Darkness Falls (14 page)

“Fascinating,” Kanekahana said. “Go on.
I'm intrigued by all this—evidence, subtle irregularities, clues—it all sounds a lot like what we do down at homicide.”

MacLaughlin snorted. “I guess you could say that, on some crude level, there is a connection. At any rate, imagine what tremendous stress the tenth planet must have been under for it to be ripped apart like that! It was literally torn apart by the sun's gravitational pull.”

MacLaughlin continued even after the tape had stopped playing and Joe shut off the VCR. His speech was full of passion, yet clear, Frank realized, listening intently. In fact, MacLaughlin's explanation was much clearer than Dr. Ebersol's had been. Listening, it was obvious to Frank who had first come up with the exploded planet theory. And yet, Ebersol had claimed it entirely for himself. How angry would that have made MacLaughlin?

Angry enough to kill, Frank answered himself. “Everett,” he said, “if you're so clear about all this, then why doesn't your videotape of the last part of the eclipse match our photographs, taken at the very same time through a connection to the very same telescope? Does that disprove your theory? Will you have to wait for the next eclipse to be sure?”

Frank's words had the intended effect. MacLaughlin's face drained of all color, and he began to tremble. “The differences you're
pointing out are trivial,” he snapped. “I noticed them, of course, but they could be due to any number of factors—inferior photographic equipment, for instance, or mistakes in the developing process!”

“I don't think so,” Frank said tenaciously. “I think you forged the last two and a half minutes of your videotape. Joe, pop in the second tape and let Mr. MacLaughlin see what I mean.”

Joe did as he was asked. MacLaughlin sat frozen on the bed, intense hatred crossing his face. The second tape was the same as the first, except that the scene was split. The images of the eclipse were the same on both sides of the screen.

“There, you see?” Frank said, pointing at the screen. “On the left is your videotape of the
first
two and a half minutes of the eclipse. On the right is your video of the
last
two and a half minutes. Watch the flares. See how they happen at exactly the same time? I'm afraid there's no doubt about it, Everett. You've doctored your videotape. That kind of tampering may seriously spoil your case for the existence of the exploded planet.”

“No, it won't,” MacLaughlin insisted. “Maybe I did doctor the tape, but I only did it because the equipment overheated during the final minutes of the eclipse. The last part
of my videotape was ruined, so I duped the beginning and ran it onto the end of the tape. That doesn't change the fact that I've got four and a half minutes of the real thing—which is more than enough to prove my theory!”

“Your theory?” Frank interjected. “I thought it was Dr. Ebersol's theory.”

“I—Of course it was his,” MacLaughlin mumbled, reddening again. “I only meant that I—”

“But I know the
reason
your equipment overheated, Mr. MacLaughlin,” Joe stepped in to say, just as the image on the TV screen changed to show the ghostly head from the Hardys' accidental photograph. “It's because you weren't there to tend to it! You were in the tent next door, getting your final revenge on your mentor for stealing your ideas and claiming them as his own!”

Kanekahana turned to face the speechless MacLaughlin. “You may as well give up now, Mr. MacLaughlin,” he said calmly. “We have a bloodstained shirt of yours, and I'm sure you know whose blood it is.”

Horrified, MacLaughlin fell back onto the bed, his hands covering his face as a sob erupted from his throat. The captain laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “At least it's over,” he said. “You won't have to lie anymore.”

There was silence for a moment as MacLaughlin tried to control himself. Then, in a sudden movement that caught them all by surprise, he reached over and pulled Kanekahana's gun from the holster at his waist.

“Wrong, you idiots,” the scientist growled, jabbing the weapon into the police captain's side. “It's not over yet—not by a long shot!”

“P
UT YOUR HANDS
on top of your heads and don't make a move—any of you!” MacLaughlin cried, his eyes darting around the room. “If anyone tries anything funny, the captain will take a bullet in the heart.”

“What do you hope to prove?” Frank said, forcing down the urge to attack at once. “You can't get away with Ebersol's murder—not now.”

“I've gotten away with it so far, haven't I?” MacLaughlin bragged. “Now I'll have a police captain to ensure my safety.”

“You'll never make it, Everett,” Joe said, clasping his hands on top of his head as he'd been ordered to.

“What do I care?” MacLaughlin asked. “My life is ruined already. I've got nothing left to lose.” He let out a bitter laugh. “For years I was Ebersol's devoted servant—his faceless, loyal assistant. And what did I get for it? Nothing! Once he married that showgirl who had the nerve to call herself a scientist, he forgot about me. I found myself taking orders from her! Before I knew it she was taking over the foundation, plotting to run it herself when he retired. She wanted me out from the very start, and she wasn't subtle about it either.”

MacLaughlin was breathing hard as the story poured out of him, releasing all the pent-up anger that had already resulted in the deaths of two people and threatened the life of a third.

“When I first came to Ebersol with the exploded planet theory, he acted as though I was crazy,” MacLaughlin went on, jabbing the gun into Kanekahana's side so hard that the captain winced in pain. “He laughed at me. Laughed in my face! But a week later, I heard him presenting the theory to the rest of our team as his own!

“And everyone loved it. They loved the glamour of it, the mystery, the magnitude. I didn't say a word. Who would have believed me, anyway, if I'd said the theory was mine?

“Michele and De La Rosa encouraged him
to make the theory public. They thought it would turn his floundering career around. They started planning—the exploded planet book and the exploded planet documentary. They were even talking to bigwigs at a theme park about getting an exploded planet attraction! All Ebersol needed was the proof this eclipse was going to give him.

“And through all of it, did I get a thankyou? No! What I got was the feeling that Michele and De La Rosa wanted me out, and Ebersol was going along with them.”

“So you made them both pay,” Kanekahana said coolly. “You killed Richard De La Rosa, didn't you?”

“I didn't plan on killing him,” MacLaughlin said. “I just wanted to make him see that putting Michele in charge of the foundation was a big mistake. He pulled a gun on me, and I panicked. We struggled, and before I knew it, he was dead.”

The regret on MacLaughlin's face quickly Vanished. “But I'm not sorry,? he said coldly. “He deserved to die. They both did. That's why I went back last night to see her. I was determined to finish her off once and for all. I thought leaving the bomb remote there was inspired. It would prove that Michele and De La Rosa were in cahoots to kill Ebersol. That's why I made up the story about their being in
love. I guess you saw through that little ruse. Well, nobody's perfect. After all, I'm a professional scientist. As a killer, I'm only a beginner.”

“Michele Ebersol is alive, in case you hadn't heard,” Kanekahana interrupted. “She'll be our star witness against you when your case comes to trial, Mr. MacLaughlin.”

“My case will never come to trial,” MacLaughlin said. “Because I'm getting out of here! Come on, Captain, we're going to walk out of this room now. I'll be right behind you with this gun aimed at your back. It'll be under the jacket Fm folding over my arm. So don't try anything funny. You two, stay right where you are or the captain dies, understand?”

Kanekahana had no choice but to do as the man said. As he stood, Frank cried, “Wait! Before you make your escape, you've got to tell us something—how did you do it all? What you managed to accomplish in such a short amount of time was amazing!”

“You were lucky in a thousand ways,” MacLaughlin said bitterly. “You were lucky I didn't manage to run you down that first morning on the hill. You were lucky my equipment overheated during the eclipse. You were lucky you didn't die when I tripped you on the side of the mountain and that you hadn't opened
your film canister when I threw the magnesium flare into the darkroom. Need I go on?”

“All right, we've been lucky,” Frank said, thinking fast. “But you were going to tell us how you killed Ebersol.”

“I knew I would be just as brilliant at murder as I was at astrophysics,” MacLaughlin bragged. “Once I made my decision, I vowed to persist until I was successful—just as any good scientist does. I started out by rigging the podium at the university, so his electrocution would look like an accident. If you hadn't knocked him away the way you did,” he said to Joe, “it would have been all over then.

“Once we got to Hawaii, I tried to get rid of you so you wouldn't be able to get in my way. But when that didn't work, I persisted. I left the tent when the eclipse was at its height, when every last person on that mountain was looking at the sky, not at me.

“He never knew what hit him. He just looked at me, surprised that I was there. I didn't want to use a gun because of the noise, so I stabbed him, quick. I knew there wasn't any time to spare. I had to get back into the aluminized tent before the eclipse was over.”

“What about Michele Ebersol?” Frank asked. “You went to see her the next morning. But that wasn't when you drugged her, because she still saw De La Rosa.”

“Right,” MacLaughlin said. “After I left, I doubled back. I watched her argue with De La Rosa over the foundation's money like two vultures fighting over their prey. I sneaked out to the pool patio and slipped the drug into the iced tea she'd left there when they started arguing. After he left, she went back out and finished it. When she was out cold, I carried her to the beach and laid her on the surfboard. Bad luck again that you two showed up in time to save her.”

“What about the car bomb?” Frank asked.

“I rigged that as a diversion,” MacLaughlin bragged, “so that I could expose your film with the magnesium flare, or at least steal it. I should have destroyed it once I got it, of course,” he said regretfully. “That was a mistake. But when I killed De La Rosa and went back to my room to write the suicide note, I decided that leaving the film with him would make the note more believable.”

“Very clever,” Kanekahana said, sounding impressed.

“After that, I had only one person left to deal with—Michele. I went to her house and dropped off the videotapes. Oh, I was good. I acted very stoic when she told me she was firing me from the team. But before I left, I slipped another dose into her iced tea. Then when she was weaker, I went back in and
forced the bottle of pills down her rotten little throat.”

“After that, you headed for the hospital?” Kanekahana asked.

“Not before I'd run through some torn bushes to mess myself up a bit,” MacLaughlin answered. “Then I walked out to the road and waited for someone to drive by and take pity on a poor, wandering soul. You've got to admit, for a first-timer, I did make a brilliant murderer.”

“You certainly did,” Kanekahana said. “But why add another crime to the list? Things will go much easier with you if you just give yourself up now.”

“Are you kidding?” MacLaughlin said, laughing mirthlessly. “If I give myself up, I'll never see the light of day again! No thanks. I'm going to disappear to someplace the law will never find me, and I'm taking you with me, Captain. Now let's clear out of here!”

Until then MacLaughlin hadn't relaxed his vigilance for a moment. There'd been no opportunity for Frank and Joe to make a move. Then just as MacLaughlin began to move, nudging the captain ahead of him, an unexpected thing happened. There was a knock at the door.

“Mr. MacLaughlin?” came a familiar voice from outside. “It's me, Tim Wheeler. I was
wondering if we could do that interview you promised. Is this a good time?”

In a moment of stunned silence as MacLaughlin hesitated, not sure what to do, Joe quickly jerked backward and spun around, dropping to his knees at the same time. With one swift motion, he balled his hand into a fist and sent it crashing into MacLaughlin's kidney.

The gun went off with a loud bang, but it was no longer pointed at Kanekahana. Across the room, the TV screen shattered from the bullet's impact. Before MacLaughlin could get off another shot, Frank had pinned the arm with the gun to the floor and landed a left hook to MacLaughlin's jaw that made his eyes roll back in his head.

Kanekahana leaped over the corner of the bed, grabbed his gun, and pointed it at the now unconscious MacLaughlin's right temple. “Send some men up to MacLaughlin's room right away,” he said into the walkie-talkie that was clipped to his belt. “You should have stuck to science, my brilliant friend,” he added to MacLaughlin. “Your career in crime is over.”