Dead Right

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

What was so invasive about that question? He’d asked her much worse. But she had a point. He was wandering off topic. “Fine. If you had to name your father’s greatest fault, what would it be?” he asked, forcing his attention back where it belonged.

She answered without even having to think about it. “He was too preoccupied with his work. His church and the people in it were everything to him. But he was good to us.”

Hunter wondered if Irene would tell him the same thing. “Was there any life insurance?”

“My father had a small policy, but my mother’s never tried to collect on it.”

“Why not?”

“We were hoping he wasn’t…gone forever, of course.”

We…That was interesting. It’d been difficult to pay the mortgage, yet Irene hadn’t tried to prove that her missing husband was dead so she could collect on his life insurance. Had she truly been hoping for his return? Or did she fear that going after the money would spark an investigation by the insurance company?

If wife number two was to blame, money wasn’t the motive or she would’ve applied for the insurance. And he doubted she would’ve kept Barker’s daughter.

So maybe Barker’s death had been triggered by anger or jealousy…“Any chance that either your father or Irene could’ve been having an affair?”

“No.”

That was it. No hesitation. Only one word. “How do you know?”

“Irene turned a few heads. She still does. She tried to be the perfect pastor’s wife, but simple and demure isn’t part of her personality. Wait till you meet her—you’ll understand. Ever since I’ve known her, she’s styled her hair big, worn lots of makeup, loved tight-fitting, brightly colored clothing and shown too much cleavage.” She smiled affectionately. “When we were growing up, she wasn’t close to anyone except us. She was new, and we lived away from town, on a farm.”

“No one in particular singled her out?”

“Just the ladies who’d hoped to marry my dad. They found fault with her constantly.”

“What about neighbors?” he asked. “Could your mother have had a relationship with someone who lived nearby?”

“If you’d met the neighbors you wouldn’t even ask,” she said with a laugh. “Besides, they mostly socialized with my father. They’d known him for years. And, as I mentioned, they didn’t really approve of Irene.” Madeline twisted a lock of her hair. “I don’t remember her having even one close girlfriend, to be honest with you.”

Even when she wasn’t nibbling on her lip, something about her fascinated Hunter. But acknowledging that made him feel as if he was flirting with disaster, so he looked away. “Sounds like she was pretty isolated.”

“I think she was just relieved to be able to feed and clothe her children. Chances were she would’ve lost them to the state if my father hadn’t come along.”

A thirty-two-year-old woman struggling to hold her family together would probably marry almost anyone who could provide some security. Obviously, Irene Montgomery needed Barker—but did she love him? “What about your father?” he asked.

“What about him?”

“Could he have been having an affair?”

“My father was a pastor,” she replied.

“He wouldn’t be the first to fall.”

She shook her head. “He abhorred promiscuity, especially adultery. He called it the greatest of all sins.”

Hunter felt as if she’d just pressed a hot branding iron—a large A—into his chest. He believed that marriage was sacred, too. Which was why he couldn’t forgive himself. Maybe he and Antoinette wouldn’t have made it, anyway. Lord knows they’d been having their share of problems. He’d moved into the guest bedroom months before The Incident. But that was no excuse for what he’d done. He should’ve ended his marriage first. He just hadn’t recognized his own limitations.

“He taught that chastity was worth the sacrifice of all else,” Madeline added.

“It had to be tough, growing up in the shadow of such a strict father.”

“Why?” she asked.

“You never made a mistake? You weren’t ever…tempted?”

“Sure.” She shrugged. “But I managed to wait…quite a while.”

Madeline’s sex life had little or nothing to do with the case he was investigating, but it beat the hell out of thinking about his own. And the interior of the small car, along with the darkness and the steady pounding of the rain, created a sense of intimacy that made it all too easy to ask. “How long is quite a while?”

“Until I started dating Kirk.”

“Your current boyfriend?” he asked in amazement.

“Sort of.” She mumbled the words.

“So you were…what? Thirty-four when you lost your virginity?”

“Thirty-two.”

“Wow.” He almost couldn’t believe it. Obviously, the reverend’s teachings had been very effective.

“I know. I was kind of old,” she admitted.

“Kind of?” he echoed.

“Stillwater isn’t like L.A.” She sounded slightly offended. “We’re…conservative.”

“You’ve mentioned that, but—” he released his breath in a soft whistle “—what made you wait that long?”

“I was hoping to meet the right guy.”

“But you didn’t?”

“No. I think I realized it even at the time. I just got tired of waiting, tried to settle.”

Hunter couldn’t help asking, “Did you like it?”

Her lips curved into a sexy smile. “Like what?” she asked with false innocence.

“You know what.”