Part 33 (1/2)

But I'd seen how she laid into Richard on a whim, heard about how she'd treated Walter when they were young, and he'd only recently recovered. I could imagine how she'd react to a direct threat.

Grace had been there at Walter's house that morning-she'd told me as surely as if she'd spoken the words-and he told her he wouldn't put up with her manipulations any more. She'd pulled out the big guns. Debby. Erin. Richard. Direct attacks on Walter himself.

After she'd left, he'd remembered the Rumple Minze Jacob had given him. Poured himself a gla.s.s. Didn't drink it. Took it outside. Debated. Tried to distract himself by looking at his job for the morning, the raised bed he'd be building in our backyard. Couldn't quite put the gla.s.s down. Thought about calling Jacob, his AA sponsor. Didn't make the call.

Finally gave in.

And when the burning started, he ran to the closest faucet. In my workroom. And there he'd died.

Even if it hadn't happened exactly like that, I was close. We'd never know for sure, because no one had been there when Walter died. But two things I knew without doubt: Walter's weakness for alcohol betrayed him, and Grace had been the one to drive him over the edge.

I looked at Meghan and found an echo of my own profound sadness.

”Jacob,” I said, still looking at Meghan. ”Were you in Walter's house the night after he died?”

In my peripheral vision I saw Debby's head come up to watch her brother. I turned to Jacob. He radiated misery as he nodded. ”Yeah. Earlier I heard the sirens and saw the ambulance and everything. So I knew somethin' was going on, but not for sure what. So that night I went to Walter's to see if he could tell me, but he wasn't home. So I let myself in with that key he left out for us, and I saw the Rumple Mintz bottle on the counter, open and with part of it gone. I still didn't know what happened, but I knew it was time to get rid of it. I'd just finished pourin' it down the sink when you came in. I waited in the kitchen, scared you'd find me and hopin' you'd just leave. But you didn't leave. And while I'm standin' there, I lose my grip on the bottle, and it broke on the floor. So I left.”

”And came back later to clean up.” ”

I didn't want that bottle around!” His vehemence took me off guard.

I held up my hands. ”Okay. What about the fire?” I didn't know what Grace was planning next, but I knew it couldn't be good. And as Richard stood listening to Jacob, I'd seen Meghan very slowly moving back toward the stairs. If I could distract Grace-and Richard-for long enough, she'd have a good jump at getting upstairs and locking the door before Richard could catch her or Grace could shoot her.

Jacob nodded, wretched. ”Yeah, that was me, too. I got to wor- ryin' about that stuff they can do on TV, you know, the crimescene people? I thought they might be able to figure something out about how I'd done that to the peppermint schnapps, and I'd get in trouble.”

Debby started sobbing. ”Oh, Jacob.”

”It wasn't 'cause I'm afraid of goin' to jail for what I done, Debs. I knew I deserved that. But then who'd take care of you?”

”You know you'll have to go to jail, don't you, Jacob?” I kept my voice gentle, but if he still posed a threat, I wanted to know now, while Grace still had her gun on him.

Rebellion crossed his face, then slid off. ”Yeah. I know.” And he started to cry. ”I'm sorry, Debs.”

”But that wasn't you driving the truck that almost ran me down, was it?”

Jacob wiped his eyes-and nose-on his sleeve. ”Huh?”

”Downtown, Tuesday afternoon after I talked to you at Beans R Us. Someone tried to kill me.”

He shook his head, a bewildered expression on his face.

I looked at Grace. She wore that tiny smile. More of a smirk, actually. I longed to smack it off.

”What did I ever do to you, Grace?”

”You're snotty, and you're nosy. And I'm sure you were keeping Erin from me, along with her mother. But hurting you wouldn't have done me any good.”

”But you drove that truck, didn't you?”

She gave a little nod of acquiescence. ”I thought you were Meghan. I saw you come out of your house, and I went and got the truck-Richard has a neighbor who leaves the key in his vehicle, can you believe that in this day and age?-and then came and looked for you on the street. I saw you walking home from downtown.”

Meghan and I exchanged glances. ”You thought I was Meghan? We look nothing alike.”

”Your hood was up. You came out of her house. I'd only met her once, and Richard neglected to tell me his ex-wife had a roommate.” She directed a sharp look at her son.

”I get it. You wanted to kill Meghan so Richard would get custody of Erin.”

”Not kill. Just.. .hurt a little. Enough so he'd have Erin for a while.” Grace smiled at Meghan, not a nice smile at all. ”Richard, you're not paying attention to your wife. She's trying to get away.”

Absently, Richard moved Meghan further into the room. ”You tried to hurt her?” he asked in a hushed voice, as if amazed his mother could do such a thing.

”Oh, for heaven's sake, nothing happened,” she snapped.

”Nothing my aching, bruised a.s.s,” I said.

She ignored me. ”What's in there?” She pointed to the storeroom.

”Just some inventory,” I said.

”Is there a lock on the door?”

” ?” A/Vhy She sighed and pointed the gun at me. ”Because I'm going to lock you all in there. I need a little quiet time upstairs before I leave.” She looked at Meghan. ”You can save yourself some heartache if you'll just tell me where it is.”

”Where what is?”

”You know.”

Meghan shook her head, baffled.

”I want what Walter gave Erin.”

Meghan drew her eyebrows together. ”I have no idea what you're talking about”

”Oh, come on, honey. You're her mother. Mothers always know. He gave her something-cash or jewelry or something worth a decent chunk of money. Money he owed me. You know, he never paid a cent of child support. And, as his wife, I should have received half his lottery winnings.”

Meghan could have been looking at a gross but fascinating insect. ”You stole Walter's son and disappeared. Now you're mad because he didn't give you child support? And you think you're eligible for community property even though you've committed bigamy not once, but twice? You're kidding, right?”