Gaines got up, Hagen also.

“Stay here,” Gaines said. “I don’t want her to feel overwhelmed by the number of people.”

Gaines stood by the kitchen doorway, waited for Maryanne to get Della Wade into the front hallway before he presented himself.

“Sheriff Gaines,” she said.

“Miss Wade,” he replied.

“I think it was Leon Devereaux who hurt Clifton.”

67

Gaines had to tell Della Wade that Leon Devereaux was dead.

“Dead?” She looked at the faces around her—Maryanne, Nate Ross, Richard Hagen, and then back to Gaines.

“Someone shot him,” Gaines said.

“Shot him? Who? Who shot him?”

“We don’t know, Miss Wade. Someone found him today in his trailer. Apparently, he’d been dead for about a week.”

“Matthias?” she asked. “Did Matthias kill him?”

“We don’t know, Miss Wade. Do you think it might have been Matthias?”

“Of course,” she said, not a moment’s hesitation in her response. “I think Devereaux did what he did to Clifton, and I think he might have killed Michael Webster, too. I think Leon Devereaux has been doing a lot of things for Matthias, and with all of this going on, I would think that Matthias would be scared that Devereaux would be caught. And then he might talk, and that would be the end of Matthias.”

“I understand that,” Gaines said, “but where did you get this name from? How do you know about Leon Devereaux?”

“Well, he’s been around for years. But as far as being directly involved in this business now, Eugene told me.”

“Eugene? Your brother?”

“Yes,” Della replied. “I called him. I told him that I was afraid of Matthias, that I thought Matthias might have done something bad, and he said that I didn’t need to be worried about what Matthias might do, but about someone called Leon Devereaux.”

“And did Eugene say how he knew about Devereaux?”

“He said that Matthias told him that Leon Devereaux would come visit him if he caused any trouble.”

“And why would Matthias threaten his own brother like that?”

“When Eugene left, he went without anything. He didn’t want anything from our father, and he wanted nothing from Matthias. Apparently, Matthias told him that he was going to disown him, that he would no longer be a Wade, that there would be nothing in the estate for him when our father died. Eugene told him that he couldn’t do that, that Matthias might have control of the family estate, but Eugene was still legally entitled to some recompense from the will. Matthias said there wouldn’t be any will, that it would all come to him as the eldest son. He said that’s what their father wanted, and that’s the way it was going to be. He said that papers had already been signed, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. They argued, of course. Matthias said he could have Eugene killed, that he knew people who would do that. He said that if he tried to take any legal action against the estate or Matthias himself, he would send Devereaux to shoot him in the head.”

“He said that? Those precise words, that he would send Devereaux to shoot him in the head?”

“That’s what Eugene told me.”

“And do you think Eugene would confirm any of this?” Gaines asked.

“Legally? No, I don’t think he would. I think he is out of the family and has absolutely no desire to become involved in any way. I think he has gotten used to whatever life he lives now, and no amount of money would ever bring him back here.”

“So you don’t believe he’d make a statement to this effect, that Matthias had threatened him, said he would get Devereaux to shoot him in the head?”

“No, I don’t think he would.”

Gaines leaned back in the chair. He looked at Hagen, at Ross, at Maryanne.

“Christ almighty,” he said. “This just gets crazier and crazier.”

“So what can you do, Sheriff? Can you arrest Matthias? Can you put him somewhere where he won’t hurt me or Eugene or anyone else?”

“Right now I have nothing, Della. I have your suspicion that Matthias killed Leon Devereaux. I have our suspicions that Devereaux attacked Clifton, maybe that he killed Michael Webster, but there is no evidence.”

“I don’t know exactly what happened to Clifton,” Della said. “As far as I can tell, he was literally picked up off the street, and they took him someplace and did whatever they did to him.”

“And then he was framed for the Dolores Henderson robbery, and well out of the picture.”

“Right,” Della said.

“Okay,” Gaines said. “We have work to do. We have things to follow up on. The question I have for you is whether or not there’s any way you can stay away from the house.”

“Not a hope, Sheriff. I am there for my father. I have to be.”

“He doesn’t have nurses?”

“Sure he does, but a nurse is not a daughter. Besides, I am under house arrest, pretty much. I am there because Matthias says I have to be there. Matthias wants to know I am not off somewhere with people he disapproves of.”

Gaines didn’t speak for a time. He tried to maintain Della’s gaze, to make her feel as if he were the only person in the room.

“I need to ask you, Della, and I need you to answer me as honestly as you can. From what you know of your brother, do you believe that he is capable of what happened to Nancy Denton? Do you think that he could have strangled her, and that twenty years later he had Michael Webster killed to prevent him from talking about what happened that night? And do you think he was the one who shot Leon Devereaux because Devereaux could implicate him in Webster’s death and what was done to Clifton?”

Della Wade did not look away. She neither glanced at anyone else, nor averted her eyes, nor showed the slightest flicker of emotion. She simply nodded once and said, “I do not want to believe these things, Sheriff Gaines, but I think he is more than capable of all of them.”

“And does Matthias know that you spoke to Eugene about this?”

“No, I don’t see how he could. He was away this afternoon, and I called Eugene from outside the house.”

“And you honestly feel that you have no choice but to go back to the house?”

“I have no choice, Sheriff. None at all.”

“Where does Matthias think you are now?”

“He doesn’t know that I’m out. He hasn’t returned yet, or he hadn’t when I left.”

Gaines glanced at his watch. It was close to six o’clock.

“You have any idea of when he will return?”

She shook her head. “He could be back now; he could be away until tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Gaines replied. Considering all options, he did not see any way to avoid sending her back to the house.

“How did you get here?”

“Took a cab.”

“And you’ll take a cab back?”

“No other way. Anyone gives me a ride and he sees me being dropped off, there will be the third degree. Matthias knows when I am lying,” she added, and smiled ruefully. “I have tried it, and I can’t get away with it. I am not one of life’s natural liars.”

“Okay, so go back now,” Gaines said. He turned to Maryanne. “Can you call Della a cab?”

“Of course,” Maryanne said.

“Do not talk to him about anything but regular things,” Gaines went on. “Only if you feel he is aware that you are speaking to us, only if you feel your life is in danger, do you do something. You get ahold of me, of Maryanne, of Hagen, Ross, anyone, and let us know you are in trouble, and we will be there. I am hoping that such a situation won’t arise.”

“And you? What are you going to do?”

“We are going to do whatever it takes to get Matthias in a room where we can ask him enough questions to trip him up. If we can wear him down, if we can find anything incriminating at all, then we have a prayer.”

“The gun,” Della asked. “The gun that was used to kill Leon Devereaux. Was it there at the scene? Did whoever killed him leave it behind?”

Gaines looked at Hagen.