Capitol Offense (Texas Heroines in Peril) (8 page)

He whispered, "Oh, Lacy . . . I want you so.
May I come to your room later?"

Still clutching him, Lacy remained silent.
She felt as if he could surely hear her racing heart. She felt as
if she had to swallow, but she couldn't. Finally, she answered him
with a firm shake of her head.

After a short pause, he said, "Oh, angel, if
you won't give in to me on this, you'll have to give in to me on
the wedding date. Let's move it up."

Surprised, Lacy asked, "How much
closer?"

"The soonest we could manage is six weeks
away. How about it?"

"If that's what you want, Jim."

"I'd also like to hear you tell me you love
me."

She swallowed. Her heartbeat roared. "Okay,
Silly, I love you."

He hugged her tightly. "I love you, you
silly angel. Now I think you had better get some sleep. Breakfast
will be served at nine on the terrace. Wear your swimming things
because we'll go out in the boat before returning to Austin." He
touched her nose with his fingertips. "Good night, angel."

Lacy slipped into her nightgown, planning to
take Jim's advice and get some sleep, but she felt very much awake.
Again, she was drawn to the bookcase of the hauntingly mysterious
Ruth Chambers. Lacy hoped she could find there some clue as to the
peculiar marriage, perhaps some insight into Ruth Chambers' view of
her husband. Lacy examined each book. None were written by a Laura.
None contained any loose slips of unfinished poetry. Lacy searched
the dresser drawers. Nothing. She fruitlessly looked beneath the
mattress. The closet had been empty, but Lacy nevertheless felt
along the top shelf. Nothing again. She looked in vain in the
bathroom.

Scarcely a sign that she
ever occupied the room
, thought Lacy. She
was puzzled over her own obsession to find out what Ruth Chambers
really had been like.

She settled in the bed and tried to sleep,
but was wide awake, thinking of Jim. It was funny, she thought, how
she could have idolized for over two years, this man who now, day
by day, was crumbling before her eyes. Each day she was finding
glaring flaws in his character which had escaped her notice during
the two years she had been blinded by overwhelming admiration for
him.

She had never before noticed, for instance,
what a megalomaniac he was. She knew all politicians possessed
enlarged egos; that much she could dismiss. But tonight he had
completely dominated the conversation. McNally had uttered scarcely
a dozen words. And at the conclusion of each song that evening, Jim
had belted out another of his never ending requests, never
asking if anyone else cared to exercise a choice. Lacy realized now
that out of the office, he still continued to treat McNally and her
as his employees.

Now, for the first time, she thought she
could dislike him. He cared for nothing but his own dictatorial
notions. If  and there was little in the way of a
challenge  he should be elected governor in November, he
would use the governorship only as a stepping stone to bigger
things. He was merely biding time in Texas, waiting until his
thirty fifth birthday when he would be old enough for the
presidency or vice presidency. He had the money, machine and
charisma for the office. But how dangerous it was for a man like
him to hold any kind of public office.

Never before in her life had she been so
lonely and miserable. Everything she had always dreamed of was now
turned upside down, out of proportion like in a bad dream. Here she
was, twenty five, engaged to a man she had to force herself to
say she loved, to a man she suspected of the most loathsome deeds.
No matter what she and the FBI investigator would prove, she could
never marry Jim Chambers. She only hoped she would not have to keep
up her charade much longer.

Her mind was too crammed with details of the
blurred mess of a predicament she was in. It was no use hoping for
sleep. It could not come until she freed her mind. Remembering some
magazines on the coffee table in the living room, Lacy decided to
get them to ease her into sleep. She looked at her watch. Two
o'clock.

She tiptoed in her foam soled slippers
down the dark hall to the end, not wanting to disturb the sleepers.
When she reached the end of the hall she heard soft men's voices
from the bar in the living room.

She pivoted to return to her room when she
heard a few words from the indistinguishable voices. She heard
"comptroller" and "FBI." She abruptly stopped, trying not to
breathe, straining to hear better. Then she heard, "snooping...day
care funds...old church wasn't worth a hundred grand." At this
point, she heard the two walking back toward the couch, their words
becoming impossible to understand.

Now, she knew. All hope was gone. Her former
hero was hopelessly tarnished.

Her shock and
disappointment turned to sudden wrath.
Too
bad I don't have a tape recorder
, she
thought. She listened more attentively but still could not make out
anything.

Terror struck her when she heard her own
name mentioned. How much could they know? They could surmise that
Bryson had not come snooping until after her trip to Schneiderburg.
She felt sick inside at her perilous position, but still she stood
there in the darkness of the hall, eagerly waiting to hear pieces
of their conversation.

She could not have estimated how long she
stood there. It seemed like hours. Not being able to grasp the
conversation, she could not tell when it was being terminated. One
minute she heard them softly speaking, the next they were crossing
the room. She had never really known fear until this minute.

Chapter 9

Her heart thudding violently, Lacy scurried
toward her room, fervently praying that she escape detection. Just
as she heard Jim's and McNally's footsteps on the hallway tiles,
she slipped into her bedroom, not quite closing the door for fear
of noise. She raced across the carpet and flung herself on the bed,
pulling the covers over her--robe and slippers and all.

A few hours later, in spite of a dull
headache from loss of sleep, Lacy climbed out of bed. It was seven
o'clock. After throwing on a cotton skimmer and sandals, she
sneaked from her room and down the hall, pausing at Jim's door. She
heard a hardy snore and went on through the kitchen and out the
back door.

Flo had said Jim crated up all his wife's
things and carried them to the rear of the property where he burned
them. The rear three or four acres were rocky bush that had never
been landscaped. Lacy zigzagged through the bush, carefully
scanning the dew covered ground for evidence of a small
bonfire. A frog's sudden croak frightened her into a leap.

When she met a low rock wall, she knew she
had reached the end of Jim's land. She slowly stepped over each
square foot of earth between the rock wall and the road which had
brought them there the day before.

Half way to the highway she came upon a
mound of growth. Intermingled in the heap were brass picture frames
from which the pictures had been removed, cosmetic jars and perfume
bottles, buttons and buckles.

Lacy looked toward the house. Luckily a
large tree stood between her and the house, blocking her from view
of the house. She stooped down to examine the pile more
closely.

The wild grass covering the mound of rubble
was not deeply rooted. Soot and charred objects settled under the
mound's small summit. Lacy's fingers carefully combed through the
ashes and dirt, pushing aside the larger items which had originally
caught her eye. She dug deeper, using her fingers as a sifter. She
felt another small metal object. After closer examination, it
proved to be a small lock, the variety used on teen-aged girl's
diaries. She was close to the bottom and had found nothing or
interest. Then, she felt a tiny metal box. It felt heavy in her
hand. She pulled it out and saw that it was a pearl studded
pill box. Her heart sank at the thought of finding a note inside.
After several seconds of fidgeting with the rusty catch, she
managed to open it. It was empty.

She was certain she had combed through the
whole hump. Next, she carefully examined its periphery. Nothing.
She got to her feet.

Her trip had been wasted.

Back in the house, she paused again at Jim's
door. He was still snoring. She checked her watch. Her jaunt had
taken only twenty-five minutes.

She didn't waste any time when she reached
her room. First, she washed her filthy hands. She gave her
fingernails a once over with clear polish. She had to use a
white pencil under her nails to restore them. Then she plugged in
her curling iron, and while it was heating, she shaved her legs.
After fixing her hair, she applied the minimal makeup that she
wore.

During those sleepless hours before dawn she
had done a lot of thinking. She decided she needed to try to
convince Jim of her love so she could get evidence which could
convict him in court. Jim Chambers had to be stopped. Would she
have to be the one to bring him down? How had ever gotten herself
into such a nightmare?

When she was completely satisfied with her
appearance, she slipped into a flattering, yet not too revealing,
red bikini. With it, she wore a white eyelet coverlet and white
sandals.

She beat the McNallys to breakfast and
caught Jim sitting alone. She put her arm around him, leaned over
and gave him a warm kiss. "Good morning, sweetheart," she said.

His eyes ran over her approvingly, then he
pulled her down on his lap. "You've just made me one heck of a
happy guy."

"Hey, you two lovebirds, save that for the
honeymoon." It was Richard McNally, with Vivian at his side.

Lacy started to get up, but Jim pulled her
back.

"Don't let him scare you away. I,
personally, was just getting comfortable."

She remained on his lap until Flo rolled out
the breakfast cart and began to place its contents on the table.
There was a carafe of hot coffee, a basket of steaming biscuits, a
platter of sausage patties, a bowl of scrambled eggs, and four
grapefruit halves in serving dishes.

"Flo, you've really outdone yourself.
Everything smells delicious," Jim said as Flo placed the contents
of the cart on the table. "Just put them there, and we can help
ourselves."

"Did you make the biscuits from scratch?"
Lacy asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Flo said. "Nothin' better than
home-made buttermilk biscuits."

From her chair on the terrace, Lacy eyed the
shimmering, crystal-like lake.

After breakfast Lacy got to see the lake up
close. The foursome went out on the boat. The water was clear
enough to disclose schools of fish meandering by. Jim told her the
water was extremely deep and not recommended for the casual
swimmer. Great masses of inaccessible granite bordered the east
side of the lake. The north shore was so distant it still could not
be seen.

"Hey, I really like this new boat, Jim,"
McNally said.

Vivian cast a mischievous glance at Lacy.
"By the way, Lacy, I hope you can swim. Last year when we were here
our skillful captain nearly drowned his poor wife  busted
the boat up to smithereens. Poor Ruth couldn't even swim. Luckily,
she snatched a piece of the wreckage to keep her afloat until Jim
got to her."

McNally and Jim exchanged serious glances.
"Now, Viv, in all fairness, you must admit Jim's a strong swimmer
and Ruth was in no real danger," McNally said.

"Oh, I know, dear, but I thought I'd tease
Jim and warn Lacy to prepare for disaster when Jim's at the helm."
She glanced at Jim. "I do hope your new boat came with operating
instructions."

"Yes, Vivian." Jim was visibly annoyed.

Vivian McNally's remarks had cast a cloud
over the excursion. McNally and Jim remained silent, Jim never
leaving the helm.

Lacy bathed herself in speculations. Had Jim
tried to kill his wife? Lacy could not ignore the possibility.
Funny how she could be so detached now toward the man she had
worshipped only a week before.

It was a shame Jim destroyed his wife's
things. Knowing Ruth Chambers' attraction to writing poetry, Lacy
knew she must have recorded her fears in verse. But no one would
ever know now.

The Central Texas skies seemed to take their
cue from the gloomy foursome. Charcoal clouds blanketed the sky as
gusty winds slapped the now-choppy lake.

"It's a good thing we're close to the dock.
If we were out in the middle now we'd be in a pretty dangerous
fix," Jim said. "I should be able to dock before rain falls."

Lacy's eyelet cover-up offered no protection
against the chilly winds. She hugged herself to keep warm. Jim
glanced at her and started to shed his windbreaker. "Here, take
this before you freeze."

"I most certainly will not. Then you'd
freeze." She paused. "Hey, why don't I get in there with you?"

His eyes danced with delight.

Lacy edged her back into his chest as he
pulled one side of the windbreaker around both of them. His right
arm encircled the top of her body.

Lacy smiled as she looked up at him. "The
body heat really helps."

In spite of the cumbersomeness of Lacy's
bulk wedged against him, Jim maneuvered the boat with the skill of
a superior boatman. Lacy knew last summer's boating incident was no
accident.

Chapter 10

Monday proved to be the longest work day
Lacy could ever remember. She could not wait to tell Bryson the
skimpy details of the overheard conversation between Jim and
McNally. The agent might also be interested in last summer's
boating mishap.

As she drove around the Capitol after work,
she noticed a blue car with two men in it behind her. The car still
followed a half mile later. Perhaps she was being overly cautious,
she told herself. But Bryson had cautioned her to be certain no one
followed before she called him.