Silent Killer (34 page)

“Know what?”

“That you’re my father, my biological father.”

Jack sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, it seems that I am.”

“She lied to me,” Seth said. “She lied to both of us. I hate her. I hate her so much. And I hate you.”

Seth hung his head and stared down at the ground.

Jack felt his son’s pain. So this was what it was like to have a child hurting and not be able to help him. More than anything, he wanted to erase the agony he saw on Seth’s face and heard in his voice.

“Exactly what did your mother say to you?”

“Nothing much. I didn’t give her the chance. I didn’t want to hear any of her lies.”

“My guess is that she told you the truth. It might have been sixteen years too late, but give her credit for finally telling both of us.”

“That’s just it—she didn’t tell me. Grandmother told me. She didn’t mean to, but she got so angry when I told her I liked you and I hoped my mom married you that she just blurted it out.”

“Elaine Nelson always was a real piece of work.”

Ignoring Jack’s assessment of his grandmother, Seth asked, “Was Mom telling me the truth when she said that she just told you last night?”

“Yes, she was telling you the truth.”

“How’d you feel when she told you? I bet you hate her, too, don’t you?”

Did he hate Cathy? She had kept the truth about his son from him for sixteen years, and if he hadn’t come back to Dunmore, he might never have found out he was a father. It had been less than twenty-four hours since he had learned the truth about his relationship with Seth, not nearly enough time to figure out how he felt or what he should do. But time enough to realize that when Cathy had married Mark Cantrell, she had done it because she believed she was doing the right thing, the best thing for her child.

For his child.

“No, I don’t hate her,” Jack said, in an honest gut response.

“How can you not?” Seth asked, all his youthful agony quivering in his voice.

“Because I’ve had some time to think about it, and I realize that, under the circumstances, your mother did what she thought she had to do to protect you.”

“Protect me how? I don’t understand.”

“Cathy and I were a couple of kids. She was seventeen, fresh out of high school, and I was twenty, home on leave from the army. We had two weeks together and fell head over heels for each other the way only kids that age can. I was careless. I got her pregnant.

“I had no idea she was pregnant, and she didn’t have any way of letting me know. I was sent to the Middle East during the Gulf War and wound up a POW. The army told my family that I was MIA and presumed dead. By the time I could let Cathy know I was alive, she had already married Mark Cantrell.”

“Mom thought you were dead?” Seth’s eyes, a duplicate of his own, stared at him, and Jack knew his son had desperately needed complete honesty.

“Yes, so you see, she did what she did because she felt she had no choice if she wanted to protect you. She married Mark Cantrell to give you a father. And from what I’ve learned, he was a good dad to you, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, he was a good dad, but…”

“But what?”

“But when Mom found out you were alive, she should have told you. She should have told me.”

“You’re right. She should have, but she didn’t. And we’re both going to have to find a way to forgive her, because we both love her and we know she did what she believed was best for you.”

Seth stared at him in disbelief. “You still love her?”

Jack clamped his hand down gently on his son’s shoulder. “Yeah, I still love her. I’m mad as hell at her right now, and a part of me would like to wring her pretty little neck, but somehow, someway, she and I are going to work our way through this.” He squeezed Seth’s shoulder. “What about you and me? Do you think you could give me a chance to be a father to you?”

“Do you want that, to be my father?”

“I do. More than you’ll ever know.”

“Maybe. Yeah. Okay. I guess.”

“We won’t rush it,” Jack told him. “We’ll take it slow and easy. It’ll be a new experience for me, having a son.”

“I don’t really hate you,” Seth said.

Jack grinned. “I know, Son, I know. What about your mom?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You love your mother.”

“Yeah, I love her,” Seth said. “But she lied to me, and it was a big lie.”

“She made a mistake. She’s only human. We all make mistakes.”

“Dad would want me to…I mean, Mark would want me to forgive her. He taught forgiveness.”

“Look, Seth. Mark Cantrell was your father in every way that mattered, and I’d be a fool not to appreciate the fact that he was there for you when I wasn’t. Don’t ever feel guilty about loving him or thinking of him as your dad.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes, Son, I do.”

“I guess I feel the way you do.” Seth tried to smile, but the effort failed. “I love Mom, but I’m mad as hell at her.”

“I’m sure she’ll give you all the time you need to work through your feelings, but you should tell her that you don’t hate her and you’re working on forgiving her.”

“I can’t talk to her. Not yet.” Seth looked at Jack pleadingly. “Would you talk to her. Tell her how we feel. I mean, how I feel?”

Damn! He needed more time himself, so he understood how Seth felt. But at least he could call Cathy and let her know that he and Seth both still loved her. “Sure thing. I’ll call her. In the meantime, if you want to talk to me again, I’m here for you.”

When Seth stood, Jack did, too. Father and son faced each other.

“I wish Granddad and Nana didn’t have to find out,” Seth said. “This will break their hearts.”

“It’s not your place to have to tell them. Your mother should be the one to explain things to them.”

“When you talk to her, will you tell her that?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Thanks, uh, Jack. It’s okay if I call you Jack, isn’t it? I know you’re my father, but—”

“Jack’s fine.”

Seth wasn’t sure exactly how he’d wound up stopping by the Harper house, but after leaving Jack in the park, he had walked around for a while, feeling as if he had no place to go. He wasn’t ready to talk to his mother, and he couldn’t face his grandparents. He didn’t think Grandmother would tell them what she’d done. No, that wasn’t her style. She’d wait and let someone else give them the bad news. She wouldn’t take the blame for anything.

As he walked by the Harper’s, he wondered how Missy was doing and if she’d been able to hold it together during her second interrogation by the task force. He supposed he could have asked Jack about it, but he’d had other things on his mind at the time. Besides, it wasn’t likely that Jack would have told him anything.

Should he just go up to the front door, ring the doorbell and ask to speak to Missy? Would Mrs. Harper tell him to go away? Or would Missy refuse to see him? While he stood on the sidewalk thinking about what his next move should be, Felicity came dragging up the street, barely keeping out of the slow flow of midday traffic. What was wrong with her? She looked like she was sick or something. Maybe he should go help her.

He called out to her. “Hey, Felicity. What’s wrong?”

She looked up from where she’d been staring sightlessly down at the pavement. When she saw him, she broke into a run and came barreling into him.

“Oh, Seth, I’m so glad to see you.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “I need somebody to talk to.”

“What’s going on?” He tried to prize her away from him, but she held on tight and started crying. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“You won’t believe me when I tell you,” she sobbed.

Before he could reply, a car slowed as it passed them, and Seth recognized the driver as Charity Harper. She pulled into the driveway, killed the engine and got out.

“Maybe you should talk to your sister about whatever’s bothering you,” Seth suggested.

She lifted her head from his shoulder, nodded and then grabbed his hand. “Charity needs to know. But I want you to come with me when I tell her. Please.”

“Yeah, okay. I guess.” He had enough problems of his own without getting involved in whatever was going on with Felicity, but he could hardly tell her that, could he?

Charity waited on the sidewalk as he and Felicity walked toward her. “Hello, Seth.” When he responded with a nod, she turned her attention to her sister. “What on earth is the matter with you?”

“Let’s go to the backyard,” Felicity said. “I don’t want Mom to see us talking. She’ll ask me all sorts of questions, because I’m supposed to be with Daddy right now.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic,” Charity said. “The way you’re acting, you’d think somebody died.”

“Right now, I could kill Daddy,” Felicity admitted.

“Felicity Ann Harper! What a thing to say about Daddy.”

“When I tell you what he did…” Keeping a tight hold on Seth’s hand, she motioned for her sister to follow her the long way around to the backyard.

Grumbling under her breath, Charity went with Felicity as she all but dragged Seth around the house and straight toward the gazebo. When they neared the small enclosure, Seth noticed that someone was sitting inside. Missy! The girl he’d come to see. When they approached, she laid aside the book she’d been reading and rose to her feet.

“What’s she doing here?” Felicity complained loud enough for Missy to hear her.

“I’m sorry,” Missy said. “If you don’t want me here, I’ll go back inside.”

“You don’t have to leave,” Charity said. “This is your home and your yard, and you have as much right to use the gazebo as Felicity and I do. Isn’t that right, Felicity?” Charity nudged her sister in the ribs.

“Yes, that’s right,” Felicity said begrudgingly.

“There’s plenty of room in the gazebo for all of us,” Charity said. “Come on, let’s sit down and you can tell us why you want to kill Daddy.”

“What!” Missy’s eyes widened as she glared at Felicity.

“Oh, I don’t suppose I really want to kill him,” Felicity said, “but Mom will when she finds out what he’s been doing.”

“What are you talking about?” Charity frowned at her sister.

“I caught Daddy red-handed with his secretary. They were kissing!”

“I don’t believe you.” Charity’s face went chalk white.

“Don’t believe me then, but I’m telling you that I saw it with my own two eyes. I walked in on them in a lip-lock.”

“I thought your parents were different,” Missy said, her voice little more than a whisper. “I believed they loved each other and had a perfect marriage and were perfect parents. Oh, Felicity, I’m so sorry.”

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” Felicity hung her head and then sighed heavily. “Gee, Missy, I’m the one who’s sorry. Having a father who’s cheating on his wife isn’t anywhere near as bad as having a father who…well, who did what your father did to you.”

“Raped me, you mean.”

“Yeah.” Felicity looked to Seth as if begging him to help pull her out of the hole she had dug herself into. “I’ve about decided that there are no good parents. Except maybe your mom, Seth.”

“My mom’s a liar.” The words came out of his mouth before he knew what was happening. Damn, why had he said that?

“Huh?” Felicity said.

“What?” Charity asked.

“What did she lie about?” Missy reached out and caressed Seth’s arm.

“I found out just this morning that Mark Cantrell wasn’t my biological father. My mother was pregnant when she married him. My dad wasn’t my dad. My mom has lied to me all these years.”

“Well, looks like we’ve all got something in common,” Felicity said. “We’ve all got at least one rotten parent.” She glanced from person to person as she said, “Missy’s father raped her. Our father is cheating on our mother. And Seth’s mother lied to him about who his real father is. I say parents can’t be trusted. Maybe my dad and your mom deserve something bad happening to them just like something bad happened to Missy’s father.”

“Felicity!” Charity scolded her.

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to my mom,” Seth said. “She made a mistake. People make mistakes. You shouldn’t wish for something bad to happen to your father.”

“Well, I do,” Felicity said. “I want him punished for what he did. Him and that awful Erin McKinney, too.”

“You didn’t have to come in today, you know,” Lorie said. “Besides, I’m thinking we should start closing Treasures again either every Monday or Tuesday, at least during the summer.”

“I’m better off here than I would be at home,” Cathy said. “I’d be climbing the walls without something to keep me busy.”

“You’re not doing much better here. You’re as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

Cathy forced a fragile smile. “At least here I’m not alone waiting for the phone to ring, hoping Jack will call or Seth—”

“I could strangle Jackson Perdue,” Lorie said. “How dare he lay all the blame on you. It’s not like you got pregnant all by yourself. What the hell would he have done if your positions had been reversed? You could have had an abortion or given your baby up for adoption, but you didn’t.”

“I have to believe that once he’s had a chance to think things through, he’ll understand. I just wish he’d call. When I stopped by the sheriff’s department, Mike said that Jack was out for lunch and he’d give him the message to call me ASAP.” She checked her watch for the dozenth time in the past half hour. “That was nearly an hour ago. It’s obvious that he’s avoiding me and Mike is helping him.”

“Mike’s another man I’d like to strangle.”

The over-the-door bell chimed to alert them that a customer had entered the store. Lorie groaned.

“Speaking of strangling someone…that’s Bitsy Cavanaugh,” Lorie said quietly. “She’s a regular. Always buys several things and then returns half of what she buys.”

“I’ll take care of her, if you’d like for me to.”

“That would be—”

Cathy’s phone rang, instantly immobilizing her and Lorie.

“Well, answer it,” Lorie told her.

With an unsteady hand, Cathy clasped the phone and glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Jack.”

“So talk to him. Go in the back. I’ll take care of Bitsy.”

Heading for the back storeroom, Cathy answered on the third ring. “Hello.”

“Cathy, it’s Jack.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I…uh…I’m sorry I haven’t returned any of your earlier calls. I needed a little time to think.”

“I understand.”

“Look, we need to talk, face-to-face. May I come by tonight?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I think you should know that Seth came to see me.”

Cathy’s stomach knotted painfully. “What did he say to you? What did you say to him?”

“He’s hurt and angry with you and me, but we had a good talk. He’s a smart kid. He’s got a good heart. You did a fine job with him.”

For half a second, Cathy couldn’t breathe. Jack’s compliment had taken her totally by surprise.

When she didn’t respond, Jack said, “Seth doesn’t hate you.” Pause. “And neither do I.”

She sucked in and released a quivering breath.

“Cathy?”

“I’m here.” And hanging on by a thread. She was on the verge of bursting into tears.

“We’ll find a way to work through this,” he told her. “I love you, honey, and Seth loves you. But we’ve got a mess on our hands, and I don’t know what it’ll take to clean it up.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes. If only I could make you and Seth understand how it was for me, why I did what I did, why I kept everything a secret.”

“One thing at a time,” Jack said. “Right now, give Seth some time and a lot of space. He needs you to talk to his grandparents, to Mark’s parents. It’s your job to tell them the truth. Seth was afraid that he’d have to do it, but I told him that it wasn’t his place to do it.”

“I’ll go over there this afternoon and talk to them, but only to tell them that both you and Seth know the truth. J.B. and Mona have always known that Seth wasn’t Mark’s biological child. They knew Mark couldn’t father a child.”

Jack grunted. “I don’t know if that’s going to help Seth or make things worse for him. He loves them, and he’s worried about how they’ll take the news.”

“You care about Seth, don’t you?”

“My God, Cathy, did you think I wouldn’t care? He’s my son. Besides that, I’d already begun to care about him simply because he was yours.”

“Oh, Jack.” Tears pooled in her eyes. She swallowed hard.

“Talk to your former in-laws and explain things. I’ll stop by tonight, and we’ll talk. We’ll figure out where we go from here.”

Several minutes after the conversation ended, Cathy stood alone in the storeroom and cried. Grateful tears. Jack still loved her. Seth still loved her. And where there was love, there was hope.

After Seth left the Harpers, he called Nana to tell her that he was okay and for her not to worry about him.

“What’s wrong?” she had asked. “Whatever it is, come home, dear, and let’s talk.”

“You need to talk to my mom first. I—I’ll come home after you talk to her.”

He’d been walking around Dunmore for the past hour, his mind a mixed jumble of thoughts and feelings. And even though his own life was one big mess, the thing that kept bothering him had nothing to do with his personal problems. He couldn’t get Felicity Harper off his mind. The crazy way she’d been acting and the horrible things she’d said about her father worried him. He wished he could shake this bad feeling—a feeling that Felicity intended to do something to her dad.

I hate him. I wish he was dead.

I could kill Daddy.

He had known Felicity for years, and the older she got the weirder she got, but until today he’d never believed she was capable of actually killing somebody. Maybe he should have figured it out sooner. If he had, he might have saved a few lives. But even now, he could hardly believe what he was thinking.

Strange as it seemed, it all made some goofy kind of sense. Felicity was a rebel. She hated her parents’ Christian lifestyle, hated being a preacher’s kid, hated anything that was even vaguely normal. She disliked her grandmother, thought her mother was a doormat, grumbled all the time about how her sister was the favorite child and had made no secret of how much she resented Missy’s presence in her home. The only person she admired was her dad. And now he had let her down in the worst way possible.

Felicity was one gigantic mass of hate and anger and resentment.

She had called her father an adulterous blasphemer who should be punished for his sins.

Maybe he was wrong. God, he hoped so. He’d always liked Felicity, despite her being a royal pain in the butt. But he could not shake the gut feeling that she might be the Fire and Brimstone Killer.

He had to tell somebody. Jack, maybe. But what if he was wrong? The last person he needed to confide in was a sheriff’s deputy. He could always confront Felicity, but if she was a killer, what would stop her from trying to kill him?

He wondered if anyone else had drawn the same conclusion he had and, like him, didn’t know what to do. Missy might have picked up on something since she’d been living with the Harpers. She and Felicity mixed like oil and water.

Seth looked around and noted that he had walked all the way back to Main Street. It was nearly two o’clock, so downtown wasn’t overrun with the lunchtime crowd. Finding a private spot underneath the storefront canopy of a closed business, he called Missy. She answered quickly, on the first ring.

“Hello, Seth.”

“Hey, I’m not bothering you, am I?”

“No, I…uh…I was hoping you’d call. I’ve been thinking about calling you.”

“Yeah, what about?”

“About Felicity,” Missy said. “I’m worried about her. She’s acting really strange.”

“Yeah, I know. Felicity is the reason I called. I think maybe she’s going to do something really stupid. We need to stop her.”

“I know. I think maybe she’s going to hurt her father. I’ve never seen her so angry. I wanted to talk to Charity about it, but she ate a quick lunch and went back to Bright Side.”

“Where’s Felicity?”

“I don’t know. She left a little while after you did.”

“Where are her parents?”

“Ruth Ann and Mrs. Long are both out looking for her,” Missy said. “Her dad called and explained what had happened with his secretary. It seems she kissed him, and he was totally shocked. They’re not having an affair. He sent her straight home after it happened, and he’s going to have to fire her.”

“Does Felicity know?”

“No. She disappeared before her mom could tell her, so Ruth Ann and her mother are trying to find her. And Reverend Harper is still at the church, waiting there in case Felicity shows up again. They’re all worried sick about her. And so am I.”

Just say it,
Seth told himself.
Tell Missy what you’re thinking and see how she reacts.
“I know this sounds crazy, but I’ve been thinking…What if Felicity is the Fire and Brimstone Killer?”

Missy gasped. “Oh, Seth, surely not. You know what that would mean?”

“Yeah, it would mean she killed my father and yours.”

“My father deserved what he got, but yours didn’t.”

“We have to talk to somebody, tell them what we suspect.”

“Who can we trust?”

There was one person he’d been able to talk to all his life. He could talk to her about anything. He might still be angry with her, and he certainly hadn’t forgiven her, but she was the only person he could talk to who would take him seriously and at the same time would help him see where he might be completely wrong.

“My mother,” Seth said. “Can you pick me up on Main Street near the drugstore and we’ll go to Treasures together? We’ll tell my mom everything. She’ll know what to do.”

Erin wanted to die. Her life was meaningless without John Earl. She had loved him for years, had devoted herself to him and he had tossed her aside like yesterday’s garbage. He was like all the others, taking what he wanted without any thought of her feelings. He was a vile, egotistical bastard, and she hated him. She wished he could know the pain she felt. He deserved to suffer. It would serve him right if he ended up like the other preachers had. Burned at the stake. Turned into a human torch. Punished for disappointing those who loved him.

He had sent her home, and home is where she’d stayed. She couldn’t go back to the church office today and face him, not after what had happened.

How could he expect her to come to his office tomorrow and talk to him in a calm, rational manner? He intended to fire her. He might ask her to resign, but it amounted to the same thing. He was sending her packing. Oh, he’d give her a decent reference and think he’d done a good deed.

Son of a bitch! Sanctimonious asshole!

Maybe she should go see him and show him just what she thought of him. She’d tell him what he could do with his letter of reference. She’d tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

Better yet, she’d set the damn thing on fire and watch his reaction before she exacted her revenge.

“I think I’ll work in the stockroom for a while since you don’t seem to need me out here,” Cathy told Lorie. “I could use a little quiet time to think about things.”

“You have a big night tonight.” Lorie said. “First a meeting with J.B. and Mona to tell them that Seth knows Mark wasn’t his father and then later, Jack’s stopping by to talk.” Lorie gave her a sympathetic look. “What did Mona say when you called her?”

“Nothing really, just that she’s concerned about Seth because he hasn’t come home. She wanted me to tell her right then and there what was going on. I told her I’d explain everything when I stop by after work.”

“Maybe you should leave now and go on over there.”

“J.B.’s not there. He’s gone to Huntsville and won’t be home until around five,” Cathy said. “I suppose Mona will call Mother and I’ll have to deal with her, too.”

“Your mother should fess up and admit she’s the one who spilled the beans to Seth.”

“Mother takes credit for anything she considers good, but she never takes the blame for anything that goes wrong.”

“Everything’s going to work out, you know. Jack and Seth will both come around. Jack’s already told you that he still loves you and—”

Cathy’s cell phone rang. She picked it up off the counter where she’d placed it by the cash register. “That’s odd. It’s John Earl’s office.” She answered on the second ring. “Hello.”

A hoarse, unrecognizable voice said, “Ms. Cantrell, this is Erin McKinley, Reverend Harper’s secretary. I apologize for my voice.” She coughed a couple of times. “Allergies. I have a mild case of laryngitis.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Cathy said.

“I’m calling for John Earl. He would appreciate it if you’d come over to his office as soon as possible. It seems he wants to talk to you about his daughter Felicity and your son, Seth.”

“What about Seth and Felicity?”

“I really don’t know, Ms. Cantrell. I’m simply relaying a message. I believe there’s some sort of problem with his daughter that involves your son.”

“And you say that John Earl wants me to come over there now?”

“Yes, ma’am. Can I tell him you’ll be here soon?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you.”

When she hung up, Cathy turned to Lorie. “That was strange. John Earl’s secretary said that he wants to see me ASAP to talk to me about Felicity and Seth.”

“That is strange. What could be so urgent that he needs to see you right away?”

“I don’t know. She just said that there’s a problem involving Seth and Felicity. I can’t imagine what it could be. I just hope Seth hasn’t done something stupid because he’s angry with me.”

“Why don’t you go on over there and talk to John Earl now. I’m sure whatever it is, he’s already dealing with it. Felicity’s a handful, but she’s basically a good kid.” Lorie laughed. “Actually, she reminds me of myself at that age. I was always doing something I shouldn’t, always screwing up. But my folks weren’t as understanding and supportive as John Earl and Ruth Ann. If they had been…”

“I’ll try not to be long,” Cathy said. “But if for any reason I can’t make it back here to Treasures this afternoon, I’ll call you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can hold down the fort. Just go find out what’s going on with Seth and Felicity.”

“Give me my purse, will you.” Cathy held out her hand. “It’s under the counter beside yours.”