If Merle held Alex responsible for Celina’s death, so much of Alex’s upbringing could be explained. She had always wondered why Grandma Graham was never very affectionate with her. No matter how remarkable Alex’s achievements, they were never quite good enough to win her grandmother’s praise. She knew she was never considered as gifted, or clever, or charismatic as the smiling girl in the photographs that Merle looked at with such sad longing.
Alex didn’t resent her mother. Indeed, she idolized and adored her with the blind passion of a child who had grown up without her parents. She constantly worked toward being as good at everything as Celina had been, not only so she would be a worthy daughter, but in the desperate hope of earning her grandmother’s love and approval. So it came as a stunning blow to hear from her dying grandmother’s lips that she was responsible for Celina’s murder.
The doctor had tentatively suggested that she might want to have Mrs. Graham taken off the life support systems. “There’s nothing we can do for her now, Ms. Gaither.”
“Oh, yes, there is,” Alex had said with a ferocity that shocked him. “You can keep her alive. I’ll be in constant touch.”
Immediately upon her return to Austin, she began to research the murder case of Celina Graham Gaither. She spent many sleepless nights studying transcripts and court documents before approaching her boss, the district attorney of Travis County.
Greg Harper had shifted the smoking cigarette from one corner of his lips to the other. In the courtroom, Greg was the bane of guilty defendants, lying witnesses, and orderly judges. He talked too loud, smoked too much, drank in abundance, and wore five-hundred-dollar pinstriped suits with lizard boots that cost twice that much.
To say that he was flashy and egomaniacal would be gross understatements. He was shrewd, ambitious, ruthless, relentless, and profane, and would therefore probably carve out quite a niche for himself in state politics, which was his driving ambition. He believed in the reward system and appreciated raw talent. That’s why Alex was on his staff.
“You want to reopen a twenty-five-year-old murder case?” he asked her when she stated the purpose of the conference she’d requested. “Got a reason?”
“Because the victim was my mother.”
For the first time since she’d known him, Greg had asked a question he didn’t already know the answer to—or at least have a fairly good guess. “Jesus, Alex, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”
She gave a slight, dismissive shrug. “Well, it’s not something one advertises, is it?”
“When was this? How old were you?”
“An infant. I don’t remember her. She was only eighteen when she was killed.”
He ran his long, bony hand down his even longer, bonier face. “The case remains on the books as officially unsolved?”
“Not exactly. There was a suspect arrested and charged, but the case was dismissed without ever going to trial.”
“Fill me in, and make it short. I’m having lunch with the state attorney general today,” he said. “You’ve got ten minutes. Shoot.”
When she finished, Greg frowned and lit a cigarette from the smoldering tip of one he’d smoked down to the filter. “Goddamn, Alex, you didn’t say that the Mintons were involved. Your granny really believes that one of them iced your mother?”
“Or their friend, Reede Lambert.”
“By any chance, did she provide them with a motive?”
“Not specifically,” Alex said evasively, loath to tell him that Merle had cited her, Alex, as the motive. “Apparently, Celina was close friends with them.”
“Then why would one of them kill her?”
“That’s what I want to find out.”
“On the state’s time?”
“It’s a viable case, Greg,” she said tightly.
“All you’ve got is a hunch.”
“It’s stronger than a hunch.”
He gave a noncommit
tal grunt. “Are you sure this isn’t just a personal grudge?”
“Of course not.” Alex took umbrage. “I’m pursuing this from a strictly legal viewpoint. If Buddy Hicks had gone on trial and been convicted by a jury, I wouldn’t put so much stock in what Grandma told me. But it’s there in the public records.”
“How come she didn’t raise hell about the murder when it happened?”