Beverly Barton - Silent Killer

“Mike’s another man I’d like to strangle.”

The over-the-door bell chimed to alert them that a customer had entered the store. Lorie groaned.

“Speaking of strangling someone…that’s Bitsy Cavanaugh,” Lorie said quietly. “She’s a regular. Always buys several things and then returns half of what she buys.”

“I’ll take care of her, if you’d like for me to.”

“That would be-”

Cathy’s phone rang, instantly immobilizing her and Lorie.

“Well, answer it,” Lorie told her.

With an unsteady hand, Cathy clasped the phone and glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Jack.”

“So talk to him. Go in the back. I’ll take care of Bitsy.”

Heading for the back storeroom, Cathy answered on the third ring. “Hello.”

“Cathy, it’s Jack.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I…uh…I’m sorry I haven’t returned any of your earlier calls. I needed a little time to think.”

“I understand.”

“Look, we need to talk, face-to-face. May I come by tonight?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I think you should know that Seth came to see me.”

Cathy’s stomach knotted painfully. “What did he say to you? What did you say to him?”

“He’s hurt and angry with you and me, but we had a good talk. He’s a smart kid. He’s got a good heart. You did a fine job with him.”

For half a second, Cathy couldn’t breathe. Jack’s compliment had taken her totally by surprise.

When she didn’t respond, Jack said, “Seth doesn’t hate you.” Pause. “And neither do I.”

She sucked in and released a quivering breath.

“Cathy?”

“I’m here.” And hanging on by a thread. She was on the verge of bursting into tears.

“We’ll find a way to work through this,” he told her. “I love you, honey, and Seth loves you. But we’ve got a mess on our hands, and I don’t know what it’ll take to clean it up.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes. If only I could make you and Seth understand how it was for me, why I did what I did, why I kept everything a secret.”

“One thing at a time,” Jack said. “Right now, give Seth some time and a lot of space. He needs you to talk to his grandparents, to Mark’s parents. It’s your job to tell them the truth. Seth was afraid that he’d have to do it, but I told him that it wasn’t his place to do it.”

“I’ll go over there this afternoon and talk to them, but only to tell them that both you and Seth know the truth. J.B. and Mona have always known that Seth wasn’t Mark’s biological child. They knew Mark couldn’t father a child.”

Jack grunted. “I don’t know if that’s going to help Seth or make things worse for him. He loves them, and he’s worried about how they’ll take the news.”

“You care about Seth, don’t you?”

“My God, Cathy, did you think I wouldn’t care? He’s my son. Besides that, I’d already begun to care about him simply because he was yours.”

“Oh, Jack.” Tears pooled in her eyes. She swallowed hard.

“Talk to your former in-laws and explain things. I’ll stop by tonight, and we’ll talk. We’ll figure out where we go from here.”

Several minutes after the conversation ended, Cathy stood alone in the storeroom and cried. Grateful tears. Jack still loved her. Seth still loved her. And where there was love, there was hope.

After Seth left the Harpers, he called Nana to tell her that he was okay and for her not to worry about him.

“What’s wrong?” she had asked. “Whatever it is, come home, dear, and let’s talk.”

“You need to talk to my mom first. I-I’ll come home after you talk to her.”

He’d been walking around Dunmore for the past hour, his mind a mixed jumble of thoughts and feelings. And even though his own life was one big mess, the thing that kept bothering him had nothing to do with his personal problems. He couldn’t get Felicity Harper off his mind. The crazy way she’d been acting and the horrible things she’d said about her father worried him. He wished he could shake this bad feeling-a feeling that Felicity intended to do something to her dad.

I hate him. I wish he was dead.

I could kill Daddy.

He had known Felicity for years, and the older she got the weirder she got, but until today he’d never believed she was capable of actually killing somebody. Maybe he should have figured it out sooner. If he had, he might have saved a few lives. But even now, he could hardly believe what he was thinking.

Strange as it seemed, it all made some goofy kind of sense. Felicity was a rebel. She hated her parents’ Christian lifestyle, hated being a preacher’s kid, hated anything that was even vaguely normal. She disliked her grandmother, thought her mother was a doormat, grumbled all the time about how her sister was the favorite child and had made no secret of how much she resented Missy’s presence in her home. The only person she admired was her dad. And now he had let her down in the worst way possible.

Felicity was one gigantic mass of hate and anger and resentment.

She had called her father an adulterous blasphemer who should be punished for his sins.

Maybe he was wrong. God, he hoped so. He’d always liked Felicity, despite her being a royal pain in the butt. But he could not shake the gut feeling that she might be the Fire and Brimstone Killer.

He had to tell somebody. Jack, maybe. But what if he was wrong? The last person he needed to confide in was a sheriff’s deputy. He could always confront Felicity, but if she was a killer, what would stop her from trying to kill him?

He wondered if anyone else had drawn the same conclusion he had and, like him, didn’t know what to do. Missy might have picked up on something since she’d been living with the Harpers. She and Felicity mixed like oil and water.

Seth looked around and noted that he had walked all the way back to Main Street. It was nearly two o’clock, so downtown wasn’t overrun with the lunchtime crowd. Finding a private spot underneath the storefront canopy of a closed business, he called Missy. She answered quickly, on the first ring.

“Hello, Seth.”

“Hey, I’m not bothering you, am I?”

“No, I…uh…I was hoping you’d call. I’ve been thinking about calling you.”

“Yeah, what about?”

“About Felicity,” Missy said. “I’m worried about her. She’s acting really strange.”

“Yeah, I know. Felicity is the reason I called. I think maybe she’s going to do something really stupid. We need to stop her.”

“I know. I think maybe she’s going to hurt her father. I’ve never seen her so angry. I wanted to talk to Charity about it, but she ate a quick lunch and went back to Bright Side.”

“Where’s Felicity?”

“I don’t know. She left a little while after you did.”

“Where are her parents?”

“Ruth Ann and Mrs. Long are both out looking for her,” Missy said. “Her dad called and explained what had happened with his secretary. It seems she kissed him, and he was totally shocked. They’re not having an affair. He sent her straight home after it happened, and he’s going to have to fire her.”

“Does Felicity know?”

“No. She disappeared before her mom could tell her, so Ruth Ann and her mother are trying to find her. And Reverend Harper is still at the church, waiting there in case Felicity shows up again. They’re all worried sick about her. And so am I.”

Just say it, Seth told himself. Tell Missy what you’re thinking and see how she reacts. “I know this sounds crazy, but I’ve been thinking…What if Felicity is the Fire and Brimstone Killer?”

Missy gasped. “Oh, Seth, surely not. You know what that would mean?”