Bouquet of Lies Part 43

"Daughters? Sons?"

"Two boys and a girl."

"Are you proud of them?"

"Very proud."

"Really? Why?"

"Well. Jarrod started kindergarten and wants to be a lawyer like his dad. Kenton is three and recently stopped wetting the bed. And four-month-old Emma sleeps through the night."

Lacey laughed. "Little Hendersons. Well, tell them you're proud of them every chance you get."

Henderson nodded and his face turned a little red.

Uncle D's voice carried in from the foyer. "Bring her down here. We need her. We can't find the way in from the house. It'll save time if she shows us how she got in from the outside." He entered the dining room, closing his cell phone.

"What was that about?" Lacey asked. It sounded like Crystal was on the way.

"Something I'll get to." Uncle D took his seat.

A deputy poked his head in. "We found it. Ten seconds after we said we couldn't."

The rotund detective smiled. "Isn't that always the way? Okay." He seemed very pleased, but took a Tums anyway. "Go on in, but just glance around. Then take a break until I finish in here. I want to be there."

The deputy saluted with one finger and disappeared.

"Now we're cooking with gas." Uncle D patted his tummy.

Dan walked in and Lacey felt her heart jump. When he took the chair next to her, it jumped again. He glanced at her and she saw a glimmer of a smile. At least she thought she did. Or was it wishful thinking?

She turned away from him, even though what she really wanted to do was grab him and hustle him out the door and get things straight. Why hadn't he called? Why the silent treatment? Had she torpedoed their relationship by getting him to sleep with her?

She realized she was avoiding eye contact. It wasn't like her to be so obsessive about a man. She had it bad. She had it real bad. Here she was about to learn more about her father's murder and she was worrying about her relationship with Dan. Where were her priorities?

"Here's where we are," Uncle D said. "Randall Barber. Reverend Irene, aka Bonnie Malone, aka Elizabeth Duffey, aka Christine Haner, aka . . . well, there are several more. We've determined that her real name is Ana Monroe Barber."

"Barber?" Darla gasped. "They're related?"

"Mother and stepson."

The news didn't shock Lacey at all. She didn't think anything would shock her anymore. She felt Dan take her hand. She glanced down.

She was shocked.

Darla looked at Jake, then Uncle D. "Reverend Irene is his mother?"

"Stepmother. There's still a lot to unravel, but we know that much. She married his father when Randy was fifteen. The father died less than a year later. We'll be looking into that." Uncle D raised his brows. "Randy has an older brother serving in Afghanistan. We want to talk to him, of course."

Did Dan just expect her to forgive him? She'd risked her neck. She'd needed him afterward and he hadn't been there. Why did he think he could just nonchalantly take her hand when he hadn't returned her phone calls? She pulled her hand away.

"They aren't talking. They've both lawyered up."

"I've already taken steps to ensure Randall can't get his hands on Darla's money for their defense," Henderson said.

"Good," Lacey said. She crossed her arms. She uncrossed them. She fidgeted in the chair. She wasn't really mad at Dan. She just thought she should be. Oh, wow. She was game playing and not in some lightheartedly way. She was being manipulative. She had tried to play games with her father and look where it had gotten her. If she didn't watch it, she would screw this thing up.

Uncle D looked at Darla. "We are certain it was Ana, your Reverend Irene, you saw at the scene of both murders. I'll tell you why you didn't recognize her. Ana is a pet.i.te woman, but she wore a fat suit under her kaftans and put platforms on her feet when you saw her as the Reverend Irene. It's a scam she's pulled before."

"I'm so stupid," Darla said. "I let her into our house."

"You aren't stupid," Lacey said.

"She's conned much bigger fish than you. Believe me," Uncle D told her. He turned to face everyone in the room. "Here's what we've pieced together, mostly from what we found on Ana's computer. And from our investigation into Randy."

He popped a Tums in his mouth at the name Randy.

"They were after money. I think that much is obvious. They'd done their homework when it came to researching the family. Except, they did screw up here and there."

"They didn't know Mother was alive," Lacey said.

"No. We don't think so. There's no record they searched for her death certificate."

"Randy was there when Maggot strong-armed Edward." Lacey looked at Darla. "Remember? The two of you had just come back from the cemetery."

Darla shook her head. "I didn't really pay attention."

"Okay, well. I'm sure that's what made Randy go after Maggot. He figured he'd better find out what Maggot knew. Killed him for the file." She looked at Uncle D. "Right?"

"Ana killed Stark." His face said there was no room for discussion. "She also killed your father and Edward."

"What about Honey?"

"A man killed her. We think it was Randy. However, he claimed an alibi before he asked for a lawyer. Said he was with Darla." His expression asked Darla if that was true.

Darla shrugged. "I keep a diary. When was she killed?"

"I know when," Lacey said. "I remember that night. You were hysterical because Randy had cancelled your date. He has no alibi."

"Good," Uncle D said. "Very good." He looked pleased. "The evidence is strong. In Ana's closet we found the outfit you described as the one your mother was wearing the night of the costume party."

"But . . ." Darla suddenly looked pained.

"What?" Lacey asked.

"I know I pa.s.sed out when I found Daddy, so she had time to run away."

Lacey nodded.

"What about when I saw her with Grandfather?"

"Very astute, Darla." Uncle D bounced the fingertips of both hands against each other. He smiled, like he knew the answer.

"What?" Lacey asked.

"I didn't pa.s.s out," Darla said. "I screamed and then I stood outside the door. People came right away. How'd she get away then?"

Everyone was silent. The answer had something to do with what the cops were doing in the library right now.

"I trusted her," Darla said. "And him."

"They targeted you," Jake told her.

Uncle D nodded. "You and your sister are very lucky. I can tell you of others who weren't."

Darla clutched Jake's hand. She leaned her head against his shoulder and looked at Lacey.

"Did you hear that? We're lucky," Lacey said.

"Smart," Darla answered.

"Spoiled."

"Polite."

"Strong."

"Strong." Darla smiled.

Uncle D took another Tums and raised his brows. "Cryptic."

The two sisters giggled.

"And on the same page." Dan looked at Jake. Jake winked at him.

Lacey glanced back and forth between the two. Had they been talking?

Uncle D took a big breath. "So. Here's why I came to the house to tell you all this. Remember, Lacey, when your mother told us there was a secret way into this house?"

"I remember."

"Well, we're bringing her here to show us."

Lacey saw Darla bite her lip.

"But you believe her," Lacey said.

"Absolutely. There are no blueprints for this house. But, we did some research. The architect is well known for designing mansions with secret rooms and pa.s.sages. We figured there was a secret room attached to the library. Why else would Ana and Randy choose that room for the murders?"

"You found it? That's what all that talk was with the deputy?" Lacey said.

"Exactly. And we think it connects with that pa.s.sage your mother used to slip into the house."

"But how would Ana and Randy know it was there?"

"I said they researched the family. They researched the house, too. On Ana's computer we found searches on the architect's name and she located a book about the architect at a library in Westlake Village. So we did some old fashioned leg work this morning and guess whose prints are all over that book?"

"Ana's."

"Randy's." Uncle D beamed. "Another strand in that rope. Also, the book says the architect liked secret rooms attached to home libraries. There were examples."

"But it looks like you had trouble finding how to get in," Jake said. "How did they know?"

Uncle D frowned and nodded. "Randy had been to the house a number of times. He could have slipped in there, looked around and finally found it. We did."

"Wow," Lacey murmured. She looked at Darla. "We could have had fun with that, if we'd known when we were kids, huh?"

Darla looked sick. She started to shake.

"Darla?"

"I'm all right."

"No, you're not." There was fear in her eyes. Why now? She'd been doing so well.

"I remember now," Darla murmured.

"What?" Jake asked.

Darla's eyes were on Lacey. Then she looked at Jake. "Hide and Seek."

"The story I told you?" Jake said. "When you were crying and we couldn't find you?"

Darla trembled.

"Hide and Seek?" Lacey said.

"Edward put me in that room. It was dark and he had a flashlight and he told me no one would ever find me. I remember. I was scared because he always scared me. I started to whine and he told me to shut up. Did I want to see what happened to little babies who whined?" She swallowed, unable to go on.

Everybody waited.

"He, um, he took me to this thing. This stand. It had a box. A chest. On the top." Darla swallowed again.

"The chest in your nightmares," Lacey murmured.

Darla nodded. She took a breath. Her words choked in her throat. "He opened it. And there were . . . there were little bones. And a skull."

Lacey's blood ran cold.