Dead Giveaway (Stillwater Trilogy #2)(54)
Author: Brenda Novak

"I’m sorry." He’d had too much on his mind, hadn’t expected word to get out quite this fast.

"Anyway, it’s nothing." It was making love with Allie afterward that had made a serious impact.

"What happened?"

"Someone took a shot at me from the trees."

She gasped. "Who?"

"I don’t know. But I’m fine. The bullet passed through the flesh of my arm, that’s all."

"Have you seen a doctor?"

He used a pot scrubber to get his pan clean. "There’s no need."

"You were shot and you didn’t even go to the doctor?"

"I told you, I’m fine."

"Where were you when this happened? At the farm?"

"At Chief McCormick’s cabin."

She said nothing.

He paused in his work. "You’ve been there, haven’t you?"

"What do you think?"

He went back to scrubbing. "I think you should be glad you broke things off with McCormick when you did."

"Why?"

"Allie went there searching for proof that her father’s having an affair."

"You told her?"

"Of course not. She’s beginning to suspect."

"Why?"

"Did you give him a teddy bear mug?" he asked, rinsing the pan and setting it in the drainer.

There was an uncomfortable silence. "Yes…"

Clay let the water drain out of the sink. "There you go."

"Did she find what she was looking for?"

If there’d been any doubt in Clay’s mind, the fear in his mother’s voice would’ve confirmed that she’d spent plenty of time at the cabin. "No. But make sure you never go back."

"We broke up, remember?"

"Doesn’t hurt to give you a little warning."

"Who would want to harm you?" she asked.

He ran some clear water through his rag, wrung it out and started wiping the counters. "The list isn’t as short as we might hope."

"But…why now?"

"Allie thinks someone’s afraid I’m not going to get what’s coming to me."

"It has to be Joe," she said. "That man’s awful. Just awful."

Joe had been particularly hateful since Grace’s return nine months ago. Something about her triggered the worst in him. He wanted her and hated her at the same time. And now that Allie was back, and she wasn’t siding with the Vincellis the way Joe thought she should, he was angrier than ever.

Joe…Clay shook his head. He didn’t have an alibi for last night. But why would he write Allie a note, telling her to leave the past alone? Joe wanted her to investigate.

"I’m not convinced it was Joe." Which was the only reason Joe was still walking around in perfect health.

"Who else could it be?"

"I don’t know, but I need to talk to Chief McCormick. Face-to-face. Can you tell him to pay me a visit? Tonight?"

"What?" she said.

"You heard me."

"What do you want with him?"

Clay grabbed a towel to dry his dishes. "A trade."

"What kind of trade?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"Does it have to do with Allie?" she asked.

"Maybe."

"I heard you’re sleeping with her. Is that true?"

"The chief tell you that?"

"Of course not. We’re not talking. Anyway, he’s too protective of his daughter to tell anyone. Madeline heard it."

"Who from?"

"She didn’t say."

Clay winced at the twinge of pain he felt lifting his dishes into the cupboard and switched hands. The person who’d spread that gossip was most likely the person who’d shot him. Who else, besides the chief, knew he and Allie had been together?

"It’s not true," he said. He knew it’d be better for Allie if he simply denied it and hoped she’d do the same.

There was a long silence. "Now you’re lying to me? "

Hell. "We were together one night."

"I see."

"You’re the one who started the whole thing, so don’t give me any grief about it."

"I never said you should sleep with her!"

"You didn’t act as if you’d be opposed to the idea. Anyway, it’s not worth arguing about.

We’re not seeing each other anymore."

"Well, I’m not seeing her father, either. So I can’t deliver your message."

"Call him." Clay closed the cupboard and chucked his towel toward the hook where he normally hung it. "You must have some way of getting in touch with him. Or I’ll call him myself."

There was a long pause. "Clay, what’s going on?"

He started bagging up the garbage under his sink. "Is the chief aware that I know about the two of you?"

"Of course not."

That explained why McCormick had felt free to disparage Allie. "Maybe it’s time he found out."

"No! Clay, I’ve done what you wanted me to do, now leave him alone."

Clay tied the bag shut and dropped it. Much as he was tempted to use McCormick’s own mistakes against him, he couldn’t. Threatening to divulge the chief’s extramarital affair would only make McCormick angrier. And it would be a bluff, anyway. Clay could never really tell because of the people it would hurt, including Allie and his own mother.

In any event, he didn’t need to blackmail McCormick. He had something else the chief wanted, and he suspected McCormick wanted it badly enough to give Clay almost anything in return.

"Are you going to call him, or am I?" he asked his mother.

"Will you tell me what you’re doing?"

He kicked the garbage bag toward the back door. "I’m cleaning up my own mess."

She sighed. "Fine. I’ll call him."

"You have a private way of getting in touch?"

"I have a number that goes directly to a voice-mail account. He used to check it and call me back when he could. Now I don’t know what he’ll do."

"He probably checks it more often than ever," Clay said. "Just tell him I’ll be expecting him here at the house."

Chapter 14

Turning off his headlights, Chief McCormick sat at the side of the road and studied the farm where Clay Montgomery lived. He wasn’t convinced he was doing the right thing in coming here, especially this late. After what had happened at the cabin that morning, he feared a confrontation might turn violent. But the message that Clay wanted to see him had come through Irene, which worried McCormick more than a little. She rarely mentioned her son. Most of the time, Dale managed to pretend she had only a distant connection to that whole business with Lee Barker.