pot, maybe a bookend, something like that. Did Jacob do it? We’ll
just have to see about that.”
“Nothing else makes much sense,” Tyler said, jumping to his
feet. He began pacing the room. His -whole body was vibrating
with tension. He had good muscle tone, the sheriff thought, remembering
his own buffed self that the ladies had stared at when
he was that young. Tyler whirled around, came to a stop, nearly
knocking over a floor lamp. “Don’t you see? Whoever killed her
had to have access to Jacob’s basement. Surely Jacob would have
heard someone knocking away bricks, then putting them back up.
The killer had to have cement to do that. Also, he had to haul the
body into the house and down the basement steps. That would be
quite an undertaking. It had to be Jacob. Nothing else makes
sense.”
Adam said, leaning back in that old leather chair now, his legs
crossed at his ankles, his fingers steepled, the tips lightly tapping together,
“Now, wait a minute. You’re saying that Jacob Marley never
left his house?”
“Not that I remember,” Tyler said. “He even had his groceries
delivered. Of course, I was gone four years when I was in college.
Maybe he used to be different, went out more.”
“Two things were always true about old Jacob,” Sheriff Gaffney
said slowly. “Two things you could always count on. He was here and
he was mean.” He heaved himself from his seat. He froze when the
button right above his wide leather belt up and popped off. He
watched, paralyzed, as the damned button rolled across the polished
oak floor to stop at the big toe of Carruthers’s right boot. He sucked
in his belly, but he still felt that wide leather belt of his continue to
cut him something fierce. He didn’t say anything, just held out his
hand.
Adam Carruthers tossed him the button. He didn’t smile. The
sheriff clutched that damned button close. Jesus, maybe he should
think about that diet Maude was always nagging him about.
Becca pretended not to see anything. She rose and stuck out her
hand to the sheriff. “Thank you for coming and telling us in person.
Please let us know when you find out who that poor girl is.”
“Was, ma’am, was. I will. I’m glad I called them. I had to worm
it out of them, but I finally got to speak to the main guy, a hard-nose
named Jarvis, and he finally coughed up the info.” He nodded
to Tyler McBride, who looked hollow-cheeked, as if he’d been put
through a wringer, and then to Adam Carruthers, a cocky bastard
who hadn’t laughed when his button had popped off.
“I’ll see you out, Sheriff,” Becca said and walked beside him out
of the living room.
Adam said to Tyler, “Becca told me what was going on. I’m glad
I was nearby and could get here to help.”
Tyler eyed the man. There hadn’t been time to question him before
the sheriff had arrived. He said slowly, suspicion a sharp thread
in his voice, “I didn’t know Becca had a cousin. Who the hell are you?”
Chapter 10
Adam said easily, “Becca’s mom was my aunt. She died of cancer,
you know, very recently. My mom lives in Baltimore with my step-dad.
A great guy, loves to fish for bass.”
Thank God she heard that before she came back into the living
room. The man was quick and smooth. He was a very good liar.
She would have believed him herself if she hadn’t known better.
Actually, her mother was an only child, both her parents long dead.
Her father had been an only child as well. His parents were also
dead. Who was Adam, anyway?
Tyler turned toward Becca and said in a warm voice that was far
too intimate, “Well, just maybe Sam can have a stepmom, just like
you got yourself a stepdad, Adam.”
Becca felt a jolt that landed a lump in her throat. She couldn’t
breathe for a minute. Tyler was looking at her like that? A future
stepmom for Sam? She cleared her throat twice before she could
speak. Well, she’d known him forever and he hadn’t killed his wife,