Pascagoula, Mississippi; 7:45 a.m.
Clay’s cell phone chirped. Since he was driving and alone, he allowed the call to come in over the car’s speakers. “Yo.”
“This has gone too far.”
Well, if it wasn’t his favorite cop. “You should’ve thought about that before you tampered with evidence.” Clay resisted the urge to laugh. Didn’t this cop understand how things worked? “Besides, it’s almost over. No need to wimp out now.”
“This kind of shit wasn’t supposed to happen!”
Clay rolled his eyes. The dude was seriously freaking out. “What can I say?” Clay wasn’t letting anything get in the way of his plan. It wasn’t his fault Irene Cooper had been murdered. As far as he was concerned, the old biddy had gotten what she deserved. “Life’s a bitch sometimes. You,” he warned, “just better keep your cool. You spill your guts, and that little incident of evidence-tampering could make you an accessory.”
“I didn’t tamper with evidence ... not technically,” the nervous shit muttered. “The idiot up in Laurel was the one who tampered with evidence. Hell,” he started shouting again, “it wasn’t even evidence ... as far as we knew then. But you knew! You knew something was going on days ago. I don’t know how, but somehow you’re responsible!”
“Whatever.” Clay wasn’t worried about it. No one could connect him to any of this. His cop accomplice couldn’t say the same. And if this fool or the one up in Laurel dared to turn on Clay, then they would pay the consequences. “You got nothing to do with this now. I’m in control. So just back off.”
“Her mother’s dead!” he practically screamed. “No one was supposed to die, you stupid little asshole!No one was supposed to die.”
Clay maneuvered his truck into the parking lot of the pancake house and slammed into park. “Chill! Damn! I had nothing to do with that. I told you what I’m doing is just a joke. My chance to mess with Addy’s head after what she did to my brother. Don’t blame me if you dumb bastards can’t do your jobs and find that crazy son of a bitch who’s going around abducting and killing people.” When the idiot on the other end of the line started ranting again, Clay ended the conversation with, “Stop bugging me and do your job or something.”
He severed the connection. Idiot.
That was the problem with people. They thought they could roll with the big boys. Ask for help, then when it came time to pay the price they turned into whining wimps.
When would they learn the most basic principle of all: you dance, you gotta pay the fiddler?
Clay wasn’t letting nobody take advantage of him. He was way smarter than his older brother had been, God rest his soul. Clay wasn’t just smarter, he was more determined. He was going to get the job done.
And then his damned old daddy might respect him the way he’d respected Gage.
He hadn’t exactly lied to the dumb shit on the phone. This was a joke, in a roundabout way. It wasn’t Clay’s fault that things had turned deadly. He didn’t have a crystal ball and he wasn’t responsible for what other folks did. His plan was simple. There was just one last thing Clayhad to do, and then it would all be over as far as he was concerned. Would’ve been over already if that damned Wyatt hadn’t kept Addy stuck to him like glue.
But Clay had a plan for that, too.
A smile cut across his face. “Bye-bye, princess.”
37
Singing River Hospital
Pascagoula, Mississippi; 9:05 a.m.
They had moved her mother to a private room in anticipation of Adeline’s arrival. She appreciated not having to go to the morgue to do this.
Adeline’s lips quivered.
Her mother was dead.
“You want me to go in there with you?”
She peered up at the man standing next to her. The sadness in his eyes tore at her already broken heart. Wyatt had always loved her mother. Had checked on her often; Irene had told Adeline so. This was hard for him, too.
Dragging in a breath for courage, Adeline shook her head. “I need to do this in private.”
Wyatt pulled her into his arms, held her tight to his chest. “I understand.” The softly spoken words reverberated against her temple. “I’ll be right out here if you need me.”
“Okay.” She pulled away from his strong arms and faced the door that stood between her and her mother’sbody.
Her mother had always been there for her. No matter what happened and no matter how far Adeline had run. She had been able to count on her mother when and if she needed her.