Blood Lines by Kathryn Casey

Author:Kathryn Casey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Twenty

Maggie wound her way upstairs to bed about nine, after we spent the evening rotating between Emma Lou’s shed and Warrior’s stall. Mom and Bobby were at the barbecue cook-off on the rodeo grounds, most likely mingling with friends, and, I hoped, working in a few swings across the dance floor. Mom had worn a denim skirt and a suede top with fringe. She loved to two-step. Thinking of the old days, I closed my eyes and imagined the feel of Bill’s arm around my waist, the sway of our bodies across the dance floor, in unison yet apart. At its best, love was like two-stepping to a strong-beat country song. When the dance was good, two folks had someone to lean on and hold onto, someone who knew when the other needed space and when all a person wanted was to be loved.

I closed my eyes and thoughts of Bill faded as I remembered David’s embrace, the smell of him, and the heat in his touch.

“Oh, heck,” I thought, and minutes later I rooted through the fridge, where I discovered a second slice of armadillo cheesecake. “Gotta love Mom,” I whispered. I grabbed a fork and the file on the top of the stack we’d seized from Billie Cox’s office and made myself comfortable at the kitchen table. The lab had called earlier in the day, and the dirt on Billie’s shoes was common in the Houston area, leading nowhere. I hoped the boxes of records proved more helpful. It turned into a long night. I combed through the files, inspecting each, skimming every page, without finding anything that appeared the least bit like evidence. Finally, I made my way down to Billie’s expense reports and credit-card bills. I passed up the older documents and started six months earlier, two months before Lena Suarez said she noticed “Miss Billie” going out more than usual.

What hit me right off was the size of the balance on Cox’s platinum American Express card. It was paid off every thirty days but had a new balance in the twenty-thousand dollar range every month. Twenty grand a month on a credit card? When I thought about my paycheck, I felt embarrassed. For what must have been the tenth time that day, I thought about the price of gas and shook my head. Somehow I felt pretty sure I was getting ripped off at the pumps.

First, I took out a sheet of paper and charted where all the money was going. Judging by what she wore in the crime-scene photos, I wasn’t surprised that a bunch went for clothes, at least three grand a month at Saks and Neiman Marcus. Maybe the woman didn’t wear anything more than once? Then there were the classy restaurants, little French bistros and the fancy steak houses I’d read about in the newspaper but never been to. When it came to travel, Billie made short hops to Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin, a two-day trip to Midland and three days in Amarillo.

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