Chapter 35
Troy was already shit-kicking mad when he finally got to the meeting place. He was pretty damned drunk too. But not so much so that he didn’t have sense enough to make sure they didn’t meet out in the open in broad daylight.
Clint Austin had gone too far.
And Emily Wallace was right on his damned heels.
What the hell was she thinking, taking up for the son of a bitch? Insinuating that he was innocent? She should’ve let him burn up in that damn house! Just showed how much she really cared about Heather’s memory.
The bitch. Troy had no use for her anymore. None.
Keith climbed out of his Jag and glanced around. “What couldn’t keep until after church?” He slammed the door and walked toward Troy. “This is the first time I’ve ever missed church with my boys. All I can say is, it better be good. I’m in enough trouble with Violet now.”
Troy resisted the impulse to say, Screw Violet.
He had and Keith got the short end of the damned stick.
Course that was before she got her wish and married Keith.
And, hell, Troy had been drunk anyway. He’d gone pretty crazy after Heather’s murder.
It had taken him years to get his shit back together.
He’d been all right until that low-down new trial had let Austin go free.
“What’d you tell her?” Troy knew for a fact Keith had to make up one hell of an excuse to get out of going to church with Violet. She had an obsession about appearances.
Keith leaned against Troy’s truck. “That I puked half the night and was hungover.”
Troy kicked a good-size piece of gravel across the layer of smaller pieces that lined the ground everywhere you looked.
The gravel skidded a couple of times before going over the edge into the excavation site.
“You do pretty much look like shit,” he said with a laugh.
Violet would have a hissy if she knew Keith had left the house without shaving.
“Feel like it too.”
Keith pushed away from the truck and wandered toward the massive hole in the ground that provided limestone gravel for the tri-county area.
“It’s time to end this, buddy,” Troy said grimly.
Keith pivoted to face him, eyes slit suspiciously. “What’re you talking about?”
“Austin is just gonna keep hanging around and messing with folks’ heads until people begin to think he’s telling the truth, that maybe he didn’t kill Heather.
Hell, the newspapers are already hinting at that shit.
” Troy shook his head. “I can’t let that happen.
You heard what Violet said, the bastard’s asking to see the files on the investigation.
Why the hell do you suppose he would do that? ”
“How should I know?” Keith flung his arms in the air, his frustration over the top. “I’m telling you, Troy, we need to let this thing go. Burning down his house . . . hell, man, that’s a felony . . . could’ve been a murder charge. Somebody’s taking some big-ass risks.”
Troy scoffed. “Just not big enough or he’d be dead.”
Keith got that suspicious look in his eyes again. “You said you had nothing to do with that.”
“I didn’t.” Troy held up his hands and waved them to show they were clean. “Back off, man. He’s the enemy, not me.”
“Well, if not you, then who?”
“Who knows?” Troy was the one getting suspicious now. “You ain’t getting like Emily Wallace, are you?”
“Emily’s a good person, Troy,” Keith countered, evading the question. “You know that. You and Larry were too hard on her last night.”
“She’s a traitor.” Troy needed a beer. He wished he’d brought along more than the two six-packs he’d already consumed.
“I have to ask you something, Troy.”
Troy swiveled his head to stare at the man who was supposed to be his best friend. “What?”
“You been binging on alcohol lately? Like before?”
“This meeting is not about me,” Troy snapped. He didn’t need nobody telling him how much he should drink. He got enough of that crap at home. Patricia was threatening divorce. Divorce! His whole life was falling apart and it was Austin’s fault. “This is about making things right once and for all.”
Keith shook his head. “I can’t do this anymore, Troy. The damn court says he was wrongly accused. Whether we believe it or not, we can’t change it. The bottom line is that this thing with Austin is ruining all our lives. Don’t you see that, man?”
“At least we have one to ruin,” Troy snarled. “Heather’s was taken away from her.”
Keith stared at the ground a moment, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides. “I can’t do it, Troy.” He lifted his gaze. “I’m finished trying to make Austin pay. The law had the final word. We’ll just have to get right with the way it is.”
“Oh, I see the problem.” Troy moved his head from side to side in disappointment. He stopped abruptly when the world started spinning. He blinked a couple of times, regained his balance.
“You okay, man?” Keith reached for him.
Troy snatched his arm away. “I know what your problem is. I thought about it all night. What Austin said got to you. That bullshit about asking your friends’ for their alibis in front of all those people threw you for a loop, didn’t it?”
Keith looked mad and maybe a little afraid. The anger Troy could understand . . . but the fear, what the hell did Keith have to be afraid of?
“What Austin says or thinks means nothing to me. This is about having some peace. We can’t keep going like this, Troy. We have families to think of.”
Troy pounded his chest. “Heather was my family.”
Keith took a big breath, let it out. “You’re right. And I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. But I’m out, got it?”
Maybe it was the way the alcohol suddenly kicked in or the lack of sleep, but this just didn’t feel right. “Are you saying you’re not gonna help me finish this? After what he did?” Troy blinked some more, tried to keep Keith in focus.
Keith met Troy’s gaze and that hint of fear was still there or, hell, maybe he was imagining it.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Troy’s anger detonated. “What’re you hiding, Keith?
” He stepped closer to the man who’d been his best friend, his closest confidant, since Heather’s murder.
He’d been right there, helped Troy through his trouble with women and drinking.
He’d gotten Troy the job at the plant his daddy owned.
He’d been the best friend a man could want.
But something wasn’t right and it wasn’t the alcohol.
“What’d you do that you’re not telling me? ”
Keith sidestepped to go around him. “I’m going home now. I can’t talk to you when you get like this.”
“Hell no.” Troy grabbed him by the arm and pulled him around. “You’ll tell me what you’re hiding. That’s what you’ll do.”
“What are you talking about, man? You’re drunk.”
“I’m talking about,” Troy moved in nose-to-nose, “what I see in your eyes. The fear. You’re afraid. I want to know why. Don’t even think about playing the Violet card. That shit won’t fly.”
Keith closed his eyes for a moment and dragged in another of those labored breaths. What the hell was wrong with him? Troy didn’t get this. His stomach heaved. Maybe he was hallucinating.
“It’s my alibi . . .”
“Your daddy said you were home in bed,” Troy recalled. “What about it?”
“That wasn’t exactly right.”
It was Troy’s turn to feel the fear. He stamped it out.
“I was with another woman.”
Troy felt his gut roll and then clench. “You were cheating on Heather?”
Keith gave a reluctant nod.
“You son of a bitch.” Troy took a swing at him.
Keith ducked just in time, or maybe Troy’s reflexes were off. He wanted to kill Keith; that’s what he wanted to do.
“You were out with another damned girl when my sister was being murdered?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it all to hell.” Troy walked in a circle, couldn’t wrap his mind around this . . . this was crazy. It had to be a mistake. He suddenly felt far too sober. “She loved you, you sick bastard!”
“Don’t you see,” Keith urged, “I can’t keep doing this to Austin when I . . . I did what I did.”
Troy looked at him, tried hard to figure his cockeyed reasoning. “You’re dead right what you did was wrong, but your screwing around didn’t kill my sister.”
The silence that thickened between them . . . the look in Keith’s eyes told Troy there was more.
“What’s the rest of it?” The voice didn’t even sound like it came from him. Hollow . . . afraid . . . afraid of what he was about to hear.
Keith wouldn’t look Troy in the eye anymore. “I had too much to drink. I passed out.”
Troy didn’t move, prayed that if there was a God in heaven he wouldn’t let whatever Keith was about to say be as bad as it felt like it was going to be.
“The other woman . . . she said she woke up that night and I wasn’t in the bed. Then, the next morning I was. I . . .” He looked at Troy then. “I had blood on my clothes . . . on my hands. We didn’t know where it came from.”
Red flashed in front of Troy’s eyes. He didn’t remember moving, but suddenly he had Keith pinned to the ground. Images of his sister’s slashed face and throat . . . the cuts on her arms where she’d fought her attacker floated before his eyes.
“Are you telling me you killed my sister?” Troy growled, his teeth clenched, his fingers digging into Keith’s throat.
Keith gagged, made a choking sound. Troy let up on his grip. He could feel Keith’s heart pounding in his chest. He could smell the blood rushing through his veins. He didn’t ever remember feeling this kind of rage before.
“Answer me!” he screamed, his voice echoed in the empty quarry.
“I . . . I don’t know.”
The bastard was crying. Troy wanted to kill him. “Damn you.” Troy got up and walked off. He wrestled with the rage that had possessed him like a demon. The air sawed in and out of his lungs. This couldn’t be happening.
Keith pushed to his feet, came up next to Troy, his head hung in defeat or humiliation. “I don’t know what happened. I can’t believe I would have hurt her . . . but I just don’t know.”
Troy turned his head, met Keith’s gaze with fire starting to burn in his belly all over again. “Who was she? I want to talk to her. I want to know what time she woke up. Exactly what she saw or heard.”
Keith looked away. “I can’t tell you. If I tell you—”
Troy grabbed him by the shirtfront and shook the hell out of him. “Tell me who you were with that night or I swear to God I’ll kill you, man.”
Fury flashed in Keith’s eyes then. “I can’t tell you!”
They were on the ground again. Troy had his hands around Keith’s throat. The bastard was trying to push Troy off.
“You waited ten years to tell me this.” Troy squeezed harder. “You son of a bitch. You’re no better than Austin.”
“I’m sorry,” Keith cried. “I pray every night that I didn’t do it . . . but I just don’t know . . . dammit . . . I just don’t know.”
“Then you should just kill yourself and get it over with, you coward, because I’m gonna make you wish you were dead.”
Troy left Keith on the ground and started for his truck. He was finished here. He needed something a hell of a lot stronger than beer to wash down this kind of betrayal.