Marta Perry (19 page)

Zach shook his head, his jaw clenched. “Last night. Someone must have seen you put it there and taken it during the night.”

His obvious guilt broke through her frozen state, and she reached out to touch his arm. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t know.”

“I should have guessed.” He turned away slightly, as if he didn’t want to look at her. “I thought it would be safe until today.”

“If the police have it...” she began, struggling to think this through.

“That’s not likely.” He swung back, frowning, and she could see him focusing on the problem instead of his guilty feelings. “Without a search warrant, anything they found wouldn’t be admissible in court.”

“Then the person who attacked me came back again.” She shivered. “He was watching. He saw me put it there, and he took it.” She shivered. “Why? Wouldn’t he be better off to leave it there?”

“He couldn’t be sure the police would find it before we removed it. I’m more worried about what he plans to do with that hammer now.”

“You think he’ll try to frame one of you with it,” Rachel said, her arm tightening around Meredith’s waist.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Or he might use it to attack again. She knew that was what Zach was thinking, and she couldn’t let him see her fear.

“So what do we do? Should we tell Jake?”

Zach rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess so. It’s not right to keep it from him if he’s going to defend us.”

“Should I call him?” She didn’t relish the idea of trying to explain this business to Jake.

“No. I’ll go over and see him. Better to explain in person.” Zach didn’t look as if he liked the idea much, either. “Meantime, I don’t want you to be alone.”

“I’ll stay,” Rachel said instantly.

“No.” She put as much force as she could into the word. “I’m not going to put you at risk. You have a child to consider.”

“I have a friend to consider, too.” Rachel could be determined when she put her mind to it. “I’m staying with you.”

“Not at night,” Zach said. “I’ll be here at night.”

“Zach, you can’t. People will talk. The police will think—”

“It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. I’m not leaving you here alone.”

He spun away, moving quickly probably because he didn’t want to argue any further. “I’m heading out to find Jake. There are a couple of other things I want to check on, too. Stay here.”

He was gone in a moment, leaving her to exchange looks with Rachel, who smiled. “I would say that’s a man who cares for you.”

Meredith shook her head. “I...I can’t think about anything like that. Not right now.”

“Maybe not,” Rachel said. “But soon, I hope. Now, why don’t you lie down and take it easy for a bit? You must be sore.”

“I feel as if I’ve been used as a piñata, to tell the truth. But I was thinking I should pick out the clothes for my mother, for the funeral.” Her throat closed.

“Later,” Rachel said, urging her toward the living room. “You’ll feel more up to it later.”

* * *

R
ACHEL
HAD
BEEN
RIGHT
about the benefits of a rest. By afternoon Meredith was still stiff and sore, but at least her outlook had improved somewhat. Zach would have talked to Jake by now, and she felt better for having Jake on their side.

Rachel, coming through from the kitchen, stopped to glance out the window. “There’s a buggy pulling up. Looks like Sarah’s come to visit.”

Meredith managed a smile, just because Rachel looked so pleased. Rachel still reflected her Amish background in many ways. To her, family included anyone who was related, and they would all rally around in case of trouble. She’d never understand just how tenuous Meredith’s place was in the King family.

“I’ll put the kettle on,” Rachel said, and vanished in the direction of the kitchen. Another Amish habit—a guest was always welcomed with food or drink or, more likely, both.

Meredith reached the door by the time Sarah knocked. She opened it quickly. “Sarah, it’s good of you to come.” Word of her fall must have spread quickly. “Let me take your jacket and bonnet.”

Sarah shook her head, her face white against the black bonnet rim. “I cannot stay, but I must tell you what I am feeling.” Her lips pressed together for an instant. “You brought the police down on Samuel.”

“What...” For a moment her mind scrambled for understanding. The police didn’t know, couldn’t know, about the initials on the hammer.

“Why did you do that? I told you that I would talk to my brother, but you couldn’t wait. First you go and question him yourself, and then we learn that the police have been at his door. How could you?”

The police. That must mean that someone, maybe that assistant district attorney thought enough of their story to investigate.

“Sarah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know the police would do that. But don’t you see—”

“I see nothing except that you have treated your family badly. Samuel is so upset, so ashamed, to have the whole community know that the police asked him about Aaron’s death. I don’t know how he will ever hold his head up again. And I don’t know how I can ever forgive you.”

Not giving Meredith time to say anything, Sarah turned and marched out. The click of the door seemed a death knell to Meredith’s relationship with her father’s family.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“D
ID
J
AKE
UNDERSTAND
about the hammer?” Meredith’s voice contained traces of the strain she was under.

“I think so.” Zach was lying, but he figured Meredith looked as if she’d had all she could handle at the moment. “My report can wait. What’s going on with you? Not trying to be insulting, but you look like you’ve been pulled through a knothole.”

Rachel had tactfully retired to the kitchen after she let him in, and he sat down next to Meredith on the sofa, enjoying the momentary illusion that this was any ordinary afternoon.

She was silent for a moment, staring down at their clasped hands. Finally she shook her head.

“I should have expected it, I guess. Sarah stopped by. It seems the police called on Samuel, asking questions.”

He studied her face, reading the pain she was trying to mask. Unsuccessfully, at least from him.

“How did she seem?”

“Upset. Angry.” She shot him a look that contained a spark of anger of her own. “What else would you expect? To have her brother questioned like that—well, it’s just unbearable to her.”

“Well, I guess she’ll have to stand it. You have.” He’d pretty much run out of sympathy for Samuel, who’d done everything he could to obstruct their learning the truth.

“Samuel is like a twin to Sarah. She’d told me she’d talk to him, and the way Sarah sees it, I betrayed her by questioning Samuel and giving him up to the police. Things can never be the same between us.”

Her voice trembled on the final words, and his heart twisted. Nobody else could affect him that way, making him want to move mountains to make her pain go away. Trouble was, this particular mountain couldn’t be moved.

“I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hand. “But we didn’t have a choice. Maybe eventually she’ll be able to understand that.”

“Maybe.” She met his eyes, and he could see that she didn’t believe it. “What did Jake have to say? And please don’t try to sugarcoat it for me.”

Since he planned to do exactly that, he assumed his best poker face. “I told him about the hammer. He wasn’t happy with us for hiding it, but he understood why we did. As to who took it... He’s confident the police don’t have it. He says Burkhalter would never bend the law that way. He may be stubborn, but he’ll do everything by the book.”

“What does Jake think of our chances? Honestly.”

Meeting her gaze, Zach realized that he didn’t have it in himself to lie to her further. “If the hammer never turns up, he thinks the D.A. will be unlikely to prosecute, based on what they have now. But that doesn’t mean they’ll stop looking for more evidence.”

“And we’ll have to live with that cloud of suspicion over us.” She drew the obvious conclusion. “What if the hammer does turn up with my fingerprints on it?”

He sucked in a long breath. “In that case, he suggested we consult a high-profile criminal attorney. He gave me several names of people he’d recommend.”

She paled. “Does that mean Jake thinks I’m guilty?”

“No, no. He was afraid you’d think that, so he wanted me to explain to you. He’s never defended so much as a felony case. He just wants us to have the best defense, that’s all.”

“I still can’t believe this is happening.” Meredith managed a smile. “I know, that’s stupid. But every time I try to take it in, my mind just seems to run up against a brick wall.”

“I understand.” He did understand, but he also knew that feeling could be dangerous. They couldn’t just wait for the axe to fall.

“You surely weren’t talking to Jake all this time, were you?”

“I did a little door-to-door of the route we took coming into town the night your mother died. If someone saw us, that would establish when we returned. Not much of an alibi, obviously, since it wouldn’t prove we hadn’t returned earlier and then come back again, but it would be something.”

“Judging by the way you look, I assume you weren’t successful.”

“Deer Run’s habit of minding everyone else’s business let us down this time. Nobody along the route remembered seeing the car. If only we’d stopped for gas—”

“Don’t, Zach. That doesn’t do either of us any good.”

Now she was the one talking common sense, and he managed a grin. “What makes you so sensible, Ms. King?”

“I’ve always been the practical one.” Her eyes misted suddenly. “Except when it came to you.”

He felt as if he couldn’t breathe. “Yeah. Same here.” He shouldn’t speak, not when a trap was closing inexorably around them. He shouldn’t. But even as he thought that, he was touching her shoulder, turning her more fully toward him.

Meredith’s eyes darkened. She leaned forward, lips parting, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. His lips found hers, and he pulled her against him, kissing her as if he’d never get enough of her.

And Meredith responded, drawing him even closer, so that he wasn’t sure if the heartbeat he felt was hers or his own. This wasn’t a shy seventeen-year-old any longer. This was, literally, the woman of his dreams.

The kiss could have lasted an eternity as far as he was concerned. But Meredith drew back...reluctantly, he thought.

“Meredith—”

She stopped him with her fingertips on his lips. “Wait. Let me say this.” She sucked in a breath. “I...I think I know what I feel. But we haven’t been living in a normal world since you came back.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to feel this way.” Maybe he’d never really stopped loving her. Seeing her again had just lit the spark to something that had been there all along.

“Not wrong, no.” Meredith seemed to be struggling to put it into words. “But we can’t let this go any further right now. Not with my mother dead and all of this hanging over us.” Tears filled her eyes. “Understand, Zach. Please.”

“I do.” He planted a kiss in her palm. “I wish I could say I didn’t. If—”

A flurry of footsteps stopped his words. Rachel hurried in, her face white. “The police—I saw them from the side window. They’re coming to the house.”

Meredith blanched. He gripped her hands tight. “Remember. No matter what anyone says, you don’t say a word unless Jake is with you.”

Meredith nodded, her eyes wide and frightened. He wanted to hold her against him one more time, but someone was already pounding on the door.

At a nod from him, Rachel opened the door. Ted Singer was in first, closely followed by Chief Burkhalter. They passed Rachel without a look and headed straight for the two of them.

Burkhalter’s face was expressionless. He stopped in front of Zach.

“Acting on information received from an anonymous caller, we’ve just completed a search of the Willows bed-and-breakfast. In the course of said search, we discovered a hammer in a trash can that appears to be bloodstained.” Burkhalter stopped to draw a breath, looking like a man who’s memorized his lines and is in danger of forgetting them.

“Never mind the rest of the spiel.” Zach rose. “I know it.”

Singer seized his arm, pulling it behind his back to put the cuffs on. Zach barely noticed, because he was looking at Meredith.

He could read her face so clearly. She was seeing all her worst fears coming true. She felt she was responsible for ruining his life again.

But it wasn’t his life he was worrying about right now. As soon as the police lab tested that hammer, they’d identify Meredith’s fingerprints, and this would happen to her.

She stood, fighting for control. “I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not.” He kept his voice low and steady. “You’re going to remember exactly what I told you. Call Jake, tell him what’s happened and do just what he says. Promise me.”

Singer was pulling him away, but he held eye contact with Meredith until he saw her nod.

* * *

M
EREDITH
FOUND
SHE
was staring at the door when it closed behind the men, hardly conscious of Rachel speaking to her. It was her fault—

She stopped that thought before it could swamp her. This was no time for self-pity. She had to do what she could for Zach.

“I have to call Jake.” She’d barely said the words before Rachel handed her the phone.

“Jake will know what to do.” Rachel’s fingers twisted together, and Meredith realized she was praying.

Thank goodness Jake had given her his cell number so that she could get through directly. She held her breath while it rang, trying to think how to compress what she had to say if she had to leave a message.

But Jake answered in seconds. “Meredith? What’s wrong?”

“The police were here. They arrested Zach. They found the hammer in the trash can at the bed-and-breakfast.”

“An anonymous tip, I suppose.” Jake was quicker to understand than she had been, but then, she’d been numb with repeated shocks. “I can leave right now. I’ll be with him the whole time they’re questioning him, I promise.”

“I want to go—”

“Absolutely not.” Jake’s response was sharp. “Meredith, listen to me. You don’t go anywhere near the police unless they come with a warrant.”

“I should be there for Zach.”

“Is that what he said?” Jake paused a moment. “No, I’m sure he didn’t. He told you to stay clear, and that’s the right advice. As far as the cops are concerned, you’re Zach’s motive as well as his alibi. If you go rushing to his defense, it just makes matters look worse. Got it?”

“Yes.” She didn’t like it, but she understood. “The person who planted the hammer has to be the one who killed my mother. But why plant it on Zach? Why not me?”

“Impossible to say.” Judging by the background noise, Jake was already on his way. “It’s possible he or she wiped off your fingerprints. If not, as soon as the hammer is processed...” He hesitated, but she could finish the sentence.

“The police will arrest me.”

“Yes. I’m not going to minimize the situation, Meredith. I think you’d better be prepared for that to happen. But don’t lose heart. The guilty person is getting desperate, and that should work in our favor. Got to go.”

She tried to cling to that scrap of hope as she clicked off the phone. If Chief Burkhalter weren’t so blind, surely he’d see that things weren’t as they seemed.

“Jake told you to stay here, didn’t he?” Rachel watched her, face anxious.

“Yes. He’ll be with Zach, and he’ll let me know as soon as there’s something to tell. But that hammer...” She rubbed her forehead, trying to make herself concentrate. “As soon as they find my fingerprints, they’ll arrest me.”

“They can’t. You’ll see. Jake will do something.” But Rachel didn’t sound as if she believed herself.

Concentrate on the next thing. That was what she had to do. If she let herself look too far ahead, she’d give in to despair. “I think I’d better email my clients and let them know I’ll be unavailable for the next week or so. People will understand. They’ll have heard of my mother’s death.”

They’d probably heard she was under suspicion, as well. It was a wonder she hadn’t started losing clients.

Rachel glanced at the clock. “Mandy will be home from school soon. I’ll meet her and take her over to the farm, and then I’ll be back. Will you be all right here alone that long?”

Meredith nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“Lock up after me. And don’t let anyone in.”

She sounded as if she were talking to Mandy, and that actually made Meredith smile. “Will do.”

She followed Rachel to the door and flipped the dead bolt once she’d gone out. The reminder hadn’t really been necessary. She wasn’t going to open herself up to another attack like yesterday’s.

Meredith gave one longing glance toward the sofa and then headed for her office. She could rest later. Right now she’d best communicate with her clients. Leaving them in limbo was a sure route to losing them, if they weren’t already gone.

It was a relief to be doing something so mundane as checking her email and running through her list of currently active accounts. Nothing was crucial at the moment, and thank goodness it wasn’t tax time.

She labored over constructing a message that would be brief but reassuring. By the time a week had passed, she’d surely know where she stood. She’d either be under arrest, in which case her clients would flee, or the situation would be cleared up. Maybe that last was an irrational hope, but she had to think something positive.

Once the messages were sent, she reached into the drawer where she kept scrap paper. Making lists was second nature to her, even, it seemed, when under suspicion of murder. She ought to contact the minister again, and there were distant relatives and some friends of Mom’s who might not have heard. They’d have to—

She stared at the sheaf of papers she’d just pulled from the drawer. They weren’t all blank. Several of them bore writing. And not just any writing—her mother’s handwriting.

Meredith’s heart gave a painful lurch. It wasn’t unusual for Mom to raid her office desk for supplies, but she hadn’t generally left things behind.

Meredith bent over the paper, frowning. It looked as if her mother had been writing a draft of something, trying out different ways of saying something, crossing out unsuccessful attempts.

...sure you don’t want people talking about...you know how gossipy Deer Run can be...I’m not sure it’s right to keep silent...

And then...
meet at Parson’s Dam at nine p.m. We’ll talk.

Meredith’s fingers tightened on the paper, and she put it down carefully. There was no name, but the meaning was clear enough. Her mother had invited someone to meet her at the dam the night she died.

Her thoughts spun crazily and then settled. This was evidence—evidence that could prove someone else was involved. She had to call Jake.

Yanking out her cell phone, she punched in the number and held her breath. If he was already in the interrogation room, he might not be able to answer.

But he picked up quickly. “What is it, Meredith?”

“I found something. Notes, in my mother’s handwriting, in with the scratch paper in my desk drawer. They read as if she was threatening to tell something, and she was making an appointment to meet someone at the dam. Don’t you see? This proves someone else was involved.”