“Anyway,” Dan continued, “Bud had called me a short while earlier and asked me to meet him and R.L. here at Riley’s place. They said they had some information I would want to hear, but they wanted to tell me in front of Riley. As I said, I was on my way to meet them here when Maggie’s call came in. I requested backup and got here as quickly as I could. Brannon’s van was parked in Teresa’s driveway. Bud and R.L. pulled in right behind me. We were running toward the front door when we heard the gunshot.”
Bud swallowed audibly. “That sound took a few years off my life, I can tell you.”
Teresa could identify with that sentiment. She had just taken advantage of Brannon’s distraction to pull Mark into her arms and into a corner behind the stairs when she’d heard the gun go off. She had been terrified that Riley had been shot. Torn between protecting her child and rushing to Riley’s aid, she’d been paralyzed with a crippling fear that she prayed she would never have to experience again.
She was glad when Riley spoke, distracting her from the painful replay. “Why were you coming here, Bud? Did you know Brannon was here? And what the he—heck did the guy want with you, anyway?”
He’d looked at the kids when he’d changed his words. Trying to be a better influence on them? Teresa wondered.
Bud kissed Maggie’s cheek, then said, “Marjorie, darlin’, have you seen the kids’ rooms lately? They have some very interesting collections.”
“Of course.” Smiling sweetly, Marjorie stood and reached out a hand to Maggie. “Will you show me your toys, children?”
“They want us to leave the room,” Mark told his little sister with a resigned sigh.
“I know,” Maggie answered in a stage whisper. And then she smiled at Marjorie and took the offered hand. “But that’s okay. Mommy will tell us about it later, won’t you, Mommy?”
She nodded. She would tell them what she thought they needed to know. She knew Serena and Cameron would make sure Marjorie learned all the details.
Bud waited only until the children were out of the room before responding to his nephew’s obvious impatience. He looked at Dan, then at Lindsey and Cameron. “You decide how much of this you want in the papers, Dan. I guess there’s no way we can keep it quiet with the owner and the whole staff of the newspaper right here with us.”
“Just talk,” Dan advised a bit gruffly. “I want to know everything you know about Brannon and what he’s been up to.”
Bud and R.L. exchanged glances. R.L. gestured for Bud to speak.
Drawing a deep breath, Bud began. “It started more than thirty-five years ago. R.L., Truman and I were still in our twenties, old enough to be working but still young enough that we spent most of our weekends partying. I already had one divorce behind me. Truman was engaged but still sowing some wild oats. He started hanging around quite a bit with an old friend from high school. Carl Brannon.”
“The father of the guy I just arrested?” Dan clarified.
Bud nodded. “Carl was trouble. Always had been. R.L. and I didn’t like to be around him much, but Truman kind of hero-worshiped him. He thought Carl was cool and tough, wouldn’t take any guff off anybody. You know the type. Anyway, Carl started getting into trouble with the law, and R.L. and I warned Truman he was going to get caught up in it if he wasn’t careful.”
“Told him Carl
was a loser,” R.L. muttered.
Bud continued. “So Truman comes to us one night all upset and he says he’s in trouble. Real trouble. Carl just knocked over a liquor store and shot the clerk. Truman was with him.”
Teresa looked at Riley, who was suddenly frowning, the ice pack long since discarded as he listened to the story. “Carl Brannon went to prison for killing that liquor store clerk. I remember reading about it in the newspaper archives. But there was no mention of Truman being involved.”
“Bud and I covered for him,” R.L. explained, casting a quick, guilty look at Dan. “We all went to the chief of police at that time and told him we had reason to believe Carl was the shooter. We implied that we’d overheard him telling someone else about it. Bud and I swore that Truman was with us that night, and his fiancée said she was there, too. Carl tried to convince the cops Truman was involved, but there was never enough evidence to implicate him. The cops just assumed he was trying to get back at us for turning him in.”
Dan’s face had gone hard. “You knew Truman had been involved in a murder and you protected him?”
“He wasn’t involved in the way you mean,” Bud said quickly. “He and Carl had been out drinking, driving around in Carl’s car. Carl said he was too drunk to drive, so he gave Truman his keys and told him he was in better shape. He asked Truman to stop at the liquor store. Truman told us he didn’t want to stop, but Carl talked him into it. Truman waited outside while Carl went inside. The next thing he knew, Carl was running out of the store, stuffing a gun and a handful of cash in his jacket and telling Truman to step on the gas. There were no witnesses, so there was never any proof that Carl didn’t work alone.”
Bud took up the tale again. “Truman drove back to Carl’s place, and the two of them got into a big fight. Carl offered Truman half the money, but he refused. Said he didn’t want anything to do with it. Carl threatened to kill Truman if he said anything and told Truman he would take him down with him if he was caught. He convinced Truman they’d both do life—Carl for murder, Truman for being an accessory. Truman came to us damn near hysterical. That’s when we convinced him we could protect him but we wouldn’t protect Carl.”
“Acting on our tip, the cops raided Carl’s place,” R.L. said. “They found the cash and a gold watch the clerk had been wearing. The clerk’s mother identified it, said it had belonged to his late father. Carl went to prison, and Truman became a model citizen. Married his sweetheart, never caused anyone a day’s trouble in this town.”
“There was a confidential reward for information leading to Carl’s arrest,” Bud added heavily. “Ten thousand dollars. R.L. and I split it. That’s the money we used to start our businesses a few years later. Truman wouldn’t touch a penny of it. He never fully recovered from that night. He was never the same guy afterward.”
“You shouldn’t have protected him,” Dan argued. “Doing so made both of you accessories after the fact.”
“The statute of limitations on that has long passed,” Serena said, using what Teresa had always considered her attorney’s voice. “Even at the time it would have been debatable whether Bud and R.L. could have been charged with much more than interfering with an official investigation. There is no statute of limitations on murder, so Truman could, perhaps, still face charges if he were living. Since he’s not, I’m not sure there would be any purpose in the details of this story getting out.”
“We’ll decide that when we’ve heard everything,” Cameron said, speaking as the managing editor of her newspaper. “Go on, Bud. Tell us the rest.”
“We knew Carl had a son, though he never married the boy’s mother. She moved away from the area after Carl went to prison. None of us heard anything from any of them since. Then Truman died in that fire earlier this year. R.L. and I were upset, of course. The three of us had been together a long time, been through a lot together. We didn’t expect to lose one of us so soon.”