If Catfish Had Nine Lives(113)

            “Go ahead, pick it up,” Vivienne said.

            Jake did as she instructed. He read over the letter silently and then said, “It’s a letter that tells her she’s a descendant of Astin Reagal, a Pony Express rider who was lost on the trail,” Jake said. I thought he was angry that Esther was hurt, that she was being held, that he couldn’t figure out what to do to help her. Tension straightened his back and tightened his voice.

            “So?” I said.

            “Really?” Orly said. “I’m a descendant of Astin Reagal, too. It’s part of the reason I came to town last summer. Do you remember me asking you about him?” Orly looked at Jake.

            “I don’t, Orly, but I get a lot of visitors and a lot of questions.”

            Vivienne forced a chuckle this time. “Of course you are, Orly. And let me introduce you to your daughter. Esther, say hi to dear old dad.”

            “What?” Orly said.

            Esther blinked, and a tear fell from the corner of one of her eyes.

            “That’s right. That’s why I got her and Norman here. They’re yours, Orly. Twins, of all things, parted at birth and given away for adoption. My mother was their biological mother.”

            “Vivienne, I don’t understand what is going on,” Orly said. “But I don’t think it matters. Let’s get Esther to a doctor and we’ll sort it all out.”

            “Right. The police are going to let me go, even after I killed Norman and shot Esther? I doubt it.”

            “Why did you kill Norman? Why would you hurt Esther?” Orly said.

            Vivienne laughed again, even more maniacally this time. “I didn’t even mean to kill Norman. I meant to kill Cody.”

            “Why?” Orly said.

            “Because he knew what I was up to. He found out I was trying to get Norman and Esther to buy into my idea and blackmail you.”

            “I don’t understand.”

            “I would ruin your reputation if you didn’t pay up, but they had to be in on it with me. It wouldn’t have worked otherwise. Both Cody and that other guy, Teddy, overheard what I was doing. I talked Cody into helping me with Teddy, and then I knew I had to get rid of Cody, too. I thought Teddy was dead. I tried to kill Cody, but hit Norman instead.”

            I thought about Amy’s measurements and her words. She thought that an accident or a mistaken aim might have been a possibility.

            “Why in the world didn’t Cody come forward?” Orly asked, but it was more to himself than to Vivienne.

            Jake had said that Cody was one of the better actors he’d seen in Broken Rope. Apparently his appraisal had been spot on. Cody had acted the goofy innocent so well that almost everyone, including myself, had believed his act.

            “Ended up I had to promise him some money, too. I brought Esther out here today to try to convince her again that you owed her something, anything. But she wouldn’t listen.”

            “So you shot her?” I said.

            “I was only threatening her with the gun. It went off by accident.”

            I wanted to say something about Vivienne’s horrible gun-handling skills and suggest that she should never, ever again carry one, but it didn’t seem like the right time.

            “Now, here’s—” Vivienne said as she wielded the weapon at Orly. Evidently she was going to tell us again what we were all going to do. I hoped Orly would just listen this time and we could all get out of the small space without further injury. I thought about pushing my way out the door and running for help, but I was afraid that Vivienne just might shoot at someone because she was angry I’d tried to escape.