Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

“But Flora had left a letter with information in it for her grandson, Donnie Martin. Donnie tried to find the sunken car with Jewel in it, but he and his partner, Jake Stanley, were murdered by Randy MacRae or Neil Valentine, who were hired for the job.” Diane explained who all the various people were as she mentioned them.

“My museum was burglarized and threatened with arson by MacRae and Valentine in an attempt to destroy the bones of Dale and Jewel and the evidence that went with them. When those attempts failed, Emmett called me on the phone and tried to buy me off. And here we are.”

Rosemary nodded her head. “Dale and I were going to be married. I was pregnant. When Dale disappeared, Emmett offered to marry me and pass the baby off as his. Things are different now, but back then that was a godsend. But Emmett never let me forget what he did for me. Every argument we had, he threw it in my face that Dale left me pregnant and he had saved me. The swine, the lying, murdering swine.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t just for me that he killed Dale.” She cast a shrewd glance at Diane. “I was listening in on the telephone conversation with you. I heard everything. With Dale’s disgrace and disappearance, Emmett became his grandfather’s heir. That’s how he built all this fortune. You see, Dale was the favorite in his grandfather’s eyes. And there was my fortune. Emmett made out well.”

“Mrs. . Rosemary, I have to tell you that I can’t hold anything you say in confidence.”

Rosemary looked into Diane’s eyes and smiled a smile that looked to be born more from deviousness than kindness.

“Dear, I want a trial. I want a very public trial. Your testimony is what I want. I don’t care what you repeat about our conversation. Dale Russell was the love of my life.” Her eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks. “My life could have been so different. I want the world to know what happened to him and what Emmett Taggart really was, what he really is.”

“Grandma, you wouldn’t do that to Granddad.” Robert Lamont had come into the room carrying a tray with two cups of coffee and set it down on the coffee table. “Mom and Uncle Steve are on their way.”

“Robert, dear,” said Rosemary. She patted the seat beside her. He complied. He looked to Diane like he had spent years doing what he was told. “You should have been told a long time ago. Emmett isn’t your real grandfather. I was carrying your mother when I married Emmett. Your grandfather was Dale Wayne Russell, Emmett’s cousin. Emmett killed your real grandfather and tried to cover it up. I didn’t know when I married him that he had killed Dale. All I knew was that Dale had disappeared.”

“No, that’s not true.” Robert Lamont was visibly shaken.

“Yes, it is true, Robert. Emmett has confessed it. Why do you think he treated your uncle Steve and his children with such favoritism? Steve is his child. Your mother is not his child. Look at that auburn hair of yours. No one on Emmett’s side of the family has that hair.” She smiled. “That’s Dale’s hair. Dale would have loved you. You look so much like him.”

Diane hadn’t realized it, but Robert did favor the reconstruction of Dale Russell that Neva had drawn. Rosemary’s words so stunned Robert that Diane thought he was going to faint. He stared at his grandmother and scratched his arms. Diane wondered how Rosemary’s resolve for the truth would hold up when she discovered the depth of Robert’s involvement.

Diane was willing to bet that the rash on his arms was urticaria-caused by dermestid bites. Unfortunately, there was no evidence to prove it. But she’d bet the fingerprint found in the university dermestarium would be his. She believed he was the one who’d stolen the dermestid beetles and used them to try to throw off calculations of the time of death for Flora Martin. Was he the one who killed Flora? Sliced her open to speed the access of the beetles in order to hasten her decomposition? If Jin could find the knife with the missing tip, that would be a slam dunk, but she suspected that it was in a landfill somewhere.

Robert looked sick. “I. . I just wanted to tell you that Mom and Uncle Steve are here, and your lawyer.”

Diane saw it clearly now. Robert had become the man Emmett used to be-the unfavored grandchild who would do anything to gain favor.

Diane and Rosemary stood and she walked with the elder woman to the entryway to meet her children. They were talking to the family lawyer, ignoring Rosemary’s lawyer, who had just arrived. Garnett came in, and all of them started talking to him at once.

“I don’t like the way this was handled,” said Steven Taggart. “You’ll be hearing from the commissioner.”

“Shut up, Steven,” Rosemary said. “They have behaved fine, and I don’t want you being a bully. Chief Garnett, do you think we could dispense with the handcuffs? I promise I won’t run or try to hurt myself. As my doctors can attest, I am perfectly sane.”

Rosemary picked up her purse on the hall table and smiled at her children. “You’ll have to excuse me. Ms. Talbot and I have to go and plan my defense.”

She took Garnett’s arm and they walked out the door. Her children gaped and scurried after her.

Diane spotted David from the hallway. He was peeking out the door of the study. He gave her a thumbs-up.

Diane went to the study before Rosemary’s relatives could return and question her. Neva was taking photographs of the bloodstains. David was taking samples.

“How’s it going?” she asked.

“I’m not sure why they restricted the search,” he said in a low voice, “but we have everything we need here.”

Diane raised her eyebrows. “What have you found?” She laid a hand on his arm, shook her head after seeing a reflection in the ornate mirror on the wall. She turned toward the doorway. “Can we help you, Mr. Lamont?”

“We were wondering when you will be finished.”

“Sir,” said Diane, walking over to him, leading him out into the hallway, “I’m sorry, but you can’t be here while we are processing the scene. My team is working as quickly as they can.”

His eyes darted around the hallway. He appeared to her as if he was looking for an escape hatch.

“If my grandmother confessed. . I mean, do you really have to continue?”

“We are required to collect the evidence from the scene of the crime, regardless. But she didn’t confess.”

“What? I thought that was what you were discussing,” Robert Lamont said.

“What were you talking about?” Steven Taggart came in, his brows knitted together, a polished look of concern on his face. “I know you are just doing your jobs, but my attorney tells me that anything my mother said to you is not admissible. She is an elderly woman. . This has been hard on her.”

“That’s true,” said Steven’s lawyer, coming in behind him. “You can’t use any of it in court.”

Rosemary’s daughter, Dahlia Lamont, appeared in the large hallway. She looked like her mother-same bone structure, same build. Diane knew she was sixty-three, based on what Rosemary had told her about being pregnant when Dale Russell disappeared, but she looked older, too old to have a son in his thirties. Being the bastard daughter hadn’t been easy on her, even if she hadn’t known that she wasn’t Emmett’s biological daughter. Emmett knew and Diane guessed he made her feel it, if not know it.

“What is this about?” asked Dahlia. “What did Mother-”

“Don’t say anything,” said Steven through his teeth. “Just shut up.”

“Uncle Steven,” said Robert. He could clench his teeth as well as his uncle.

“Of course, I’m just distraught,” Steven said. “I’m sorry, Dahlia. I’m sure you are distraught too. I just didn’t want you to say anything the police technicians might misunderstand. We can have a family meeting when they are out of here.” He looked at Diane as if she were a houseguest who couldn’t take a hint.