Authors: Christiane Heggan
“Why did you fake the accident?” Mesmerized, she kept watching that rope.
“What choice did I have? If I had known Cyrus was there earlier, I would have left the body where it was and let your uncle take the rap. But Simon never said a word about that, so I had to take certain precautions, make sure there wouldn’t be an investigation.
“I washed the candelabra, and made sure to wipe off everything I’d touched. Then I locked up the house, just as Simon would have, put his body in the back of the Jeep and drove it down to that nasty curve a half mile from the house.”
“What about your car?”
“I went back for it, drove it down to the same spot, pushed the Jeep over the edge and returned home.”
Jill tried to block the horrible images as they forced their way into her mind. “How did you know my father was in Livingston Manor that night?”
Philip laughed as if he’d heard a good joke. “He called me from the Catskill house to say he’d be late for our bank meeting on Monday morning, that I should start without him. When I told him I needed to talk to him before then, he brushed me off, said he wasn’t in the mood for company and hung up. So, I got into my car and drove up there.
“Why are you looking so horrified?” he asked. “Are you that sorry he died? Have you no compassion for Blair? For what she went through because of him?”
“Of course I do.”
“She was an innocent child. He was evil, and he never loved her. He seduced her because she was young and beautiful and she made him feel good. And when she got pregnant, he couldn’t deal with that, so he forced her to have an abortion.”
Something inside of Jill snapped. “I don’t condone what he did, but dammit, Philip, Blair committed suicide. You, on the other hand, committed murder. And you talk about innocence? What about Dan’s nephew? You would have killed him, too—an innocent seven-year-old.”
“That couldn’t be helped. You were becoming too much of a nuisance, Jill. When I heard you tell your secretary that you and the boy were going to Livingston Manor alone, I had to act. I didn’t realize you had brought a friend until I got there.”
“You could have killed her, too.”
“if I had wanted to kill her, I would have.”
Her hands behind her, Jill searched for something she could use as a weapon, a bookend, a heavy frame, or even a book. But the shelves were so tightly packed with law volumes that she couldn’t pry any of them loose.
“So what now?” she asked. “Are you going to kill me, too?”
“I have no choice, Jill. You know too much.”
Jill moistened her lips. All that separated them now was that mahogany table she had bumped into a moment ago.
She eyed the lamp that topped it. It was large and shaped like a ginger jar. if she could somehow lift it and hit him with it… Don’t let him look at the lamp. Distract him.
She cleared her throat. “Cathie knows I’m here. I
Deception 361 told her I’d call her as soon as the contract was in my hands. She’ll be calling soon.”
Smiling, Philip pointed at the phone he had already taken off the hook. “I’m one step ahead of you, Jill.”
He had been all along.
She still knows I came here.”
She only knows you intended to come here. But it’s been a long time since you came to my house, hasn’t it, Jill? It would have been easy for you to take a wrong turn, end up in the ferry area, which, as everyone knows, is ripe with gangs and young hoodlums. The police will assume you stepped out of your car to ask for directions and met with trouble. I could even drive your car to a deserted area, set it up so that’s exactly what they’ll think happened.”
It was now or never.
Grabbing the edge of the table with both hands, Jill flipped it over, sending everything on it crashing to the floor.
Thirty-Seven
As Joe stuck his red emergency light on the roof of the Land Rover, Dan shot onto the Shore Parkway at fifty miles an hour, and headed north toward the Verrano Narrows Bridge.
While he weaved expertly through the evening traffic, Joe was talking on the cellular phone to a colleague in Brooklyn. “I need the number of the police precinct closest to the Todt Hill section of Staten Island,” he said. “Hurry up, Ron, it’s an emergency.”
Thirty seconds later, Joe was dialing again. After he had identified himself to the eighth precinct desk sergeant, he explained the situation briefly but thoroughly.
One look at the way Joe’s mouth tightened told Dan his brother wasn’t getting the cooperation they had expected.
“No, Sergeant Delaney,” Joe said in a patient tone. “I don’t have hard proof that Van Horn is a killer, and no, I’m not asking you to barge into his house, guns blazing. But a woman’s life may be at stake here. All I’m asking is for you to send a car to that address and check out a potentially dangerous situation.”
Joe let out a sigh of exasperation. “You sent every
Deception 363 squad car in your precinct to a highway crash?” he
* asked incredulously.
Without warning, Dan snatched the phone from Joe’s hand. “This is Dan Santini,” he said in a voice that was marginally warmer than an arctic blast. “If you don’t send a car to the address my brother just gave you, and something happens to Jill Bennett, I’ll hold you personally responsible. Then I’ll deal with your department for leaving such assholes in charge of protecting the public. Do I make myself clear?”
Keep your shirt on, Santini,” the sergeant replied gruffly. “We have one hell of a mess on Hyland Avenue. I don’t even know if I can dispatch a car to Todt Hill.” He paused. “But I’ll try, okay? If I can’t, I’ll call another precinct.”
“Thanks.” Dan flicked the switch to off and handed the phone back to Joe. “Try Van Horn’s house again.”
Joe dialed and hung up soon afterward. “Still busy. He must have the phone off the hook.”
“This isn’t good,” Dan muttered between clenched teeth.
The Staten Island Expressway was a sea of traffic when Dan merged onto it, and while the flashing red light helped, it didn’t exactly create a clear path for the oncoming Land Rover.
Joe pointed at an exit. “Take Richmond Road. It’ll get us there faster.”
As Dan took the exit, his fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “I swear, Joe, if he so much as hurts one hair on her head, I’ll kill him.”
*
As the table came hurtling toward him, Philip jumped back, cursing under his breath.
Jill bolted but wasn’t fast enough. As she started to make a run for the front door, Philip caught her. They fell together, both hitting the oak-wood floor hard.
Flipping her over as if she were a rag doll, he straddled her, the way he had that night on MacDougal Street.
The only difference was that tonight she could see his face.
Jill fought him with all the strength she could muster. Using her hands and legs, she clawed and kicked and made it impossible for him to get a good hold on her throat.
Some time during the shuffle, he had dropped the cord, but she knew that wouldn’t stop him from doing what he had to do. Kill her.
As she continued to writhe under him, something sharp jabbed her in the arm. Quickly, her hand felt for the object and found it. It was a small fragment of the shattered lamp, one side of which was sharp as a blade.
As Philip’s knee pressed against her chest, Jill’s fingers closed around the makeshift weapon. Then, thinking of nothing but her own survival, she dragged the sharp edge into his cheek in a vicious slash.
A sound she barely recognized as human came out of Philip’s throat. Reeling back, he touched his cheek and stared at his bloodied fingers.
Jill scrambled to her feet and sprinted to the front door.
Thank God, it was unlocked, she thought fleetingly.
Once outside, she broke into a dead run, praying she had hurt Philip bad enough to at least slow him down.
All she needed was enough time to reach the next house. Before she could decide which direction to go, the front Yard was suddenly inundated with lights.
Police! Stop!”
Blinded, Jill came to a dead halt, letting out a scream as Philip ran into her.
Stay where you are, Van Horn.”
Dan!”
But before she could run to him, Philip gave her a hard shove and took off toward a heavily wooded area, south of the house.
Dan caught Jill before she fell. “Are you okay?”
he asked, gripping her shoulders.
When she nodded, he handed her to Joe. “Take care of her.” He took off after Philip.
Because Dan had spent a lot of time in Staten Island during his youth, he knew exactly where Philip was headed—High Rock Park. From there he’d probably try to reach the Greenbelt, a four-hundred-acre parcel of undeveloped woodlands that accessed several highways in Staten Island.
Dan wasn’t going to give him the chance to get that far. Philip may have been in great shape, and desperation may have given him wings, but his physical endurance was no match for Dan’s. He could already hear the older man pant and groan.
Closing in quickly, Dan waited until he was only a few feet from the fleeing attorney, then leaped.
He landed on Philip’s back. The two men fell to the ground, and rolled down a hill until Dan was able to pin Van Horn down.
“You son of a bitch.” He rammed his fist into Philip’s bloody face, heard something crack and hit him again. “You miserable, fucking coward. You like to go after women, do you? And little children?”
A third blow snapped Philip’s head from one side to the other.
“Stop… Ple .. please… Can’t you see … I’m hurt.”
Dan was deaf to his pleading. Blind with fury, he pulled him up to his feet, held him so he wouldn’t crumple to the ground and hit him again. He would have reduced him to a pulp if Joe hadn’t pulled him off.
“Enough, Dan. Damnit, man, cut it out”
Dan tried to disengage his brother’s grip. “Let me go. I’m not finished yet.”
But Joe’s strength was as powerful as his brother’s. “Yes, you are, Dan. Let the law do the rest”
Two uniformed cops were running in their direction. On the ground, Philip was rocking from side to side and moaning as he held his face.
Joe gripped Dan’s shoulder. “It’s all over, big brother. Let’s go back to Jill.”
She was already running toward him. Dan opened his arms and she fell into them.
“What’s going to happen now?” Olivia asked.
In Amanda’s living room where Dan, Cyrus, Stephanie, Olivia and Jill had gathered the following day, all eyes turned to Dan.
“I just finished talking to Wally,” Dan said. “Philip will have to face several charges–murder in
Deception 367 Sullivan County, attempted murder in New York City and attempted murder in Staten Island. His attorney is trying to work out a plea bargain, but we won’t know about that for another day or two.”
Does that mean they’re going to give that son of a bitch a break?” Cyrus asked.
I hardly think so. If they make a deal, there might not be a trial, but Philip will definitely go to prison for a long time.”
Amanda pressed her hand to her throat. “Philip. Dear God. I still can’t believe it. I’ve known him for twenty-five years. I would have trusted him with my life.”
Coming to stand beside her mother, Jill wrapped an arm around the woman’s slender waist. “If it’s any consolation, I never suspected him, either.” Turning to look at her daughter, Amanda touched her cheek. “My beautiful, stubborn daughter. You never gave up, did you?”
“Please, Amanda.” Trying to sound stern, Cyrus raised a pleading hand. “Easy on the praise, okay? That stubborn streak of hers almost got her killed.”
* Jill looked at him fondly, glad that she no longer felt so awkward. She wasn’t sure if her life would ever
* be the same again. Probably not. But she was mending. And for now, that was enough.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Uncle Cy,” she said with a small laugh. “Dan is making me turn my badge in.”
* “Smart man.”
Cyrus and Dan exchanged a glance, and Jill was
* glad to see that the animosity between the two men had lessened considerably. Maybe someday they would both sit down and talk, but for the time being, their effort to be civil toward each other was enough.
Amanda, her hands still held against her chest, looked at Dan. “It was Philip outside Jill’s office that day, wasn’t it? He was the one who was eavesdropping on our conversation.”
Dan nodded. “Philip was spending a lot of time listening to conversations, hoping he’d stay one step ahead of Jill. And he found out she went to Fairfax by playing her message on Cathie’s answering machine. Then he went into Jill’s office, found the pad on which she had written the clinic’s address and did an old trick, one we still use in police work.”
“What’s that?” Stephanie asked.
“He ran the tip of a pencil across the blank page where Jill’s writing had left pressure marks.”
“And that blank page was blank no more,” Olivia mused.
“Exactly.”
“What about that young nurse in Fairfax?” Amanda asked. “Will she be okay? I know you were concerned about her, Dan.”
“Wally says she’ll be all right. The Sullivan County D.A. already said he won’t prosecute her and, anyway, if there’s no trial-and he’s fairly sure there won’ the—she won’t even have to testify.
“Professionally,” Dan continued, “she could have been in a jam’ but won’t be, after all. She couldn’t continue the charade any longer and told Dr. Laken the truth. He was upset, gave her a lecture, then told her he had no intention of firing her. She was much too valuable.” Amanda heaved a small sigh of relief. “I’m glad.”
Deception 369 While Dan continued to answer questions, Jill drew her mother aside. “Mom, did you know about Daddy’s affair with Blair?”
“Dear God, no. I think I would finally have drawn the line if I had known.”
“But you suspected he was cheating on you.”
Amanda looked at her fingernails, which were polished with that pale rosy color that suited her so well. “Yes. I even knew he was going to Washington that infamous day when Blair had her abortion. I heard him change his flight, but I didn’t know the exact reason for his trip, or whom he was going to see.”