“You can't prove a word of this,” he said tightly. “It's all a fabrication.”
“As I said before, I don't have to prove it, merely to give the jury an alternative explanation as to what happened to Jill Storey. And I will do that, with the implication that you either followed her that night, or perhaps you got there first and waited for her, and she gave you the same curt dismissal she had given Robert. She didn't need either of you anymore.”
“It will be seen as nothing but a filthy insinuation without merit.” He had become pale as she spoke, and his voice was almost tremulous. He was leaning forward, both hands clutching the armrests of his chair.
“Perhaps. But understand, I won't stop there. I'll also imply that you murdered Robert McCrutchen because he realized that you had witnessed that confrontation on the deck and knew about the key. With his background experience as a prosecutor, he would have put the pieces together. He would have known that all the attitudes you attributed to David were simple projections of your own jealousy, possessiveness, suspicion, watchfulness. He would have recalled how you watched her the night of the party, how you hovered over her, and he would have guessed how she got that B grade. It may be even more telling that they were both here again, Robert and David, one who had slept with her, and the other who you thought was her lover, both back there, in that house. Your humiliation and pain surfaced again. They had to be punished, didn't they? You shot Robert and you attacked David and tried to kill him. The three who had made your life a torment, the woman who had betrayed and used you, the two men she had slept with. All punished. That's the extent of the implications that will certainly be clear to everyone by the time I finish my examination of you under oath, Dr. Elders.”
He jumped up, ashen faced, a tic in his jaw working, hands clenched. “Yes! I heard them on the deck! She was a filthy whore! Using men! Throwing them aside like dirt when she was finished with them. But you can't prove a thing. There's no proof.”
“Possibly the police will want a search warrant to look for evidence. Perhaps the weapon used to attack David. Possibly they will want to interview other former students, find out if you ever showed leniency to anyone besides Jill. I understand that your reputation was that of a strict instructor who paid close attention to the syllabus and was unyielding when students broke any rules. Dr. Elders, the jury will find the implications compelling. And very likely the police will want to ask you some of those same questions in a more private setting, not in open court.”
“I'm going to talk to my lawyer. We'll sue you, destroy you and everyone associated with you! You're not going to get away with this!” he shouted.
“I suggest you make it a defense attorney, Dr. Elders,” Barbara said.
He wheeled about and hurried to the door in a stiff and lurching gait. As soon as he was out of the office, Barbara pushed the button on her phone, then hit her cell-phone speed dial for Bailey.
“He's leaving. Keep on him, and don't let him toss a stick into the river. Or set it on fire.”
“Jeez,” Bailey said, and disconnected.
Her door flew open and Frank and Lt. Dressler stormed in with Shelley close behind. “He called for backup,” Frank said, motioning toward the lieutenant, “but they could be too late.”
“Bailey's on it,” she said. “You heard it all?”
“We heard enough,” Dressler said angrily. “You have some explaining to do. You practically told him to get out of here and destroy incriminating evidence, if there is any!”
“Get your guys to his house before he gets there,” she said. “He wasn't giving an inch until the very end. He needed a stronger shove.”
Dressler already had his cell phone in his hand. “I'll be back,” he said, and stepped out of the office.
Frank, equally angry, snapped, “I'm going to Lucy's house.” He pushed past Dressler and out.
Barbara stood, ready to follow him, and Dressler stepped into the doorway, blocking it. “You stay right where you are!” he ordered.
F
rank arrived at Lucy's driveway in time to see Bailey pulling in behind Elders's car next door. Bailey stopped inches away from Elders's rear bumper. Frank stopped his own car, got out, and hurried across the lawn just as the garage door opened and Elders emerged, carrying a heavy walking stick.
“Get that car out of my way,” he yelled at Bailey, brandishing the stick.
“Drop it, Elders,” Frank said as he drew near. “It's over. Put the stick down.” He motioned Bailey to stay back, and saw that Bailey had his handgun out, not pointed, but hanging down toward the ground.
“You!” Elders cried, looking at Frank. “You turned her against me! It's your fault!” He took a step toward Frank.
“Put the stick down!” Bailey said, and he raised the gun. “Just put it down on the driveway and move back from it.”
Frank shook his head at Bailey and said in a quiet voice, “Elders, we know all about it. It's really over. Give me the stick and let's talk.” He moved forward a step, another, and Elders stood fixed in place. “We know you were swept away by that beautiful girl weeping in your office. A sick wife at home, a man in his prime, you lost control. It happens to men in their prime, doesn't it?” His voice was low, even soothing, as he continued to move toward Elders with a slow, measured pace. “You need to talk about it,” he said, “explain how it happened, how you couldn't help yourself.”
“She was so soft and small, so sweet,” Elders said in a distant, hollow voice. “She smelled like flowers, leaning against me, crying. So tired of struggling, leaning against my shoulder, letting me support her, letting me help her. I just wanted to help her.”
Another car pulled in behind Bailey's, and two men got out. Elders shook himself, his gaze flickered from Frank to the men and back.
“They're detectives,” Frank said. “They want to talk to you.”
With a cry Elders threw the stick at Frank and ran back inside the garage. The door crashed down. Frank took a deep breath, to still the curses forming.
“You might want to get inside,” he said to the detectives. “He could decide to do something drastic.” One of the men pulled out a cell phone as they walked toward the house. Bailey's gun was out of sight and he was leaning against his car nonchalantly.
Frank turned to go to Lucy's house, and in the yard near the hedge both Lucy and Amy were standing with shocked, disbelieving expressions.
“Do you have a key to his house?” Frank asked Lucy. “They might need it.”
Lucy nodded, and all three went back to her house. When Frank came out again with the key to Elders's front door, one of the detectives was gone, he assumed, around the house to keep a watch on the back door. He handed the key to the remaining detective, who had his cell phone against his ear, and accepted the key with a nod.
“Unless you arrest me and put me in jail, I'm going after my father,” Barbara said to Dressler. “He could be in danger and so could Lucy McCrutchen.”
His look was bitter. “We'll both go. My car. Come on.”
Neither one spoke as he drove, then pulled in at the driveway. When Barbara got out, she saw Bailey standing by his car. He jerked his thumb toward Lucy's house and she nodded.
“I'll be next door,” she said to Dressler. She hurried across the lawn and by the time she reached the front door, Bailey was at her side.
“Not a peep from Elders,” he said. “One guy at the back, one out here, waiting for more guys, someone in charge. Elders was moving fast. He could have had time to go straight through and out the back. You want me here, or over there?”
She bit her lip. “You'd better come on in. Are you carrying?”
He nodded and they entered together through the unlocked door. Inside, she heard voices in the family room and she and Bailey went there and stopped at the door. Lucy and Amy were side by side on the sofa, Frank in a chair close to them. “Dad, I need a word with you,” Barbara said from the hall door.
He came quickly. “What's going on?”
Bailey repeated what he had told Barbara and Frank's expression turned grimmer than it had been. “Christ on a mountain,” he said softly, with a swift glance at the family room. The drapes were open, the door closed but likely not locked.
“Keep an eye out back here,” he said, “and we'll go out the front door. Bring up the rear.”
Bailey stepped into the family room and Frank called to Lucy and Amy, “Come on, we're leaving by the front door.”
They both jumped up and hurried to join him and Barbara. “What's happening?” Lucy asked. “Where's Henry?”
“I'll explain,” Frank said. “Let's get out of here first.”
He ushered them on ahead and they had all started down the hall toward the front door when Bailey yelled, “Behind you!” His shout was followed immediately by the sound of a shot, shockingly loud in the enclosed space. Barbara and Frank both spun around to see Bailey stagger and fall, and Elders standing in the open door to the powder room with a handgun pointed at them. Lucy screamed.
“Get in the living room,” Elders rasped. “All of you, the living room.” He was as pale as death and the hand holding the gun was shaking. He was holding on to the wall with his other hand.
Very quietly Frank said, “Do exactly what he says. Let's go to the living room.”
Elders followed them, and inside he said, “Sit on the sofa. Not you,” he said to Barbara. “Lucy, Amy, Holloway, on the sofa.” They sat down, Lucy and Amy clutching each other. Elders pointed the gun at Barbara. “Go to the door and tell them to stay back. Tell them I have a gun. Then come back here. Or I'll shoot your father.”
She edged past him and went to the front door and delivered his message. She saw Dressler, what looked like an army of officers, flashing red lights. It was a scene from a movie, she thought distantly.
“Tell him I'm calling your cell phone,” Dressler yelled back to her. “Tell him I want to talk to him.”
Behind her Elders told her to get away from the door and close it. She did as he ordered, and when she turned back toward the living room, at the far end of the hall, she saw Bailey leaning against the wall. He shook his head and she stepped into the living room.
“He's going to call my cell phone and wants to talk to you,” she told Elders, back in the living room.
“We'll make a deal,” he said. “Lucy, we'll make a deal. You and I will leave. They'll let us. We'll go away, just the two of us.”
“If you had your own gun, why did you use Robert's?” Frank asked in an easy, conversational voice.
“I just wanted to show him what I meant. It wasn't safe to leave it in an unlocked drawer. Someone like David could walk in and pick it up. I was making a point, and I brought it back later, just to show him what I meant. He was acting crazy, making crazy accusations, abusive, threatening. Yelling about the moths. I would have closed the screen door. I forgot, but I would have closed it.”
Barbara's phone chimed. “It's in my purse,” she said, and Elders nodded, keeping his focus on Frank. Moving slowly and carefully, she pulled the phone from her purse and answered the call. “Dressler,” she said to Elders. “The lieutenant who wants to talk to you.”
His gaze was fixed on Frank unblinkingly. “You turned him against me, didn't you? The way you turned Lucy against me. She never used to lock me out. She used to smile at me and make me welcome. You turned her against me.”
“Dr. Elders,” Barbara said. “Lieutenant Dressler says he's willing to make a deal. He knows you care about Lucy, that you want to leave with her. He wants to talk about it.”
“I warned her about you,” Elders said, staring at Frank with that same, nearly hypnotic fixity.
Barbara moved closer to him, to the side away from the gun, away from the door. He didn't seem to notice until she said, “He thinks it's a good idea to let you and Lucy go away together. He'll help you.” She held out the phone toward him. “He won't talk about it to me. It has to be your deal.”
Finally he glanced at her. “He'll make a deal?”
“That's what he said. But only with you, not through me.” She held the phone out and he reached for it. Beyond him, leaning against the door frame she could see Bailey. He was dripping blood, one arm hanging limply at his side, but he was holding his own gun. As soon as Elders reached for the phone, grasped it, she moved quickly back and away, and Bailey fired a shot. Lucy and Amy both screamed, and Frank jumped to his feet as Elders dropped his gun and fell to his knees. Barbara lunged forward to grab the gun before he could and, with it in her hand, she rolled away as Elders fell the rest of the way to the floor. He was sobbing, mixed with gasping, choking, incoherent words.
Frank reached the doorway just as Bailey slumped, and began sliding down. Frank caught him and lowered him to the floor.
An ambulance had come and gone with two patients and police officers in attendance. Frank had followed in his car to see to Bailey.
Dressler had taken statements from Lucy, Amy and Barbara, and had spoken briefly to the media horde that had appeared in record time. A shooting had occurred, an investigation was underway and no further details were yet available had been the gist of his statement. Now they were all gone.
It seemed that every working phone was chiming, buzzing, ringing, playing music. Amy disconnected hers while Barbara was still talking to Darren, reassuring him that everything was okay, she was fine, details later.
“David heard something about a shooting on the news, and he's on his way here,” Amy said. She was still pale and shaken, but recovering faster than Lucy. “Is this the end of it?” Amy asked Barbara. “David's out of it?”
Barbara nodded. “There will be some formalities, but it's really over for him.” Except, she added to herself, for a lawsuit against Elders for assault with intent to kill.
Amy closed her eyes hard and took several deep breaths, and Barbara's phone chimed again.
It was Frank this time. “He's all right, mad as hell and filled with dope, with a bullet in his shoulder that they'll dig out a little later. Hannah's with him. I'll come back and bring his keys for you to drive his car to the house.”
Lucy sat huddled on the sofa with her arms tight about her body, very pale and pinched looking. Barbara went to sit by her. “You need something. Strong hot coffee, or a good stiff drink?”
“He must be crazy,” Lucy said in a low voice.
“He flipped out, but he isn't crazy,” Barbara said. “At least not in the general sense. He knew what he was doing all along and covered his tracks all the way. He was determined to frame David for both deaths, driven by jealousy and resentment, and it almost worked. Keep that in mind, it almost worked.”
Amy said, “I'll make coffee. Can you tell us about it, how you knew?”
“Let's do coffee first, and wait for David. He deserves to know the truth. Dad will be back soon and we'll all talk.”
They went to the kitchen, where Amy started a pot of coffee, then drew Barbara aside to ask, “Will you have to use that information I gave you? About Chloe?”
“No. I should tell you this, however. An investigation has begun to look into Nick Aaronson's deals with your brother. That could get ugly in days to come.”
Amy shrugged. “After these past few months, I think we can deal with it. Thanks.” She already knew exactly what she would do with the damn pictures, she thought then. Burn them and send the ashes to Chloe.
When the coffee was ready, they went out to the deck and back inside through the family-room door.
Frank arrived, followed minutes later by David. In the family room, Barbara explained what she had pieced together from statements and observation. “Those
x
's were the solution finally,” she said. “Robert wrote the word
Key
on the paper and we kept trying to make it mean key to the mystery, key to what happened, when he really meant key, a material, physical key.”
“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” David commented.
Barbara knew her smile was little more than halfhearted, but she gave him one anyway. “I think they'll find DNA evidence on the walking stick, and on a pair of shoes, and that will really wrap it up.”
Frank had been gazing at the window filled with plants. It was dark outside, making a fine black backdrop for the greenery. “Elders will talk,” he said. “They'll have someone ask in a civilized way, and he'll tell everything. He really wants to talk about it.”
“How serious is his wound?” Lucy asked.
“Not bad. Bailey's a good shot. He aimed for the arm and got it. If he had wanted to shoot him dead, he could have done that.”
“Thank God he was here,” Lucy said with a shudder.
Curious, Barbara thought, how no one voiced what they all knew was trueâElders had been building up to killing Frank.
She turned to David, who had remained silent for the most part. “We'll have to talk, and I'll have some things to attend to, but the charges will be dismissed. I doubt that your presence will be required. You'll be free to go anywhere you want, get on with your life.”