Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel) (16 page)

“I was at a truck stop at around eleven. Not sure what it’s called, but I could look at an atlas and figure it out. Actually, I have a placemat in my coat on the bus. I can get you the name.” Cody ran down the evening, at least up until the part where he was in the parking lot here in town. He didn’t care to tell Scott about being with Kasey. It wasn’t any of his damn business and if he had to guess, Scott’s reasons for bringing him in were more personal than business.

I have to ask.
“Can I ask you how exactly you’re involved with all of this? I mean we’re a couple of hours away from the mountains.”

Scott put his pen down. “I saw the news. Knew you were in my town.”

His town?

“Gave them a quick call to see how I could help.”

Help them or help me? Help get me out of the way is how it feels. Am I just being paranoid?

Scott picked his pen back up. “So, you’re sitting here in Spratt’s Market parking lot. Anyone see you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe one of your deputies since it’s right next door. Are there cameras around here?”

“Nothing over there worth spending the money on to protect with that level of security.”

Great.
“I went back to Kasey’s house from there.”

“Anyone besides your band members see you?”

“Kasey.”

“At one in the morning?”

“Yeah, I was back at her house by one fifteen or one thirty,” Cody said. Scott’s tone was starting to irritate him. He probably should’ve just called his lawyer and let them handle this.

Scott lifted his chin. “She saw you come back and get on the bus?”

“No. She saw me pull into her garage and walk into her house.”
That will shut you up for a minute.

“I see. Until?”

Cody pulled his hands up and bounced his fingertips together. “Until you showed up.”

It would have been hard to miss the hitch in the last breath Scott took. “I see.” Scott practically choked out the words.

Cody watched Scott’s throat redden.
Sorry, man. You asked.
“I was in the guest room.” He’d have loved to have left the guy wondering, but that wasn’t right.

The hard line of Scott’s jaw softened. “Do you know anyone who might’ve wanted to do harm to Arty Max?”

“You’re going to need more paper. He wasn’t the most tactful guy around.”

“See any of those people there last night?”

“I really was only focused on giving him a piece of my mind. I couldn’t even tell you who was there.”

“But Kasey was there.”

“I knew she was going to be, but I didn’t see her.”

“Did you leave anything behind?”

Cody nodded. “Not that I know of. I wasn’t there that long.”

“A bandanna?” Scott asked.

“No. I wear those mostly on stage. Why?”

“There was one in the room.”

“I’m sure Arty has a bunch of those things lying around. We order them by the pallet. They’re one of our best-selling items.”

“That probably won’t prove much then. Anything else you can tell me?”

Cody wasn’t sure whether he could trust Scott or not, but he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Look. I don’t know if you’re doing all this to help me or not, but I’ll tell you straight up. Arty did me wrong. I was mad, but I didn’t do anything to him. Once I left that party, I was heading this way. I hope you believe that.”

“If I didn’t, I’d find something, anything, to lock you up and keep you away from Kasey and Jake, but yeah… for now. I believe you. I’ll get one of my guys to take you back.”

“Can you tell me what happened to him?”

“They’re keeping that quiet right now.” Scott pushed his pen into his shirt pocket. “I’ll tell you what I can when I can.”

“Thanks, Scott.” Cody reached over and shook his hand.

An hour later, one of Scott’s deputies dropped Cody back off at Kasey’s house.

Cody went straight to his bus and called Annette. “Hey, girl. I’m surprised you haven’t already called me.”

“Not my job anymore. Arty fired me yesterday for helping you hook back up with someone from your past.”

“What? That was none of his damn business.”
Jesus, can I catch a break? Is this guy going to screw up every single part of my life or what?
“I’m sorry he did that. I didn’t know about it.”

“He was mad and he had the right to fire me since he was paying my fee. So, I’m out of the picture.”

“I need you, so you can just consider yourself rehired. Don’t worry about payment. You know I’m good for it.”

“It’s not that, Cody. I have a pretty ironclad contract with Arty and it includes a very clear noncompete clause, and that includes not working in any capacity for any of his acts for two years if we part ways.”

“Yeah. Well, he’s dead so I don’t think that he’s going to be giving you any trouble over that now.”

Annette’s voice went up two octaves. “Dead? You mean like really dead?”

“I can’t believe you haven’t heard. You always know everything before anyone else. I need you on your A-game, girl. They just hauled me in for questioning.”

“Are you a suspect? You can’t be. No one would ever think you’d do something like that.”

“Hell, I don’t know. A person of interest at the least after the way I showed my ass last night. Or haven’t you heard about that either?”

“Sorry. I’m a little out of the loop today.”

“They asked more questions than gave answers but I learned a few things. I need you, Annette. The press is going wild with this and since Arty and I had a big public blowup last night, I’m looking like a raging lunatic. I’m sure that I’m more than just a person of interest in their minds right now.”

“Suspect? He had a heart attack, right? I mean, you know how high-strung he was.”

“Yeah. That would have been my first assumption too. But no. Arty was murdered.”

“How? When?”

“Last night. Sometime after the party, I guess. They aren’t giving any details. At least not to me. I’m hoping some of your contacts with the press can do a little digging that will help us get to the bottom of it and at least get the heat off me. I was probably pissed off enough to beat the hell out of the guy, but I never would have killed him.”

“I’m on it, Cody. I don’t know how much my contacts can learn about something like this. They’re more suited to tracking down gossip. Arty had a lot of enemies. I’m sure they’ll move on to someone else quickly.”

“He slept with someone else’s girlfriend and had a secret child? I doubt it.”

“We’re talking about Lou?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, Cody.”

“Me too. Not as sorry as I would have been before I found out Arty screwed me over. Literally. I’ll admit I was mad, wished him dead for sure, but I didn’t kill him.”

“Where are you?”

“We’re all in Adams Grove right now, but we’re pulling out to head to Texas in the morning.”

“The truck commercial?”

“Yeah, and then I’ll be heading back to Hillcrest for a break and to get the final mix done on the record.”

“Okay. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, Annette.” When he looked up Kasey was standing there on the bus. “Hey. Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Hope you don’t mind.” She walked over and gave him a hug. “I couldn’t just sit in there waiting.”

“Are you kidding me? If I hadn’t come here last night, I’d probably be the number one suspect after that scene at Arty’s.”

“Well, thank goodness you called when you did.”

“Thank goodness you saw that text.” He shook his head. “I’m not so sure your buddy Scott was too happy I had an alibi, especially when it turned out to be you. I made it clear that I was in the guest room. He looked skeptical.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry if me being here is putting a strain on your friendship with him. I’d never want to make things hard for you.”

“Stop. It’s fine. We’re adults. And friends. It’s all good.”

“Did Von and Riley leave?”

“Yeah, they headed home about an hour ago.”

“Sorry I screwed up your day. I might need Von’s investigative help if this doesn’t smooth out pretty quickly.”

“I hope you won’t need his help.” Kasey nodded. “But I know he’ll help us.”

Cody’s phone rang. “It’s my booking agent. I’ve got to catch this.”

He turned and paced as he talked on the phone. “We were planning some downtime. We don’t have anything else scheduled for the next few weeks, right?… Just those?… Okay, don’t book anything else until you hear back from me… No… Yeah, I’ll keep you posted.”

Cody hung up the phone and tossed it on the table as he sat down.

“What’s the matter?” Kasey rescued the phone and sat it on the counter.

“They put the commercial on hold.”

“I’m so sorry. You’re welcome to hang here as long as you’d like.”

There was nothing he’d like more, but once folks figured out he was here it would be a circus, and he didn’t think Scott would be much help keeping things quiet. “I think we’re going to go ahead and head home tonight. It’s the best place to be until all this gets settled.”
Was that a flash of disappointment in her face, or my own wishful thinking?
“The guys need to be with their families. We’ve been on the road a while, and although Arty could be a jerk, it’s a loss for us.”

“I’m sure you have a lot of mixed emotions about this.”

“You’re right. He’s been good to me over the years. He got me some breaks that I don’t know if I’d have ever gotten on my own. I’m still so mad at him, and her, but with him gone that part doesn’t seem important right now.”
I really don’t want to leave you.
“Why don’t you and Jake come out to the ranch?”

“Jake just started school. I can’t just pull him out. Maybe I can get a rain check.”

“Or come on the weekend. I can send the plane.”

“Or I could drive out.”

“Nashville is a long drive. Let me know when you can come and we’ll work it out.”

“We’ll see.”

“I’ll be back down this way for Arty’s funeral, I guess. I don’t know what or who is even handling all that. Probably his attorney. He didn’t have any family, at least not that I knew of.”
Now there was Amy. She’d be his only family.
“I’d better go tell the guys about the change in plans.”

I
n less than an hour the two buses were packed and backing out of her driveway. Kasey watched from the window with Jake and Shutterbug on each side of her. Kasey waved even though they couldn’t see the guys.

“Can they see us, Mom?”

“They sure can. The windows are tinted, but they can see us just fine.”

Jake waved with a little more enthusiasm, and Kasey could picture Cody sitting by the window like she’d seen him do so often when she’d traveled with them last year.

As the heavy rumble of the diesel engines faded into the distance, the absence of the bus generators felt almost too quiet.

She’d never really given much thought to Cody’s life off the road before. On the road, in concert, was really the only way she’d ever known him.

Jake and Shutterbug went into the living room and lay in front of the television watching an animal show. Out of curiosity, Kasey got her laptop and googled to see if there was anything about Cody’s house in Nashville. She’d been to the ranch for the Christmas celebration, but never to his house. She’d heard he had a bigger ranch there.

One article mentioned the whopping price tag, and another link showed him riding a horse on his property, but that was about all she could find aside from an aerial view that didn’t look to be from a very reliable source. Annette had always done such a diligent job of keeping private things private for him. She shut the laptop down and scooched from the couch to the floor next to Jake, who had sprawled out on his tummy with his chin propped in his hands watching television.

“Love you, buddy.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

She brushed her fingers through his hair and wished she could quit thinking about Cody’s invitation. It’s not like that relationship could go anywhere, but her heart didn’t seem to be paying attention.
He just left. Do I really miss him already?
She glanced down at Jake and smiled. “You’re all I need.”

Her cell phone rang and she jumped up to go get it.

Riley didn’t even bother with a hello. “Oh, my goodness, Kasey, have you seen it on TV? It’s all over the news that Arty Max was killed. They’re saying that Arty and Cody had a huge fight and the pictures of Cody don’t even look like him. He was smoking mad. I haven’t seen you in any of the pictures yet. It’s the top gossip on the entertainment shows tonight.”

Kasey’s stomach swirled in a sickening way.

“I haven’t seen it, but I can just imagine,” she said. “Cody and the guys just left. The commercial in Texas got put on hold because of all of this.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“They’re heading back to Cody’s ranch until it blows over. He did mention he might need Von’s help if this doesn’t smooth out quickly.”

“We were just talking about that. You know Von would be happy to.”

“That’s what I told him. Besides, he has an alibi. He was here all night.”

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem, but you never know. Kasey, I know you and Scott are friends, but Von was saying he wasn’t sure how Scott got in on the questioning of Cody so quick unless he was the one who made the call to the team in control of the case.”