Read Malice for Free Online Page B

idea where we might find him?” Alex asked. “We’ve talked to his grandmother and she has no idea—”
    The room exploded with Wallace’s laughter. “That ol’ bitch?” He was fidgeting with the rabbit ears over the TV. “She don’t know which end is up. She was ugly when Donny Thomas asked her to marry him and she’s even uglier now. Not that that’s possible.” He flashed a toothless smile. “No, Deputy, I’m not sure where that boy is at. He may be with the sheriff’s daughter.”
    “She’s not talking.” It remained unsaid, but both men knew that you didn’t use the same kind of police tactics on the sheriff’s daughter as you might on a regular citizen. A certain amount of delicacy was required.
    Wallace’s head snapped back and he exploded with phlegmy laughter again.
    “Maybe you should talk to Mrs. Crow. Derek used to talk about her all the time. Talked me nearly to death once, he did, told him to keep quiet or I’d—”
    “Cliff,” Alex said, dimly aware of the informality. “Mrs. Crow is dead.”
    He tore away from the TV for a moment. “Oh, sorry to hear that. Guess I woulda known if I read the papers or kept into other people’s business. Just that she might have known where he was hiding. Derek talked about her all the time. They was close, you know.”
    A strange expression flickered across Alex’s face. He had never known Diane was friendly with Derek, or any of Samantha’s friends, for that matter.
    “Close?” Alex asked nonchalantly. “In what way?”
    Wallace’s eyes found Alex’s again. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said …”
    “Too late for that now. The circumstances of Mrs. Crow’s death are still being investigated. There are signs…let’s just say the case is still open.”
    The old man looked worried now. “Was she murdered, that poor woman?”
    “Maybe.”
    Wallace raised an eyebrow.
    “So what do you know about Derek and Mrs. Crow?”
    Wallace stood with some difficulty, wiped his hands on his overalls, and then braced himself against the counter. “Derek says he used to go over there a lot when the sheriff wasn’t home. Says he and Samantha were good friends, but that he and Mrs. Crow were better friends. That she used to give him money sometimes.”
    The old man fell silent.
    Alex asked him, “That it?”
    “No,” he added reluctantly. “We were working on a bike together once, damn chain kept coming off, one of them foreign pieces a crap, you know. Anyhow, he told me that Samantha’s mum kept askin’ him over when Samantha wasn’t there, but he’d always say no ‘cause he had to work. But you know how women can get when they got somethin’ in their sights. So she kept insistin’, till finally he got tired of saying no. Kid used to say that when that woman wanted something, she dang never gave up till she got it.”
    Alex shook his head, unable to hide the amazement on his face.
    “Used to say she was real rough with him. Used to tie him up and slap his face before they…before she put it to him, as they say.”
    The words rang in Alex’s head. He knew what was coming, the way you see an offspeed baseball, but it still nearly knocked him out when it finally hit.
    “One time the sheriff came home early and Derek had to jump off the second-floor balcony.” He saw the shock on Alex’s face and added. “You know the way kids are. I just always assumed he was making it up.”
    “Yeah, he probably was,” Alex lied, hoping the old man wouldn’t notice the way his eyes had become thick and watery. “Anything else?”
    “Sure, lots. Said she gave him a key to the house after they had done it a few times. Showed it to me, but there ain’t no way anyone can tell one key from another. He did seem pretty proud of himself.”
    “And …”
    “Well, the boy came into work pretty upset a few months later. Wouldn’t tell me why. Think I was the only one he could tell about what was going on.”
    The old man cocked one of the antennae, then