Copper Lake Confidential - By Marilyn Pappano Page 0,93
man protested.
“Any fool can ask questions. It’s putting the answers together in the right way that matters, and this fool couldn’t have done that.” Disgust crossed her face. “We had a plan, Duncan. All you had to do was stick to it. You didn’t have to drag Stephen into it. You didn’t have to drag yourself any further into it than you already were. But you panicked.”
Macy looked from Duncan to Stephen. His eyes were glazed, and his rumpled hair showed blood crusted and drying at the crown of his head. He shook his head several times as if trying to clear it without success.
From somewhere upstairs came Scooter’s barking, and she realized she hadn’t seen the dog since they’d returned from lunch. He’d probably gone to snooze on her bed while they were gone, and Anne had closed the door, shutting him in. At least he’d be safe up there.
“What’s going on, Anne?” Brent demanded. “Who is this guy?”
“He works at Claremont,” Macy said. “In administration, I think.”
The man shot Anne a look as if her recognition justified his kidnapping Stephen.
Claremont, Anne, a kidnapping, a gun... Oh, God, Stephen had been right. Anne had wanted everyone to think Macy was insane. She wanted possibly her daughter and definitely their money, and she was willing to do anything to get it. Marry Brent. Befriend Macy. Mother Clary. Lie and deceive and torment.
Murder. Just like Mark.
Brent’s shoulders slumped, and a look of such anguish crossed his face that Macy’s heart broke for him. “You want the money? You married me so you could get access to my sister? To her money?”
“You think I’d go to this much trouble for Macy’s inheritance? Invest more than a year of my life for her piddling little fortune?” Anne shook her head with mock disappointment. “I want Clary’s money. And Clary.”
Anger surged through the numbness that had fallen over Macy. “You can’t have my daughter.”
“Oh, sweetie, I can.” Anne’s voice was so normal, her sympathetic look so familiar. She could even convince Macy—had almost convinced her—that she was losing her mind. “You made Brent her guardian in the event that something happened to you, and Brent made me her guardian in the event that something happened to him. So if you die, and he dies... Your mom and dad have already said they can’t raise her, and they know how much I love her, and Mark’s mother doesn’t really give a damn. Who’s going to fight me for her?”
Stephen stirred, grimacing as if the movement nauseated him. “My sister. I called her before I left the house this morning.” The words were slow, slurred. Had Duncan been satisfied with cracking him over the head with something, or had he also drugged him?
“What could you have told your sister?” Duncan scoffed. “You didn’t know anything.”
“I knew that Anne had substituted blood pressure medicine for Macy’s antianxiety drug. I knew enough to be suspicious of her.” Stephen lifted his head and swayed unsteadily, swallowing hard but maintaining eye contact with Duncan. “I knew enough to go straight to you, didn’t I?”
Such a huge sense of relief washed over Macy. Her pills hadn’t stopped working because she was losing control again! Anyone with anxiety disorder would be likely to start having problems again if they stopped their medication.
She bared her teeth at Anne’s partner in a semblance of a smile. “How’s your blood pressure, Duncan? Just about high enough right now to make your brain explode, I’d imagine.”
He bared his teeth back. “It’s fine. I told one of the doctors at work I lost mine, so he refilled it for me, no questions asked.” Turning back to Stephen, he said, “So you told your sister. Big deal. What can she do?”
The answer seemed beyond Stephen at the moment, so Macy responded for him. “She works for the local police department. She’ll prove my medicine was tampered with.”
Alarm stiffened his body, turning his cheeks and throat deep red. “Damn it, Anne!”
Irritation crossed Anne’s face, an expression Macy had never seen there before. What an incredible actress she was. If she’d set her sights on Hollywood instead of the Howard inheritance, she could have made a fortune of her own. “Shut up, Duncan. It’s part of the plan.”
As Anne’s irritation deepened, Macy thought he might be on the hit list, too, but didn’t realize it. He’d provided Anne with information on Macy when she was committed and with the medication to make the switch, but once she’d reached her goal