Teaching class and making baskets brought little enough money to support my children. People hereabouts were next to dirt poor themselves. So I gave away two of my little ones. I gave Jess to my friend Ellie Burke and her husband Tom, in Duluth. I believed Ellie would give him a good home and look after him well, as she herself had not been blessed with children. I gave my daughter to a family of travelers. They seemed good, honest folk who vowed they would care for her.I kept my baby Charlie. I loved him with all my heart, and as best I could, kept him away from all that is bad and wicked in this world.When my boy Charlie was almost grown, he took up with a no-good whoring slut. A vacationer she was, out for any innocent young boy she could lay her hands on. She seduced, then murdered him and walked free of this terrible crime. Accidental Death, they called it. But I know different.I pray that someday, God will repay this Jezebel in full for her wickedness. May her slate NEVER be cleansed of the terrible wrong she did my Charlie and me.Let it be known, this statement is for the eyes of my son Jess Payne only. Tania is long gone. Wherever she is, I hope she is happy.May God forgive me. All I want now is to Rest in Peace.Signed: Edith Mary Payne.
FIFTY
Stunned, Leigh let the pages flutter to the floor. She heard Charlie’s voice telling her “it” was in the lake. But hadn’t he mentioned a brother? Maybe that’d been his own conclusion.
If he’d been told he had a twin, he might’ve naturally thought “it” had been a brother. And it looked like Ma Payne hadn’t been in any goddamn rush to explain otherwise.
And who was Jess? Where does he fit in?
Mattie shot a quick glance in her direction. It said, Leigh. We gotta get outta here. Fast.
Agreed.
But first, we waltz our way past Mace?
Are you kidding?
“Where’s that coffee, Mattie? We sure could do with a shot here.” Mace watched Leigh’s face. Saw her bewildered, agonized frown. Saw how the past had leapt alive for her, prodding and poking her in all the most vulnerable places. He was enjoying the prospect.
“Time she learned the truth about her in-laws,” he thought, smiling softly. “The real truth about the genes her precious daughter inherited.”
All that Payne blood running through Deana’s veins.
His lips curved. His eyes glittered, black, sloelike.
Leigh got it, all right. No problem. The truth came at her thick and fast. She raised her head. Saw the smear of sweat gathering on Mace’s upper lip.
“He’s getting off on this,” she told herself. “He’s enjoying every minute of it.”
She knew it now. Jess was Mace.
Charlie’s brother. Deana’s uncle.
Oh my God, I don’t believe this. Please let it be some terrible mistake…
She thought about the insanity in the Payne family. Edith Payne, screaming at her, eyes dark and wild. Seems like Charlie’s pa was mad, too. Liquored up, and on another planet. A killer. Of a tiny baby. A baby hacked in such a horrible way. And Mace. Hard. Cruel. Raging when she’d uncovered him last night. Seen his black body hair.
Must’ve bleached the hair on his head to appear blond to the outside world. Trying to hide, eradicate, all trace of the familial black growth.
And Deana.
Oh my God, my darling daughter. Her thick black hair. The body hair she was always complaining about. From her father’s side. From the Payne side.
She pictured Deana, her own dark-haired daughter—the vision merging with Edith Payne’s Tania. But, she told herself gratefully, Deana had no manic streaks, no strange ways; nothing to say she’d inherited the “bad” Payne blood.
Thank God, Deana had West genes, too.
I was a bit of a rebel though, she reminded herself, recalling the hippie days, the demos, her anti-everything buttons pinned all over her clothes… A teenage rebel she’d definitely been.
But Deana hadn’t caused her that much trouble. Had she?
“Coffee. Black. And plenty of it!” Mattie brought in three steaming mugs on a tray.
“Gee, thanks, Mats.” Mace grinned. “Just what we need. A shot of good ol’ caffeine to get us all spiced up and rarin’ to go. What say you, Leigh darlin’?”
“Coffee. Sure,” Leigh said uncertainly. What a nightmare. Looks like he’s not going to let us go. So how do we get out of here in one piece…?
“Y’always did make great coffee,” Mace went on. “Am I right, Mattie?”
“Okay, Mace. Quit the bullshit. Whatever it is you and Leigh have got going here, I’m outta this place. You comin’, Leigh?”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Mattie. You an’ Leigh ain’t goin’ anywhere.” Mace reached behind. Fingering his holster.
“Mace. You’re making one big mistake.”
“Come now, Mattie. You know better than to go against ol’ Mace. You know who’s boss around here.”
“Quit playin’ around, Mace, I put one call through and the cops’ll be buzzin’ around here like flies, an’ you know it.”
“Think so, Mats?”
“Know so, Mace. Just stay cool and let us pass.”
“You were breakin’ and enterin’, Mattie. And you, Leigh. Wouldn’t have thought it of you. So ladylike an’ all.”
“Mattie. Meet Mace, Deana’s uncle. Surprised, huh?” Leigh gave a mirthless laugh. She was playing for time. Trying to catch him off guard. What then? She’d no idea.
Go with the flow. Take our chances, I guess…
“Thought there was something more to our friend than he made out,” Mattie put in, looking at Leigh. She turned to Mace. “Let us pass, Mace. You want to continue your illustrious career at the department? Let us by and we won’t say a word.”
“Mmmm. Not bad, Mattie. Not bad at all. Taught you well, didn’t I? Tricky situation, and you turn the tables with a slick remark. Won’t work this time, Mattie baby. You’re talking to the master. I got me two perps here. On a breakin’-and-enterin’ charge. I got me a result.”
Leigh’s mind worked overtime. She was sure Mace planned to finish what Charlie Senior had been unable to do.