Cold River - Carla Neggers [121]
“What did you do, sneak into the crypt to make the bomb that killed Melanie Kendall? Did you leave behind some of your materials? You wouldn’t risk going back there when the police were combing the area for clues. You waited.” Her voice was steady, the budding prosecutor at work. “You tried to get rid of Bowie. He was both a threat and a perfect fall guy.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You people are so clannish. You can’t see through your ties to one another to the truth.”
Elijah looked at Sean. “Do you want to shoot him, or shall I?”
Lowell paled, clearly not knowing that Elijah wouldn’t shoot unless in self-defense.
Vivian was shivering uncontrollably. “Our beautiful house on the river is in flames, and you heartless people dare to accuse us….” She sobbed and brushed a tear out of the corner of her eye. “I’ll never come back here.”
Sean slipped his arm around Hannah and focused on Lowell Whittaker. “Who taught you how to build a bomb? Who told you what materials you’d need?”
Elijah kept his gun steady. “Did one of your hired killers give you instructions?”
Lowell didn’t answer. His wife was silent now, staring at the man she’d married as if seeing him for the first time. But it was an act, Sean thought. Whatever the police could prove or couldn’t prove, Vivian Whittaker had figured out her husband was a murderer. She’d done what she could to keep Bowie from getting out of the fire alive.
Elijah lowered his weapon, and Sean felt Hannah’s arm come around his waist and hold him as he and his brother watched Scott Thorne place the man who’d ordered their father’s death under arrest.
No one stopped Hannah as she made her way to Bowie, who sat on the side of a stretcher under Beth Harper’s watchful eye. She stepped back, giving them a moment. He pulled off his oxygen mask. “Sean’s been a damn fool.”
“You, too, Bowie.” Hannah shook her head and tried to smile. “As strong as you are from all your years hauling rock, and look at you now.”
He grinned at her. “Who just jumped from an exploding car?”
“I jumped before it exploded.”
But there was no humor in his dark eyes as he blinked up at her. “A good thing.”
“I’ve been a damn fool, too,” she whispered.
“This was a close one for both of us.” He nodded back to the farmhouse, firefighters working hard to put out the flames and save the structure. “Thanks for the warning. I’d never have gotten out of there if I hadn’t spotted you down here. You could have stayed hidden, not taken any chances—”
“No, I couldn’t have.”
“I knew…” He sighed heavily. “I knew that first bomb was meant for you.”
“I never suspected you, Bowie. Not even for a split second.”
“Poe?”
“He’s curled up in the blankets in the back of your van. We’ll make sure he stays warm.”
“I came up here to check on the chimney. It was all a setup.” He looked down at his callused hands holding the oxygen mask in his lap. “Vivian took advantage when I stumbled on the stairs while I was carrying her butt to safety.” He shrugged his big shoulders. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
“Sean, Elijah and I all heard her lie about what happened.”
“She grabbed the rail and kicked me from behind. I was already off balance, and I fell down the stairs, hit my head. Next thing I know, Sean’s helping me up.” He winced, the fading bruises of his earlier encounter with Lowell Whittaker visible in his pale face. “She threw her lot in with her husband in the end. With me dead, she could tell her version of events.”
“I’m sorry, Bowie.”
“Not your fault.” He looked back toward the woods and the river, the sky cloudless against the white landscape. “I’d like to build a place on that old cellar hole on the river and live as a hermit.”
“I don’t blame you. Right now just do as the paramedics say and take care of yourself. Then we’ll see.”
“I’d have helped Drew with his cabin if he’d asked.” Bowie stared down at the oxygen mask in his hands, his mind obviously drifting. “Vivian’s rough on Lowell. She belittled him about