Dawn's Light (6 page)

Silence fell between them, but Doug's and Kay's expressions told him they were rooting for him. So he went on.

“But I'm excited about the solar business, and I think I can make a good life for her if I work hard.” Mark cleared his throat. “So I've come here today to ask your permission to ask Deni to marry me.”

Kay threw her hands over her mouth and laughed, and Doug came around the desk to shake Mark's hand and pull him into a hug. Mark felt the love in his embrace, and he turned to Kay. She had tears in her eyes. He hoped they were tears of joy. “I've told you before, Mark,” Doug said, “I've dreamed of Deni marrying you.”

“You'll make a wonderful husband,” Kay said. “And a terrific father for our grandchildren. Welcome to the family!”

Mark laughed. “Not so fast. I have to ask her first.”

Kay bounced up and down. “Go after her,” Kay said. “Ask her now. She's at the newspaper office.”

“No, I want to do it right. Make it real romantic. Get down on one knee, the whole shebang. And I have a ring. I used some of my gold coins to buy it. I think Deni will like it.”

“Okay, but don't wait too long,” Kay said. “I can't hold this in for long.”

“I'll do it this week. Don't tell the kids,” Mark said. “I don't want it to slip out.”

Kay pulled him back into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. He hoped Deni would be as happy about this as Kay was.

ten

T
HE KID COULD RUIN EVERYTHING
. H
E HAD PLANNED IT
out so carefully, and the thunder and rain had been icing on the cake, masking the sound of the gunshots and washing away any evidence he might have left. Too good to be true.

Except now there was a witness.

It was all his wife's fault. If she hadn't constantly threatened to leave him and take their baby, he wouldn't have felt such pressure to cover for his gambling losses. Infidelity, she'd accused, even though she didn't have any real evidence. Just hunches, and that wasn't enough to hang a divorce on. Or so he'd convinced her. He'd managed to keep her—and his baby—living with him for now.

As long as she thought their money was trapped in the banking pipeline, she didn't have any reason to suspect he'd lost it all. But the moment they'd received news that the banks were reopening, he'd known it was the beginning of the end. Her suspicions about infidelity, along with the knowledge that he'd gambled away their life savings, would surely send her running home to mama.

Several sleepless nights and a few conversations with a confidant who'd given him the perfect target, and he'd come up with the plan. He would simply take someone else's money. His wife would think he'd made the withdrawal out of their own account. It would buy him a month—until the next withdrawal date.

He'd found the spot behind the Cracker Barrel, hidden from the road. He figured if he could intercept his target walking home this way, he'd use his gun to force him behind the building. Then he could kill him and take the money—solving several problems with one bullet.

And then the kid had shown up and seen the whole thing. He should have never let her get away. He should have killed her right there while he had the chance, but that homeless guy had come out of nowhere. Now he had two murders on his hands, and a kid who could identify him.

He had to be the stupidest man in Crockett.

She'd complicated everything. He'd had to retrieve both bodies. That was a wrinkle that he hadn't expected. If all had gone according to plan, he would have left the body there, and it would look like a simple robbery on a day when that was expected. But now that someone could ID him, he feared what might happen if the bodies were found.

Oh, what a tangled web … The old cliché his mother used to quote played like a bad song in his mind. If she could only see him now.

He'd never meant to be a killer. Not until a few days ago.

To cover for his crime, he'd gone back in the storm with his rickshaw, loaded both bodies, and covered them with a tarp. If anyone had seen him riding home, they'd probably been so distracted with the rain, their newly recovered money, and the Pulses ending, that they hadn't given him a thought.

It had been too wet to dig a grave for them, so he'd hidden them in a shed until the ground dried. This morning he had finally been able to bury them while his wife and child weren't home.

Now that the bodies were hidden, he might be okay. If the girl did talk, the authorities wouldn't believe her without evidence. Maybe his threats had kept her quiet so far. If they hadn't, he would have known—there would have been news of the murders, and people would be looking for the bodies. But there had been nothing.

He looked down at the cross necklace he'd found on the porch floor. Maybe he could use this to find the infamous Beth.

He had seen her ride east, up Tungsten Road. That meant she lived in one of those ritzy subdivisions halfway out in the country. There were probably ten neighborhoods in that area. How many blonde Beths of that age could there be? All he had to do was go ask around.

He could pretend he was looking for her so he could return her necklace. And when he found her, one more problem would be solved.

Then, with any luck, he could get back to his life.

eleven

“M
Y KINGDOM FOR A WASHING MACHINE
.” D
ENI STOOD
in her bedroom closet, searching for a top that had come through the Pulses unscathed. With all the hand washing with well water, nothing kept its color, and all the whites looked dingy.

Beth leaned in the doorway of her closet. “Your
kingdom
?”

“It's from Shakespeare, sort of. Never mind. Hey, maybe we can get our washing machine fixed. Or a new one, or whatever. I wonder when the water will be back on. Probably not before the electricity, since the pumps in the pipelines have to work. Well water has ruined my clothes.”

“Where are you going?”

“I don't know. Big date, but Mark hasn't told me where.” She pulled out a red top that she hadn't worn since before the Pulses started. Holding it up to herself, she shook her head. “Man, I've lost so much weight that nothing fits. Maybe I have time to take it in a little. Wish I could have gotten home earlier, but I had so many stories to cover for the paper. Going from a weekly paper to a daily one is killing me.”

Beth straightened. “What kind of stories? Murders?”

“No, but lots of muggings. There are some seriously upset people who had their cash stolen yesterday.”

“But nobody was killed?”

“None reported. Hey, did you get your papers delivered today?”

Beth hesitated, so Deni turned around.

“I got Jeff and Logan to do mine today.”

“Then you're sure they all got delivered? Because I'm working too hard for people not to read it. Why didn't you do it?”

“I don't feel very good.”

“Yeah, we're all sniffing and coughing after being out in that storm all day yesterday.” She pulled her blouse on, buttoned it up. “So how do I look?”

“Fine,” Beth said. Deni turned and realized she wasn't even looking. She was staring out the window.

B
ETH WATCHED THE STREET, STILL EXPECTING TO SEE THE KILLER
. Why hadn't the murder been reported? Could that mean the victims had been found—alive? The thought had never occurred to her. She should have gotten an ambulance to go and see about them. Guilt twisted her stomach.

She went back to the walk-in closet. “Was anybody hurt in a mugging yesterday?”

Deni dug through her jewelry box for some earrings. “Several people. A few were hit in the head. One was stabbed, but he survived.”

“Were any of them shot?”

“I don't think so.” Now she looked fully at Beth. “Why?”

She'd asked too many questions. She made a paintbrush out of her hair and whisked it against her chin.

“I don't know. I was just thinking that a lot of bad stuff might have happened.”

“A lot of bad stuff
did
happen. Thank goodness it didn't happen to us this time.”

“Yeah, thank goodness,” she whispered.

Beth went down to the kitchen. Her mom's glance lingered a little too long, as if she were searching Beth's face for a clue to her mood. She came toward her and kissed her on the forehead like she was checking for fever.

Her father came out of the bedroom. He'd just changed from his deputy uniform to a pair of shorts and a pullover shirt. He carried his shoes on two fingers. He'd lost his middle-aged paunch since the Pulses, and all his hard work chopping wood and stuff had made him muscular. But he looked tired today.

“Tough day?” Kay asked.

“Yeah, really tough.” He pulled out a chair and dropped into it. “So did I hear Deni saying Mark was taking her out tonight?”

Kay wiggled her eyebrows and shot him a knowing smile. “That's right.”

Beth didn't know what the big deal was. Mark and Deni were always together. “Why was your day tough? Did you catch any criminals?”

“A couple. This one guy robbed his next-door neighbor. They'd lived by each other for twenty-five years, and that night he broke into the house while they were sleeping and stole his neighbor's money out of his pants pocket. Got caught, thank goodness.”

Beth carried the plates to the table. “So … did you find any bodies or anything?”

Kay turned and shot her a surprised look. “Beth, what a question!”

Beth shrugged. “I just wondered.”

Doug pulled his shoes on. “No. Thankfully, I don't think anybody was killed. A few minor injuries, but it looks like most of the robbers weren't from around here. I mean, think about it. They wouldn't want to be recognized. So they go to the surrounding towns as their banks open, rob them, then disappear back where they came from.”

Beth was baffled. Why would two murders not be reported? Could it be that no one had found the bodies yet? Wasn't anyone looking for the two men?

“Are there, like, any missing persons reports out?”

Kay's frown cut deeper. “Why do you ask that, sweetheart?”

“No reason.”

Kay came to the table, and stroked Beth's hair. “Honey, go call Jeff and Logan to dinner.”

Beth looked cautiously out the back window. She saw her brothers at the back of the yard. No way she was going out there. With her luck, the killer would pick that moment to ride by on the street behind them. She opened the door, staying hidden behind it, and yelled for her brothers.

W
HILE THEY WAITED FOR THE KIDS TO COME
, K
AY TURNED BACK
to Doug. “I'm worried about her,” she said in a low voice. “She won't so much as step outside. She wouldn't deliver her papers today, and she never misses that. Since the paper hired her, she's taken her commitment seriously. I asked her to go to the well for water, and she started crying. And this new fascination with murders and kidnappings …”

“Well, she's been through a lot in the last year. We all have.”

“But she's sensitive, honey. Maybe she's been more traumatized than we've realized. Maybe she needs to see a counselor.”

He looked in the direction she had gone. “I was wondering the same thing. But where will we find one? It can't be just anybody.”

“I can ask around.”

“I doubt there are many of them working these days. The demand for counselors is probably about as great as the demand for stockbrokers.”

“People still need help.”

“Yeah, but who's willing to spend hard-earned money on counseling when they can barely scrape together enough to buy food?”

“We have some money now. If we can find a counselor, maybe we can afford it.”

Doug nodded. “We'll have to. But I want whoever it is to be a Christian. I don't want someone who doesn't understand the basic principles of life to be poking around in her psyche.”

“You read my mind,” she said, bending over to kiss him. She touched his face, her fingers lingering on his stubble. “Do you think she'll be all right?”

“Of course,” he said. “But let's try to make this happen as soon as possible.”

twelve

K
AY COULDN'T WAIT FOR LIFE TO GO BACK TO NORMAL
. The days never seemed to end for her, with so much to do. She longed for conveniences she'd once had: Pop Tarts and granola bars for quick breakfasts, a drive-thru hamburger for lunch, and microwaved meals or frozen food for supper. Paper plates for easy cleanup, and four ladies from a cleaning service who swarmed through the house like a SWAT team once a week to do the deep cleaning.

Tonight she'd fed her family corn tortillas from the bags of agricultural corn feed she'd gotten with a previous FEMA disbursement. From the older neighbors in Oak Hollow, she'd learned a dozen ways to cook with corn. It had grown unappetizing, but the family had learned that food was for energy and not for entertainment.

Now that the kitchen was cleaned up and the floor scrubbed of all the mud and dirt that were tracked in daily, Kay went outside to the side of the house, where she'd hung her laundry to dry. She found Judith there, pulling down her own family's clothes. Her friend's brown skin glistened in the humidity.

“Girl, it took you long enough,” Judith said. “I was beginning to think you were gonna leave these all night.”

“It's not even dark yet,” Kay said. “I can cram a hundred more things onto my to-do list between now and dark. What on earth did we do with our time before?” She sighed and glanced at Judith's nursing scrubs. “How do you do it? Working full-time
and
coming home to all the stuff you have to do?”

“We make do.”

When they'd opened the new hospital in Crockett, Judith had taken a nursing job there. The need was so great that she'd agreed to put in eight to ten hours a day. Amber Rowe, Kay's other next-door neighbor, babysat her kids for her.

Judith's husband, Brad—a lawyer—had recently become district attorney in Crockett. He, too, worked long hours. Though they were all busy, Kay and Judith had grown close over the last year.

“So how's our Beth doing today?” Judith asked as she folded a pair of jeans that were as stiff as cardboard.

“Not good. Still acting strange.” She filled her in on Beth's paranoia and her morbid questions.