Share No Secrets (44 page)

“I went to Julianna’s apartment one night. I’d confronted her before, but this time I meant to really threaten her. I’d been following her all evening, trying to get up my nerve. She knew I was following her and she locked herself in her apartment, but I had a spare key I’d gotten from my dad’s desk drawer. I just walked in on her. We argued. She told me to leave her alone or else. I guess she meant she’d kill Mom
and
me. Then she said someone was coming over, a man who would protect her, but she was lying just to get me to go away, because nobody ever came. Just in case, though, I stayed until about midnight. I thought I’d put a big enough fright in her to drive her away from Dad.” Rachel shook her head. “But I hadn’t. I followed Dad and he went to la Belle where he always met her.”

“Why did they always come here?” Skye asked.

“Privacy. And Julianna had managed to get a key from Kit’s mother, Ellen, without Ellen even knowing it. She was really sneaky.”

Skye thought it had been pretty sneaky of Rachel to steal her father’s key to Julianna’s apartment too, but she didn’t say anything. She sat perfectly still, hoping desperately that her mother would come—her mother and a whole bunch of police—to save her. In the meantime, she listened.

“That morning I waited until after Dad left, then I came into this room. I picked up the lamp by the bed and hit her with it. You know how strong I am from all the sports I play. You saw that killer serve of mine when we played tennis this afternoon. Anyway, the base of the lamp was heavy and it knocked her out.

“I bent over her, but she was still breathing,” Rachel went on. “The bitch was
still
breathing. So I looked around and on the floor I saw a wine bottle. And beside it was a corkscrew. A big, long corkscrew with a really sharp point.” Rachel’s eyes seemed to glaze at this point. “I picked up that wicked-looking corkscrew, and I pushed Julianna’s hair back, and with all my might I plunged the corkscrew in her neck, right into the carotid artery.” Skye winced, feeling nauseated. “There was so much blood, I could hardly believe it. It was all over the sheets and her hair and running down her shoulder. I waited a while, just watching the blood pour out of her.” Rachel looked at Skye and smiled. “And then I pulled out the corkscrew neat as you please and it was all over. Just like that!”

Skye’s stomach roiled dangerously. Throwing up would not be a good thing to do now, she thought. Rachel wouldn’t like it. She’d be offended. Frantic, Skye remembered hearing on some TV show that smiling suppressed the gag reflex, so she smiled brightly at Rachel. She smiled and smiled, which Rachel took as a sign of approval. “I knew you’d understand,” Rachel said. “You’ve always understood me, little cousin.

“Everything would have been cool,” she went on, “except that then there was a big crash down on the highway. That awful wreck. Claude Duncan was out of his cabin in a flash, running all over like the lunatic he was. I couldn’t get back down to the road without him or the people involved in the wreck or the cops seeing me. I couldn’t go
up
the hill because that’s where Lottie Brent lives and she’s always out early in the mornings. So I hung around in the woods. Then, of all things, you and your mom and Brandon came. God, it was like the whole world decided
this
was the place to be. Brandon came tearing into the woods after me. He seemed to think we were playing a game.”

“That’s why he was acting so weird!” Skye said suddenly. “He was bounding around like a puppy. It was because of
you!
He loves you!”

“I love him too, but I could have done without him right then. And to make matters worse, while I was dodging around trying to avoid Brandon and you, Aunt Adrienne started snapping photos like there was no tomorrow.” She looked at Skye sadly. “That’s why I had to get the camera from your mom before she had those pictures developed. She might have gotten a good shot of me.”

“You
hit her when she was going to Photo Finish?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Skye. I didn’t want to hurt her. I love Aunt Adrienne. But I
had
to get the film in that camera.”

“Oh yeah, well, I can understand that,” Skye said, still trying to sound like she truly did understand and sympathize with everything Rachel had done.

One of the candles made an odd, sizzling noise, then died out. “Wow, I wonder why that happened?” Rachel mused.

A stranger’s voice said, “Water in the wax.”

Both girls looked up to see Lottie Brent standing in the doorway of the room where her daughter had been murdered.

Dressed in near rags, her white hair streaming around her high cheekbones, Lottie fixed her cloudy amber eyes on Rachel and said in her bell-like voice, “You evil, misbegotten girl. Everything you’ve said about my daughter’s intentions toward Philip is a lie.”

Skye’s dry lips parted in surprise and her heart thudded against her ribs. Rachel stood up, and Skye was certain she would point the gun at Lottie and fire. Instead, the blood drained from Rachel’s face and the gun wavered slightly in her hand. Then she drew a deep breath and seemed to get hold of herself again.

“You’re Julianna’s mother. You’d say anything to defend her. But she
was
having an affair with my father!”

“I know she was,” Lottie said calmly. “She told me all about it. She also told me how much she loved your father, and Julianna wasn’t one to frighten or threaten someone she loved, or
anyone
for that matter.”

Rachel glanced at Skye, as if judging her reaction to what Lottie was saying. Then she glared back at Lottie. “She was going to kill my mother if my father didn’t leave her. I killed Julianna to protect my mother!”

“That is absurd and Skye knows it’s absurd. I can see it in her eyes,” Lottie said, her voice steady and positive. “Rachel, you killed Julianna because your father loved her deeply, more than anyone in the world, and you were jealous.”

“My father did
not
love that whore!” Rachel shouted, pointing the gun at Lottie. “He
didn’t!”

“I saw you the morning you killed her,” Lottie went on in a strange, placid voice. “I’d awakened with a dark feeling about Julianna. I knew where she was. I came to warn her. But I saw you. Rather, I saw a woman about your height with the same color hair. My eyes aren’t good. Cataracts. You even had on a sweatsuit like my other daughter wears. I was certain you were Gail.” She closed her eyes. “I came into the hotel and I found Julianna. There was nothing I could do to save her, but I could make her look presentable. I laid her properly in the bed, pulled up the sheet and blanket, put a clasp in her hair, the favorite Austrian crystal clasp she always kept in her purse. And I kissed her on the forehead.” A tear ran down Lottie’s pale cheek. “I kissed my darling good-bye.

“Then I left the hotel. I couldn’t go to the police and tell them Gail had murdered her own sister. But I knew I’d been seen, I thought by Gail. She’s an odd girl, a heartless person like her father. I was afraid she’d kill me too, and all this time, I thought I was hiding from her. But it was you who saw me. I was really hiding from you.” She gave Rachel an unwavering look. “You would have killed me, wouldn’t you?”

“I
tried
to kill you. I thought I finally had you when I was on Aunt Adrienne’s patio and I heard her call the sheriff and tell him you were at the cabin, but you left before I could get there. You’re a slick old lady. Slick and sneaky like Julianna.”

Skye cringed at the ugly tone in her cousin’s voice. She’d never heard Rachel talk so cruelly before. She almost didn’t sound human, and the thought of such malevolence pouring from her cousin’s mouth made Skye feel sick. She wished she’d wake up and find that this was all a nightmare, but she knew it wasn’t.

“And what about Claude?” Lottie asked. “Did he see you, too?”

“Yes. It seems the whole world was up that morning. But he had better eyesight than you, Lottie. He knew who I was. And he decided to blackmail me.” She shook her head. “He was even more stupid than he seemed if he thought he was a match for me. And pardon my use of the word
match.
It’s what I used to burn him up. First, a dose of Numorphan I snatched from all the medicines left over from when my Great-aunt Octavia was dying, then a good dousing of bourbon, and then matches. The cottage made a beautiful fire.”

“You burned a man alive, Rachel,” Lottie said coldly.

“He brought it on himself.” Rachel’s jaw tightened. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I saw Miles’s truck outside. I knew he’d come here, probably to Julianna’s room. Miles always loved Julianna. I wanted to tell him that I knew he would never have hurt Juli, no matter what people suspected of him. As soon as I entered the hotel, you came in. I hid, but I followed you here. I got close enough to realize you weren’t Gail. And I saw you push him off the balcony.”

“I
loved
Miles,” Rachel cried. “I protected him by telling him I had information about Julianna’s death and to meet me at Heaven’s Door the night of Margaret’s murder. That way he had an alibi when I freed him from Margaret.”

“Rachel, you killed Margaret, too?” Skye asked in a small, shattered voice.

“I had to. She knew I killed Julianna. She knew it from the start, but she didn’t say anything. After all, she’d been afraid Dad’s affair with Julianna would come to light and his campaign would be ruined. I’d taken care of that worry for her. But she also started using what she knew to try to scare me.” Rachel paused. “She wanted Miles. She couldn’t have him. I decided he was mine as soon as I met him. I’m sure he only started seeing her to hide his feelings for me. The day before she left on that last campaign trip with Mom and Dad, she told me she knew how I felt about Miles and it was ridiculous and if I didn’t stop following him around like a lovesick puppy, she’d tell everyone I killed Julianna. She said she had proof, but she wouldn’t say what proof. She probably didn’t have anything, but I couldn’t be sure. So
I
had
to kill her.

“I waited until I was sure Miles had made it to Heaven’s Door, took off all my clothes, put on some house slippers so I wouldn’t leave tracks, a hairnet, a pair of underpants, and I killed her. Then I went home. Nearly
naked.”
Rachel almost laughed. “I took a shower and all that blood went down the drain. I’d dumped the slippers, the hairnet, and the pants down a storm drain along the way back to the house.”

Rachel’s eyes grew troubled. “But Mom heard me slip in through my window. She came into my bathroom and opened the shower door. She saw all that blood still on my legs and going down the drain. I said, ‘I started my period.’ She just stared at me like she didn’t believe me but didn’t say a word. The next morning, after she heard about Margaret, she looked dreadful. I knew she suspected the truth. Mrs. Pitt made me call Aunt Adrienne to come to the house. I didn’t want to because I thought Mom might tell Adrienne about me. But she didn’t.”

“She kept quiet just like I kept quiet about Gail,” Lottie said. “That is what a mother’s love can do. Keep you silent in the face of the most heinous crimes your child commits. But it isn’t right, Rachel. I was finally going to tell the police what I thought Gail had done. I called Sheriff Flynn this evening and told him I had to confess something awful. But now it seems I will have something else to tell him. Something about you.”

Rachel’s face changed into something vicious, almost feral, and Skye cringed, horrified. “You won’t tell anything to anyone, old woman, because you will be dead. You’ll be lying down there beside Miles, and people will think you blamed him for killing Julianna and fell when you pushed him off the porch.”

“And what about your cousin?” Lottie asked softly. “I know you’re not capable of much love, Rachel, but you do love Skye. What about her?”

Rachel looked desperately at Skye. “Skye understands me. She understands why I had to do all of these things. She won’t tell on me. You’ll stand by me, won’t you, Skye? You’ll protect me, just like I’d protect you.”

“I … I can’t …” Tears streamed down Skye’s face. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you, Rachel, but all the terrible things you’ve done …” A sob racked her chest so hard she lost her breath. “Please, Rachel, tell me you didn’t mean any of it. Tell me you were on drugs or you have a brain tumor and you’ll go to a hospital and get well and …”

“Go to a
hospital!”
Rachel shouted. “Are you insane? I’m not going anywhere except back to school and then on with my life just like I planned it, just like it’s supposed to be.”

“You can’t,” Skye said, crying. “Rachel, it can’t be that way. You have to tell someone. You have get somebody smart, maybe like a psychiatrist, to help you. You have to
stop!”

“I
don’t
have to stop,” Rachel snarled. “And no one can
make
me stop. Not after all I’ve been through.”

“I can make you stop.” Lucas Flynn stood in the doorway, a 9 mm gun trained on Rachel. “I can make you stop and I
will
make you stop.”

“Oh no you can’t,” Rachel hissed.

“I have to,” Lucas said sadly. “It’s my duty, and not just because I’m the sheriff. It’s because of what I am to you.”

Rachel stared at him for a moment, her eyes seeming to turn glassy. Then, in a strangled voice, she said, “So you’re him. Of all people,
you
are my real father.”

Drew’s Camaro kicked up dust as they sped up the road to la Belle Rivière. When they reached the front of the hotel, they immediately spotted Bruce Allard’s black GTO. Empty. “Where are they?” Adrienne cried.

Drew didn’t answer. His gaze was fixed on something on the ground beside the lowest hotel porch. Without a word, he opened his door and started running. Adrienne immediately followed, then slowed as they got nearer and she saw the body of Miles Shaw splayed on the ground, spikes poking through his abdomen. Drew bent over him, then called, “He’s alive. Dial 911 and get an ambulance, Adrienne.” She stood immobilized by shock, gazing at the big man who lay moaning, drenched in blood.

Where is Skye? her mind screamed. Where is my daughter? “Adrienne, dial 911 before he bleeds to death!” Drew shouted. “Do it n
OW!”