Dead Giveaway (Stillwater Trilogy #2)(92)
Author: Brenda Novak

Allie lay with her head on Clay’s chest. He was so still she might have assumed he’d gone to sleep. But she knew he hadn’t. The depth of feeling they’d experienced while making love had left them more than a little awed. She knew she’d never given so much of herself to another human being and doubted Clay had, either.

"How long will we have?" he asked.

"Together?"

He nodded. "Weeks? Months?"

"I don’t know. It depends on too many factors. The court battles. The judge."

He didn’t respond immediately, but then he said, "You can have the farm. It’ll give you and Whitney a place to live. Or you can sell it and use the money to live somewhere else."

He was still worried about her, still trying to protect and provide for her. She smiled as she pressed a kiss to his warm neck. "If they get a conviction, we’ll see where they send you."

He smoothed the hair off her forehead. "I like the way you make love," he said.

"Yeah, well, you could use some practice."

He returned her teasing smile as his fingers brushed the side of her breast. "As long as I can practice on you."

She sobered. "I’m going to hate it if they take you away from me."

"We’ll be too old to have children by the time I get out," he said.

She rested her chin on her hands, thinking about the future. "We could get pregnant now."

"No," he said, as if he wouldn’t even consider it.

"Why not?"

"I won’t leave you with two children to take care of."

She touched the end of his nose with her finger. "Have a little confidence in me. I can do it."

It was too hot for the sheet tangled around their feet. He gently shifted her as he kicked it to the bottom of the bed. "And what will my kids think of having a convict for a dad?"

She could hear the grimace in his voice and leaned up on her elbows so she could look into his face. "They’ll know the truth, Clay."

"And what’s the truth?"

"That you’re the best man I’ve ever known."

He stared at her for a long moment, then removed the medallion he wore around his neck and slipped it over her head.

She felt the satisfying warmth of the medal as it settled between her br**sts. "Are you sure you don’t want to keep this with you?" she asked, deeply touched by the gesture.

He tucked her hair behind her ear. "I’m sure. If there really is a saint who watches over people, I want him to look after you. Especially if I can’t."

He’d given her the one thing that meant the most to him, that represented the family he’d once had but lost.

She ran a finger lightly over his lips, then kissed him, and soon they were making love again. When it came time for Clay to put on a condom, Allie tried to stop him, and she could tell he was tempted to let her. But, ultimately, he followed through.

"I’d worry too much about you," he explained when they were resting in each other’s arms again. "We have enough going on already."

She put her head on his shoulder, wishing they could remain as they were–forever. But soon the tree frogs seemed to grow louder, reminding Allie that she should be getting home. She’d been gone more than usual lately and wanted to see her daughter. But she was reluctant to bring her time with Clay to an end. Every moment seemed so fleeting and precious.

"Are you going back to the gas station to search for Hendricks’s blood?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What if you don’t find it?"

"I’ll bluff and say I did in hopes of getting a confession."

"Do you think he’ll tell us who hired him?"

Allie knew that once Hendricks was busted, he’d have no reason to keep it a secret. So she told Clay about Madeline.

When she was finished, he sighed. "She’s a victim in this, too," he said. "I can’t blame her."

"I know."

"What do you think will happen to her?" he asked.

"Not much. She didn’t mean for anyone to be hurt. She merely wanted to get my attention focused where she thought it should be. The fact that she’d sacrifice the money from her tax return tells you how much her father’s disappearance is still bothering her."

"She broke into Jed’s auto shop last year, hoping to find some evidence that he was involved."

"Poor thing."

He ran his fingers lightly over her skin while they lay in companionable silence. Allie was about to make herself get up, when he spoke again.

"How’d you know?" he asked.

"Know what?"

"The kind of man Barker was."

"Grace didn’t tell you about the package I received from Reverend Portenski?"

Clay made her look at him. "You received a package from Portenski?"

"He didn’t let me know it was from him, but Grace guessed and Jed Fowler saw him put it in my mailbox."

"What was in it?"

"Polaroids."

She felt Clay stiffen. "Of Grace?"

She nodded.

"Portenski figures I killed Barker. Why’d he give them to you instead of taking them to the police?"

"I think he believes you deserve a second chance."

He didn’t respond right away, leaving her to wonder what he made of her comment.

"Where are they now?"

"Grace had me burn them."

He relaxed. "That’s good."

"I’m not so sure," she said.

"I don’t need the prosecution producing those as my motive."

"But they could’ve been helpful in your defense. Especially if the police dig up Barker’s remains. If we had the pictures, at least we could provide a sympathetic reason for what happened."

"I don’t care," Clay said. "I would never let the abuse she suffered be dragged into public view. And think about what it would do to Madeline to find out that the father she’s always loved wasn’t worth the air he breathed. His reputation as a good man has been the only thing she’s had to cling to. That, and us. But considering the circumstances, we’ve been as much a curse as a blessing.

Bad as the situation is for her now, it would be much worse if those pictures came out."

"But what about you? "

"Allie, people in this area worshipped Barker. They wouldn’t be happy to discover he wasn’t the man they thought he was. Human nature being what it is, I certainly don’t think they’d go easier on me because I proved they’d all been taken for fools."

Allie knew that was true. But considering what the police were likely to find when they searched the farm, it might be worth the risk. Especially if–