Page 122 of Death on Gallows Path

“That tramp Blanche, making a fool of her stupid husband—”

“He knew all along. William Alsup orchestrated the affair to try to find out what Damon was doing with the money he took in through his various schemes.”

“No, he didn’t,” Zoley said. “He had no idea that tramp lured Damon with—”

“Who told you that? Oh, Pammy. Right.” I packed that with scorn.

Zoley didn’t turn, but side-eyed Pammy, who snapped at her, “Don’t be an idiot. Don’t you see what they’re doing?”

I ignored her, reeling Zoley in again. “She needed you to get Damon to the Gallows Path spot you used for—” I considered my audience and decided against trysts. “—sex. He agreed to meet you, but his failure to pull back to the private area was him shouting that he was done with you.”

At the Georgers’ house Saturday, had Pammy been angry at Zoley for bringing up the Swindle/Swindell family name because it came too close to Swindle Street, revealing they knew Gallows Path?

“The expiration on your affair with Damon was part of why now? Perhaps worse for her, William Alsup had lawyers digging into Damon’s business. And the confrontation with Oscar brought attention from a sheriff’s deputy.

“She started the plan rolling. She threw in your fake bruises as another possible motive — Told you people would think Bryon killed Damon as a protector of womanhood.”

“He did,” Zoley said triumphantly. “Bryon was protective and possessive of me. He found out about my affair with Damon and he was so volatile it sent him over the edge.”

I addressed Pammy. “She got in all the words you wanted planted, though she’s not good at it. And then there was the supposed bruise. Did the concealer wheel conceal too well? So you went with globbed-on makeup. Somewhere public — dog training was perfect. Make it do double duty along with creating witnesses to bad feelings between Damon and Bryon. Plus, the bruising provided a backup to point to Zoley as another suspect.”

“Me?”

“Set her up as furious at Damon for dumping her for Blanche and for hitting her.”

Keeping the gun raised, Pammy’s gaze remained on me. But Zoley’s didn’t.

She focused on Pammy.

“You said he went after Blanche. You said we both needed him gone—”

“He didn’t need to go after her. So what? If it hadn’t been her, it would have been another one.” For the first time unguarded words came from Pammy. “He was tired of you. Time to wrap it up, while you were still somewhat in play.”

Did her honesty mean she’d turned a mental corner on the future for Clara and me? Zoley, too?

Even so, my best bet was to keep her occupied, look for an opening.

“Were you tired of all the affairs? Or was it because of this one affair, the one with Zoley? The one with your best friend?”

Pammy returned to the sphinx mode.

“I don’t think so,” Clara said judiciously. “I think it was the money in the foreign accounts we kept hearing about. She had the smarts to set those up. Damon didn’t. And his increasing recklessness had to worry her. If he got himself in too much trouble, drew too much attention, she’d be stuck.”

I nodded. “Good call, Clara. She pushed Damon and Zoley together to keep him occupied while she moved money out of his reach. Used the dogs to get Bryon and Damon in each other’s vicinity in public, display competitiveness and — with appropriate prods from her — animosity.”

“That was my idea,” Zoley said.

“Yours? Yours?” Pammy hissed.

With her concentration away from us, I risked the crinkle of plastic to manipulate the bag I still held.

“Yeah, mine.” Zoley sounded confused. “But we’re a team. Like you always say.”

“A team.” If she hadn’t had disgust energizing her, Pammy might have sounded weary. Still looking at Zoley, she spoke to us. “In high school—”

“Oh, God,” Zoley groaned. “This again?”

“—she was the ultimate mean girl. Spread it around that I’d slept with everyone. But I didn’t just get even. I made her my tool. My puppet.”