She shrugged. “We all make mistakes. And it wasn’t like I had a whole lot of time. I barely had time to wash the damn truck before you two showed up. But then I distracted you by having Ty run under the hose. I mean why would I suddenly be washing both cars? The Rover supposedly hadn’t been driven since your father was arrested.”
Robie slowly shook his head, silently berating himself for missing that.
“And Sherman Clancy?” he asked. “I found a photo of you as a teenager in his car. Did he know you were Laura?”
She laughed. “He was clueless about that. I drove over to the Clancys’ and put the photo in there the night I killed Sara. That’s when I put the bullet into his Range Rover.”
“Why?”
“Why not? I had already slit the man’s throat a while back. He thought he was going to have slam-bang sex with me because I told him that’s what I wanted. Instead, he got sent to an early grave. So I left a little reminder of who had really killed him behind. The police had already searched the car. I doubted they would go back again.”
“But why did you need Clancy? You told me he was blackmailing you about your drug addiction problem.”
“No, that was a lie. But I needed Clancy. You see, while people thought I was Sherm’s alibi that got him off for killing Janet, he was actually my alibi for when I killed her. I had arranged to meet with Janet that night. I went to Biloxi and left Ty with Priscilla in her room. Then I came back to Cantrell and went to Clancy’s house by prearrangement. I knew that Pete was away. Sherm wanted us to be all alone. We started drinking. Only he drank and I poured mine down the sink. And I was real flirty and let him grope me just to keep him focused. And then I slipped a sleeping pill into his drink. When he finally passed out, I went and killed Janet. Then I came back to Clancy’s.”
“But then he started remembering things?” said Robie.
“Exactly. Like the fact that I wasn’t there when he woke up from what he thought was his drunken stupor. And then when he found out Janet had been killed that night he put two and two together. It was ironic that he was arrested for her murder when I had actually killed her. And then I had to swoop in to save poor Sherm by giving him an alibi, when he was actually providing me with one. But once he was out of jail he secretly met with me. And told me what he’d figured out. And then he really tried to blackmail me. Well, I knew he was experienced in that endeavor, but it wouldn’t work with me. He was going to die. In fact, I had already planned to kill him regardless.”
“Why?”
“How else could I get your dear old dad arrested for murder? The unfaithful wife? The angry husband? The dead lover? The arrest? The noble life ruined? It was a nice story. And it fit together so damn well. You see, he was the object of my revenge because I didn’t know where you were. And I looked, Will, but I could never find you. And then you just walked right back into Cantrell. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw you at the Willows.”
“So you planted all that evidence against my father?”
“Of course I did. I’m nothing if not thorough.”
“Why do that to my father? He never did anything to you.”
Her smile disappeared and her voice hardened. “Oh really? When I came by your house to find out what had happened to you, he told me you had gone off without me. By choice. You’d abandoned us both. And your father told me it was best. He made it seem like we were from two very different walks of life. But I knew what he meant. I wasn’t good enough for you. I would hold you back. I was so furious I wanted to kill him right then, only I didn’t have the guts.”
“But you married him. You had a child with him.”
“That’s right. I did. My second child.”
Robie drew back another step, nearly stumbling over an old pile of wood stacked on the floor. “Who was your first?”
“You met her. Jane Smith?”
“But she’s your age.”
“No, she just looks my age. She’s actually twenty. Or was twenty.”
“So Emmitt was the father?”
She chortled. “Emmitt? My God, no, not Emmitt. He was too scared to try to rape his little sister, though he probably wanted to. That compulsion evidently runs deeply in the Barksdale male line. Perhaps from inbreeding.” She paused. “No, it wasn’t Emmitt.” She paused once more. “My father is the dad.”
“Your father impregnated you?”
Robie put a hand out and steadied himself against the wall. He could barely process what she was saying. He had figured Henry Barksdale for some messed-up pervert, but he had never imagined he had committed incest with his own daughter.
“He raped me. Many times, Will. Remember when we were teenagers and you would ask me what was wrong? Well, now you have your answer.” She smiled. “But I got over it, for the most part. By killing those who had hurt me. Like Emmitt. You see, my dear brother held me down in a bathtub while that…thing came out from between my legs. It was so bloody, that bathtub. And the pain. I thought I was going to die. I think you saw him in his bathtub. There wasn’t nearly as much blood, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. The poison I injected into him was something I learned about when I was a pharmaceutical rep. Nasty stuff. Paralytic first and then the kill dose. I took his phone and laptop because it might have had something on it I didn’t want others to know.”
“But why cut off his…?”
“Because he didn’t have the balls to stand up to my father. And since he never used his balls anyway, I decided to take them.”
“So it was Emmitt at the Willows?”
“And you’re right, he did search my car. And he left me a note, wanting to meet with me. Luckily, I found it before you did. And we did meet.”
“How did he know you were Laura?”
“He told me he had his suspicions when he heard someone had married Judge Robie and moved into the Willows. He said he watched me one day, recognized certain things about me that I guess even I didn’t know and thus couldn’t change. And then he went down to the courthouse and checked my signature on the paperwork for when Dan and I bought the Willows. It matched Laura’s handwriting, which he knew very well. I would have hardly given him the credit for having the brains,” she added wistfully.
“Why did he want to meet?”
“To reconcile, I think. I wasn’t really paying attention to that part, because I was preoccupied with pondering how I was going to murder him. Like you, I had no idea where he was. And then he just walked back into my life. But he also wanted me to assume care for Jane. He had a terminal illness of some kind, he told me. I’m sure his autopsy will show it.”
“Why was he caring for Jane?”
“Because I suppose my brother had some guilt. I didn’t. That’s why I left. I had no idea where she was until Emmitt told me.”
“You abandoned your daughter?”
“She wasn’t my daughter!” snarled Victoria. She continued more calmly, “She was my father’s daughter. I was just the violated vessel that got her here. That’s why we left Cantrell so quickly. I was pregnant. Dear old Daddy didn’t want the shame. But he wouldn’t let me abort either because, well, he was such a God-fearing man. It was immediately apparent that Jane would never be right in the head. Her blood was blue, you see, not red. That’s why they have laws against such things. But Daddy was a Barksdale and thus above it all. I wasn’t going to live with that, take care of that. But I’m sure you noticed the resemblance when you met her.”
“I thought it was you. But how can she look so much older if she’s your child?”
“Nasty genetics when father beds daughter. You just never know what you’re going to get.”
“ROH,” said Robie.
“Very good, Will. So you looked at the back of the photo?”
“And Leviticus eighteen?”
“Ironic that it doesn’t expressly prohibit father-daughter sex. Did you note the omission?”
Robie shook his head.
She smiled. “Most belie
ve it’s because that particular act is so obviously heinous, so why even bother banning it?”
“And who is Calvin?”
“John Calvin. French philosopher. You see, I read up on the subject. He didn’t believe that Leviticus eighteen prohibited fathers from screwing their daughters. But he also believed it was immoral to do so. What an insight! Too bad my father wasn’t as enlightened.”
“But you killed Jane?”
“Emmitt told me what room she was in. I had convinced him that I really cared about her, wanted to assume responsibility for her. I killed him and then I killed her. That’s my idea of assuming responsibility.”
“Emmitt I can maybe understand. But why kill her?”
“What sort of life did she really have? She was permanently four years old. I tapped on her window. She came over to it, her little face all full of wonder and surprise. And I put a bullet right between her eyes.”
Robie just shook his head at this cruel comment. “She didn’t deserve to die. None of this was her fault.”
“And you think it was my fault, Will? Trust me, I had different plans for my life. Do you think I really wanted all this? I think I’ve handled it rather well, actually.”
“And Priscilla? What the hell did she ever do to you?”