“Did you shoot H.?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I'd never do such a thing. You know that.”
“Wish you would,” she said in jest, throwing her purse on the desk.
He seized her by the waist, drawing her to him.
She didn't resist. She kissed him, starting with the cleft in his chin. “I haven't seen you for two long weeks.”
Once the frantic mingling of body fluids was over, they had time to review their predicament. A black cloud seemed to follow Archie wherever he moved. As for her, glad though she was that Archie was out of his house, Sarah would never leave her husband. That was what she told Archie. Poor Archie cried.
“It's not that bad.” She ran her fingers through his hair.
“It's not that good.”
“H. is a vindictive, combative man. He'd stop at nothing to ruin you. Discretion is the better part of valor.” She sighed. “He's old. He's not as vigilant as he once was where I'm concerned, probably because his testosterone level has dropped. All will be well.”
Blinking back the tears, Archie moaned, “I hate that bastard. I hate him because he's smarter than I am and I hate him because he has you.”
“He has me in body only, not in soul,” she quietly said.
“Maybe.” He frowned, for as much as he loved her, he was learning to distrust her. “But he knew I'd fall for the Teotan plan. The money is good. More money than I could dream of in my job. It wasn't until that meeting in Crozet, the one where Harry's cat jumped on the table, that I realized I had the most to lose. H., Blair, and Tommy risk far less than I do but their profit is higher!”
She smoothed her hair. “Arch, you'll clear a good two million and possibly more. I can't see what you have to lose.”
“My reputation. My political career. I'll never be governor.”
“Ah.” She hadn't realized his ambition reached that high. “Other men have overcome scandal.”
“This is Virginia,” he snapped.
“Well, yes, there is that. Do you really think you could vault from the county commission to Richmond?”
“Yes. I know I could get elected to the state House of Representatives, for starters. One step at a time. But I blew it.” He wiped his brow.
“Maybe you can buy your way in.”
“Doesn't work quite that way. Money helps, but—” He smiled sadly. “You haven't lived here long enough, Sarah. Disgrace stains through generations. The reverse of that is all those silly, empty snobs living off the grand deeds of their ancestors. No one forgets anything here.”
“That's absurd.” She didn't believe it.
“Sarah, you're married to a powerful man. People would like you even if you weren't, but don't let surface acceptance fool you.”
“I can ride, garden, and shoot with the best of Virginia's country squires,” she boasted.
“So you can.” He gave up trying to teach her the real rules of the road. Archie was on the verge of giving up everything, he felt so profoundly miserable.
“Sure you didn't try to kill him? It was a brilliant plan.” She changed the subject, a jocular tone to her voice.
“No. I didn't.” He pulled himself together, retied his silk rep tie, brushed off his pants. “Sarah, you could have any man you want to play with. Why me?”
“You have imagination. Most men don't.”
He nuzzled her neck. “What kind of imagination? Did Tommy Van Allen have imagination?”
She drew back. “About what?”
“About you.”
“Arch, don't be absurd.”
“I know you had an affair with him.”
She waited, sighed, lowered her eyes, then raised them. “I haven't always used the best judgment. He made me—reckless. Of course, I had no idea he was snorting coke. I was as shocked as the next person when the Daily Progress reprinted the autopsy results. I never saw any sign of it, but then I'm not sure I know the signs.” She sounded convincing.
“Is that why you went up in the airplane with him late at night with a storm coming? To be reckless?” Archie played his wild card, for he didn't really know if she'd been with Tommy or not. He thought maybe he could trip her up.
“No.”
“What'd you do, give H. sleeping pills?”
“I never flew with Tommy. Are you suggesting I killed him?”
“Maybe he got in the way.”
“Of what?” She pulled back, viewing him with dispassion.
“Your well-ordered life. Maybe he threatened to tell your husband. He might have thought H. would throw you out. He'd have you all to himself.”
“Tommy was reckless but he wasn't in love with me. We occupied each other's thoughts for a while—that's all.”
“You occupied more than thoughts. Tell me, were you sleeping with him when you were sleeping with me?”
“No,” she lied.
“Well—that's something, at least.”
“Arch, sometimes if you let things alone they work out better. My husband is an old man.”
“And strong as an ox. He'll live to be as old as Tally Urquhart. I wish I did have the guts to kill him, but I need him.”
“For what?”
“Teotan. In for a penny, in for a pound. I can't back out now no matter what I'm sacrificing.”
“Blair's smart enough to run the corporation. Don't under-estimate him. And thank you for speaking up for me at the meeting.” She kissed him on each cheek and then the mouth. “I was only kidding about killing H. I could understand if you had shot him. But I'm glad you didn't.”
“You certainly ran your mouth about it all over town.”
“Arch, what better way to cover our tracks?”
“Your tracks.” He coolly appraised her but couldn't protect himself from her beauty.
“My tracks?”
“Sarah, you could have shot H. You weren't at the reenactment.”
“I ran back for H.'s canteen.”
“Prove it.” He smiled softly.
“You're as bad as Rick Shaw.” She laughed it off. “I found witnesses who saw me running back to the tent.”
“You could easily have ducked behind the hunter barn or into the woods or even into your Range Rover if you ran fast enough and managed to creep out of the woods. You could have fallen in at the back of the marching line.”
“In that gown and hoop? Are you insane?”
“No. You'd change, of course.”
He breathed in sharply. “I did not shoot H. Vane. Tommy was already dead. If he had a motive it died with him. You are the only other person with a motive.”
“What about Blair? If H. were out of the way, you and he could run Teotan. Two people would control the new water supply.”
“It's an interesting theory. But if Blair and I were in cahoots I'd know about it and—” He held up his hands in question.
Unperturbed, she said, “You could have killed Tommy. And tried to kill H. And intend to kill Blair. All threads would be in your hands.”
“Thank you for giving me credit for being that intelligent. But I didn't do it. I wouldn't do it and the rock-bottom reality is, I'm not smart enough to pull off a crime like that and not get caught. You, on the other hand, are.”
“I didn't kill Tommy Van Allen.”
“Not even to cover your tracks, as you say?”
“Well, then you'd be next on my list, wouldn't you?”
“I think I would. Am I?”
“No, darling. I adore you. Can't you tell? Can't you tell when you hold me?”
He sighed. “Sarah, I don't know what I know anymore.”
“You're angry at me because I won't leave H. right now. I can't, Archie. We'd have a year of passion if we were lucky, but sooner or later the outside world would tear us apart. My way takes longer but the result is more solid. H. is an old man.”
“Old and healthy. Old and frighteningly intelligent.”
“But still old.” She put her forefinger to his lips to silence him, then kissed her forefinger and his lips simultaneously.
“Arch, let me keep saying dreadful things about you. It's the only hope we've got. It's the only cover we've got. You know the truth and you know every chance I get, I'll come to you.” She ran her finger across his lips, then along the side of his jaw.