Share No Secrets (31 page)

“But Julianna was so young,” Adrienne said desperately, trying to cling to the hope that Philip’s love for her friend was only the product of Lottie’s imagination, yet realizing in retrospect that something had been wrong. Philip had not acted as a loving
fiancé
should. And dredging her memory, Adrienne recalled that his gaze had seemed locked on Julianna more than a few times. Still, Adrienne did not want to believe what she was hearing. “Lottie, if Philip was in love with Julianna, why did he marry Vicky? Was it because Julianna was too young for marriage?”

“The problem wasn’t age,” Lottie said sadly. “It was background. Lineage. Julianna was the daughter of Butch and Lottie Brent. We were hardly members of the Social Register set. Philip had had political aspirations since he was a boy. That Tartar of a great-aunt—Octavia, I believe her name was—began his indoctrination early. Vicky came from a fine family. She was lovely, intelligent, and low-key with infallible manners. I don’t believe she ever made a social misstep in her life.”

“She didn’t,” Adrienne said flatly. “I believe she had the same aspirations as Philip. At least she did at the time they married. I don’t think the life she dreamed of turned out to be as golden as she’d hoped.”

“Life often has a tendency to disappoint us. Or rather, most of us. Julianna could have turned out like her sister Gail—bitter that she didn’t have better parents, more money, more respect in this town—but she didn’t. Julianna had a wonderful gift for making the best of things and doing it joyfully. It’s no wonder to me that Philip loved her.” She paused, then said quickly, “I meant no offense to Vicky. She’s a lovely person.”

“She
can
be a lovely person, but she’s not exciting and ebullient like Julianna was. And certainly not as glamorous.” Adrienne paused. “When did Julianna’s affair with Philip begin?”

“It really was nothing more than sweet encounters and love letters until Julianna returned from New York. That’s when things became … physical,” Lottie said uncomfortably before emitting another rattling cough. “Juli felt guilty about it and ended things for a while. That’s when she married Miles. But Miles couldn’t make her happy. So she left him and resumed the affair with Philip.”

“Did Miles know about Philip?”

“I’m not sure. If he did, he never said anything to Julianna. She would have confided in me.”

“Lottie, why are you telling me all of this now?”

“Because I’m worried about Miles. The sheriff loves you. You have influence with him. You can talk him into leaving Miles alone.” Lottie clearly overestimated Adrienne’s power over Lucas, especially because Adrienne wasn’t convinced of Miles’s innocence, but she didn’t have a chance to argue before Lottie went on in a weak, breathy voice. “Adrienne, I want you to know that Julianna did not like betraying your sister. She suffered over her duplicity. But she loved Philip so much she couldn’t seem to help herself. He claimed to love her just as much. He told Julianna that after he became governor, he would leave Vicky and marry her.”

“Leave Vicky and marry Juli?” Adrienne repeated in disbelief. “Lottie, I don’t know what Philip told Julianna, but he would
never
have done that. His aspirations don’t end with being governor. He intends to someday run for president. Dumping his wife for a woman he’d been having an affair with for years would be political suicide!”

“I know. And Juli knew, too. She just wanted to be with him, even if it had to be in the shadows. But she pretended to believe him.”

Adrienne’s hands went cold. What if Philip
hadn’t
known she was pretending? What if he’d believed Julianna was intent on having him no matter what she had to do to get him? If so, she would have been a liability, perhaps a liability from whom he might have done anything to free himself. Maybe even murder.

Adrienne suddenly felt uneasy about Lottie. More than uneasy. Downright apprehensive.

“Lottie, you’ve been playing hide-and-seek long enough,” she said strongly. “I want to come and get you. You don’t sound well.”

“I have a little cold, nothing serious.”

“It could be pneumonia.”

“Heavens, no!” Lottie’s voice had grown thinner and rougher. “I’m just fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“But I
am
worried, Lottie. Please tell me where you are.”

Lottie hesitated. “No. Absolutely not. I only called to help Miles. I can take care of myself.” She seemed to choke, then broke into a violent fit of coughing. Finally gasping, she tried to catch her breath.

“Lottie, I
mean
it. You’re sick.”

“Nooo.”

“Lottie, where are you?”

“Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow. After I do my laundry.” Lottie had begun to sound vague the way people did when they were feverish. “I haven’t done laundry this week. There’s no excuse for bad housekeeping …”

“Lottie, are you there?” Nothing. “Lottie?”

Lottie did not speak. Adrienne strained to hear if the woman was breathing, meaning she was still holding the phone, but all she heard was a familiar tinkling sound. Gentle. Melodic. Wood and metal. Glass.

Wind chimes! Suddenly Adrienne remembered the collection of wind chimes hanging from the porch of Lottie’s cabin. She must have stopped at home to make her call to Adrienne and left the door open although a wind was blowing up.

Adrienne said the woman’s name loudly into the phone three more times and finally heard a rasp of breath, but no words. She feared Lottie had collapsed. She’d spent several nights outside, one in that awful storm that had hit the night of Julianna’s death. Her only shelter had been the terrible bunker Ellen called the Hideaway. Now Lottie was probably seriously ill. And alone.

“Skye!” Adrienne called loudly. “Skye, come here!”

The girl arrived in an instant Clearly she hadn’t been asleep and now sensed distress in her mother’s voice. “What’s happened?”

“It’s Lottie.” Adrienne held up the phone receiver. “She called me. She sounded really sick. Then she just stopped talking but she didn’t hang up. I’m fairly sure she’s at her cabin.”

“Let’s call 911!”

“We can’t Lottie has been hiding because she’s scared. A call to 911 would go out over the police scanners. Half the town has them. Whoever Lottie is hiding from could hear and get to her before the paramedics do.” Adrienne paused. “I don’t want to hang up this phone and break the connection with Lottie, so get your cell phone. We’ll call Lucas on his private line, not at headquarters. Those calls go out on the scanners, too. I’ll tell Lucas to go to Lottie’s.”

In less than a minute Skye was back with the cell phone in hand and Brandon at her heels. “Do you know Lucas’s number?” she asked anxiously.

“After a year of dating? I think so,” Adrienne said dryly. She punched buttons, hoping desperately Lucas was at home. Relief rushed through her when he said hello. “Lucas? I think we have an emergency that I need for you to keep to yourself. No notification through official channels. It’s important.”

“Good God, Adrienne, what is it?” he asked tensely. “Are you and Skye all right?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure Lottie is. She called and I think she’s at her cabin, but she sounded extremely sick, then she stopped talking. She could be unconscious. I don’t want to call 911 because I don’t want her to be frightened.”

“So you want me to go to her.”

“Well, yes, but I want to get to her first. She’s afraid of just about everyone, Lucas. Including you. If I go to the cabin, I can calm her, or at least hold her hostage, until you get there and help me take her to the hospital. Would you be willing to help me do that?”

“I’d be willing to help you do just about anything, Adrienne, but I’m not sure it’s safe for
you
to be up on that hill in the dark after all that’s happened lately.”

“I’ll be fine. I don’t intend on spending the night. I just need a twenty-minute head start, and your promise that you won’t call the paramedics.”

“She might
need
the paramedics.”

“She doesn’t need her location broadcast over police scanners just in case she’s right and someone is out to kill her. She’s not crazy or paranoid, Lucas. I have a feeling she knows who killed Julianna, and the murderer
knows
she knows.”

Lucas hesitated, then said, “All right. I’m not leaving you alone for long, though. I’m starting out for Lottie’s in twenty minutes.”

“Thank you, Lucas,” she said sincerely. “You’re a wonderful man.”

“Yeah, so they say.” He paused. “I love you.”

“See you soon,” Adrienne said quickly and clicked off, feeling guilty to the depths of her soul.

After Adrienne said good-bye to Lucas, she turned to Skye. “I’m not going to risk taking you with me up on that hill. It could be dangerous.”

“You can’t go alone, Mom! I’m not a little kid. I won’t get in the way or get hurt.”

“I can’t take that chance.” She briefly thought of taking Skye to Vicky’s, then immediately rejected the idea. After all, Philip might be the person Lottie had been hiding from for days. He could be Julianna’s killer. And so could Vicky, her mind said reluctantly. If Vicky knew about Philip and Julianna, she might have done the unthinkable to her rival. “I’m going to leave you here alone. I want you to turn on the security system as soon as I leave. Don’t go to the door for
anyone
besides Lucas and me. Not even Aunt Vicky. And if someone calls, don’t tell them you’re alone. Say I’m in the shower or something. Promise.”

“Okay, I promise. But you shouldn’t go out alone either, Mom.”

“It can’t be helped.” Adrienne rummaged through her purse for the car keys that always found their way to a bottom corner.

“You can take Brandon.” Adrienne looked up in surprise. Skye was more careful about Brandon’s safety than her own. She would be devastated if anything happened to the dog, but she was offering him to her mother for protection.

“Brandon should stay here to look out for you, honey. I’ll be okay without him.”

“Maybe. But you’d be safer
with
him.” Skye gave her a look shadowed with the unselfish devotion Adrienne knew she would display as a woman. “Please do it for me, Mom. I’ll feel better if I know he’s with you.”

Adrienne felt an embarrassing pressure of tears behind her eyes, and clutched Skye to her. “You’re a generous girl. I’m very proud of you. And grateful.”

Skye pushed back, gave her a wavering smile, then said enthusiastically, “C’mon, Brandon. You’re going on an adventure with Mom. Let’s get your leash!”

The dog immediately started prancing and snorting, sensing fun on its way. Adrienne hoped that in half an hour he would still be having fun and that she wasn’t leading the two of them into danger.

Wind tossed cobalt-colored clouds across the silvery stars and moon, giving the warm night a restless look. After eleven
P.M
., traffic slowed dramatically in Point Pleasant. Adrienne felt almost alone on the road leading north of town to la Belle Rivière, definitely a confidence-draining experience. She turned on the radio, as always taking comfort from music, and glanced at Brandon, whose tongue hung out in drippy anticipation. At least
he
seemed to be enjoying the ride, she thought.

Until the charming Butch Brent, Julianna’s father, had deserted the family over twenty years ago, a gravel road had led from the highway all the way up to the cabin on the side of the hill opposite la Belle. The distance was greater than on the hotel side, but the going had been easier. Lashing rainstorms and heavy snows had gradually washed away the old gravel, though, and tree limbs had grown untrimmed until they constricted the road to a narrow lane.

Ellen and Julianna had argued with Lottie, insisting she allow them to pay for road improvement, but Lottie had held firm on the issue. In fact, she grew extremely agitated whenever her daughter and her friend pushed the matter. Julianna had once told Adrienne she thought the ruined road gave Lottie a feeling of safe isolation. At the time, Adrienne hadn’t understood Lottie’s preference for inaccessibility over comfort. After hearing the story of the atrocity Lottie had endured in the garden shed on the open lawns of la Belle, though, she could now empathize with Lottie’s desire to be nearly unapproachable.

Tonight, Adrienne opted to use the secluded ruin of a road rather than walk across the lawns of la Belle where she would be exposed. She turned off the highway and began climbing what seemed like barely more than a path topped by a thin layer of gravel. Before long she reached the giant evergreen trees that stood like sentinels on either side of the road. Before she’d gone half a mile, the gravel began to peter out.

The car jolted over small potholes and grooves caused by water draining down the hill. This was one of the few times she was glad she’d bought the bulky SUV with four-wheel drive when she preferred sleeker, sportier cars. Brandon had fallen into a trancelike study of the scenery, not that there was much to see. The farther up the hill they went, the closer the evergreen limbs crowded. Needles brushed the roof of the car. Adrienne had the sensation that actually the car was not moving but that the trees were, creeping in and crouching down like threatening creatures closing in on their prey. How ridiculous, she chastised herself. This was what came of staying up late to watch
The Others
last night. The movie had sent her imagination into overdrive. Shortly, though, she’d be in Lottie’s cabin and Lucas would stride in, strong and capable, to save them.

But save them from whom? Probably no one, Adrienne mused. Lottie seemed convinced someone meaning her harm was pursuing her, and the power of her fancy was so strong she’d instilled her fear into Adrienne. Adrienne paused, thinking. Had it actually been Lottie who’d instilled the fear? Had Lottie
ever
said she was hiding from Julianna’s killer? No, Adrienne realized, startled. It had been Ellen who’d declared Lottie was running because she knew who’d killed Julianna, not Lottie herself. Was Ellen right about Lottie’s motives? And if so, could Ellen know from whom she was hiding? After all, it had crossed Adrienne’s mind that perhaps Lottie was avoiding Ellen. But why?