Grave Secret Page 0,102

sight, they're out of mind."

That seemed like underrating Lizzie, to me. But he knew her better than I ever would. I understood, after a second's thought. Chip knew that failing to prevent me from coming to Texas was his big mistake. If I died, my death would erase that mistake. Of course that couldn't be done. But it would make him feel better.

"Lizzie, I'm sure someone drew your attention to my website," I said. "I'm sure someone pointed you in the right direction, thought it might be interesting to have me here to look at your graveyard."

"Yeah," Lizzie said. The sun was shining onto the terrace at an angle; it was about three thirty in the afternoon. "Yeah, Kate did."

"How'd you come to think of that, Kate?" I asked.

Kate was clearly in a bad state. Her face was white, her breathing panicky. Her hands were tied to the arms of the chair, and I saw her wrists were chafed raw. It took her a moment to understand the question.

"Drex," she said, her voice jerky. "Drex told me that he'd met you once."

Chip's head whipped around like he was a snake about to strike. "Drex, thanks to you, we've lost everything," he said in a deadly voice. "What were you thinking?"

"It come on the TV when we were watching the news," Drex whispered. "About her being in North Carolina, finding those boys' bodies. I told Kate I'd gone to her trailer when she was living in Texarkana, 'cause I knew her stepfather. I'd met her."

"And you told Lizzie," I said to Kate.

"She's always looking for something new," Kate said. "That's the name of the game, here. Find things for Lizzie, keep her happy."

Lizzie looked absolutely astounded. If we lived through this day, she would have a lot of mental rearranging to do.

"So it's a TV newscaster that brought me down." Chip laughed, and it was an awful sound.

"How much of a snake handler are you, Chip?" I asked.

"Oh, now, that's Drex's strong point," he said, grinning at the man standing beside him.

"Jesus, no!" Lizzie said, shocked out of her senses. "Drex? Chip, are you saying that Drex threw a rattler at Granddaddy?"

"That's what I'm sayin', darlin'," Chip said. His grip on Lizzie's shoulder never wavered.

"Have you gone nuts, man?" Drexell said, and his face looked different now. He didn't look as bewildered and befuddled as he had. He didn't look as weak as he had. He looked craftier and harder. "Why are you telling my sisters lies?"

"Because we're not going to get away with it," Chip said. "You hadn't gotten that yet, I see." Drexell looked blank. "There're too many loose ends, fool. We should have killed the doctor. Yes, you asshole, sometime within the past few years we should have moseyed on over to Dallas and taken care of that old idiot. And we knew Matthew was getting out of jail sooner or later. We should have been waiting outside the gate for him with a gun."

Now there was a sentiment I could agree with.

"You say we're not going to get away with it," Drex said. "So why are you doing this hostage thing? I thought you were playing a deeper game. I thought you had a plan. You're just crazy."

"Yes, I am, and I'll tell you why," Chip said. He let go of Lizzie's shoulder, and she swung around to face him, taking a step backward, closer to the wall covered with guns. "I had me an appointment with a much better doctor than Bowden last week, and you know what he told me? I'm eaten up with cancer. At thirty-two! And I don't give a fuck what happens when I'm not on the earth anymore. I don't have long enough to live for you-all to do anything to me. Since I'm not getting away with anything, I sure as hell don't want ol' Drex to."

His eyes were mean beyond belief when he said this.

"You're going to die?" said Lizzie. "Well, good. I wish Drex had cancer, too. I want you both to die." She seemed to have shaken off her fear, and I wished I could do the same. I looked at Tolliver, and I thought we would not make it through this. Chip would take us all out, because we were going to live and he wasn't.

With one incredibly fast motion, Lizzie grabbed a rifle off the wall, the one right by one of the doors. It was pointed at Chip in a split second. "Go on