Chapter Eight
Cully sat in the breakroom of the police station, sipping the now cold cup of tea that Declan had scrounged up for her. He’d gotten one for her mom, too, who was seated across from her, but Alice hadn’t touched hers.
In fact, her mom had barely spoken a word since they’d sped away from the burning house and come here. Her non-responsiveness had made it impossible for Owen to get a statement from her so they were now working on plan B. Tansy was on her way from San Antonio, and she’d take Alice to her doctor there.
And then back home.
Cully wanted her mother away from Outlaw Ridge. Away from any other possible attacks if the arsonist had indeed targeted Declan and her. She didn’t want Alice caught up in any…well, whatever the heck was going on.
Renee might possibly be able to give them answers, or a confession, but so far the woman was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t home and hadn’t responded to multiple attempts for Owen to contact her. That could possibly mean Renee was guilty, which meant she might also be guilty of the four murders. But until she was located and interviewed, Cully had no idea what Renee would possibly say.
Cully looked up when the breakroom door opened, and Declan walked in. He looked just as exhausted as she probably did, and like her, he carried remnants of the fire.
The smoke stench and grass stains on their clothes.
Various scrapes and bruises.
A nick on his chin from the flying glass from the window.
Her own cut was on her temple, and while both their injuries were minor and had been tended by the EMTs, they were visual reminders of how close they’d come to being burned alive.
Declan studied her for a moment, no doubt noting the slight tremble that was still in her hands, before he switched his attention to her mother. He glanced at the untouched tea and sighed.
“Alice, can I get you something else to drink?” he asked, stooping down to make eye contact with her.
Several moments crawled by before her mother gave a slight shake of her head. It wasn’t much of a response, but it was something, and it gave Cully hope that her mom might be coming out of this fugue state.
“How about you?” Declan said to Cully, sitting on the sofa next to her. “You need anything?”
“Answers,” she said, the frustration heavy in her voice.
The frustration was all over Declan, too. He scrubbed his hand over his face and then winced when his fingers raked over the small cut on his chin.
“Sorry, no answers,” he finally replied. “I don’t even have any good news.”
Cully turned to face him. “But you have news?”
He nodded, sighed again. “The house is totaled. And I’m sorry about that because I know you wanted it for your mother.”
Yes, she had, and now she’d have to come up with another solution. If her mom didn’t want to live in another house here in Outlaw Ridge, then they’d just have to stay in their current home, and Cully would have to commute to work.
“Still nothing from Renee or Roscoe,” Declan went on. “Owen’s put out an APB on Renee.”
Cully was glad he’d done that because the woman could be on the run. And that in itself led to more questions.
For starters, why?
Was Renee running because she was truly guilty of committing four murders and trying to kill Declan and her? Or was there something else going on?
“I’m still having trouble accepting that Renee could have murdered her own child,” Cully murmured, keeping her voice at a whisper. Her mom didn’t appear to be listening, but she didn’t want Alice hearing anything that might upset her.
Declan lifted his shoulder. “Maybe she didn’t. She could have maybe wanted to burn the place down to protect someone.”
“Roscoe,” Cully provided, though that seemed a stretch, too.
Still, there had to be a reason Renee was at the house and had run when spotted. A reason, too, why she wasn’t answering her phone.
“If Renee isn’t the killer and was instead trying to protect him, then she could be dead,” Declan threw out there. “It’s dangerous business to form an alliance with a killer even if you happened to be married to him.”
Yes, it was. And with Roscoe’s short fuse, Cully had no trouble seeing him commit the murders and then eliminate anyone who might be close to uncovering what he’d done.
That included Declan and her.
Of course, they weren’t actually close to identifying a killer, but Roscoe might have wanted to stop them from getting their hands on the gun that her mom had told them about. If the gun existed, and that was a big if, it could have been the murder weapon.
“It’s likely the arsonist was in the house tonight while we were there,” Cully spelled out. “If he or she heard us talking about the gun, then that might have spurred him or her to set the fire.”
“Yeah, but the gun can still be found in the rubble,” Declan was quick to point out. “Too bad though that any DNA or trace on it would have been destroyed in the fire.” He paused. “And there’s the part about whose gun is it. Your mom said it belonged to Noah.”
She had indeed said that, and it had Cully shifting her attention back to her mother. Alice still had that vacant look in her eyes, but Cully decided to go ahead with some questions.
“Mom.” Cully reached over and touched Alice’s hand and was pleased when her mother looked at her. She hoped that meant Alice was experiencing what her doctor had called an episode of terminal lucidity. That’s when her mother’s mind would be clear enough for her to recall things.
“Do you remember us talking about Noah when we were at the house in Outlaw Ridge?” Cully asked her.
Alice blinked several times. “Noah,” she repeated. “Yes, he’s a bad man. Thaddeus didn’t trust him.”
All right. That was a start, and it meshed with what Alice had said earlier. “Why didn’t he trust Noah?”
“Irresponsible,” Alice spat out. Her expression was no longer blank. There was plenty of emotion in her eyes now. “Borrowing money, not paying it back. Get rich quick schemes that always went bust.” She shook her head in disgust. “He should have never inherited the house.”
“Then, why did he?” Declan asked.
“Because Thaddeus didn’t do a will, that’s why. He’s probably rolling over in his grave at the likes of Noah owning his house. Thaddeus loved that place. So did I,” Alice added in a mutter, and tears watered her eyes. “Did it burn down?”
Cully gave her mom’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Yes, I’m sorry, but it’s gone.”
“Renee,” Alice grumbled. “She burned it and ran, didn’t she?”
“Maybe,” Cully settled for saying. “Any idea why Renee would do something like that?”
Alice went quiet, and for several moments, Cully didn’t think she would even respond, but she finally did. “Renee wanted to marry Noah, but her folks wouldn’t let her.”
This was the first Cully was hearing of this, and she glanced at Declan to see if he’d heard this before. Judging from his head shake, he hadn’t. Of course, this would have all taken place years before they were born.
“Why wouldn’t her parents let Renee marry him?” Declan pressed.
“Because Renee was still in high school,” Alice answered, “and besides, they knew Noah was an irresponsible fool, that’s why. They wanted her to marry Roscoe. He had money, and they believed he’d take good care of her. Renee wasn’t one to stand up for herself back then, and her folks practically arranged the marriage to keep her away from Noah.”
Interesting, and Cully mentally let that play out. She came up with a theory that was a long shot but possible. If Renee had loved Noah and he’d done the murders, maybe she had wanted to protect him by destroying any potential evidence.
If so, did that mean Noah was still alive?
“What about Noah’s gun?” Declan asked her mom. “You told us to look for it in his old room.”
“Because that’s where he kept it,” she said with no hesitation this time. “Not exactly a secret. He didn’t have a license for it so he kept it hidden away.” Alice stopped. “Did you get the gun?”
“No,” Declan answered.
Alice groaned. “You needed it to prove that Noah murdered Derrick.”
Her mother said that as if there were no doubt about it. But Cully had doubts. Then again, she could say that about all of their suspects.
“Why would Noah have killed Dad?” Cully came out and asked.
“Because Noah owned him money, and Derrick was pressuring him to repay it,” Alice explained.
Again, Cully hadn’t known about that, and it could be motive for murder.
Her mother opened her mouth as if to continue but then closed it. And her forehead bunched up. “What were we talking about?” she asked, glancing around. “Was it about the baby?”
“What baby?” Declan asked.
“Yours and Cully’s,” her mom promptly answered.
Cully’s heart dropped to her knees, and she turned to Declan. He spoke though before she could figure out what to say.
“Cully and I didn’t have a baby,” Declan told Alice.
“Yes, because Cully lost it. She miscarried. Such sad business,” she added, shaking her head. “Cully cried and cried and cried.”
Cully didn’t want to see that look on Declan’s face. The shock. The hurt. The betrayal. But she forced herself not to turn away.
“You had a miscarriage,” he said, and there was a dark edge to his voice now. An edge that was also in his eyes. “And you didn’t tell me.”
Cully swallowed hard. “I didn’t tell you,” she admitted.
She would have said more, a lot more. She would have tried to explain why she’d kept that secret, but the sound of the approaching footsteps stopped her. Several moments later, Tansy stepped into the breakroom, and she wasn’t alone. Harley was with her.
Harley smiled at Alice, but then he must have picked up on the tension in the room. “I, uh, heard about the fire and came over to check on all of you. I ran into Tansy in reception. Are y’all okay? Anyone hurt?”
“We’re not hurt,” Cully managed to say.
Alice stood from the chair. “I want to go to bed. Can we go home now?”
“Absolutely,” Tansy told her. “I got clearance from the sheriff,” she said to Cully. “Harley’s volunteered to drive with us since it’s getting late, and he doesn’t want us out on the roads alone.”
Cully didn’t want them out on the roads alone either. In fact, part of her didn’t want her mother out of her sight, but that wouldn’t necessarily be the safe thing to do.
“The sheriff’s sending a deputy in a cruiser to follow us, too,” Tansy went on. “Will you be going with us?” she added to Cully.
“No,” Cully said on a sigh. “I’ll be staying in Outlaw Ridge.”
Not just because of the investigation and that part about danger possibly following her. But Cully also didn’t want to leave Declan without an explanation. He wasn’t showing it, but he was no doubt fuming inside.
And she couldn’t blame him.
She’d been wrong to keep the miscarriage from him, but at the time, she’d thought it was the best for both of them. For now though, Cully had to push that aside when her mom started for the door.
“I want to go to sleep,” Alice muttered.
Her mom was obviously ready to leave now so Cully hurried to her and gave her a hug and kiss. Alice didn’t return the gestures. The terminal lucidity was gone now, and she had slipped away.
It always broke Cully’s heart when that happened, and she silently cursed the emotional rollercoaster that the Alzheimer’s had created.
Declan and she moved into the doorway to watch them leave. When the three were out of sight, he stepped back into the breakroom, waited for her to do the same, and then he eased the door shut. Cully figured she was in for a verbal lashing out, but that didn’t happen.
“Did you have the miscarriage before or after you decided to leave me?” he asked, his voice so calm. Too calm, maybe?
“After,” she admitted.
He stayed quiet a moment, then nodded. “And the pregnancy was a huge factor in your decision to leave.” It wasn’t a question.
Bingo. He’d nailed it.
“I made a mistake,” she admitted. “I thought if I told you I was pregnant, that you’d drop out of school. And you would have.” The words just started tumbling out. “Heck, I might have dropped out, too. So, I was angry that we wouldn’t get to have the lives we’d planned. Angry that I hadn’t been more careful with birth control. And then I was crushed with guilt when I lost the baby.”
Her voice cracked, and she blinked back tears that were burning her eyes.
“You didn’t tell me because I would have been crushed, too,” he said, still in that easy tone. No anger. No judgment.
She nodded and steeled herself up. There had to be a backlash. Or so she thought. But it didn’t come.
On a heavy sigh, Declan stepped toward her, and in a move that stunned her, he pulled her into his arms. Not for a quick, friendly hug either. This was body to body. Breath to breath. She could feel his heartbeat. And Cully wanted to press herself against him and take all this comfort he was doling out.
Comfort she didn’t deserve.
She had kept losing their baby a secret. It hadn’t solely been to spare him either. It’d been to spare herself, too, of the emotional toll of having to spell it all to him and then deal with the aftermath of the guilt and grief.
“FYI, after I lost the baby, that’s when I realized how much I wanted it,” Cully confessed. “I know. Too little, too late. But I wanted that baby even when I didn’t know I wanted it.”
Declan surprised her again when he brushed a kiss on her cheek. It felt like old times. Like those days when there were many cheek kisses. Many hugs. And so much more.
He gave her a little of that more now. He slid his mouth from her cheek to her lips, and he kissed her for real. One of those soft but hard kisses. Comforting but with scalding heat. It’d always been this way. This mix that could fire her up in a blink.
If she let it, that is.
She didn’t. No way could she just slip back into her old ways with Declan. Not when there was still so much unsettled between them.
He lingered with the kiss a moment longer before he pulled back and met her gaze. “What was that for?” she asked.
The corner of his mouth lifted in a slight smile. “You mean, other than because I’m still attracted to you?”
“Yeah, other than that,” Cully managed to say.
He ran his thumb over her bottom lip, gathered up the moisture their kiss had created and then flicked his tongue over his thumb. Retasting her. Maybe reliving the kiss.
“Consider it something I would have done if you’d told me you were pregnant,” he explained.
That was all he managed to say before the door opened, and Shaw came in. At least he started in but then came to a staggering halt, no doubt when he saw Declan and her untangling themselves from each other.
“Right,” Shaw muttered. Which could have meant anything. “Owen sent me to tell you that there’s still no sign of Renee or Roscoe so he said you’re to go home. Or rather the inn,” he added to Cully. “He said you had a room booked there.”
“I do. I wanted to be nearby in case Renee turned up.” Plus, she was still hoping the woman would show for her morning interview. If not, Cully suspected Owen would arrest her.
“Okay, I can give you a lift to the inn if you want,” Shaw offered, shifting to Declan. “You heading home?”
Declan shook his head. “Actually, I can give Cully a lift to the inn because I booked a room there, too.”
Cully turned to him so fast her neck popped. “You don’t have to do that.” In fact, with that heat still stirring from the kiss, it really didn’t seem like a good idea at all.
“But I do,” Declan insisted. “If Renee or anyone else comes after us again, I intend to stop them.”