Bouquet of Lies Part 28

Henderson smiled. "I understand." And then he scowled. "I had a talk with Mr. Barber. He wanted to know if Darla being married affected the status of her trust. I told him under no circ.u.mstances would I be turning over the responsibilities of her trust to him. A rushed marriage like this was just the sort of reason Harper had set up the trust with the provisions it has. He was most cordial about it. But, well. Why would he ask? I mean unless I were doing something wrong or there was another kind of problem. And then he asked some rather pointed questions about you. Implying he didn't trust you, and neither did Darla. I told him that had nothing to do with my responsibilities and the conversation ended there. I thought you should know."

Lacey walked away with a grimace. For the first time she seriously considered the idea that Randy didn't love Darla, but had only married her for her money.

Aunt Helen missed the wedding. She'd come down with a cold. Uncle D was there, of course, keeping his eyes peeled for weird behavior. Lacey even noticed him checking the bushes. For what? Perhaps her missing-in-action mother was sneaking a peek from some wistful hiding place, la Stella Dallas. She supposed it was possible.

"I'm going to have a chat with Dan now," Courtney told Lacey. They were at the punch bowl, the one not laced with liquor.

"About what?" Lacey ladled liquid refreshment into her gla.s.s.

"Color theory. The two of you are acting like strangers and I've decided I really like him." Courtney strutted away and Lacey watched her sit next to Dan.

"Good luck," Lacey murmured.

"Good luck?"

Lacey turned. Randy stood beside her, his gorgeous face displaying a sincere-looking smile.

Lacey raised her gla.s.s. "Yes. Good luck. All the best. All that stuff. If you'll excuse me."

"Don't tell me you're still upset because I fell in love with Darla."

Lacey scrunched her nose as if she had just detected an unexpected load of manure. "Please. Let's not play games. You know my objections. I still have them and they're still valid. She's too young. Just be good to her. Don't hurt her. Ever. Or my claws will come out."

"I'd never hurt her. Here." He took Lacey's gla.s.s and handed her one she a.s.sumed came from the potent punch bowl. "A peace offering."

Lacey had a sudden urge to toss the punch in Randy's face but she reigned herself in and said "bottoms up" instead. She took a drink. He was her brother-in-law now, like it or not. It was wise to make the best of it. Henderson would protect Darla's money and by the time Darla was twenty-five, hopefully Randy would be out of the picture.

"To family," Randy said, raising his gla.s.s in a toast.

"All right. Let's not push it."

Randy's face fell and Lacey gave in. "To family." She took another drink.

"You should go congratulate Darla," he said.

Lacey looked at her sister. Darla was at her own wedding and she looked like a frightened mouse seated at the table without her husband. Her eyes glanced every which way. Apparently she didn't know where Randy had gone.

"Sure. I'll give it a try," Lacey said. "So she can reject me again." She took another swallow of the punch. It really hurt when Darla acted cold. She put her gla.s.s down without having finished it, and walked over to her sister, hugged her from behind, and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you," Lacey said.

"Have you seen Randy?" Darla responded.

"You're supposed to say, 'I love you, too.'" She took the seat beside her sister.

"Love you, too."

"Heartfelt. Randy's around. I just talked to him. Decide about the honeymoon yet?" They hadn't talked in so long, Lacey didn't even know about that.

Darla visibly trembled. "Why do you bring that up?"

"I'm sorry. It's a normal, run-of-the-mill question to ask a bride."

"We . . . we . . . we're going up the coast."

"That's nice. The coastline's nice." Poor, Darla. Even with Randy, she was terrified of going away. Or was it her "aching loins"? Maybe they weren't aching anymore.

Darla looked at her, so scared, and Lacey's heart broke. She wanted to gather her sister in her arms and tell her everything was going to be fine. Well, the honeymoon should be fine, but after that was anybody's guess. She started to hug her, but Darla flinched. Whatever had turned Darla against her had been thorough.

Lacey pulled back. "Well." She stood. "Don't forget. You can always come home." She walked away before Darla could say anything that would amount to a slap in the face.

"Move over," Lacey told Courtney. "If he doesn't get color-people theory by now, he never will."

Courtney grinned. "He gets it." She moved over and Lacey sat down.

"I get it," Dan said. He grabbed Lacey's face and kissed her hard and deep.

When he pulled back Lacey said, "I feel faint."

"The orange in me." Dan smiled.

"I'd like to think. But no. I really feel faint. Too much sun. Too much stress. Too much punch. Don't say anything. I've only had three. Well, two and a quarter." She breathed more deeply.

"Should I call the paramedics?" Dan's face filled with concern.

Lacey smiled weakly. "No. I think I'll go in the house and lie down. Just for a few minutes. You stay here and practice being orange." She glanced at Courtney and for the first time saw admiration in Courtney's eyes when she looked at Dan. "Or you can wait on that until I come back."

Commotion in the house woke Lacey. She glanced at the clock. She had been asleep for an hour. Still groggy and still experiencing a headache, she rose from the bed and went to the door. There was quite the hubbub going on. People were in a tizzy about something. As she stumbled down the stairs she ran into Dan racing up. "Have you been asleep all this time?"

"Yes," Lacey answered, her eyes straying to the foyer. "What's going on?"

"You didn't hear anything?"

"Like what? The reception's in the backyard. My room's in the front. Why?"

A crowd gathered around the library door.

"Steady yourself . . . Edward's dead. Someone bludgeoned him with the poker in the library. Just like your father."

"What?"

"And, like last time, Darla found the body."

Twenty-seven.

FIRST HER FATHER, then Maggot, then Honey, and now Edward.

For the first time in her life, Lacey was frightened out of her skin. Who was next? Because someone had to be next. Why stop at four? And who was doing the killing? Was it their mother? Had she murdered Father for some need for revenge? Maggot because he knew her whereabouts? Honey because . . . Why would she kill her roommate? And Edward. Well, a lot of people probably wanted to kill him. That was a no-brainer. Lacey flinched. It was an unintended pun, but for a second relieved some of her tension.

Things were a little different this time. Uncle D roamed and talked to family members, getting a feel for what happened. Then he declared he was going to question family members alone, one by one, more in depth. As the wedding guests were interviewed outside by other cops and then dismissed, family waited in the sitting room to be called.

Darla had not been given a sedative and she was not allowed to sleep this one out. She and Randy sat on the settee. Still dressed in her wedding gown, veil still banded to her head, she clung to her new husband, both arms wrapped around one of his.

Dan stuck close to Lacey. He wasn't a family member, but neither Darla nor Randy complained. He sat on the arm of the wingback chair where Lacey was seated and held her hand.

Randy was called first and an interesting thing happened. Once he left the room, Darla moved to her sister and took the hand Dan wasn't holding. "It was Mother. I saw her again."

"I know," Lacey told her. "She's alive."

"No. No. The Reverend says she's not. I understand she wanted Father with her. I don't understand why she'd want Edward."

Lacey took a breath and let it out slowly. She wasn't sure what to say to Darla. She hadn't told her about Tiffany and wasn't about to confuse her now with more information than she could handle. "It'll be okay," she finally said. "We'll get through this. The police will get to the bottom of it."

"They can't. Mother won't come to them." Darla looked toward the door and back at Lacey.

"Tell me what you saw. Why did you go into the library?" Lacey asked.

Darla swallowed and took several short breaths. "You won't believe me."

"I'll believe you. I'll believe anything you tell me."

Darla stared at Lacey with worried, ice-green eyes. "I heard Mother call me."

Lacey squeezed her lips together. How could Darla have heard Mother call? That didn't jibe with Mother being a live person someone could see. For a second Lacey wondered if schizophrenia ran in the family. If Darla was hearing voices . . .

Stop. You said you'd believe her. She needs your trust.

"Okay. You heard her. What did she say?"

"She said she needed to talk to me alone. To come to the library and she'd be there and not to be afraid. Everything was okay."

"So she lied to you."

Darla stiffened. "Yes. She did."

"Tell me exactly what happened when you went in the room."

"The door was ajar. I pushed it open and called for her."

"Did you see her?"

"No. Not at first. The lights were out and wouldn't come on when I flipped the switch. And the blinds were closed. I walked in farther and went around the couch and that's when I saw Grandfather on the floor. Just like-" She hiccupped and tried to catch her breath. "Like . . . like . . . oh."

"It's okay. It's okay." Lacey patted Darla's hand.

"It was just like Father, and I stared. I couldn't even scream and then Mom was beside me and she hit Edward with the poker even though I think he was already dead and I screamed. I ran out and people came. People came and Mom was gone. No one saw her but me." Tears fell from Darla's eyes. "What am I supposed to do when he calls me in there? He won't believe me."

"Yes, he will," Lacey said. "He will. Tell him the truth and he will. I'll tell him I believe you."

"Honestly?"

Lacey nodded. Darla slipped down and sat on Lacey's lap. She leaned against her and put her arms around Lacey's neck just as she'd done many times as a little girl. She lay her head on Lacey's shoulder and rested. The veil tickled Lacey's face. She pulled it from Darla's head and stuffed it down the side of the cus.h.i.+on until it couldn't be seen. Good riddance. Then Lacey put her arms around her sister and held her. It felt good to comfort her again. Bygones were bygones. At least in this moment. And Lacey wished it would last.

Dan put his hand on her shoulder blade and rubbed. Lacey craned her neck as best she could to look at him. He gave her a small smile and she smiled back.

There was no more talking and Darla's breathing grew so rhythmic Lacey felt sure her sister was asleep.

Then Randy returned to the room. He had been gone only twenty minutes. He looked at Darla curled up in Lacey's lap and Lacey watched an odious expression cross his face before he looked into Lacey's eyes and gave her a smile.

"Thanks for comforting my wife."

Randy took Darla's arm and pulled her to him, waking her. They walked to the sofa they had sat on before. Darla leaned against him, her eyes closed. Randy looked at Lacey. "He wants to talk to you next."

Lacey sat across the dining room table from Uncle D. He had a notepad before him, filled with his scribble, a pen and a roll of Tums beside it. He rubbed his right eye with the palm of his hand and then picked up the pen and looked at her. He didn't say anything for a moment, then checked his notes. Maybe for show. Maybe because he couldn't remember what she'd said in the brief interview before this. Finally he spoke. "Okay. You told me, you came in the house and took a nap. That still your story?"

Still her story? What could have changed in the little bit of time that had elapsed since she had told him she'd taken a nap? Did he think she was lying?

"Uh, yeah. I was suddenly so sleepy I could hardly keep my eyes open. And I had a headache."

"That sort of thing happen to you often?"

"Never."

He made a note. "You came upstairs?"

"Yes."

"And went straight to your room?"

"Yes."

"Did you see anybody?"

"No."

"Was the library door closed?"

"I think so. It always is. I didn't notice."

He made another note.

"How long did you sleep?"