Part 21 (1/2)
”But that would make his hands slippery rather than providing the friction he needed,” she sputtered.
”Correct,” Jake said, stepping toward her.
Patty stepped back, wiping her hands on a towel. ”You got this all wrong. I didn't kill Conrad. I use the Dodecanol in my soaps-it's a dry moisturizer.”
Which is why it had worked in the chalk so well. Being a dry moisturizer hid the properties until it was too late.
”Come on, Patty. Game's up. We know Conrad added you and Shane to his life insurance policy last week. We know you had access to his chalk because he stopped over that night. And the murder weapon was sitting on your shelf.”
Patty's brows pinched. ”Conrad added us to his life insurance policy?” She looked genuinely perplexed.
”You're saying you didn't know?”
”No.” Patty shook her head. ”I had no idea. I can't believe he added us.”
”So he added us to some dumb policy. Big whoop.” They all turned to see Shane standing in the doorway.
Jake wondered how long the young man had been standing there and how much he'd overheard.
”He still treated you like a prost.i.tute,” Shane sputtered vehemently.
”Shane!” Patty's face turned bright red.
”What?” He shrugged. ”It's true. He was never going to leave his prissy wife for you.”
Patty walked to her son, smoothing his rumpled hair. ”Where is this coming from?”
”Come on, Mom. You know it's true. You were always going to get his leftovers.”
”You don't understand. Conrad loved us in his own way.”
”Please,” Shane huffed, and then turned to face Jake. ”I'm the one that mixed Dodecanol in Conrad's chalk. Mom had nothing to do with it.”
”Shane?” Patty stepped between Jake and her son. ”What are you doing?”
”Sorry, Mom, but Dad was never going to come back when you were another man's wh.o.r.e.”
She swatted him. ”Don't call me that.”
”Why? Everyone else in town does. Did you really think no one else in town noticed? I heard the gossip. All the juicy details. I saw you and Mrs. Humphries going at it in the square, and you know what, I'd had enough. When I heard Conrad say he loved you later that night, that he would take care of us but would never leave his precious Vivienne, I knew exactly where you stood with him, and I had to put an end to it.”
”Shane, you don't understand.”
”I understand plenty. I heard Conrad bragging about his upcoming climb, and I knew my opportunity had finally come. I did a little research, borrowed some of your stuff, and mixed it in with his chalk.”
Jake pulled out his handcuffs, his heart heavy. ”Shane Tate, you are under arrest for the murder of Conrad Humphries.”
”No.” Patty lunged for Jake. ”Stop. You've got this all wrong.”
23.
Patty raged against Jake as he steered Shane toward his and Kayden's rental car. He opened the door and guided Shane into the backseat. Patty pushed past Kayden as she tried running interference.
”Get out of my way,” Patty hollered, tossing in a few expletives at Kayden that curdled Jake's blood.
Shutting the car door, he turned to Patty. ”Never speak to her that way again.”
Patty got right in his face, belligerent. ”I'll speak to your girlfriend any way I please.”
”She's not my-”
”Let it be,” Kayden said. ”Our relations.h.i.+p is none of her business.”
Our relations.h.i.+p? Had she . . . ? Was she . . . ? He tried not to stagger back.
”My son is very much my business, and you two are making a huge mistake.” Patty dodged around them to the car window, rapping on the gla.s.s. ”Shane, tell them you didn't do this. Now!”
Shane turned his head the other way.
She whirled around on Jake. ”You can't take him. I won't allow it.”
”I'm afraid you don't have a choice. He's now in my custody, and I'm taking him back to the sheriff station in Yancey.”
”Not without me, you aren't. You think you're so superior. Acting all c.o.c.ky. Well, Shane's a minor, and I know our rights.”
”You have the full right to get yourself to the station. I am under no obligation to allow you to accompany us there. If you have a lawyer, I'd give him or her a call.”
”You're going to wish you were only dealing with my lawyer when I get through with you both.”
”If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to lock you up,” Th.o.r.eau said, dealing with the still-belligerent Patty Tate as Jake joined Landon in the interrogation room at Yancey's sheriff station. Kayden would be watching from the adjacent room, behind the two-way gla.s.s. It was hard to believe seven months earlier Reef had sat in the same interrogation room opposite Landon.
”Who are you?” Shane asked Landon.
”I'm Sheriff Grainger. I'd like you to tell me what you told Deputy Cavanagh.”
”I killed Conrad Humphries.”
He said it so coolly, so matter-of-factly, Jake wondered if he wasn't covering for his mom. No mother would let her son take the rap for her, but if Shane believed his mom had killed Conrad, he could very well be acting on that even if she didn't do it.
Patty had insisted they wait to question her son until their lawyer arrived, but Shane waived his right to have a lawyer present. He was ready and eager to talk, but Jake and Landon decided not to question him until the lawyer arrived, just to make sure they did everything by the book.
”I don't want to make this any harder on my mom than it already is. There's no need to drag it out.”
”Your mom has called Daniel Waters.”
”And he is . . . ?”