Castle Rock (16 page)

“Where is everybody tonight?”

Will pulled up a chair next to hers. “I don't know where the dudes are. I guess they just went back to their cabins after dinner. They knew Danny had been hurt.”

“Where are Peter and Julie?”

“In Santa Fe. They were invited to a party at the Holmans.”

“Oh.” That was all Serena said.

“When the plane was still gone by mid-afternoon, they decided to drive into Santa Fe.”

Not waiting, Serena thought coldly, to find out anything about Danny. A party at the Holmans was more important.

“Jed called back and said Danny was going to be okay,” Will said quickly and Serena knew he had read her thoughts.

“I didn't know that. That was nice of him.”

“Yeah.”

Serena looked at him gravely. She hesitated, asked bluntly, “Will, don't you like Jed?”

The lamplight shone on Will's flaming red hair, but his face was in shadow. He turned toward her and she could see his strong jaw and firm chin. He was, she thought with a little shock of surprise, even handsomer than she had realized. Perhaps she had not really looked at Will these last years.

“It isn't so much a question of liking or disliking,” Will said slowly, his face solemn. “It's just . . . what do we know about him?”

Serena felt a fleeting pang of guilt. She knew that Jed had lied when he told her he received a degree from the University of Texas. There was no record of his graduating when he had said. No record at all. She should tell Will. She could confide in Will. He was part of Castle Rock, part of her life.

But she didn't.

Abruptly, she reached out and took Will's hand and held it tightly.

Will looked surprised, then delighted.

“Oh Will, I wish . . .”

“What do you wish, Serry?”

“I wish things could be the way they used to be.”

“Maybe . . .” and he spoke with painful slowness, “maybe we can make things even better than they used to be.” He was looking at her with so much love, so much concern.

Serena squeezed his hand once more, then let it drop. “I don't know, Will. I don't know what's going to happen to any of us. But I know you mean so much to me. I can trust you.”

But even as she said it, she remembered Will's refusal to tell her what was worrying him at the start of the summer and his weak explanation for having drunk too much the night before Uncle Dan died and the day of the funeral.

Wasn't this the time to clear it up, to ask him to tell her truthfully what was wrong? To tell him of her suspicions? She started to speak, then stopped, slumped against the chair, staring into the amber liquid in her glass.

Later, she would wonder if it would have made a difference if she had confronted Will? Would her questions have changed the future? Or was that future already certain, machinery once put in motion doomed to a foreordained end?

But she didn't ask. Will's happiness at being with her, the wonderfully warm sense of comfort she felt at his nearness, were too precious to risk. So she drew out the interlude, talking of this and that, of the ranch, of Will's paintings, of anything and everything but the strain and fear that permeated Castle Rock. When they went upstairs, after she helped set up a cot for Will by Danny, when she stood once again outside Danny's door, Serena smiled at him then stood on tiptoe to lightly kiss his lips. “Goodnight, Will.”

In her room, she undressed quickly, slipping into her gown. She kept thinking of Will. If Jed Shelton had never come to Castle Rock . . .

The soft knock on her door startled her. She hurried to her door. It must be Will. There was no one else upstairs. She yanked open the door, “Will.”

It wasn't Will.

Jed stood there. He had heard her call Will's name. His eyes dropped to her gown. Serena flushed and drew the negligee closed.

“Sorry,” he said sardonically.

“Will's staying with Danny tonight. I was afraid something might be wrong,” and she hated the defensive tone in her voice.

“Sure.”

She could have slapped him.

“Look, I'll only take a minute,” he continued. “I thought you might like to know about the rope.”

“The rope?”

“The rope that was holding up the gunny sack.”

She forgot her anger. “Yes,” she said eagerly, “what about it?”

“Somebody burned it.”

“Burned it,” she repeated blankly.

And
burned
it
he meant. After bringing Danny up to the house, Jed had taken a flashlight and gone in search of debris from the swing. Millie told him it had all been dumped right inside the door to the tack room, but when he went to look he found only the gunny sack. He searched among the ropes coiled in the tack room and even looked in the stables.

It was the smell that led him to the incinerator out behind the stables.

“You know how hemp stinks when it burns,” he explained.

Anybody could have done it. It took only a minute to shove the rope into the incinerator, douse it with gasoline, and toss in a match. Will could have done it. Or Julie. Or Peter. Or the Minters. Or the professors. Anybody at all.

“You don't seem shocked,” Jed observed.

“I told you when we flew home,” she said quietly. “I never thought it was an accident.”

“But a little kid,” he objected. “Who the hell would try to kill a little kid?”

The same person who killed Uncle Dan, she thought. Who tried to kill me. But she didn't say it. She just looked at him.

Jed frowned. “I don't understand why. I don't see it.”

“Don't you? What would happen if Danny died?” she asked sharply.

He looked at her.

Serena laid it out. “Castle Rock would belong to Will and Julie, for one thing. For another, I would be booted out. That's what the murderer wants.”

There. She had said it. Murderer.

“Murderer?” he repeated. “Danny's going to be okay.”

“Uncle Dan is dead.”

“That was an accident.”

“Funny, isn't it? So many accidents. All in a row. Uncle Dan's horse bolts. A rattlesnake shows up in Hurricane's stall. Danny's swing falls. Funny, isn't it?”

“No,” he said harshly, “it isn't funny. Not a damn bit. My God, Serena, if that's what you think, why don't you get out of here?”

“I can't.”

“Sure you can. Take a trip, Serena. Take Danny with you. Say you think he needs some sea air. Go to Galveston. Get the hell out.”

He leaned forward, his face intent. He really wanted her to go, she was sure of that.

It would certainly simplify things for the smugglers if she left. Then there wouldn't be anyone trying to trap them, no one at all to stand in their way.

Wasn't the possibility that Uncle Dan had been killed as obvious to him as it was to her? Wasn't it Jed who warned her that accidents came in threes? If Jed were behind the accidents, he would make sure the rope was destroyed so there could be no evidence to take to the sheriff. Then he could use the very act of the rope's destruction as a way to try and frighten her more and drive her from the ranch.

“I'll fly you down to Padre Island tomorrow,” he said eagerly.

“No.”

“Serena, you have to get out of here.”

“No,” she said defiantly. “I belong here. I'm going to stay here.”

He glared at her. “You little fool. I tell you I know what I'm talking about . . .”

He broke off and they stared at each other, Serena in shock, Jed in confusion.

“What do you know?” she asked steadily.

His mouth twisted. “I know stupidity when I see it.”

Suddenly Will loomed up behind Jed. “Hey Serena, is everything all right? I heard loud voices.” He looked from her to Jed and Serena knew he would love to manhandle Jed right out of her room. She saw, too, the flash of anger in Jed's eyes. He would explode if Will touched him.

Serena stepped between them, put a hand on Will's arm. “Everything's fine. You'd better get back to Danny. Is he sleeping all right?”

“I just checked him,” Will said, not taking his eyes off Jed.

The two of them glared, much like angry dogs circling in a barnyard.

“It's all right, Will,” she said insistently. “You go back to bed now.”

He left finally, his face still truculent. When Danny's door shut behind him, Jed asked abruptly, “Is he why you're staying at Castle Rock?”

“Will?” Serena said in surprise. “What makes you think that?”

“I was coming up the stairs to tell you about the rope and I saw you kiss him.”

He didn't go on to say that then, at his knock, she had opened her door in her negligee saying Will's name, but she could read it in Jed's eyes.

Serena lifted her chin. “I grew up with Will,” she said steadily. “I care very much for him. I see no reason why I shouldn't kiss him goodnight.”

“Do you call that a goodnight kiss?” Jed said derisively. He stared down at her, then, abruptly, he pulled her into his arms and his mouth sought hers. She struggled, trying to turn away, but he held her immovable against him, and his lips found hers in a violent, demanding, explosive kiss. She responded, her mouth opening, her heart beginning to pound.

When he let her go as abruptly as he had pulled her close, he glared down at her. “That's a goodnight kiss,” he said angrily, then turned on his heel and was gone.

Julie wore white walking shorts and a crisp blue cotton blouse. Her shining blond hair swung in a ponytail. She looked about sixteen and, Serena thought enviously, absolutely beautiful. Serena felt like warmed-over cat food. She had slept poorly and her head throbbed.

Julie perched on the edge of Uncle Dan's desk. “Serena, you hardly seem to come out of the office at all anymore.”

Serena leaned back in her chair. “There's so much to take care of,” she said wearily.

Julie lifted her hands above her head, stretched like a lithe kitten, then smiled. “I have a marvelous idea. Let's get away for a while.”

“Get away?” Serena put down her pen and stared at Julie.

“Yes. You're working too hard and I'm bored to pieces.” She clapped her hands together. “I know what let's do. Let's fly to Dallas and go shopping.”

A shopping trip did, for an instant, sound absolutely lovely. To wander about Neiman-Marcus and all the small specialty shops. To eat dainty lunches and drink white wine and be far away from the sullen brooding atmosphere of the ranch. Getting away did, for an instant, sound grand.

Then Serena asked quietly, “Who put you up to this, Julie? Was it Jed's idea?”

A look of pure surprise washed over Julie's face. “Oh no, Serena. What makes you think that?”

Serena looked at Julie's lovely face and remembered how Julie excelled at acting. She was perfectly capable of lying while looking like an angel.

“I don't know,” Serena said slowly. “I thought he might have suggested it to you.”

“Why should he care what you do?” Julie asked innocently.

“No reason at all,” Serena said quickly.

Julie tilted her head. “He's cute, isn't he?”

“I suppose so,” Serena said woodenly. “I hadn't really noticed.”

Julie laughed at that, lightly, charmingly. “Oh my dear, hadn't you really?”

After Julie left, Serena stared at the letter she was writing for a long time. She started over twice, crumpled up each sheet in a tight ball, threw it viciously at the wastebasket. Her head was killing her. Abruptly, she shoved back her chair. Usually she worked in the office until ten, then saddled up Hurricane. This morning she wanted out in the open now to try and ease the tight muscles in her neck. She would ride Hurricane like the wind. Fresh air sweeping against her face would make her feel good again, banish the tight hard knot of anger.

Serena hurried down the path to the stables, not making any effort to be quiet but running lightly on the gravel. She decided to check Hurricane before she went into the tack room. She plunged into the dim light of the stables and it was like diving into a pool of dark water. She loved the quiet and the smell of horses and hay. Hurricane looked over the edge of his stall and whinnied. She realized she had forgotten to bring a carrot. She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her cheek against his head. Dear, dear Hurricane. He stood very still, welcoming her caress.

She heard voices then and realized somebody must be in the tack room.

“Damn,” Serena said softly.

She didn't want to talk to anyone. Not now. She wanted to be alone on the trail. Then she stiffened and strained to hear.

Julie's voice carried well. “But Jed, why did you want me to ask her? It wouldn't be any fun if she came along.”

“Peter wouldn't think anything of it if you and Serena went shopping and I flew you. He might look at it a little differently if you and I went alone.”

Every word carried clearly, devastatingly. Every word made it clearer and clearer that Jed and Julie knew each other better than anyone guessed. The arms that had held Serena, the mouth that had pressed against hers, knew Julie too, knew her well.