Рита Браун - Pawing Through The Past

"What are you talking about?" She slammed her hand on the table, making the plates jump.

"I thought you knew." Dennis blinked.

Hank leaned over Bonnie. "None of the women knew, you asshole!"

Bonnie stood up, walked around Dennis to Harry. "Did you know about a gang rape on the day senior superlatives were voted?"

"No." Harry gasped as did Susan.

"Is it true?" Bonnie, very upset, turned on Dennis. "It must be true. Why would anyone make something like that up!"

Bob Shoaf stopped playing footsies with BoomBoom. His eyes narrowed, he pushed back his seat as he strode over to Dennis, towering above him. "Rablan, there's something wrong with you. I'd call you a worm but that would insult worms." He bent over, menacing, as Fair rose from his seat just in case. "I don't know why you're making up this story about Ron Brindell getting raped in the showers but I do know that you were the person who found Rex Harnett dead and no one else was in the men's room. Do you think we're that stupid!"

Dennis, shaking with rage, stood up, facing off with Bob. "I'm not making it up. I wish I'd done something at the time. I felt guilty then and I feel guilty now."

Bob reached for Dennis's neck but Fair grabbed Bob's arms. Bob Shoaf had been a great pro football player but Fair Haristeen was a six-foot-four working equine vet. He was strong and he had one advantage: his knees still worked.

"You aren't going to listen to him! He's guilty and the sheriff is waiting for him to make a mistake," Bob exploded.

"Why would I kill Charlie Ashcraft and Leo Burkey?" Dennis became oddly calm.

"You tell me," Shoaf taunted. "It's like your story about knowing who Charlie Ashcraft knocked up. You don't know anything. You say these things to make yourself important. You don't know shit."

"I do. You know I do."

By now Hank Bittner was on his feet. Everyone else was watching.

"Then who's the mother?" Bob stepped back, already dismissing Dennis.

"Olivia Ulrich," Dennis loudly said.

"I am not!" BoomBoom flew out of her chair. "You liar. I am not."

"Come on, Boom. You loved his ass," Dennis mocked.

Susan, now at Harry's side, said, "I don't recall Dennis being this snide."

"Me neither. Something's sure brought it out of him."

"Fear," Mrs. Murphy said.

"If he was afraid he should have stayed home." Pewter moved farther away from the humans in case another fight broke out.

"Maybe he's safer here than at home," Tucker sagely noted. "He has no family. All alone. The killer might not want to slit his throat but there are a few people here who wouldn't mind. If I were Dennis, I'd rent a motel room for a couple of nights."

"Or maybe he has to be here," Murphy shrewdly said.

BoomBoom, shaking, pointed her finger in Dennis's face. "Because I'd never go to bed with you-this is your revenge. You waited twenty years for this. My God, you're pathetic."

"But you did have an illegitimate child."

"I did not and you can't prove it."

"You know, I take class pictures for the schools in town. And I recall a beautiful girl who graduated three years ago who had your coloring but Charlie's looks. Western Albemarle. You gave that girl up for adoption."

"Never! I would never do that." BoomBoom was so furious she couldn't move. She had never before felt a paralyzing rage.

"Boom, don't try to pull the wool over our eyes. You don't care about the consequences. You never did. You steal people's husbands." Dennis looked at Harry when he said that. "You dump inconvenient children. Why, if Kelly Craycroft had known about the girl he'd have never married you. You wanted his money."

"I married Kelly Craycroft after I graduated from college. Do you think I was thinking about marrying money in high school? You're out of your mind."

"Think it's true?" Pewter asked Murphy.

"I don't know."

"And furthermore, I didn't steal anybody's husband. They aren't wallets. You can't just pick them up, you know." She put her hands on her hips. "As for the rest of you, I know what you think. The hell with you. I do as I please. Ladies, virtue is greatly over-rated!"

Harry whistled. "At long last, the real BoomBoom!"

BoomBoom stalked out of the room with Bob Shoaf following after her, reaching to slow her down.

Hank Bittner sat back down, calling over his shoulder, "Dennis, Rex may be physically dead, but buddy, you're dead socially."

Everyone started talking at once.

Mrs. Murphy watched Dennis sit down next to Hank. She hurried over to hear the conversation since there was so much noise.

"You're an even bigger coward than I am, Bittner. I just figured it out. Sheriff Shaw said something to me today. He said if these murders are revenge for Ron Brindell's rape then someone who loved Ron has to be committing them. He said what if Ron had a lover, another high-school boy that no one knew about. The boy stood back and didn't stop the rape. He didn't want anyone to know he was gay. He never lifted a finger to help Ron. And no one ever suspected. That was you."

Hank deliberately put down his fork, turned to Dennis, and said softly, "Dennis, if I were gay I would like to think I would have the courage to be what I am. I would like to think I would have fought for Ron. But I'm not gay. It wasn't me and I don't know what's wrong with you-unless that coward is you."

45

Sheriff Shaw had taken the precaution of having Dennis Rablan tailed to the reunion dinner. He also had a plainclothes officer watching Dennis's house in Bentivar, a subdivision up Route 29.

He'd pinned another flow chart to the long bulletin board in the hallway. The interior of the school was neatly drawn. Exits and entrances were outlined in red, as was each window.

Cynthia Cooper was to have attended the dinner but Rick changed his mind: he thought her presence might inhibit people. Little could have inhibited that group, though, and Coop hoped Harry and Susan would save the leftovers. She beseeched them to bring a lot of Ziploc bags and containers.

"You think the killer will crack?"

"It's his or her big night, isn't it? Whoever it is has waited twenty years."

"Are you expecting someone to be blown up in the parking lot?"

He shot her a sharp glance. "I wouldn't put it past our perp."

"I think he's enjoying the chaos-and the fear in the eyes of whoever is left on his list. I think he's sitting in that gym loving every second of it."

"Wish we knew more about Brindell. His parents have passed away. His cousin was no help and snotty, to boot. There's got to be somebody who can tell us who his boyfriend was-or girlfriend. One of the girls could have loved him even if he was gay. People don't have much control over love. Mim Sanburne is proof of that." He smiled because the Queen of Crozet had married beneath her, although everyone conceded that Jim Sanburne, in his youth, was one sexy man.

"This is what bothers me." Cynthia, suddenly intense, stubbed out her lit cigarette. "The killer knows we know this is the big weekend. He knows we're expecting another incident at the dinner or right after since they canceled the dance. He knows," she repeated for emphasis. "Is he going to risk it? He knocked off two this summer. He's killed this morning. He might just wait, enjoy the panic, then strike when it suits him. Whoever he or she is-this lover or best friend-he's fooled us."