluctant to tell Carmen about the scarf. Was it because she knew Carmen would ask a hundred questions about it or because she didn’t want to admit she feared a mentally unbalanced Marielle had come back to Point Pleasant? “I came out of the house in a hurry and there was Mac,” she rushed on. “I’d told him I was going to the house. He’d dropped by to help me carry boxes.”

“Oh? He came by to help you carry
boxes.
Well, now, wasn’t that sweet of him.”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “You can take that salacious nuance out of your voice. He carried boxes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Teri, I know you too well.”

“Oh, all right,” Teresa said, only mildly exasperated. “We’re going out to dinner tonight. Just dinner.”

“Since when does Mac MacKenzie have
just dinner
with any female?”

“Well, I hope that’s all he does if the girl is a minor,” Teresa said lightly. “Dinner is not a commitment, Carmen. It’s… it’s dinner!”

“Very well put, Teresa. I’d been wondering what dinner was.” Carmen paused for a moment and Teri braced herself for a lecture. Instead, Carmen said in a light voice, “You’re a big girl, Teri. If you feel that having dinner is something you want to do, something that’s right for you now, then I’m not going to rain on your parade.”

Stunned, Teri muttered, “Well, thank you.”

“But I am going to ask a favor of you.”

“I knew there was a catch,” Teresa said drolly.

“Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Don’t you always go to the park to the concert and the fireworks display with Kent and Sharon?”

“Yes.”

“Good. This year Sharon’s father, Gabe, is going with them, too, and he’s asked me to come along. Will that be all right?”

Teresa blinked twice before she asked, “Gabe asked you to come? Not Sharon?”

“Sharon wouldn’t ask me to do anything except to perhaps lie down on the road so she could run over me.”

“Oh, you’re exaggerating.” Slightly, Teresa thought. “Of course
I
don’t mind. Does Gabe know she considers going to the fireworks display a family thing? I can’t remember a time when someone who wasn’t part of the family came with us.”

Silence thrummed on the phone for a moment. Then Carmen asked, “Teri, can you keep a very important secret?”

“A secret? Yes, I suppose, if it’s for you,” she said carefully.

“Gabe has asked me to marry him!”

“What!” Teresa nearly shouted. “Gabriel asked
you
to be his wife?”

“Teri, your complete shock is rather unflattering,” Carmen said dryly.

“Oh, I didn’t mean there’s anything wrong with
you
. You’re wonderful, Carmen. You’re beautiful and smart and fun and… I just didn’t know you’d been seeing Gabe O’Brien. When did your relationship start?”

“Almost a year ago, so don’t think I’m jumping into anything.”

“But why didn’t you say something?”

“You know how Sharon is. She wants her father to act like he died right along with her mother.”

Teresa had to admit Sharon was as possessive of her father as she was of her son. “I understand why you didn’t tell Sharon, but why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to have to hide anything from her. After all, she is your sister-in-law. I hope she accepts this with a modicum of good grace, but if she doesn’t, I wanted you to have plausible deniability.”

“My goodness, you should be advising the President.” Teresa laughed. “I appreciate your concern for my relationship with Sharon, though. It’s on shaky ground lately.”

“So I’ve heard. She goes to Gabe with all her troubles and you ruffled her feathers over the riding lessons.”

“Don’t I know it! And Kent really resents the fact that when things go wrong for her, she runs to Daddy. Maybe when the two of you are married Sharon will realize she’s not Gabe’s sole focus and start acting more mature.” Teresa paused. “So when are you getting married and when are you going to tell Sharon?”

“That concerns the favor I wanted to ask of you. We want to get married the middle of September—Gabe has some time off then and we’d like to honeymoon in New England before it gets cold. That means we need to tell the families soon. I don’t want to do it as if we’re ashamed of it or afraid of anyone’s reaction. I want to make an intimate little party of it, so I wondered if after the fireworks show you could invite everyone back to your house. I’ll supply the cake and other pastries and champagne and then we’ll make the announcement.”

Teresa felt a moment of rebellion. Carmen wasn’t tossing around ideas with her. She had this announcement gathering planned and expected Teri to go along with her.

“Carmen, I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Teri said evenly. “I know Sharon is going to be upset. Maybe it isn’t fair to make her hear the news when she’s in a group of people.”

“But that’s the point, Teri. I know she won’t be happy, but she won’t throw a temper tantrum in front of people.”

“I don’t think she’d throw a tantrum in any situation.”

“Then you don’t know her as well as you think you do,” Carmen said sharply. “She doesn’t care about what will make Gabe happy, only what will make
her
happy. She’s always been that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t let herself get pregnant on purpose to hook Kent.”

“Carmen, Kent loved her!”

“But Hugh didn’t approve of her. I’m sure he might have tried to talk Kent into giving her up, but Kent would have been less likely to do that if Sharon was pregnant with his child. Sharon knew that.”

Actually, the idea had occurred to Teresa in the past, but she’d never voiced it and didn’t like herself for thinking it, and she didn’t like hearing it from someone else. “Carmen, maybe Sharon’s pregnancy moved up the marriage a year or two—but he would have married her.”

“Now I’ve offended you,” Carmen said contritely. “I’m sorry. Sharon and Kent’s relationship is none of my business. I’m just thinking of Gabe now. Gabe and me. Oh, Teri, I love him
so
much. I loved my first husband, but not like I love Gabe. It’s like my world used to be black-and-white. After I fell in love with Gabe, it turned to the most beautiful color—and three-dimensional to boot!”

Teresa’s flare of temper flickered and died. Carmen sounded like a teenager and it was both charming and touching. She’d also sounded completely sincere. She truly loves this man, Teresa thought. She’s been alone so long, and before her husband’s death he was sick for years. The woman deserves a wonderful, genuine romance.

“All right,” Teri relented. “I’m still afraid this will backfire—”

“If it does, it does, but at least I’ll have tried to make this easier on Gabe. If he had to face Sharon alone and deliver the news… well, I don’t even like to think about it. Besides, I want to make a celebration of the announcement. It deserves a celebration!”