Tacked to Death (20 page)

"Hi."

Summer walked over to Ethan and the
baby. "I have to go. See you later. Bye." She gave them each a peck
on the cheek It seemed odd for a mother to be almost cold with her
son, not to mention her husband. But again, none of her business.
"Bye, Michaela." She waved and was out the door, a breeze blowing
past as she shut it behind her.

Michaela turned to Ethan. "Everything
okay?"

He shrugged. "Oh yeah, fine.
Everything's great. How about you?"

"I already told you on the phone that
I'm okay. I'm hanging in there." Josh's eyes were at half-mast as
he sucked down a bottle. "He's getting so big."

"And heavy to lug around. Come on." He
led her into their family room, painted in cream and a soft
peach—once again, way too Summer for Michaela. He laid Josh down in
his playpen. "Let's go see the horse real quick. He's
asleep."

"Will Josh be okay?"

"Sure. I always lock everything up, and
he can't get out of there."

She nodded and followed him out to the
barn, feeling odd in her heels and black dress, but nevertheless
wanting to see Ethan's new horse.

"Here's my boy." They stopped in front
of one of the stalls. The horse padded over to them, his ears
pricking forward, his eyes bright and intelligent. He stood about
fifteen hands, sorrel in color with four perfect white socks and a
blaze down the center of his face.

"He's beautiful, Ethan. Oh my God."
Michaela brought a hand up to touch the soft nuzzle on the
horse.

"He is. What do you think? Want to work
with him?"

"Of course. I'd love to, but Ethan, I
can't think much past tomorrow right now. Who knows what will
happen with this Sterling Taber thing? I might be going to
jail."

"No you won't. That won't happen." He
shook his head. "It can't."

"But…"

She started to say that it could. He
brought a finger to her lips. "No more of that bull about you going
to jail. Life is just beginning for you, and this horse will be a
part of it. Okay?"

"Okay," she uttered, and for the first
time in several days she didn't feel afraid.

Twenty-Eight

Michaela left Ethan’s place feeling
oddly relieved. He was always the optimist, and spending time with
him and Josh had rubbed some positive vibes her way. She hadn't
killed Sterling Taber, and justice would prevail. It had
to.

Dwayne's truck was gone. He must've
driven to the tack shop to help Camden out. She was happy that the
two of them had been able to move beyond Camden's past. Once this
mess was behind her, she would have to start planning a bridal
shower for her friend. She decided to take a break and sit outside
with a glass of iced tea, put her head together, and then see about
going over to Ed Mitchell's jewelry store to talk with Tommy
Liggett.

She changed into a pair of jeans and
light sweater. Thankfully the November days were growing cooler. In
only a couple of weeks Thanksgiving would be upon them, and God,
how she prayed this whole mess would be over by then. She would go
to her parents, like she did every year. She and Mom would bake
apple and pumpkin pies and have some of Mom's friends from church
over. There would be the usual fare of garlic mashed potatoes,
turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, and what Michaela always made
best: a black cherry Jell-O dish from a recipe her grandmother had
passed down. Grandma had died a little over five years ago and was
sorely missed; and then they'd spent the first holiday season
without Uncle Lou last year, which had been real tough on all of
them. But Camden and Dwayne would be there. Ethan wouldn't. Hell,
maybe she should invite Ethan and Summer. She needed to get past
the animosity. What about Jude and Katie? She would have to invite
them. Why did even the holidays have to be stressful?

She knew Jude would be back tomorrow.
How was he going to take all of this? It was strange, but she
really hadn't had time to miss him. She'd been so wrapped up in
this drama. She had missed the sense of security he provided, and
she knew he might've been able to handle Peters's attitude toward
her, but she didn't feel that deep sense of longing. It had to be
because of the drama that had taken place over the course of the
week.

She took a long drink of the tea and
closed her eyes, then heard something behind her and sat up.
Carolyn Taber stood a few feet away, her hand inside her purse. It
took a second for Michaela to register who it was. The woman had
raccoon eyes from mascara dripping down her face. "Why did you do
it?" Carolyn sputtered.

"What are you doing here?" Michaela
asked, standing slowly. Did Carolyn have a gun in her
purse?

"Sterling!" she screamed. "Why did you
kill him?"

Michaela shook her head. "I didn't kill
him and I suggest you leave, Mrs. Taber. You're
trespassing."

Why hadn't she gotten a new dog
yet?

Carolyn's face turned a dark shade of
red, her plastic-surgeoned nose pinching. "Yes, you did. Everyone
knows you did. Why?"

"You're insane. You need to
leave."

"Not until you tell me why you murdered
him."

"Where's your husband, Mrs.
Taber?"

"On his way home."

"Does he know about the affair you and
Sterling were having? Weren't you supposed to be heading home with
him? Is that why you're here? Did my comment about you starring in
a film tip him off?"

"No. I told him that I wanted to stay
and shop, then go to Los Angeles and do some more."

"Right. I didn't kill Sterling. I know
about the affair. I have proof of it, and the police know about it,
too." She was bluffing, but maybe by doing so she'd smoke out
Carolyn Taber.

The woman looked ghastly, to say the
least. "No, please tell me that you did not give those to the
police!" She started to pull something from her purse.

"No!" Michaela yelled, but then
realized that the woman was opening up a checkbook, her hands
shaking.

"Tell me that you didn't give those to
the police. I will pay you for them. How much do you
want?"

"Yes, I did give them the
tapes."

Carolyn's hands shook even more with
this revelation. "You had the last set. I talked with Sterling and
we worked things out. He said that he'd destroy the other tapes for
me. He promised me. I know he did it. I believed him. He loved me!
I can't believe that he gave a set of those tapes to you and you
gave them to the police. What have you done to me? You've ruined
me. You have completely destroyed me! You will pay for
it."

Michaela wasn't about to tell her that
she'd stolen the tapes from Sterling's house. She didn't figure
that would be a good idea. Carolyn Taber spun around and stormed
away. Somehow she was convinced that Sterling's sister-in-law would
make good on her threat, and she also realized that she now had no
choice but to turn those tapes over to Peters.

Twenty-Nine

Michaela put a call to Peters, who
wasn't at the station. She left a message. What to do? Well, she
still wanted to talk with Tommy Liggett. She called the jewelry
store, but the woman who answered said that Tommy was on a break
and would be back in about half an hour. Frustrated, she slipped on
a pair of riding boots and headed out to the barn, where she took
Leo out and lunged him for a bit. Watching his smooth, clean lines,
his taut muscles move through each pace diligently, was meditative
in a sense. His hooves pounded repetitively against the dirt as he
moved in a forward circle with each stride. He tossed his delicate
head into the air and blew hard, his nostrils flaring as she pulled
the lunge line taut and urged him to whoa. His long dark mane lay
against his face and neck. She leaned her forehead on his and felt
tears sting her eyes. She would get her life back, for her horses
and for herself. As soon as she saw Jude she would hand over the
tapes and plead for his help. He could help her with this. Thank
God he would be home in the morning.

She cleaned Leo up and put him away.
Her legs were like Jell-O, and it seemed as if she'd had the wind
knocked out of her. This week had torn at a remote part of her
soul—so much ugliness, seediness, scandal, and cruelty. If she put
feelings on it, vocalized her thoughts, she'd knew she'd break
down. Exhaustion engulfed her. She planned to take a shower and
then talk to Tommy Liggett.

She stepped under the running water,
and once again her mind traveled back to the events of the past few
days. The polo mallet. Was the murder premeditated? Or was it a
"heat of the moment" thing? Say it was premeditated. No, that
didn't jive. Her mallet was a convenient weapon. A premeditated
murder would've meant someone would have planned it, brought a
weapon, and bam! But that's not what happened.

Who had been angry at Sterling that
day? Then again, who hadn't? Juliet was angry. Did she know about
Lucia? Oh, and what about Lucia? Here was a girl who'd told the
cops that Michaela was sleeping with Sterling, which was so far
from the truth it was laughable. And Mario's car…and the wig? What
was that all about? Those two could have been in cahoots, or the
three Sorvinos—Pepe included. Ed Mitchell told Pepe that his
daughter and Sterling had been fooling around. Pepe would've gotten
upset and maybe he went to Mario. What if Pepe confronted Sterling?
Followed him into the back office where Sterling was going to
change, things got out of hand, Pepe hit him with the mallet, then
went to get Mario. Michaela didn't recall seeing Pepe around after
she'd found Sterling, and in those few minutes when Mario went to
see if Sterling was dead and Michaela called the cops, could Mario
have wiped off the mallet? But her fingerprints had still been on
the mallet. Pepe could've been wearing gloves. It was a good
theory. It fit. The only thing that did not fit was, why would any
of them follow Michaela around?

What about Erin Hornersberg? She'd gone
looking for Sterling before the match, became angry with him before
the show, and didn't care at all when he'd shown up dead. She'd
been very uncomfortable with Camden and the women's visit. But this
was a woman who did, in all respects, come across as slightly off.
Maybe she should consider questioning Erin again, only this time
she would take Joe with her.

And what about Carolyn Taber? She
hadn't even been at the event. Or had she? Michaela wouldn't have
known who she was at the time. There were a lot of people around
that day, and if she'd been there she would've blended in with the
rest of the crowd. Had she snapped over the videos? Sterling had
said on the tape that she didn't need to bother destroying them,
because he had more sets. Were the tapes that Michaela had the only
ones left? Carolyn had been willing to pay for them. Had she also
been willing to kill for them?

These were all angles that she still
needed to look into. She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and
turned off the water. Pulling back the curtain to grab her towel,
she screamed and jumped back when she saw who was on the other side
of the curtain, now staring at her buck naked.

Thirty

“
Jude!” She pulled the towel
from the rack and quickly wrapped it around herself. "What in the
hell are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same
thing."

"Excuse me? You weren't supposed to be
back until Friday."

"When Katie and I were in our last
port, I called in to the office and heard about what happened. We
flew straight home."

"Jude! Why did you do that? You didn't
tell Katie, did you?"

"Of course not. She's a little angry
with me, though. I told her that I had to get back for
work."

"A little angry? I don't blame her. I'm
angry, too."

"You're angry because I came back to
try and help you?" He looked totally incredulous.

He also looked good. How she could
think that just then, she wasn't sure, but she couldn't deny that
the tan he'd gotten on the cruise highlighted his blue eyes, and
his hair had bleached lighter in the sun. She wanted to reach out
and touch the lightened waves. "I'm upset, that's all, that you
would cut your trip short because of me."

"Come on, Michaela. The woman who I'm
dating has been arrested for murder and I'm not supposed to get
home as fast as I can to help? Why didn't you contact
me?"

"You were in the Caribbean on a
cruise."

"There are ways to get messages to
passengers, you know. I wasn't off the planet."

"I know, but honestly, I didn't want to
ruin your trip."

He sighed. "Why am I not surprised? And
why am I also not surprised that this has happened to
you?"

"What do you mean by that, 'not
surprised that this happened to me'?"

She stormed past him, embarrassed and
upset that he had the gall to enter her bedroom, then her bathroom,
unannounced, and now he'd seen her in the buff. They'd shared some
passionate moments together, sure, but they hadn't ever been naked
together, and right now she felt like he had an unfair advantage,
which she did not appreciate. And dammit, what did he mean that he
wasn't surprised about her situation?