Sidetracked-Kobo (27 page)

I could not believe it had come to this.

Then, out of the mental chaos a question resurfaced. How had Tina gotten here so soon after seeing the CNN news story?

At first I pushed the question away. What difference did it make? But the thought snagged in my brain. I tried to retrace the timeline but couldn’t make it work.

Maybe the CNN story had run a time or two before Cheryl King saw it, and I just hadn’t heard about it. Maybe … something. Had to be an explanation. Still …

I pushed off my bed. Started pacing the room. Another thought hit—so obvious once it rose through the fog. If I believed Tina would turn me in after forcing me to transfer her the money—why do it? The money was the only leverage I had.

Back and forth I paced, from my dresser on one side to bare wall on the other. I knew my mind was still too overwhelmed to think of everything. Surely I was missing key pieces of this puzzle. If only I had someone to talk to. But even now I could not admit my deceit to anyone.

When you live a lie for so long, it becomes a part of you. Like clothing first rough and scratchy, it eventually wears down, thins out. Sinks into
your skin.

I checked the digital clock by my bed. Half an hour had passed. If I was going to meet Tina, I needed to start getting things together.

If.

I stopped my pacing. Sat back down on the bed. Gaze fixated on the carpet, I forced myself to think straight. I ran through various scenarios. Dared a few more prayers.

Time slipped away. With a jerk, I checked the clock again. Ten minutes left.

I knew what I had to do.

If I was going to lose everything, I’d at least go down fighting. The only way to do that was to meet with Tina face to face.

A strange feeling descended upon me, something akin to alert calmness. I rose and with purposeful movements gathered everything I needed.

Within minutes I was backing out of my garage.

I took back streets across town toward the park where Tina awaited. Didn’t want to go through downtown and risk being followed by reporters. Halfway to my destination, I was struck by an idea. A good sign. My mind was further clearing.

Pulling over to the curb, I made a phone call.

When I arrived at the park my nemesis was already there, seated on the bench. Same hard face and black, glossy hair. No one else was around. Some distance down the curb I spotted a white rental car. Had to be Tina’s. I placed my phone in one of the inside pockets of the tote bag that held my computer and documents, and slid out of the driver’s seat. Walked toward Tina, back straight.

“Laura Denton, how nice to see you again.” The smile she gave me could have slit my throat.

I sat down beside her, placing the tote bag between my feet.

Tina glanced at it. “Looks like you brought what we need.”

“Looks like it.” My tone held a casual edge.

Tina’s eyes shone. She shoved out her hand. “Let me see the bank statements.”

My feet tightened around the bag. “How’d you get here from California so fast?”

“Give me the statements.”

“Answer my question first.”

“Let me
see
them.” Her expression blackened.

“Fine. Want to salivate some more?” I leaned over and slipped the offshore bank statements from the bag—three in total. Handed them to her.

Tina grabbed them from me, her eyes flicking over each page. “Hah!” She slapped the papers down on her thighs. “There’s still
millions
in here!”

My shoulder lifted. “I’ve been frugal.”

Tina leaned back and studied me. For a moment I saw doubt flash in her eyes. Why was I not cowering before her?

Her lip curled. “Fire up the computer, Laura.”

“I didn’t kill my mother.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am not going there.”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“Good for you. Turn on the computer.”

I made no move. Tina bent over toward the tote bag. I elbowed her away and pulled out the laptop. Set it on the bench between us.

Tina yanked open the cover and smacked the power button.

I watched the screen boot up. “You’ll need the password.”

“What is it?”

I picked up the computer and placed it on my lap. “On the way here I made a phone call.”

Tina’s jaw flexed. “Put in the password!”

How I enjoyed her desperation.

“I called the San Mateo Police Station. You know, where you used to be a detective?”

She shot me a dark look.

“Apparently you don’t work there anymore. They wouldn’t tell me why you left—or where you’d gone. Said they couldn’t give out that information.” I paused, deliberating whether to throw out some bait. “You know, the evasiveness you hear from an employer when someone’s been fired?”

Tina’s eyes narrowed—and I knew I’d hit home.

She tilted her head. “I can call this meeting off right now. Get in my car and drive to the police station.”

“Go right ahead. Of course, then you won’t get a penny of that money.” I gestured toward the bank statements.

She smirked. “Think so? I know for a fact your name change can’t be legal. Not with a felony on your record. Remember what the judge told you—the one who didn’t even like his own decision? Keep your nose clean—or you could lose it all.”

I flexed my shoulders. “Maybe. Even so, you’d have to fight for it, and that would take years in the courts. Meanwhile, seems you’re out of a job.”

“Oh, don’t you think you know everything. Listen to me,
Laura
, you have no power here. Your life is in my hands.”

Fear shot through me. I forced myself to return her stare. “
How
did you get here so soon?”

Her face crinkled in frustration. “What’s it to you?”

“I think you lied to me.”

“I don’t care what you think.”

“Why should I let you bribe me out of all my mother’s inheritance when I can’t believe you’ll keep your end of the bargain?”

“I told you I’m not out to ruin you, Laura.”

“Really? Then why did you track me down in Georgia? You had to have used resources at the San Mateo Police Station to do that. Did your boss know what you were doing? I was trying to build a new life. You hounded and harassed me just to tell my neighbors about my past.”

Tina raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you mean tell them you
killed
your mother? Maybe they’d want to know.”

“I
didn’t
kill her.”

Tina looked away and sighed. “I’m through with this.” She threw the bank statements on the ground and stood. “Go home, Laura. Wait for the police to show up at your door. Once Melcher hears who you really are, what you’ve done, he’ll look at you in a whole new light. In fact, you just might become his next best suspect for Clara’s murder.”

There it was. Her ultimate threat. My heart ground into a hard beat. “You know I didn’t kill Clara.”

She shrugged. “You killed your mother, why not kill your friend?”

“I did not kill my mother.”

Tina heaved another sigh. “Round and round we go. And I gave you the perfect opportunity. Shame you’re too stupid to take it. Goodbye, Laura.” She turned and walked away.

I watched her go, pulse pounding. Counting her steps as I feigned indifference.
Turn around, Tina. Turn around!

She didn’t.

I broke into a sweat. This game of chicken was too much to take. Even if she did come back, what would I say? I still wasn’t sure what I was doing. How to bargain with someone I could never trust?

Tina had covered half the distance to her rental car. My fingers curled into my palms. I could not let her drive away. So what if she took all the money? If there was the slightest chance she wouldn’t call the police on me, it would be worth it. I wouldn’t lose Andy. My life.

My lips parted to call her back. But before the words could form—Tina turned around.

I closed my mouth. Uncurled my fists.
Breathe, Laura, breathe.

For a moment Tina merely glared. Despite the distance, I could feel her fury. It seethed across the park and over me, a miasma of the embittered years she’d spent suing me, then hunting me down.

As if a momentous decision overtook her, she stalked toward me.

Casually, I moved my computer back onto the bench. Leaned over to pick up the bank statements and slid them into my tote bag.

Hands folded in my lap, I watched Tina stomp across the distance between us. Surely she would see the pump of my heart through my blue top.

She carved to a stop before me, arms folded and legs apart. A cop stance. “You’re going to wish you’d done this the easy way, Laura Denton.”

As if it could get any harder.

“But you know”—Tina jabbed a finger toward me—“before I even came to Redbud something told me you’d play it stupid. And I was not about to let you keep my money from me. Not after all these years.” A gluttonous smile spread across Tina’s face. She tilted back her head and regarded me through narrowed eyes. “So I devised a plan. Just in case.”

Fear trickled through me. Dealing with this woman was like trying to subdue a rabid dog.

Tina unfolded her arms and scratched beneath her chin. “You wondered how I got here so fast? You’re right—I’ve
been
here. For over a week.”

A
week
?
A chill ran through me.

“Took me five long years of tracking you through bank records. But I finally found you.”

Get a life, Tina.
This woman was nothing short of crazy. “Bet it got you fired, too. You use police resources to do that?”

Smugness stretched Tina’s mouth. “For the past week I watched you, Miss Laura. Watched the town. Learned things. Like the fact that you had a sweet little friend, Clara, who was about to have a wedding shower.”

A hand clamped over my lungs and fisted.

“Seems everybody loved Clara. The town sweetheart. And then there was that lanky, gawky boy-man who had a crush on her. He and I had such nice talks.”

Cold realization dawned. “You told him your name was Susan.” Incredulity coated my tone.

But Billy had said the woman was blonde.

Tina’s face creased in feigned disappointment. “Oh, did he tell on me? After I warned him not to.”

“Why did you bother Billy?” My voice rose. “He’s never done a thing to you.”

Tina regarded me with supreme satisfaction. “Billy needed to be at a certain place on a certain night. I made sure he was there.”

I frowned. Deep inside me the truth was beginning to gel. But I couldn’t accept it. “On Brewer, you mean? When Clara was killed?”

Tina gazed around the park, as though remembering a fond event.

“Why?” My tone sharpened.

Tina’s eyes locked onto mine. “One thing I couldn’t have planned?
You
finding Clara’s body. That was pure serendipity. A gift from the gods.”

The vise in my chest tightened. One by one my limbs turned to lead. What was she
saying
? “You knew Clara was going to die?”

Tina spread her hands.

No. Impossible. Nothing she said could have made Billy do this. “You were there that night?” The words croaked. Suddenly I thought of the height of the shadowed figure I’d seen in the Graysons’ yard. “Was it
you
standing by that bush?”

Another wicked smile from Tina.

But this made no sense. “Billy would not kill Clara, no matter what you told him.”

Tina’s eyebrows rose. She laughed. “Is
that
what you’re thinking?”

I gawked at her, my mouth dry. If Billy didn’t …

Understanding thudded in my chest. I drew my head back, sickness spreading to the core of me. “Are you telling me
you
killed Clara?” I pushed to my feet, almost tripping over the tote bag. “What are you
telling
me?
Why
?”

Tina shoved her forefinger in my face. “Don’t act so sacrosanct, Miss Innocent. Don’t you dare. This is
your
fault. If you hadn’t run here and lied to the whole town about who you are, she wouldn’t have had to die.”

My jaw flapped. Words could not form in my throat.

“See what I mean, doing it the hard way? Now, thanks to your idiocy, Laura Denton, you get to live with the knowledge of what you caused. You’ll forever have to look these people in the eye and
know
. And don’t think you can run away from me to some other town. Because I’ll find you again. And someone else close to you will die. Get it?” Tina’s eyes turned black. “That money is mine. It’s always been mine. And
I will not let you keep it from me another day
!”

My ankles shook. I felt myself sway. Tina was a
murderer
. As evil as she’d been, I’d never have thought it. Even now I couldn’t believe it. For mere money, Clara had
died
?

“You—” My legs gave out. I sat down hard on the bench. Bent over, hands across my waist. “I’ll never let you get away with this.” The words squeezed from me.

Tina laughed. “Of course you will. Because you’re going to transfer all the money in those accounts to me right now. Then I will walk out of here and never bother you again. You can keep your fake name and lying life. You can marry that man of yours. Sounds like he’s got plenty of money anyway; you won’t even miss what you’ve given me. You can have your happy ending, Delanie Miller.”

Happy ending
? “Billy’s in jail for what
you
did!”

“Shame. No doubt he’ll be convicted. We’ve seen it happen before, haven’t we. But all the better for you this time. Case closed, life goes on. Mrs. Delanie Bradshaw, Redbud socialite. Has a nice ring, wouldn’t you say?”

“No.” My stomach roiled. “I … can’t.”

“Laura.” Tina bent over me. “You have no choice.”

This couldn’t be true. If Tina committed this crime, she was right—
I
was to blame for Clara’s death. And for Billy’s arrest. Tina may have orchestrated it. But my lies, my wrong decisions had brought this evil woman here. How could I live with that?

I jerked up straight. “I
do
have a choice. I can go tell the police right now.” I grabbed my laptop and started to rise.

Tina shoved me back down. “Tell them what? They’ll never believe you, Laura. You have absolutely no proof. Especially after I tell Melcher who you are. Like I said, he may turn to
you
for the murder. Then you’ll lose absolutely everything—for no reason. And I’ll still go free.”