His grip tightened on the wheel and he pressed his foot against the accelerator. There’d been a lot of times when life had shredded around him but he would not, would not, let it happen tonight.
When he parked his car in front of the large white building that housed the New Community Church, the uniforms were seconds behind him. Out of the car, he unholstered his gun and dashed up the front steps. The front door was ajar.
Deke shoved it open and met with a deadly silence. “Rachel! Georgia!” His answer was his own echoing voice. Grim-faced he glanced at the uniforms behind him. “Search every inch of this place.”
The officers disbanded and with guns drawn moved into the sanctuary, two fanning left and two others to the right.
Deke drew in a breath. Searches in buildings could be the deadliest. Too many hiding places. Too many opportunities to ambush.
Gun drawn, he moved toward the altar, his gaze sweeping from side to side for any sign of movement. When he stepped onto the platform he spotted the blood pooling around the edges. For a moment he hesitated, fearful that he’d find Rachel or Georgia dead.
Gritting his teeth, he moved the remaining steps and saw Pastor Gary’s body. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, allowing the relief to wash through him. He cleared his throat. “Rachel, where the hell are you?”
Rachel’s shoulder throbbed as she and Georgia walked through the woods with Brenda pointing a gun behind them. Rachel had heard the shrill of sirens as had Georgia and Brenda. Deke was coming, he was close, but would it be fast enough? She had to buy time until he found them.
“He won’t be here in time,” Brenda said. “He will find you soon, but soon it won’t matter. You’ll be dead.”
Limping now, Georgia balled her fist as if ready to turn and strike. But Rachel shot her a warning glance, begging her to stand down. Now was not the time for Georgia’s directness.
Rachel turned her head slightly back. “Brenda, why are you doing this? You didn’t know Annie.”
Brenda jabbed her gun, a silent order for Rachel to keep moving. “My mother knew her. That bitch made her life hell and robbed me of more love than I can measure.”
Rachel’s anger burrowed to the deepest and coldest part of her heart, the place it needed to stay so she could think. “Love from whom?”
“Pastor Gary. My mother. He was obsessed with Annie and all women who looked like her. He could never love my mother. She was so focused getting him to see her, she never saw me.”
“Why would Pastor Gary care about Annie?”
“Because he loved her. Adored her. Could never stop thinking about her. Every woman since Annie is a replacement.”
“Dixie and Rebecca.”
“His wife. His other whores. All Annie.”
Georgia glanced at Rachel, her eyes wide with worry. She’d discovered the identity of her birth father and she was reeling. “Where is Gary?”
“At the chapel,” Brenda said.
The scent of death. Rachel couldn’t bring herself to ask.
Georgia did. “He’s dead.”
Brenda hesitated, frowned. “No. Yes.”
The twisted path in the woods opened into a clearing. In the distance, headlights shone on Kate in her wheelchair. With a blanket wrapped over her knees, her form looked fragile.
Rachel and Georgia stopped feet from Kate who stared up at them with dark, piercing eyes. Disease may have robbed her of strength but the fire burning in her gaze told Rachel it had not softened her obsession. “Didn’t take much to get you here. Grateful for small blessings, I suppose.”
Georgia rubbed her cuffed wrist. “What is this about?”
Kate’s glare soaked in Georgia. “You don’t look like her. Maybe a little around the mouth but that’s about it. You look like,” she hesitated as if emotion clogged her throat. “You look like Gary, your father.”
Georgia raised her chin a notch. She looked brave and strong, but Rachel felt, rather than saw, a bone-deep vulnerability. “Pastor Gary.”
Kate smiled. “You’re smart like he is.”
The cuff holding Rachel and Georgia tightened, as Georgia fisted her fingers. With her free hand Rachel grabbed Georgia’s wrist as if to steady her.
Kate shifted narrowing eyes toward Rachel. “You are good at sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
“It’s a talent.” The sharpness in Rachel’s tone was designed to draw fire and anger. If they were focused on her maybe Georgia could somehow escape this nightmare.
Brenda shoved Rachel hard against her tender shoulder, making her wince. “Shut up.”
Pain bulldozed through Rachel’s body forcing her to take deep breaths. She righted and glared back at Kate. Let’s see who’s running this show. “What the hell is her issue?”
Brenda raised her hand as if to strike Rachel when Kate shouted, “No!”
Brenda lowered her hand but clearly she craved any violence she could rain on Rachel.
Rachel kept her gaze on Kate. She might be physically weaker but she was the one in control here. “You had Brenda kill Dixie, Lexis, and Rebecca. Why?”
Kate moistened pale thin lips. “It’s complicated.”
“We’ve time.”
A smile quirked Kate’s lips. “Not much time. I heard the sirens as well as you. But we’ve a moment or two.”
“Why?” Rachel persisted.
Kate arranged the folds of her blanket on her lap, enjoying this moment of control. “You know why Lexis died. That was your fault.”
Rachel shoved aside the guilt. “The letters.”
“I knew she would figure out that the last letters were forgeries. I knew she’d know that Annie hadn’t written them all and that would raise questions. I couldn’t have any questions that might lead back to Pastor Gary.”
Rachel gritted her teeth. “If you knew they were a problem then why send them to me?”
“I didn’t.” Kate looked past her to Brenda. “She did. She thought they’d make Pastor Gary nervous. Brenda wanted to punish him.”
The release of the letters had been a mistake, a miscalculation. A laugh tumbled out of Rachel. “She didn’t tell you what she was doing?”
Kate shifted in her chair. “Not until after. Not until the damage had been done.”
“I did my best to clean up the damage,” Brenda insisted.
“Too little, too late,” Kate said.
Brenda shook her head. “I was thinking about you, Momma! I wanted him to come see you and make you feel special but he wouldn’t. I had to make him squirm.”
To split these two vipers’ alliance, Rachel had to stoke Brenda’s fears and dig into Kate’s weaknesses.
“Well, you helped me. Not too smart. You’ve given the police the weapon they need to prove that Jeb didn’t kill Annie. Did you know the DNA came back? Showed a woman killed Annie.”
“Shut up!” Brenda shouted.
“Thanks to Brenda, the cops have forgeries which they will eventually trace back to Kate. Dying or not, she’ll go to jail.”
A glance from Georgia revealed understanding. “My partner identified the forgeries immediately.”
“Why go after KC?” Rachel asked.
“He was nice enough and I knew if I had a contact in the police department I would know what they knew once I started doling out my lessons.” Brenda laughed. “KC is a fool. He was far too easy to pump for information.”
“How’d you meet him?” Rachel asked.
“Gary’s prison ministry. It’s also where I met Oscar McMillian and gave him your card when he needed a lawyer. One look at him and I knew he’d be hard for you to handle.”
Rachel studied Brenda’s f
ace contorted with anger.
Under her scrutiny, Brenda’s scowl deepened. “If Rachel had given all the letters to Lexis this would be over.”
“But she didn’t give them all over,” Kate said. “You never think it through, Brenda, and you always underestimate.”
Brenda’s eyes widened with hurt and then as quickly narrowed with anger for Georgia. It would take little to make her fire the gun.
“Kate, why did you write the fake letters?” Rachel asked.
“Gary came to me when he realized Annie was pregnant. Beth would have seen to that. He was in a panic. His new church would have been ruined if people learned he’d gotten a singer pregnant. I told him I’d handle it. And I went to Annie and told her I’d find her a husband if she’d stay away from Gary.”
“Is that when she agreed to marry Bill Dawson?”
“She didn’t agree right away. But I told her Gary would never marry her. Unless she wanted a bastard child she better turn her magic on Bill, who was like most men in the church. Half in love with her. I set them up on dates and within two weeks he’d proposed. They married a week later.”
“Gary married them,” Rachel said.
“The last letters made him realize how much trouble she could be. He saw past her smiles to the problems that waited for him if he stayed with her. He married Annie and Bill and was willing to walk away.”
“What happened?”
“He couldn’t stop thinking about her. He confessed to me several times that he still loved her. He married Beth but was ready to leave her and toss away the church for Annie.”
“So why kill Annie?” Rachel asked.
“I went to see Annie after the baby was born. She and Bill had had a bad fight. He’d figured out the baby was not his. She was going to go to Gary and tell him she still loved him. I begged her not to but she wouldn’t listen.” Kate looked at Georgia. “I didn’t go planning to kill her.”
Wind rustled through the trees. “When did you figure out Georgia was Annie’s child?” Rachel asked.
A satisfied smile teased Kate’s lips. “The church held a community fund-raiser last year. She came as a representative from the police force. The minute I saw her, I saw Gary. And then I saw her name tag. Morgan. Buddy Morgan, big-time cop. Didn’t take much checking to figure out that the Morgans’ adopted a daughter right about the time Annie died. Buddy Morgan. Got the press and the force to hide the fact that he took Annie’s baby. I should have seen it years ago but they kept their baby girl off the radar for a long time.” Kate shook her head. “I wanted you, Georgia. I wanted to raise you as my own. I had dreams about raising you with Gary.”