Part 32 (2/2)
Julianne picked up a music box and brought it to the bed and sat down next to her mother. She opened the lid, and watched the tiny skaters whirl stiffly across the ice in time with ”The Skater's Waltz.”
”It still works.” She closed the lid and the music stopped.
”I kept replacing the batteries.”
”How many times?” Julianne looked up at her. ”How many times did you have to do that?”
”Lots, I guess. I didn't keep count.”
Julianne leaned back against her mother, her head resting on Mara's chest, and raised the lid again. She hummed along with the tinny music as the skaters resumed their dance. Mara put an arm around her child and closed her eyes tightly, giving silent thanks, no longer concerned about what came next. She allowed this first bit of closeness to fill her, every lonely corner, and knew that for now, it was enough.
”So what do you think, Cahill? Same places as last night?” Will asked as they left the house next door to Mara's and headed across the drive.
”Sure.” She shrugged. ”Makes no difference to me, either way.”
”Maybe we'll have a bit of action tonight, what do you think?” Keeping to the shadows, he took her hand for just a minute.
”I don't know. What if we're wrong and this is all a waste of time? What if Jules decides it isn't worth it to him to take the risk to get Julianne back? I mean, he has to know that Mara isn't going to give her up without a fight.”
”You're right. And I don't think he's the type to back off without fighting back. I think the thought of displeasing his boss will urge him on, even if his paternal instincts do not. He'll be here, maybe tonight. I doubt he's going to want Julianne to spend a minute longer with her mother than she has to.”
”Afraid she'll find out just how much he's lied?”
”Afraid that mother-child bond will take over and she won't come willingly. It would be interesting to see how he's going to explain to his daughter that her mother has been alive all these years.”
”Like that's going to be an issue. He's not going to get close enough to Julianne to have that conversation.”
”How's that going, by the way? What did Annie say about how Mara and her daughter are getting along?”
”She said it goes back and forth. One minute Julianne seems happy to be home, talking to Mara about things she remembers. Then the next minute, she's angry at her mother for taking her from her father. She said it's like a seesaw that's totally out of control.”
”It's probably going to be like that for a while,” Will said. ”Julianne has gone through a lot. I'm sure her loyalties are being severely tested right now.”
”Annie said it was to be expected. But it sounded as if it's starting to wear on both of them.”
”It's going to wear even more when Jules shows up and we have to take him in,” Will reminded her. ”That's not going to be a pretty scene.”
”Well, maybe we'll get lucky and we'll be able to get our hands on him before Julianne even knows he's been here.”
”That's the plan.” They reached the backyard, and Will knocked softly on the door. He stepped back when Annie appeared and opened it.
”Sorry,” she said softly, ”but Julianne just went up to bed. It isn't so easy to talk a twelve-year-old into going to bed early, you know? I told them that I'd be right up, that I needed something from my car. We're going to watch a movie on the TV in Mara's room.”
The three stepped into the back hall and Annie closed the door behind them, then locked the dead bolt.
”Got your walkie-talkie?” Will whispered.
”Got the walkie-talkie, got the gun.” Miranda patted first one hip, then the other. ”And got the all-important licorice.”
”Guess you're all set, then. See you later.” Will followed Annie down the hall.
”See you.” Miranda leaned back against the wall. ”Hey, keep in touch, okay? Feel free to call if anything exciting happens.”
She slid down the wall, watching Will disappear into the darkness.
Her walkie-talkie buzzed softly against her hip ten minutes later.
”I just heard from John,” Will told her.
”And . . . ?”
”And guess whose body was just found facedown in the mud with a couple of bullet holes?”
”I have no clue.” Miranda sat up straight, intrigued.
”Maybe it would help if I told you where it was found.”
”Go on.”
”In a park down the road from Landry's farm.”
She processed the information. ”Down the road from . . . I don't know. Tell me . . . oh, no, please don't say Regan Landry-”
”No, no. Archer Lowell.”
”Lowell? You're kidding, right?”
”Nope. No gun found, they're rus.h.i.+ng the testing on the bullets they recovered, see if they're a match to anything we already have. They're hoping that once the story breaks, someone will come forward, have a description of a car or an individual who might have been seen with him. Right now, they have nothing but the body and the bullets.”
”Holy s.h.i.+t.” She was still in shock. ”Poor, stupid Archer . . .”
”Poor Archer was going to plant a bullet between those baby blues of yours. Save the sympathy.”
”I can't help it. He was so . . . pathetic.” Miranda shook her head.
”Pathetic enough to have killed two men and walked away unseen both times.”
”Well, I guess that's good for me, though, right? At least I don't have to worry about him trying to cross me off his. .h.i.t list,” she said. ”But who would have wanted him dead?”
”Your mind does sort of wander back to that fourth-man theory now, doesn't it? Someone had to have pulled the trigger.”
”But we know there were only three men in that room, Will. Evan confirmed through the deputy sheriff's office that there were only Channing, Giordano, and Lowell. When would they have added a fourth? And why? Doesn't it seem that the more people who knew what they were planning, the more likely it would be that, sooner or later, someone would slip up and tell someone else?”
”Unless one of the three arranged for a fourth to sort of oversee the game, make sure it was played out.”
”But who could have done that? Channing had already played out his piece before Giordano was released from prison, and Archer was still behind bars when Vince was doing his thing,” Miranda reminded him.
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