Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel) (28 page)

“Did that make him angry?” the detective asked.

“No. He just laughed.” She closed her eyes for a second, then continued. “He told me I ought to leave and that he didn’t think we could continue our relationship. Since Cody
knew about Lou and Amy maybe he’d put his attention on them for a change. I couldn’t believe he even said that to me.”

“That’s when you turned a gun on him?”

“I just wanted to get a rise out of him. Make him quit acting so smug.” She gulped a glass of water and then set it back down with a shaking hand. “I took the gun out of his drawer. He always kept it there. I really didn’t even know if he kept it loaded, but I pointed it at him. Ya know, just to get a rise out of him, like I said.” She shrugged.

“Did it?”

She shook her head. “No. He just laughed again and asked me what I was going to do with it. Told me he knew I wouldn’t shoot it so to just put it back where I’d found it. Then he started eating that damn pie and he acted like it was so good, and that just made me madder.”

She took in a breath and stared off. “I took a step back and kind of waved the gun at him, and it went off. I don’t even know how it went off.”

“What’d you do?”

“I screamed. Then he fell forward gasping.”

“And…”

Annette looked up. “And I put the gun in the drawer and ran out.”

“But the gun wasn’t found in the drawer.”

“I know,” she said. “That’s because I went back in there to wipe off my fingerprints. I was in a panic. I grabbed a bandanna that was on the shelf where Arty keeps all of his awards and rubbed it clean.”

“That’s why the bandanna was on the desk?”

“Probably. I’m not even sure what I did with it.” Annette’s face contorted. “Arty was all blue, and like, gurgling.” She shrugged. “I didn’t mean to shoot him and I didn’t know what to do.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and her attorney handed her a tissue.

“Thanks. I was going to shoot him again to make him quit suffering, but I couldn’t do it. So, I opened the safe to make it look like a robbery and then I got scared and I left.”

Cody’s mouth hung open. “Shit. She didn’t even call nine-one-one?”

“Nope. Pretty shallow, huh?” The detective turned his back on the glass. “We’ve gone through this with her a few times now. I think that’s about it.”

Von nudged Cody. “At least you’re off the hook. But you haven’t heard it all. Tell him, detective.”

“Which part? First of all, you know that fan you gave us the information on had snuck into the party.”

“Yeah, but she didn’t have anything to do with it, did she?”

“No, she’d just gone trying to see you. When you had the fight and all the people gathered around Arty’s office, she hid in a closet. She says she fell asleep in there and when she woke up she heard the argument between Arty and a woman, and the gunshot. She knew you were innocent. She was one of the anonymous calls we had.”

“I bet she was scared to death,” Kasey said.

The detective nodded. “More than she bargained for, that’s for sure. She said she was too scared to call 911 from there. I don’t think she’ll be crashing too many parties in the future.”

Von leaned forward. “It gets even better.”

“Yeah,” said the detective. “So this is the kicker, and we
haven’t told Annette this yet. When Annette shot Arty it was just a flesh wound. He didn’t die from that gunshot. Wouldn’t have died from it either. He must have sucked a hunk of that pie into his windpipe when the bullet grazed him. If she’d just called for help there wouldn’t have been a story to tell.”

“Even after all he did, I don’t wish that on him.” Cody shook his head. “That’s just… I don’t get it. How do you leave someone to die?”

“Excuse me.” Kasey needed some air. How does someone just let someone die? An officer let her out of the room and pointed her down the hall toward the ladies’ room.

“Crimes of passion. They never make sense,” Von said.

“He’s right,” the detective said to Cody. “Your buddy here helped us a lot. Thanks for working with us on this, Von.”

“You’re welcome. I knew Cody was innocent.”

The detective turned back to Cody. “I know it put you in a bad situation with the press and all. We’ll be making a statement in the morning. I hope that will cool things off for you.”

“Thank you,” Cody said.

The detective left the room. Cody and Von stood, and Cody shook his hand. “Thanks for helping me out. I appreciate it.”

“You just take care of Kasey. She was my best friend’s bride. I was their best man. If you break her heart you’ll have me to answer to.”

“I promise my intentions are honorable.”

“Good. They deserve someone good in their lives.” Von cuffed Cody on the shoulder.

I agree, and I want to be that someone.
“I guess I should tell you that I’m planning to ask her to stay at Hillcrest with me.”

“Oh, great. If she says yes, I’ll never hear the end of this.” Von laughed. “You don’t know my wife too well yet, but Riley told me the day that Kasey left to go see you in Nashville that she bet Kasey wouldn’t be coming back.”

“How could she have known that? I didn’t even know that’s what I was hoping for until yesterday.”

“You don’t know my wife. She’s got an intuition on her that’s better than a bloodhound on a fresh scent.”

“Well, let your little Magic Eight Ball know she was right. At least if I get my way.” Cody smiled, feeling more confident about asking Kasey now, and he’d already thought it through so he’d have an answer to every argument she could throw in the way of a future with him.

“I’ll tell Riley. Reluctantly. I hate admitting when she’s right, and you’d better have a spare room with Riley’s name on it too. She and Kasey can’t be apart but for so long.”

“I’ve got plenty of room and you just might find something to do on the ranch too. Y’all have an open invitation.”

V
on drove Kasey and Cody back to the airport. Cody boarded the plane while Kasey said her good-byes to Von.

Von lifted his chin toward the plane. “When you found that picture, and that note. You thought he might have had something to do with Arty’s murder, didn’t you?” Von’s eyes seemed to search her for answers.

“You know I can’t lie to you. I thought he may have been covering for her, and that scared me to death. If he’d lied to me, I couldn’t have forgiven that. I’ve really grown to… I trusted him. Even with Jake, and if that were the case…” She swallowed. “I was afraid I’d put Jake back in some kind of danger.”

“He’s a good guy, Kasey.”

“Yeah. He is.” She glanced over her shoulder at the plane. “You should see him and Jake together.” She shrugged. “I never thought I’d feel this way again. I—”

“I know. You don’t have to explain. I get it.” He smiled. “I can see it.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “You don’t think I’m crazy? I keep telling myself that he’s out of my league, but my stupid heart does backflips when he gets near me. And I keep
thinking of Nick. What would he think? Is it the right thing to do for Jake? What if I make a mistake?”

He leaned against the side of the SUV. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. I’ve only seen you look at one other man that way.”

“Nick,” she whispered.

“Yeah. And what you and Nick had, it was amazing.” He took her hands. “Kasey, Nick wouldn’t want you to be alone. I don’t want you to be alone.”

“You’d be okay if I decided to try something with him?”

He nodded. “I would. And in case you haven’t figured it out, he feels the same way about you. The way he looks when he talks about you. There’s something there.”

She felt her body tense. “It’s scary to let go.”

“You and Nick were great together, and I never thought I’d be able to see you with someone, but I can see this.”

“I can too. I can picture it so clearly. If I open myself up, I don’t want to get hurt. What if instead of falling in love I just… fall?”

“If you fall, Riley and I will always be there for you, but he feels the same way about you. He told me so.”

“He did?”

“He sure did. Riley is going to be so excited for you. She knew there was a special something between you two.”

“I guess she was right. Again.” Kasey cut her eyes to the side. “Do we have to tell her right away?”

“She’ll know.”

“That’s true. That girl knows everything.” The plane’s engines whirred to a start. “I guess I’d better get going.”

Von gave her a hug. “I love you, girl. You’re going to be just fine and I can’t wait to see where all this takes you. I think
your life is in for a change… and it’s going to be a really good one.”

“Thank you for everything, Von. You are such a wonderful friend, and so amazing to be able to always put these puzzles together. Tell Riley I’ll call her once I get some sleep.” She turned and headed to the plane, only turning back once to wave.

“Stay out of trouble,” Von called after her.

“I’ll try.”

Cody was talking to the pilot, so she took a seat on the couch in the back.

“You okay?” Cody said.

“Yeah. Tired, but okay,” she said and there were those feelings again. The little zing in her belly, the almost swirling feeling in her heart when she watched Cody.
How could I be so lucky to find this twice in a lifetime?

The plane took off, and once they hit cruising altitude Cody got up and sat next to Kasey. “You know there’s probably going to be a lot of hubbub about this for a few days. Press. All that.”

“And you don’t have an Annette to keep it in the box for you anymore,” she said.

“Exactly.”

Cody slid next to her on the couch. She pulled her feet up and turned to rest her head in his lap. He stroked his fingers through her hair. “It’s been a long day.”

“I’m glad it’s a short flight.”

“Me too. Sorry about the date. I didn’t mean to stand you up.”

I’d forgotten about that date.
It felt so long ago now. “You’re forgiven.”

“I’ll make it up to you.”

She relaxed into his lap and closed her eyes. “Good. I’ll let you make it up to me.” The sun had barely started to peek over the horizon by the time they landed at Hillcrest. Captain Rogers gave them a ride in his car around to the house. He waved as Cody and Kasey went inside.

She started up the stairs, but Cody didn’t follow her. “Aren’t you coming up?”

“Yeah. In a minute.”

He didn’t even give her a second to respond; instead he disappeared into the kitchen.

She went to her room and slipped out of her shoes, and when she turned around, Cody was standing in her doorway holding one of those recyclable handled grocery sacks.

“Come on.” He nodded and reached his hand out to her.

“What?”

“We’ve got about fifteen minutes. We missed the stargazing last night, but there ought to be one hell of a sunrise.”

She took his hand and let him lead her to the elevator in the corner of his bedroom. It had the feel of an old-timey lift with the metal grate door. He pulled it over and then pressed the button. They could have climbed a ladder faster, or maybe it was just the anticipation of being alone with him after all they’d been through.

When the doors opened he let go of her hand and preceded her onto the rooftop balcony, where he pulled out orange juice, two glasses, and a bottle of champagne and set them on the table next to a double chaise lounge.

She crawled up onto the chaise and laid back. “If I fall asleep here I may never wake up.” She stretched out and sighed. “It’s nice out here.”

He poured a little orange juice into each glass, then popped open the champagne. He topped off both glasses and handed her one.

Cody eased into the chaise next to her. “Thank you, for being here with me.”

She took the glass. “Cheers.”

He put an arm around her and they eased back into the chaise and watched the sunrise.

“The view from here is amazing. I could get used to this,” she said.

“Well, funny you should mention that.” He rolled over on his side and took the glass out of her hand. He placed it on the table next to him, and took her hands into his own. “I know this is fast, but I warned you I wasn’t good at slow.”

“I believe you,” she said.

“Well, remember when you told me that when I’d met my soul mate I’d know it.”

“Yes.”

“You were right. Kasey, I think the reason we were brought together that day for the photo shoot and the connection we made wasn’t just a job. It was for something bigger. It was for this. I want you to stay. You and Jake. You’re my soul mate. I think I knew it back then, but I damn sure know it now. I want you in my life.”

It’s what she wanted. Exactly what she’d wanted to hear, but now that he’d said it icy fear rushed her. “I need someone
who will be here for me forever. Not a here-for-now guy. I’m a girl with baggage. Jake’s my priority.”

“And he should be. I want to have all of your baggage in my life.” Cody’s voice softened. “I know this will work. I feel it.”

“I don’t know if I can live in your world. It’s way bigger than me.”

“Fine. We’ll live in Adams Grove—in yours. I’ll ratchet back. Hell, I’ll give it up. Maybe I’ll just kick back and enjoy what I’ve already achieved.”