High School Reunion (22 page)

“What about James?”

Mr. Dupree looked up. “You never knew James, did you?”

“No.” She didn’t bother telling him about her humiliating experience and James’s part in it.

“That boy could charm anybody into doin’ anything. Never listened to anybody. Never thought there was anything he couldn’t do.”

Laurel’s heart was throbbing with pain. Pain for the man who’d lost his first-born son. Pain for his living son, who’d never been able to make up for James dying.

“I’m sure you were devastated when he died.”

“Yes. But it was typical James. He was hot-shotting in a helicopter and crashed.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.”

Mr. Dupree smiled sadly. “He thought he was immortal.”

Laurel’s heart squeezed in sympathy. She dropped her gaze, and saw what he had in his hand. A box of dark chocolate-covered cherries.

“So you’re leaving?” he asked.

“I think I’d better.”

“Maybe so.”

Laurel stared at him in surprise.

“All I’m saying is Cade takes everything to heart. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt. And he’s the only son I have left.”

Laurel drew in courage with a deep breath. “Why do you call him that, Mr. Dupree?”

“’Cause that’s what he is. It reminds me that he’s the most precious thing in my life.” He smiled at her.

“Does he know he is?” she asked.

The elder Dupree looked thoughtful. “I always thought so. But considering the chocolate cherry misunderstanding, maybe I need to talk to him, too.”

“The chocolate cherry misunderstanding?”

Mr. Dupree lifted a hand. “Never mind. It’s a long story.”

Laurel smiled sadly. “I think I know the gist of it.”

He frowned at her. “Oh, yeah? Maybe you know my boy better than I thought you did.”

Maybe.
Laurel’s heart twisted painfully. “Thank you for everything, Mr. Dupree—”

“Dad—”

Laurel whirled at the sharp word.

Cade stood in the open door. He looked from his dad to Laurel and back.

“What the hell?” he asked, glaring at his dad.

“Cade, this is my fault,” Laurel started, but his dad interrupted her.

“Son, I brought you something. And Laurel and I were talking about the case—and the FBI.”

“Dad—” Cade’s pained voice held a warning.

Mr. Dupree sent Laurel a glance. Understanding, she slipped around them and headed for the front door. Behind her, she heard Cade.

“Dark chocolate cherries? What the hell? I thought they were James’s favorite.”

“As I recall, you loved ’em, but you’d never fight James. You always let him bully you.”

Laurel pulled out her cell phone and diale
d a familiar number. She had an important question to ask her boss, Mitch Decker.

As she eased the door closed, she heard Mr. Dupree’s voice change.

“Cade, son,” he said. “We need to talk.”

T
HE NEXT MORNING
, Cade was up early. He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before. He’d been shocked and angry when he’d found his dad and Laurel in his house. They’d gone through his stuff. They’d talked about him. He felt betrayed by both of them.

Damn Laurel for coming back here and turning his life upside down. He’d forgotten about the FBI. He’d been happy back in Dusty Springs before she showed up.

He was a liar.
It hadn’t taken her to remind him of everything he’d given up. She’d just emphasized how long it had been. He always thought that one day he’d go back and pick up where he’d left off when James died.

But meeting Laurel made him realize he’d not only put his dreams on hold, he’d put his whole life on hold. Hell, he rarely even dated anymore.

He’d done it all for his dad, but yesterday evening his dad informed him in no uncertain terms that he didn’t need Cade’s constant attention. He’d told him a lot of other things, too. Things they should have talked about years ago.

Things guys would rather have a root canal than discuss. But at least now Cade knew his dad was okay. For the first time since James died, Cade let himself think about
his
dreams.

There were two things he wanted, and he was afraid it was too late for both of them.

Cade showered, taunted by Laurel’s lingering fresh scent. Even though she’d taken all her belon
gings and moved back to the bed-and-breakfast, he could still smell gardenias. How long would it take for the sweet scent to fade from his bathroom? A part of him wanted it gone today, but his heart hoped it would stay forever.

After pulling on jeans and a T-shirt, he grabbed a baseball cap. He needed to go over to the hospital at Three Springs and arrange for Ralph to be transferred to the jail to await a bail hearing, but first he wanted to check on the mess that had been the police station.

The entire front of the station was nothing but sodden rubble. Here and there an anemic wisp of smoke drifted upward through the air.

The desk his grandfather and his father had used was destroyed. All the papers on current cases, all the case files were ruined. Thank goodness Wendell Vance’s file was still at his house. The evidence room was intact, although everything inside it would smell like smoke forever.

He picked his way back out through the rubble, wishing he’d worn his old running shoes instead of his new ones. As he emerged through the burnt-out front of the building, he saw Ralph Langston, looking very much the victim with his arm in a sling. He was accompanied by a man in a gray pinstriped suit who looked like a lawyer.

What the hell? Cade got a sinking feeling in his chest. How had the lawyer managed to get Ralph out of the hospital and away from the Three Springs police who were guarding his door?

“What’s going on here? Langston, you’re supposed to be in police custody.”

“Good morning, Chief Dupree,” the lawyer said. “I’m Arnold Griffon, Mr. Langston’s lawyer. As a matter of fact, he has a perfect right to be out of jail. He’s posted bail.”

“Posted bail—on a federal assault charge?”

The lawyer chuckled. “I’m very good friends with a judge who was happy to order bail in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars.”

Cade clenched his jaw against the anger that burned in his gut. Langston had threatened Laurel’s life. He didn’t deserve to walk free for an instant. “So you neglected to tell your
good friend
that your client here assaulted a federal officer.”

Griffon didn’t answer. “I believe someone brought Mr. Langston’s belongings here from the hospital last night. He’s anxious to get them back.”

“Not a chance. They contain evidence that links Langston directly to Wendell Vance’s death.” To Cade’s satisfaction the lawyer looked surprised.

He turned to Ralph. “Who’s Wendell Vance?”

“He’s got nothing,” Ralph squawked.

“Are you calling Wendell Vance’s Science Medal nothing? I doubt you felt that way when you took it off his body after you killed him ten years ago on the night of your graduation.”

“That’s a lie,” Ralph said.

Cade turned to the lawyer. “Wendell Vance was a classmate of Ralph’s who was murdered on graduation night ten years ago. His science medal disappeared. Turns out your client here has it. He carries it around in a leather wallet, like it belongs to him.”

Cade felt a keen triumph when the red faded from Griffon’s face. “Didn’t your client tell you that one of the
belongings
he wants to pick up is that science medal?”

The lawyer literally put a finger to his shirt collar and swallowed visibly. “I’d like to speak to my client alone for a few minutes, Chief.”

“Be my guest. I suppose you’d like to step into our private offices?” Cade made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the burnt-out police station.

Just then, a truck turned onto the street. It was a FedEx truck. Cade grinned. “Here comes the rest of our evidence now.”

Langston sent a panicked look at the truck as he followed Griffon to a point a few yards away.

Cade couldn’t believe the evidence had been returned so quickly. When he was handed the package, he saw that it hadn’t. The delivery was a bulletin of missing children in the region. It came once a month.

He glanced over at Langston. They didn’t have to know that, though. Let them think he had solid evidence in his hands. Both of them eyed him and then moved further away.

Another vehicle turned onto the street. It was Laurel. Cade recognized her rental car. His stomach did a flip. Immediately, he convinced himself that it hadn’t—almost.

She got out of her car, limping slightly.

He couldn’t look her in the eye. He’d been too exposed the other day—too vulnerable. She didn’t look directly at him, either.

“Oh, Cade,” she said, eyeing the wreckage that had been the police station. “The whole building is destroyed.”

“Not quite. The evidence room is intact.”

She looked at him then. “I’m glad.” Her cheeks turned pink. “What’s Langston doing out of the hospital?”

“His big-city lawyer had Langston arraigned in the middle of the night. He posted bail.”

Cade bent his head to whisper in her ear—a mistake. He withdrew and told himself gardenias were way overrated. “Guess what turned up in his belongings,” he said.

Her eyes blazed with color. “Not the medal?”

“Yes, the medal. He had a leather wallet made special for it. He carried it around like a police badge.”

“Oh, my gosh. You mean he’s carried it with him all these years?”

“Yep. That confirms what Sheryl told me this morning.”

“She
was
trying to say Ralph was Wendell’s killer.”

Cade laid a hand on her arm. “Whoa. Slow down. It proves he was at the crime scene and took the medal. If Sheryl’s statement holds up and the evidence bears it out,
then
we can get him for Wendell’s murder.”

“What about her? Was it Kathy who shot her?”

“The bullet the hospital took out of her shoulder has an L on it.”

“I knew it! And get this. Mitch called. He’s sending first pass results of the fingerprint IDs by special courier. Kathy’s prints matched partials on Misty’s baseball bat and her TV remote, the inside doorknob of my room at the bed-and-breakfast and that slug I dug out of the tree.
And
on the key Debra was carrying. She was the one trying to steal the photos.”

“What else did Mitch say?”

“No other significant fingerprint matches. But the fibers under Debra’s nails matched the swatch of fabric from Ralph’s pants leg.”

Cade’s brows rose. “Good. That makes him the prime suspect for killing Debra, too. When I present that evidence to his lawyer, he’ll be begging for a plea agreement, rather than twenty-five years to life in a federal penitentiary. I hope you told your boss how much I appreciate it. That was damn fast work. And damn fine.”

“Mitch Decker can get the job done.”

And so can you.
Cade silently acknowledged Laurel’s bravery and dedication. She’d nearly been killed twice. It had taken seven stitches on her palm and foot to repair the damage done by the glass shard, and yet she hadn’t faltered.

He remembered how much seeing her weapon tucked in the small of her back had turned him on. Now he realized it wasn’t the sight of the gun sitting above the curve of her bottom that had caused that reaction. It was what it represented.

Strength, competence, courage.
Those were the qualities that turned him on and made him love her. Not that her sexy body and gorgeous eyes hurt.

He realized she was gazing at him quizzically, a tiny frown marring her forehead.

He cleared his throat and searched for something innocuous to say. “I got to tell you, Gillespie, arresting Langston is going to be a pleasure.”

His last word was drowned out by a loud roar. It was Kathy’s dark SUV. She screeched to a halt so close to them that Cade wrapped an arm around Laurel’s waist and pulled her clear.

As soon as the SUV stopped, Kathy shot out of it like her legs were spring-loaded. She stomped over to Cade, clutching her open purse in one hand and a nearly burned-down cigarette in the other.

“Cade, Shelton told me you needed to see me. I know I’m in big trouble, but I want to confess everything and ask for your protection. I’m the one who took Laurel’s gun.” Kathy’s voice was shrill, her eyes were too bright and her movements were jerky.

Cade couldn’t decide if she was drunk or on some sort of drug.

“See, Cade, I had to get those pictures. They proved we killed Wendell. Sheryl always said we didn’t, that he was alive when we left, but Ralph told us Wendell was dead. And ever since that night, he—” She stopped.

“Kathy, where’s Harrison?” Cade asked. “You
need to get a lawyer. You realize I can arrest you for assaulting a federal officer, based on what you’ve just told me.
And
go after you for Wendell’s murder.”

“I know that. I only meant to scare Laurel off the case, so she wouldn’t find out what we’d done. I’m so tired…” She took a shaky breath. “Cade, I shot Sheryl. I was
so
sure she’d killed Debra. I saw her near the path to the swimming hole the night of the reunion, right before Debra was found. I’ve been following her ever since. I followed her to the creek bank—” She glanced past him and stopped cold.

“Oh, my God! What’s he doing—what are you doing here?” she yelled at Langston. “If you think you’re going to—” She tossed away the cigarette butt and dug into her voluminous purse.

Cade tensed and flexed his fingers. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Laurel move stealthily backward, positioning herself behind Kathy. The white bandage on her hand stood out in stark contrast to her green top and jeans.

“Kathy,” he said calmly. “Don’t get upset. Let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. That man ruined my life.”

Langston and his lawyer were moving closer. They must not have heard Kathy’s outburst—or they were idiots and didn’t see how agitated she was.

Cade couldn’t even spare them a glance. He had to keep all his attention on Kathy.

“Kathy, take your hand out of your purse.” Cade reached toward her but she jerked away violently.

“No! I’m finishing this here and now.”