Where There's Smoke

He was unflappable and unsuspecting, even when Darcy took her first extramarital lover three months after Heather was born. He was a guest at the motel, a saddle salesman from El Paso on his way to Memphis. They used room 203. It had been easy to tell Fergus that she was going to visit her mother for a few hours.

In spite of her frequent infidelities, Darcy was sincerely fond of Fergus, mainly because his position in the community had considerably elevated hers and because he gave her every material thing her heart desired. She smiled at him now as he came downstairs arm in arm with Heather. “You two make a handsome pair,” she said. “Everybody in town is going to be at that meeting tonight, and all eyes are going to be on the Winston family.”

Fergus placed his arm across her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be pleased and proud to stand at the podium with the two prettiest ladies in Eden Pass.”

Heather rolled her eyes.

Fergus was too earnest to notice the gesture. “I’m just sick about the reason for this town meeting, though.” He sighed as he gazed into his beloved wife’s face. “I shudder when I think that a burglar could have harmed you.”

“It gives me goose bumps, too.” Darcy patted his cheek, then impatiently squirmed free of his embrace. “We’d better go or we’ll be late. On the other hand,” she added with a smug laugh, “they can’t start without us, can they?”

Chapter Six

Lara had specific reasons for wanting to attend the town meeting.

If Eden Pass was experiencing a crime wave, she needed to be aware of it. She lived alone and needed to take precautions to protect herself and her property.

It was also important to her future in Eden Pass that she become actively involved in all facets of community life. She’d already bought a season ticket to the home football games and had contributed to the fund to buy a new traffic light for the only busy intersection downtown. If she was seen frequently in everyday settings, like the Sak’n’Save grocery store and the filling station, maybe the townsfolk would stop perceiving her as an outsider. Maybe they would even accept her, in spite of Jody Tackett.

Her third reason for wanting to attend the meeting was far more personal. She found it curious that the outbreak of crime coincided with Key Tackett’s coming to her back doorstep with a bleeding bullet wound. It was highly unlikely that he’d been breaking into the Fergus Winston home with burglary in mind, but it was a jarring coincidence that, for her peace of mind, she wanted laid to rest.

The high school auditorium, the pride of the consolidated school’s campus, was frequently used as a community center. Lara arrived early, but the parking lot was already jammed with cars, minivans, and pickup trucks. The meeting had been deemed “vitally important” by the local newspaper. In it Sheriff Elmo Baxter had been quoted as saying, “Everybody ought to be at this meeting. It’s up to the citizens of Eden Pass to stop this rash of crime before it gets out of hand. Nip it in the bud, so to speak. We have a clean, decent little town here, and as long as I’m sheriff, that’s how it’s going to stay.”

His urging had yielded a good turnout. Lara was just one of a crowd who flocked toward the well-lighted building. As she entered the auditorium, however, she was singled out. In her wake she left whispered conversations. They were absorbed by the din created by the crowd, but she was aware of them nevertheless.

Trying to ignore the turned heads and gawking stares, she smiled pleasantly, greeting those she recognized—Mr. Hoskins from the supermarket, the lady who clerked in the post office, and a few who’d been brave enough to cross Jody Tackett’s implied picket line to seek her professional services.

Rather than taking one of the available seats in the rear of the auditorium, which would have been convenient but cowardly, Lara moved down the congested center aisle. She spotted Nancy and Clem Baker and their brood. Nancy motioned for her to join them, but she shook her head and found a chair in the third row.

Her courage in the face of so much adverse attention was a pose. It was discomforting to know that tongues were wagging and that dozens of pairs of eyes were aimed at the back of her head, most of them critically. She knew that personal aspects of her life were being reviewed in hushed voices so that the children wouldn’t hear about the brazen hussy in their midst.

Lara could not control what people thought or said, but it still hurt to know that her character was being bludgeoned and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to prevent it. Her only means of self-preservation would be to remain at home, but to her that was not a viable option. She had every right to attend a community function. Why should she be cowed by gossips and people so spineless they allowed themselves to be influenced by an aging old bitch, as she had come to think of Jody Tackett.

Obviously Mrs. Tackett had a much higher opi

nion of herself. When she made her fashionably late entrance, she strode down the center aisle looking neither right nor left. She felt that friendliness was either a waste of time or beneath her dignity. In any case, she didn’t stop to chat even with those who spoke to her.

Her bearing was militant, but she wasn’t as physically imposing as Lara had expected. Clark had described his mother in such elaborate terms that Lara recognized her, but she had formed a mental picture of Jody that fit midway between Joan Crawford and Joan of Arc.

Instead, Jody was a short, stocky, gray-haired woman who was average in appearance and attired in clothing that was high in quality but low in fashion flair. Her hands were blunt and unadorned. Her features were harsh to the point of appearing masculine, and she embodied the iron will for which she was known.

A hush fell over the crowd as she moved down the aisle. Her arrival was as good as an announcement that the meeting could begin. Indubitably she was Eden Pass’s number-one citizen, deferred to by all.

Lara was perhaps the only one in the auditorium who realized that Jody Tackett was seriously ill.

She had the telltale wrinkles of a heavy smoker around her mouth and eyes. Beyond that, her skin was friable. Bruises and splotches dotted her arms. As she extended her hand to the mayor, Lara noticed that her cuticles were thick. Such clubbing was symptomatic of pending arterial problems.

Following on Jody’s heels was a woman who appeared to be about Lara’s age. Her smiles were genuine but uncertain. She seemed uncomfortable with sharing her mother’s limelight. Janellen perfectly matched Clark’s description. He had once referred to his sister as “mousy,” but he hadn’t meant it unkindly.

“Daddy doted on her. Maybe if he hadn’t died when she was so young, she would have eventually blossomed. Mother didn’t have much time to cultivate her. She was too busy keeping the business together. I guess growing up around Key and Mother and me, all Type A’s, made sis shy and soft-spoken. She rarely got a word in edgewise.”

Janellen had a delicate face and a fair complexion. Her mouth was too small, and her nose was a trifle long, but, like her brothers, she had spectacular blue eyes that more than compensated for her unremarkable features.

Since Jody had obviously influenced her, her lack of style was no surprise. But even Jody’s clothing made more of a fashion statement than Janellen’s. She was downright dowdy. Her severe hairstyle was sorely unflattering. It was as though she worked at making herself unattractive so that she would go unnoticed and remain in the large shadow that Jody cast.

Key brought up the rear. Unlike his mother, he didn’t march down the aisle undeterred. He stopped frequently along the way to swap greetings and anecdotes with people he obviously hadn’t seen in a while. Lara picked up snatches of these friendly exchanges.

“As I live and breathe! It’s Key Tackett!”