Dead Giveaway (Stillwater Trilogy #2)(86)
Author: Brenda Novak

"It came from Portenski."

Just as Grace had said.

"I saw him deliver it," he added.

Jed had been watching her very closely indeed. He’d even been keeping an eye on her house while she slept! "Do you know what was inside it?"

"No."

"Pictures."

He grimaced.

"Do you want me to tell you what was in them?"

"No."

He said only that one word, but she could tell he was having a strong emotional reaction.

"Why?"

He sighed heavily. "I can guess."

"How?"

"I could tell by the way Barker looked at her."

Allie sat up straighter. "By the way he looked at whom? "

"Grace. I was afraid it was happening again."

A chill ran down Allie’s spine. " Again? You knew it had happened before?"

He stared at the floor as if he was ashamed. "I could’ve stopped it."

"But?"

"Eliza wouldn’t let me."

Eliza. Jed was talking about Barker’s wife. The framed program he kept in his living room flashed through Allie’s mind.

"But I had no proof," he went on. "Only what she told me she suspected. And she was terrified of him. She wouldn’t let me say a word to anyone. She promised me, when she was ready, she’d have me take her away from Stillwater. She said that was when we’d turn in the pictures she’d found."

More pictures? Or were they the same ones? "Were you and Eliza lovers?" she asked.

"Like your father and Mrs. Montgomery? No."

There was no judgment in his words. He was merely clarifying. So Allie felt comfortable doing that, too. "What was the nature of your relationship?"

"We were…friends," he said simply. "She was always…so sad. I…I wanted to help her.

But…"

"But?"

"I didn’t act soon enough."

"Or she gave up the fight before you could."

"Is that what you think?" he asked, responding quickly for the first time. "That she took her own life?"

Allie felt her eyes widen. "Isn’t that what you think?"

The way he clenched his jaw told her it wasn’t what he thought at all. He thought…"You’re not saying Barker killed her!"

When he didn’t deny it, Allie knew that was exactly what he was saying. "That’s why you’ve got her picture in your living room," she breathed as the truth dawned on her. "As a reminder."

Again, he said nothing but Allie knew she was right. That framed program was his tribute to a friend he’d cared about, a friend he felt he’d let down. "Is she the one who told you what Barker did to–" Allie swallowed hard and forced the words out "–the girls?"

"She told me she found some pictures. Told me they were despicable. That her husband was worse than the devil himself. And that was the last day I saw her alive."

Allie’s heart raced as she tried to fit the various pieces together. Had Barker resorted to murder to cover up his sick obsession? Had he killed his wife, Madeline’s mother? Was Stillwater’s beloved pastor a sadistic pedophile and a murderer?

"Why didn’t you go to the police after Eliza died?"

"With what?" he asked.

"You didn’t have the pictures?"

"No. And everyone considered Barker to be some kind of saint. Who would believe what I had to say?"

"That’s why you’ve stuck by the Montgomerys all this time," she said.

"Barker deserved what he got."

Allie agreed, but that was up to a court to decide. Not the Montgomerys. As much as her heart sympathized with Grace and Clay, with all of them, she knew no court in Mississippi would condone the fact that they’d taken the law into their own hands.

"What happened the night Barker went missing?" she asked. She’d expected to keep prodding Jed, but now that he’d revealed as much as he had, he responded readily.

"The reverend came home early."

Allie covered her face with her hands. Did she really want to hear this? There was a possibility that what she learned would forever stand between her and Clay. But could she hide from the truth? Could she risk her daughter’s well-being on a man who had such dark secrets?

Of course not. As much as she wanted to trust blindly, she couldn’t.

Jed waited as if he understood her reluctance.

"And?" she said at last.

"I called Irene at Ruby’s. That’s where she was, for choir practice."

"How? Weren’t you out in the barn?"

"There was a phone there, right outside the door to Barker’s office."

"I see. And what did you say?"

"Nothing."

"You didn’t say anything."

"What could I say?"

Allie thought of Jed trying to tell Irene that he thought her husband was about to molest her daughter. "So what did you do?"

"I kept calling, asking for her and hanging up, trying to get her home, just in case he…"

His voice fell off, but Allie knew what he meant.

"Then what?" she said.

"Irene came home. But when I started up to the house to speak with Barker about the tractor, I heard yelling."

"Go on."

"I was afraid for Irene and the kids, so instead of heading back to the barn–" he frowned and scratched his sun-reddened neck "–I looked through the window."

Allie said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t tell her something she’d feel obligated to report to the authorities. "And what did you see?"

"They were in the kitchen. Barker was beating Irene. Then Clay got into it, trying to protect his mom."

At sixteen. Poor Clay…Allie could imagine him trying to fend off his mother’s attacker regardless of any disadvantage. She could also imagine where his actions might have led. "Did he…kill him?"

Allie could scarcely hear for the beating of her heart. Grace had told her no, and Allie had believed her. But would Grace tell her the truth?

"No," Jed replied. No… Relief flooded Allie. Clay hadn’t done it. "But Barker would’ve killed Clay, if not for Irene," he added.

"What was Barker doing?" she asked.

"Beating him bad. I was about to go in and break it up when Clay made a run for the living room. Barker grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back. Then Irene panicked and picked up something–I couldn’t tell what it was, don’t know to this day–and brought it down on Barker’s head."

Allie’s eyes were riveted on Jed’s. "And then he dropped," she finished.

"And then he dropped," Jed echoed.