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Her heart began to beat faster; she clutched her throat, which had suddenly gone dry. Something was just beyond her grasp. Something she should remember. Something—
The truth struck her with the impact of a bullet. The fog lifted from her memory and those forgotten
instants immediately preceding the ambush were replayed in slow motion in her mind.
She was playing patty-cake with Ashley in the backseat. The car approached the intersection. As it slowed down, armed men rushed forward, surrounding it. The driver was shot and slumped forward over the steering wheel.
She cried out. Randall turned to look at her. “Goodbye, Lara.” Unafraid, he smiled.
Her breath rushed out in a gust. “You knew!” she screamed. “You and Emilio arranged the ambush on our car! You had our daughter killed!”
“Shut up! Do you want the whole neighborhood to hear you?”
“I want the whole world to hear me.”
He struck her across the mouth. Talking rapidly, quietly, he said, “You fool! I didn’t intend for the child to be killed. The bullets weren’t meant for her.”
Lara didn’t even stop to consider what that statement implied. She lunged for the camera bag. It was on her desk, where she had left it, undisturbed, since the day she returned from Montesangre.
Under the concealment of darkness, she plunged her hand into the bag. Her fingers closed around the butt of the revolver. She withdrew it and swung around, aiming the barrel at the center of Randall’s chest.
“This is your last chance to change your mind.”
Janellen smiled at Bowie. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m absolutely, positively, one hundred percent sure of my decision. Besides, you were the one with cold feet, the one dead set against it. I finally wore you down, so I’m not about to back out or let you, either.” She linked her arm with his and nestled her head on his shoulder. “Just drive, Mr. Cato. I’m anxious to get there.”
“If anybody sees me driving your car—”
“It’s dark. Nobody’s going to see us. If someone does, they’ll probably think that Key asked you to protect me from reporters again.”
“Yeah, I saw them all over town today.”
“They were hoping to catch a glimpse of Mr. Porter.” The reminder intruded on Janellen’s happiness and caused her to frown. “Mama watched him on the news. Seeing him really upset her.”
“Why should it?”
“Because it calls to mind the scandal, Clark, all that. She skipped supper and went upstairs to her room.”
“You waited until Maydale got there before you left?”
As prearranged, he and Janellen had met at the Tackett Oil office. “Yes. She came to spend the night. I told her I was going to Longview to attend a self-improvement seminar.”
“What about Key?”
“Key never gets home before noon, sometimes not even then. He claims he’s playing poker till dawn with Balky out at the landing strip. It’s easier to sleep out there than to drive home, he says. Anyway, he’ll never know I’m gone.”
Bowie glanced nervously at every car that passed. “This sneaking around doesn’t feel right. Something terrible is bound to happen.”
“Honestly, Bowie.” She sighed with affectionate exasperation. “You’re the most pessimistic, fatalistic person I’ve ever met. A few months ago you were the one with the record, but I was living in a kind of prison. Both our fortunes have changed.”
“Yours will if you stick with me long enough,” he said glumly. “You’ll lose your fortune.”
“I’ve told you a million times that I don’t care if I do. My family had lots of money, but we weren’t happy. There was no love between my parents. That antagonism affected my brothers and me. We felt it even before we were old enough to understand it.
“It made Clark an overachiever who couldn’t forgive himself even the most insignificant mistake. Key went too far the other way and lives like he doesn’t give a damn about anything, although I believe that’s a defense mechanism. He doesn’t want anyone to guess how deeply he was hurt by our father’s death and Mama’s rejection.
“And I became a shy, introverted dullard, afraid to voice an opposing opinion on anything. Believe me, Bowie—money doesn’t buy happiness and love. I’d rather have your love than all the riches in the world.”
“That’s ’cause you’ve never had to do without the riches.”
