“Again,” I said, “I haven’t talked to him since … probably last November.”
We were silent for a beat.
“He’s having you watched,” Louise said.
A chill slid down my spine. I suspected she was right, because how else would he know? “The question is why he’s having me watched.”
“I told you in Little Rock that I don’t trust him,” she said in disgust. “He was gaslighting you when someone kept breaking into your house. He tried to convince you that you were imagining it. What if he was behind the break-ins?”
I shook my head. “You think Keith broke into my house? Why?”
“What if he was looking for something?” She pressed. “Or, if nothing else, he wanted you to think you were losing your mind.” She paused. “Make you question your memory of the shooting.”
I let her words sink in. She had a point, only I knew for a fact Keith hadn’t been behind the break-ins. That had been a man named Drew Sylvester, who’d been hunting for something of my sister’s.
But Louise didn’t know about any of that. She didn’t know about Drew Sylvester. Or that I’d discovered his brother had witnessed my sister’s murder nearly twenty years ago.
There was a whole hell of a lot I hadn’t told her, and suddenly all those lies didn’t sit right.
“Maybe,” I said finally, because I knew for a fact I hadn’t told Keith I was friends with Louise. And if he’d lied to her, that meant something.
“Why aren’t you calling me from your own phone?” Louise asked.
“I lost mine. That’s why I haven’t called you back.”
“Why not get a replacement?”
“I decided to upgrade to a newer model,” I said quickly. “It’s not here yet.”
“Huh.” Another pause. “Where do you suppose Malcolm’s taking his vacation?”
Shit. Shit. Shit. She wasn’t letting this go.
“How would I know?” I asked with a laugh. “It’s not like he’d run his travel plans by me. Why don’t you ask Misti, the bartender?”
“I did. She said she wasn’t privy to the information.” Louise’s voice tightened. “Which seemed odd, since he’s always acted pretty tight with his staff.”
“If they don’t know, what makes you think I would?”
“Because, even though he tried to be discreet, I could tell he has a thing for you.”
Funny how I hadn’t noticed. “You’re crazy.”
“Am I? He’s a good-lookin’ man. Mysterious and has a dangerous edge. That’s hard for some women to resist.”
“Do I strike you as most women?”
“No,” she said without hesitation. “But I can still see the appeal.”
“What exactly are you insinuating, Louise?” I asked lightly, purposely not giving her an excuse to latch on to.
“Are you sleeping with James Malcolm?” She didn’t even bother tiptoeing around it. “I mean, you’re not interested in Nate Davis. He’s a really nice guy—steady, dependable. But I always knew he wasn’t your type. So, I asked myself … who would be the polar opposite of Nate?”
“Why would I run off to Hot Springs to screw James Malcolm when I could just as easily do that in Lone County?”
“That’s the part I don’t get,” she said. “The timing’s off. Your mother just died.”
“Seems like it would be the best time to run off,” I said, going on the offensive. “I mean, I did run off.”
