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“Honey, I’m a murderer. Do you really think it bothers me that I’m a liar, too?’’
Suddenly, I thought about lies. Something Sava
She lowered her face next to mine and gri
“No, duh, Mace. ‘There’s nothing for me in Jacksonville.’ As soon as that phrase was out of my mouth, I knew I’d made a mistake. I forgot I’d made Jacksonville my alibi, and then lied about growing up there. You didn’t catch my screw-up then.’’
“I didn’t,’’ I said.
“Yeah, some detective. Your sorry love life was too distracting. I knew you would catch it, though; and you did.’’
Too late, I thought.
She lifted the whip, waved it to the corners of the cow pen. “I had to think on my feet, come up with a plan. I saw the shovel. The ropes. The cattle. Everything fell into place, really fast.’’
Her face glowed with pride. Did she want me to compliment her on her clever plan to kill me?
I closed my eyes and thought about Carlos. An image of his face replaced Sava
I strained against the ropes. They seemed to pull tighter. Hair fell into my face, brushing my nose and making me want to sneeze. I wriggled my nose, but the hair didn’t move.
“Don’t struggle, honey. It’ll just make it worse. There is one little bone I can throw you. A parting gift, as it were.’’ She reached down, and almost tenderly pushed away the hair from my itchy nose. “That cop is crazy about you. I could see it in his eyes the other night at the bar. While you were moping over your beer, he was watching you, even when he was dancing with Kelly. Whenever you weren’t looking at him, he was looking at you.’’
I wouldn’t think my heart, already racing with adrenaline, could feel a flutter, but it did. If I ever got out of this, I was going to throw myself into Carlos’s arms and never leave.
“Thanks for that,’’ I said. “I wish I hadn’t been such a fool.’’
She sighed. “You said it at the bar. Love makes us do strange things.’’
“Is that why you killed Norman?’’ I asked. “To avenge Jesse?’’
“What?’’ She leaned close to my face; scrunched up her forehead. “Hell, no. What Norman did to Jesse had nothing to do with it. This film was Paul’s absolute last chance to save his reputation as a director. Norman was going to fire him. I couldn’t let him do that. What would I do without Paul’s income?’’
Get a job? I thought it, but I didn’t say it.
“I was poor once, Mace. I don’t intend to ever be poor again.’’
Sava
“What did you mean when you said Paul did what you told him to do?’’
“My husband was definitely on board for Norman, but he was reluctant about the rest of it. He didn’t want anyone else murdered. Well, maybe except for Greg Tilton.’’
“Yeah, that poisoned sandwich could have killed him.’’
She laughed. “That’s fu
“What do you mean?’’
“When Paul planted the loaded gun, we thought Toby would use it to rehearse with Greg, not the A.D. Joh
Thunder clapped, loud enough to split the sky in half. Sava
Sensing the storm, the cows jostled and shifted together at the pen’s far side. Whip in hand, Sava
“Right there is your locomotive, Mace.’’
I knew it wasn’t possible, but the eyes of the cattle seemed to gleam with menace.
I watched Sava
I did remember seeing those ancient film clips from The Perils of Pauline. Someone always rescued the silent movie heroine at the last possible moment. Unfortunately, my horizon looked pretty scarce on the cavalry.
I started flexing and contracting the muscles in my wrists, trying to work on loosening the ropes. The pressure eased a bit, but there was no way I’d get the knots untied by the time Sava
I started to pray. I might be rusty, but I still knew enough to ask for God’s hand to guide me.
I hoped the big man was listening. Within moments, hoof beats pounded the ground outside the pen. Galloping up, Sava
The cattle paced on the far side of the pen, their big heads swaying. The Appaloosa stepped through and stood inside the gate, waiting patiently for her rider to remount. Sava
The cows, wary, regarded the horse and rider. Thunder crashed like a bomb exploding. A fat raindrop splattered in the dirt beside my head. Sava
A huge streak of lightning turned the dark clouds silvery white. In the burst of light, I saw red in the distance. Mama, still wearing Ruby’s red dress and shoes, picked her way across the pasture toward the pen. She’d probably spotted Sava
I prayed she’d stay that way. No such luck. Closer now, she called out: “Yoo-hoo! Mace! Honey, you better get in before it really starts to rain …”
As soon as Mama’s voice rang over the pasture, Sava
“I’m over here! Help, Mama!’’
Maybe it was the desperation in my voice, but she caught on quickly for somebody just smacked in the face with a shovel. Of course, it was just the narrow wooden handle, not like the full force of the blade that had hit me.
Mama’s head swiveled, like a camera pa
Sava