Rebel Without a Cake Page 24

  My fingers began to tingle. I thought I could see where Adele was going with her story, and I jumped ahead. “But she didn’t, right? She left half the estate to Silas.”

  Adele nodded. “At first, Nettie stayed in the marriage because she thought Silas might change his mind and come home.”

  “But he didn’t.”

  “No, but by the time she realized that he wasn’t coming back, she was used to living alone and doing stuff on her own, and Junior had stepped in to help out so they weren’t suffering.”

  “When did she find out that Silas was going to get the property?”

  Adele shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. Suzette must have told her. Maybe as a reward for being a faithful daughter-in-law. All I know is that Suzette never said a word to Silas or to Junior. Silas only knew because Nettie told him.”

  “How did Silas react to that?”

  “He didn’t. He didn’t think that something written on a piece of paper meant anything. So old Tommy died, and eventually Suzette died, and then one day about a month ago a letter came from an attorney notifying Silas that half of everything was his.”

  The tingle spread up to my elbows. “Half of everything that for years Junior thought was his alone.”

  Adele nodded. “And exactly what Nettie had been waiting for. Silas didn’t pay any attention to it, but Junior started coming around, trying to get Silas to sign it all over to him. And then Nettie started dropping by. At first I thought she was going to try to interest Silas in coming back to her, but I think all she really wanted was to make sure Junior didn’t influence Silas. She wanted the inheritance for Kale.”

  I wondered how far Junior and Nettie would have gone to get what they wanted. “What about Kale? Did he know about his grandmother’s will?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Did he know about you and Silas?”

  Adele looked miserable. “He found out. Nettie told him. She came by one night while I was there.”

  “I take it he wasn’t happy?”

  “No and neither was Nettie.”

  “She thought you might cause friction in her marriage?” It was meant to be a joke, and Adele’s lips curved slightly on the edges.

  “It’s probably more like she thought I’d create a block on the road to her becoming a wealthy woman.”

  That gave Nettie a motive for killing Silas. As Silas’s widow, she was walking away with his half of everything. But to collect from the estate, she would have needed the body discovered quickly so legal wheels could start turning. And she’d seemed so nice. “Do you think Nettie killed Silas?”

  Adele ducked her head and lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe. Nettie went to see Silas that morning. She was worried that Junior was making headway and she wanted to make sure Silas didn’t sign everything over to his brother. Her visit upset Silas. He’d been trying to talk to Kale for weeks but Kale wanted nothing to do with him. That night I begged Kale to talk to his dad, but he refused.”

  I wondered if she was telling the truth about that. Silas was probably already dead when I saw her and Kale together. If she really was trying to convince Kale to talk to his dad, she must not have known he was dead. “Do you know what Silas wanted to tell him?”

  “No, but I wish I did. He wouldn’t tell me a thing. All I know is that he was getting tired of all the visitors. He liked his privacy.”

  From what I’d heard about Silas, I thought that was an understatement. “Out of curiosity, how much land are we talking about?”

  “I don’t know exactly,” Adele said. “Silas never said. It’s a lot, though, and I do know that the part Silas inherited cuts right through where Junior plans to expand his charter business. He’s been talking about draining the swamp in that area so he can build guest cabins and whatnot.”

  That would explain why Junior had suddenly stopped working on the project. It also sounded like a motive for murder—except that if he killed Silas, Nettie would inherit. I wanted Junior to be the bad guy, but getting his brother out of the way wouldn’t help him or his planned expansion. It would just throw up another roadblock. It seemed far more likely that Nettie or Kale had wanted Silas dead.

  The tingling sensation rushed to my shoulders as pieces began to click into place. “If Junior knew that Silas got that land after their mother died, he’d know that Kale will eventually inherit from Nettie. Is that why he’s so fired up to get Kale on his payroll, and was that why he’d suddenly started coming on to his sister-in-law?”

  The crunch of footsteps on gravel distracted Adele for a moment. Ed came around the trailer, and I watched her close up right in front of my eyes. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “You’d have to ask him.” She turned toward Ed with a wave and a smile. “There you are. You got some time to look at my starter?”

  “You bet.” Ed stopped in front of us and wiped his greasy hands on a rag. “I got bad news for you, Miss Lucero. There’s no way I can fix that Mercedes of yours. The front axle is cracked, one door is a goner, and those air bags will cost a fortune to replace. There’s a whole long list of what’s wrong, but bottom line? The thing’s totaled.”

  Twenty-nine

  I didn’t care about the Mercedes right then. I knew I’d care eventually but it was just a car. A really great car, but just a car. I’d inherited it when Philippe died, so it had never really felt like mine. All I could think about was who’d killed Silas, and how to get that information to the right people. Instinctively, I checked my cell phone, but the earth hadn’t shifted on its axis and cell towers hadn’t magically migrated to new locations. I still had no service.

  After paying the storage fee I’d already racked up and promising to let Ed know my plans for the Mercedes, I drove back to T-Rex’s and went inside. The clerks were happy to let me use the phone so I placed a call to Georgie Tucker.

  “I know what happened,” I said when she answered her phone. I heard a gasp behind me and realized I shouldn’t say too much where the T-Rex staff could hear me. I didn’t want anybody to let Nettie and Kale know that I was on to them before Georgie could arrest them. I cupped my hand around the receiver and whispered, “We need to meet. How soon can you get here?”

  “You know who killed Silas?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m about an hour away,” Georgie said. “Why don’t you just tell me who you think it was?”

  “I can’t do that,” I said. “I’m calling from the general store.”

  “You don’t want anyone to overhear?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Stay where you are,” Georgie ordered. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “I’ll be in the parking lot,” I told her. I figured she’d find me without any trouble. Miss Frankie’s car was bound to stand out.

  Both clerks looked curious when I hung up. I think they expected me to explain myself. That might be what everyone in Baie Rebelle did when they made a public phone call, but sometimes you just have to buck tradition.

  I smiled and thanked them for the use of the phone, and then let myself outside.

  I chafed at every second I had to wait. A couple of times, I had the urge to play hero and drive out to Nettie’s just to make sure she and Kale didn’t get away. But I wasn’t stupid. If Nettie Laroche saw me at her house, she’d probably realize the jig was up. I couldn’t outrun her in Miss Frankie’s car. I’d be too nervous about wrecking it to try. Besides, Nettie and Kale had immediate access to (and familiarity with) hundreds of miles of remote swampland. I can’t stress enough how much I did not want to end up a statistic on somebody’s death-by-alligator list.

  I waited for about twenty minutes before three things happened simultaneously: I got too antsy to sit still; I realized my mouth was dry as dirt; and I remembered that Nettie was probably at work. I could get a table at the Gator Pit and order a Diet Coke. That way
I could easily keep an eye on Nettie until Georgie arrived.

  Great plan—except that the Gator Pit was empty save the long-haired bartender who’d been on duty last time. Long Hair looked up from the small TV behind the bar and gave me a chin-jerk greeting. “Getcha anything?”

  “A Diet Coke, please.” I sat on a barstool and glanced around. “Is Nettie here?”

  “You know Nettie?”

  “We’ve met a couple of times. I thought I’d say hello.”

  Long Hair put a glass in front of me and almost got it on the coaster. “Nettie ain’t here. She didn’t show up this morning.”

  I tried not to jump to conclusions. She could have been sick. Missing a shift at work didn’t necessarily mean that she was a coldblooded killer on the lam. “Have you called her?”

  “Tried three times. She ain’t answering her phone. A possum or a raccoon maybe chewed through the phone line.”

  Okay. It looked bad. But again I told myself that Nettie’s failure to show up wasn’t necessarily a reason to worry. “Is that usual? Does she skip shifts often?”

  Long Hair wiped down a spot on the bar and shook his head. “Not since I’ve been here. She’s usually right where she’s supposed to be.” He tossed the rag into the sink and jerked his chin toward the empty room. “I woulda gone to check on her but I’m the only one here. She’s probably sick. Kale will come by and let me know.”

  I did my best to believe that Nettie was under the weather and that animals had taken out her only means of communication, but the uneasy feeling wouldn’t go away. If Nettie and Kale were on the run, I should let Georgie know right away.

  “Why don’t I go check on her,” I said to the bartender. “If Georgie Tucker comes looking for me, would you tell her I’ve gone out to Nettie’s house?”

  “Sure thing. You’ll let me know what’s going on after you talk to her?”

  “I’ll make sure of it.”

  I drove as fast as I dared on those narrow, winding roads to Nettie’s tiny yellow house. I kept telling myself that I was just being overly cautious. That I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. That Nettie and Kale couldn’t know that I’d figured out everything they’d done to get Silas’s inheritance and ensure Kale’s future. They wouldn’t disappear now.

  I picked up the scent of burning wood before I actually saw the smoke curling up over the trees. Sick with fear, I pressed the accelerator and shot around those curves faster than I felt safe. It seemed to take forever, but I finally rounded the last turn.

  Thick gray smoke billowed from the rooftop and my heart plummeted. Had Nettie and Kale torched the house? As I pulled into the driveway and saw the white Ford Ranger near the back of the house, my breath left my lungs in a whoosh! I hadn’t wanted Kale to be in on his mother’s scheme, but that thought was better than the alternative. I couldn’t bear to think that Nettie had left Kale behind.

  Back in the city I could have dialed 911 and emergency crews would have been on their way within minutes. Here in Baie Rebelle that wasn’t an option. The closest phone was inside the burning house. I’d never get to a neighbor in time to save him. I was his only chance of survival.

  I shouted for Kale at the top of my lungs, but I couldn’t hear any response. The idea of going into a burning building terrified me, but I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. I’d never be able to live with myself, especially after the way Kale had saved me when I was stranded on the side of the road. I might already be too late, but if I were the one inside, I’d like to think someone would at least try to get me out.

  I ran around to the back of the house, where towels hung on a makeshift clothesline. That laundry drying innocently in the sun seemed incongruous to me. Would Nettie have hung out the laundry if she planned to set fire to the house?

  While my brain pondered that question, I checked the door and window. I couldn’t see flames, but it looked like the whole house was filled with smoke. Drawing on every speck of courage I could find, I carefully put my hand on the door to feel for heat. It was warm, not hot, but I grabbed a towel off the line and wrapped my hand before I tried the knob.

  It turned easily so I pushed the door open and stepped back in case flames shot out at me. Smoke poured out the door, temporarily blinding me. My eyes burned and my lungs, still sore from the air bag incident, seized up on me. I gasped shallow breaths and pushed inside. Smoke filled my lungs immediately. I dropped to the floor, somehow remembering that smoke rises, and coughed out Kale’s name again.

  The reality of being inside that burning house was even more horrific than I could have imagined. Boards creaked and groaned beneath me, making noises that sounded almost human. I couldn’t go in much farther. I’d never make it out alive.

  Carefully, I inched forward and called out again. My voice came out on a cough that felt as if it had shredded my lungs. I had to get outside.

  Just then I saw something move in the smoke ahead of me. The shape turned into a person, and Kale backed into the room, dragging his mother behind him.

  Without thinking, I crawled forward to help. Kale was disoriented and terrified. He swatted me away and kept tugging his mother toward the door. My head was spinning and I could barely see. My lungs were ready to explode, but I scooted around so I could grab Nettie’s feet.

  After what felt like an eternity, Kale and I made it out the door and into the fresh air. We took a few seconds to suck in some oxygen and orient ourselves, but we were far from free of danger. “We have to get away from the house,” I said to Kale. My voice sounded like I’d swallowed gravel. Even those few words hurt.

  Together, we picked Nettie up and started moving toward Kale’s truck. I had no idea where the nearest hospital was, and the only medical help in Baie Rebelle was the faith healer Aunt Margaret had mentioned to me, but I thought a traiteur would be better than nothing. We had to get help for Nettie.

  We were halfway to the truck when I heard something zing past my ear, followed by a ping that sounded like rock hitting metal.

  Kale slammed into me and knocked me to the ground, shouting, “Take cover!”

  My mind was working in slow motion. I had difficulty understanding him. While I was still trying to arrange his warning into words I could comprehend, another ping came and my mind suddenly clicked into working order.

  Someone was shooting at us.

  Thirty

  I was in full fight-or-flight mode by the time the third shot came, and I wasn’t seriously considering the “fight” option. Kale threw Nettie over his shoulder and ducked behind the Ranger. I followed Kale, throwing myself on the ground a split second before shot number four pierced the truck bed.

  Nettie coughed a couple of times, so I knew she was alive. At least for now. Kale threw an arm over her and warned her to stay down but I thought she looked too weak to get up anyway. I smelled gasoline and realized the gunman must have hit the gas tank. Which meant we couldn’t use the Ranger to get away. Until that moment, I’d been counting us lucky that he’d missed his targets. Now I realized he—or she—was a better shot than I’d thought.

  “Is there any place we can hide?” I asked.

  Kale tipped his head toward the garage. It was detached from the house, but only a few feet from the truck. “That’s it unless we can get to a neighbor’s,” he said. “And I don’t think we’d make it with Ma.”

  I inched up so I could see over the Ranger’s hood and scanned the area. “I think the shots came from that hill,” I said, pointing across the highway.

  “He won’t stay there,” Kale said, crouching beside me. “He knows where we are. He’ll move to get a better shot at us.”

  His assessment made sense to me. “How long do you think we have?”

  “Couple of minutes, maybe.”

  That wasn’t nearly long enough. We couldn’t get to safety but we couldn’t just stay there and turn ourselves into sittin
g ducks. “Is it Junior?” I asked.

  Kale nodded. “Has to be. If Mom dies, all that land comes to me. If I’m gone, Junior’s the only one left to inherit.”

  So he staged a house fire to kill off the competition? Apparently, Silas wasn’t the only deranged nut on the family tree. “We have to find a way to beat him at his own game,” I said. “What are his weaknesses?”

  “Out here? He doesn’t have any.”

  “Everybody has weaknesses,” I insisted. “What are his?”

  Kale’s temper snapped and he turned on me. “He doesn’t have any. He’s one of the best. He can pick off an alligator swimming in the open with a single shot. Do you know how small the kill-spot is on a gator? It’s the size of a quarter.”

  “I don’t care,” I shouted back. “I know we’re being hunted, and I know he’s good enough to take us out, but we have to do something. We can’t just sit here and wait for him to pick us off. What pushes his buttons, Kale? You have to know.”

  Nettie coughed again and this time she tried to speak. “Too . . . smart.”

  They were making me crazy. Junior had been there for them so long they’d started thinking of him as invincible. But if they held on to that way of thinking, we were all doomed. “He’s not that smart,” I snapped. “Come on. We can do this if we put our heads together.”

  Kale stood up before I could stop him. “You stay with Ma. I’ll see what I can do.”

  Worried that he’d just put a bull’s-eye on his chest, I grabbed his arm and jerked him down toward the ground. He let out an oooph! and crashed onto me hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs. Hot, sticky blood hit my face and neck.

  I screamed and tried to shove him off me. I was certain he’d been killed and I didn’t want to lie there beneath a dead guy. Besides, I couldn’t save Nettie or myself if I couldn’t get up.

  It took some effort, but Kale finally rolled to one side with a deep groan. I leaned over him and searched for the bullet wound. Blood covered his shirt, but he was alive. I couldn’t see anything with all that blood on him so I tore his shirt open. I spotted the wound on his left shoulder. His shoulder, not his heart. Thank God.