Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness (19 page)

The newscaster was talking.

“In breaking news
,
Grace Brookstein is reported to have absconded from a maximum-security correctional facility in upstate New York. Brookstein
,
widow of the billionaire con man Leonard Brookstein…”

The report went on but Grace didn't hear it. She felt more tired than she could ever remember. It had been the longest twenty-four hours of her life. Sleep caressed her like the softest of cashmere blankets. She closed her eyes and let it take her.

 

G
AVIN
W
ILLIAMS WAS SCREAMING.

“Are you blind? This is it! The breakthrough we've been praying for. Grace will lead us straight to the money!”

Gavin Williams, Harry Bain and John Merrivale were having a working breakfast at Quorum's old offices. It was the morning after Grace's escape and the news was all over the TV and newspapers.

Harry Bain shook his head. “I doubt that. Even assuming she knows where it is…”

“She knows where it is.”

“Even if she does, she won't get that far. She's got the entire NYPD looking for her. My guess is she'll be back behind bars by nightfall. Either that or some trigger-happy cop will have shot her.”

“No! We can't let that happen!” It was unlike Williams to lose control, but he looked close to tears. “Grace Brookstein remains the key to this case. We must take control. We must insist the NYPD hand the investigation over to the bureau.”

Harry Bain laughed. “Oh, yeah. I'll insist. I'm sure the chief of police will love that.”

Gavin Williams looked to John Merrivale for support. But of course John just stared at his shoes, like the coward that he was. Furious, Williams got up and stormed out.

Merrivale said, “I know it's not my p-place to say so. But I think perhaps the stress of this case is becoming too much for Agent Williams.”

Harry Bain agreed. “You're right. I'm having him transferred. Grace Brookstein has become an obsession. It's clouding his judgment. Her escape is a distraction, and we can't afford distractions.”

“Exactly.”

John Merrivale breathed a sigh of relief.

He wouldn't rest completely easily until Grace was captured. Or, better yet, shot. News of her escape had shaken him deeply. But today's meeting was reassuring. With Gavin Williams out of the picture, it would be even easier to lead Bain and his men in the wrong direction. Eventually they'd run out of energy, or money, or both, and call off the investigation. Then finally he would be free. Free to leave New York, to leave Caroline. A life without chains! In the end it would all be worth it.

“D-do you really think they'll find her quickly?”

Harry Bain said, “I'm sure of it. She's
Grace Brookstein,
for God's sake. Where's she gonna hide?”

 

I
N HER DREAMS
G
RACE HEARD KNOCKING,
faint but rapid and insistent, like a woodpecker in the distance. The noise grew louder, closer. She woke up.

There's someone at the door!

Jumping out of bed, she grabbed her switchblade and wrapped the bedsheet around her, stumbling toward the sound in the darkness.

“Who is it?”

“'S me.”

Yoda
. Grace put down the knife and opened the door a crack.

“You stayin' another night?”

The light from the corridor was blinding. Grace blinked.

“I'm sorry?”

“I said, you stayin' another night? It's noon. Changeover's twelve thirty. You ain't staying, you gotta vacate the room by then.”

“Oh. No. I'm staying.”

“Twenty dollars.”

Grace pulled a second bill out of the wad Karen had given her and handed it to the old man. He took it wordlessly, scuttling back to his reception desk like a decrepit beetle.

Twelve o'clock! Jesus. I must have been out like a light.
Grace opened the curtains, then closed them again. Far too bright. Splashing cold water on her face, she pulled on her clothes—they stank of that bastard but they were all she had. She would buy new ones today. The TV was still on from last night. Grace turned up the volume. This time the news report was on the economy. But a few moments later her face was back on-screen again, this time a mug shot from the day they brought her to Bedford.
It still looks nothing like me.

The anchorwoman was talking.
“With Grace Brookstein now missing for over seventeen hours, the police appear to have no concrete leads. With me is Detective Mitchell Connors of the NYPD, the man leading the investigation into Brookstein's escape. Detective, people are already saying that you and your men are running out of ideas. Do you feel that's a fair statement?”

An attractive blond cop responded by video link.

“No, Nancy, I don't believe it is. We're pursuing a number of different avenues. This investigation is only hours old. It's our belief that the prisoner will be apprehended swiftly and we're working toward that conclusion.”

Grace studied the cop's face. Detective Mitchell Connors looked like he'd been sketched by a cartoonist at Marvel Comics, all square jaw and steady, blue-eyed gaze. Physically he reminded Grace of a rougher-around-the-edges version of her brother-in-law Jack Warner. But his expression was nothing like Jack's. If anything, it was more like Lenny's.
It's his eyes. He has kind eyes.

He was still talking.
“Grace Brookstein and her husband brought extraordinary suffering to thousands of people, particularly here in New York. Believe me, Nancy, no one wants to see this convicted felon back behind bars more than I do. Make no mistake. We will find her.”

Grace switched off the television.

Detective Connors might have kind eyes, but he's my enemy
.

She mustn't forget it.

 

T
HAT AFTERNOON
, G
RACE WALKED INTO TOWN.
It was all she could do to stop her teeth from chattering, knowing that her face was all over the news, that at any moment, someone might recognize her and turn her in to the authorities. But she couldn't hide out at the motel forever. She needed supplies, and she needed to get out of Richardsville. Karen and Cora had both warned her of the dangers of staying in one place too long.

With the van driver's bulky jacket pulled tightly around her, Grace kept her head down as she walked the aisles of a Walmart. At the checkout, her heart was pounding so violently she thought she might faint. Happily the sullen teenager manning the register seemed more interested in the chip on one of her acrylic nails than in the nervous customer or her purchases.

“Eighty-eight dollazs yer total; cash 'r credit?”

“Cash.”

“Thangshaveaniceday.”

The girl didn't even look up.

By the time Grace returned to her room at the Up All Night, it was al
most four
P.M.
Locking the door, she emptied her Walmart bags onto the bed: hair dye, scissors, makeup, disinfectant, underwear, a three-pack of Haines T-shirts, jeans, a beanie hat, and a gray carry-all gym bag.

She got to work.

 

T
HE OLD MAN AT THE RECEPTION
desk studied the picture in his newspaper. His eyes weren't what they used to be.

Could it be?

This girl's nose was different. And the hair. Still, there was definitely a resemblance. And she
had
arrived in the middle of the night, with no suitcase. He looked at the paper again. The cop on the TV said to report anything suspicious, no matter how trivial.

The old man picked up the phone.

 

G
RACE LOOKED AT HERSELF IN THE
cracked bathroom mirror. Except it wasn't herself. It was someone else, the first of her four new identities.
Lizzie Woolley.

Hello
,
Lizzie.

Carefully cleaning up all traces of dye and picking every lock of severed hair off the floor, Grace dropped them into the empty Walmart bag along with the discarded bottle of Nice 'n Easy and her old clothes, tied the bag by the handles and stuffed it into her carry-all. She dressed quickly. The clean clothes felt wonderful. For a moment Grace thought back to her old life and smiled. She could never have imagined back then that the day would come when a pair of Walmart jeans would feel like the last word in luxury! She'd already spent two-thirds of the cash Karen and Cora had given her. Pretty soon she would have to make e-mail contact with Karen's mysterious “friend” and ask for more. Cora had assured her that getting cash from Western Union was anonymous and easy. All you had to do was show up at one of their hundreds of thousands of locations, show your (fake) ID and take the money. “It's how every illegal immigrant in this country makes rent, honey. It's their business not to ask questions.” Even so, Grace hoped she wouldn't have to do it too often.

She'd checked the bus timetable earlier. The next bus to the city left at 6:15
P.M.

Plenty of time.

 

T
HE OLD MAN KNOCKED ON THE DOOR.

No answer. Officer McInley, Richardsville's finest—Richardsville's
only—
looked pissed. “I thought you said she was definitely here?”

Officer McInley knew the minute Old Man Murdoch called that it'd be some stupid-ass wild-goose chase. Grace Brookstein, staying at the Up All Night? Yeah, right. She was probably sharing a room with Kermit the Frog and Herman Munster. Everyone in Richardsville knew that Murdoch had lost his marbles years ago.

“She's here, all right? Saw her come in wi' my own two eyes and she ain't come out again. Muz be sleepin'.”

Unhooking the master key from his belt loop, the old man unlocked the door.

“Miss?”

The room was empty. Not just empty but pristine. The bed was made, the surfaces wiped clean. It looked as if no one had stayed there in weeks.

Officer McInley rolled his eyes.

“She wuz here, I tell ya! Last two nights. I swear to God. Musta 'scaped out the winda.”

“Uh-huh.”
On a flying monkey
. “Well, if you see her again, you be sure and let us know.”

M
ARIA
P
RESTON FLOATED INTO THE SIXTH-FLOOR
Caprice restaurant in Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel. In a chiffon caftan, dripping in newly bought pearls from the Guangzhou City jewelry district, she waved the newspaper excitedly at her husband.

“Have you seen this, Andy?”

“Seen what, my love?”

“Grace Brookstein's escaped from prison!”

Andrew Preston went white. “Escaped? What do you mean she's escaped? That's not possible.” Snatching the paper, he read the front-page story.

A major police operation was under way last night in New York after convicted con artist Grace Brookstein apparently broke out of a maximum-security facility in Westchester County. Brookstein, one of the most notorious women in America, is believed to have stolen upward of $70 billion in a conspiracy masterminded by her late husband, Leonard…

“Can you believe it?” Maria giggled as she poured herself a large glass of fresh orange juice. “
Escaped from jail.
It's like something out of
Desperate Housewives
. Next thing you know she'll wake up in the shower with amnesia and the last twenty years will never have happened! Do you think they'll catch her?”

Andrew was too stunned to speak. This was a disaster. A catastrophe.
Just when he thought the whole nightmare was behind him, Grace had to pull a stunt like this and reopen old wounds. Maria seemed to think it was some sort of joke. But then why wouldn't she? She had no idea of the stress he'd been under. As long as she had money to spend—this trip to Hong Kong alone had cost over $40,000, not including the astronomical sums Maria had “saved” on pearl jewelry—she was happy. What was it to her if Andrew hadn't slept properly in over a year? If he lay in their bed in the $12,000-a-night presidential suite overlooking Victoria Harbor and Kowloon Bay, bent double with stomach cramps and crippling migraines, haunted by nightmares involving Lenny Brookstein and the scarred, terrifying face of a man named Donald Anthony Le Bron? Had it not been for Maria, he would never have done what he did. Never have betrayed a friend, never have become a thief, never have had cause to associate with the likes of Le Bron. And yet he couldn't tell her. He just couldn't.

Most distressing of all was the alopecia. Since last Christmas, Andrew's hair had started falling out in clumps, like a dog with mange. He panicked.
I'm falling to pieces. Literally. It's the beginning of the end.

Thank God it was John Merrivale who had to deal with the FBI day in, day out, and not him. The stress would have finished him off. Andrew could hear John's voice in his head now, repeating the mantra:
“Just stick to the story and you'll be f-fine. We both will.”

So far, they had. But Grace's escape could change everything.

“Andy, are you listening to me? I said, do you think they'll catch her?”

“Yes. I'm sure they'll catch her.”
They have to.

“What will happen to her then, do you think?”

“I don't know. They'll take her back to jail, I suppose.”

Andrew thought about Grace Brookstein, the sweet, naive child he'd known for all those years. Poor Grace. She was the only truly innocent victim in all of this. Unfortunately, that was what happened to pure little lambs. They got slaughtered.

Maria sipped her orange juice contentedly. “Don't look so miserable, Andy. Anyone would think it was you the police were after. Now give me back the newspaper, would you? There's a gorgeous Balenciaga dress in the fashion pages. I'm thinking of having it copied.”

 

J
ACK
W
ARNER SAW THE NEWS ON TELEVISION.
He was in a bar with Fred Farrell, his campaign manager, discussing his reelection strategy. When he saw Grace's face on the TV screen, he choked on his pistachios.

“Holy mother of God. Can you believe this?”

Fred Farrell couldn't. People didn't break out of places like Bedford Hills. Not in real life. Especially not petite, blond trophy wives like Grace Brookstein.

“You'll have to make a statement.”

Fred Farrell's brilliant political mind was already whirring. This was not a good time for the Quorum scandal to come back and haunt them. Grace would probably be caught within a few hours, but the renewed media interest in the Brookstein case could last for months. Jack must not be dragged into it.

“I'll write you something. In the meantime, go home and lay low.”

Jack Warner went home. During the hour-long drive to Westchester, he composed his thoughts. Fred Farrell didn't know the half of it. He knew about the gambling debts, and Lenny Brookstein's refusal to pay them. But Jack Warner had other skeletons in his closet besides gambling. Explosive secrets that could destroy him and put an end to all his political hopes.

Lenny knew the truth. But Lenny's dead, burning in hell, where he belongs.

The question was, had he taken his knowledge with him to his watery grave? Or had he shared what he knew with his beloved wife? While Grace was safely under lock and key, it didn't matter. But now she was out, running for her life. A loose cannon, with nothing to lose.

I can't let that bitch destroy me. I won't.

Honor ran out to the driveway to meet him. Her eyes were red and swollen. It was obvious she'd been crying. “Oh, Jack! Have you seen the news?”

“Of course I've seen it.” He bundled her indoors. The press could show up at any minute. “For God's sake, pull yourself together. Why are you crying?”

Honor didn't know. She'd always envied Grace. Resented her. Hated her even. At the same time, her baby sister's conviction troubled her. Grace was no more capable of perpetrating a sophisticated fraud than she was of changing a tire or filling out a tax return. Honor knew that better
than anyone
. I should have spoken up for her in court. Or at least visited her in prison. But I didn't. I did what Jack told me to. I always do what Jack tells me to.

“They said on the news that someone might shoot her. That she's in more danger from the public than she is from the police.”

“So?” Jack wasn't interested in Grace's problems. He was interested in his own. “Fred's writing me a statement. Until then, I want you and the kids to stay in the house. Don't talk to anyone about Grace. Do you understand?”

Honor nodded.

“If she tries to contact you, you must inform me immediately. Not the police. Me.”

“Yes, Jack.”

He started up the stairs. Honor called after him. “Jack? Why do you think she did it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why did she escape? She must have known the danger she was putting herself in. Not to mention blowing any chance of an appeal. It just seems so…reckless. So out of character.”

Jack Warner shrugged. “Maybe she's changed. Prison does change people, you know.”

So does politics,
thought Honor. She looked at herself in the hall mirror and shivered. She did not recognize the person she'd become.

 

“E
SCAPED
? G
OOD
G
OD
.”

Michael Gray had spent the day on his new boat, an anniversary present from Connie. He didn't hear the news till they sat down to dinner that evening.

“I know. I wouldn't have thought she had it in her. Stowed away in a delivery truck, if you can believe that. So much for ‘maximum security.'”

Michael looked pained. “Do you think we should…I don't know, try to help her in some way?”

Connie's eyes widened. “
Help her?
Whatever do you mean? How can we possibly help her? More to the point,
why
should we help her, after what she's done?”

Michael Gray loved his wife, and deferred to her opinions about her
own sister. But he'd never felt comfortable about the collective washing of hands and turning of backs that had followed Grace's trial. It hadn't felt right at the time. Now, somehow, it felt less right than ever.

So much had changed since that fateful trip to Nantucket a year and a half ago. Back then, Lenny and Grace had had everything—a perfect marriage, a fortune—and he and Connie had had nothing. Michael Gray had not forgotten the darkness of those days. Losing his job at Lehman was like losing a parent. Lehman Brothers had been much more than an employer. It had given Michael his identity, his self-worth. When the company failed, it felt like a death. But Michael had had no time to mourn. He'd been plunged into one crisis after another, watching his savings disappear, then the house. Worst of all was the distance that began to grow between him and Connie. Michael Gray felt he could have borne anything with his wife's support. But with each blow, Connie withdrew from him further. Even the way she looked at him in those days, so
disappointed,
so
disgusted,
almost as if what had happened were his fault, as if she blamed him for their suffering…the memory could still cause him to break out in a cold sweat.

All that was only eighteen months ago, yet it felt like another lifetime. Since then, they'd lived through Quorum's collapse, Lenny's death, Grace's arrest, the trial…and now this. It was surreal. As Grace's fortunes had declined, so some invisible string seemed to pull Michael and Connie's lives upward, out of the mire and back into the warmth of the sun. Michael got a job with a boutique advisory firm. The salary wasn't great but he had equity. More important, he had a reason to get out of bed in the mornings again. You couldn't put a price on that. Connie became less distant and more loving. The disappointment was gone. In its place was the old familiar look of love, that unique combination of trust, lust and respect that made Michael feel he could move mountains. He loved her so much.

She's my strength and my weakness. I'd die for her and I'd kill for her. And she knows it.

But the best was yet to come. A few months after Grace began her sentence at Bedford Hills, Connie was called to a meeting by her attorney. Apparently some distant, elderly relative had left her something in her will. Michael was expecting a few shares, or perhaps a piece of jewelry.

In fact, his wife had been left $15 million.

That night she made love to him with a passion Michael hadn't known in her since before they married. He made a joke. “I guess being a woman of means suits you, honey.”

Connie beamed. “I guess it does. Let's buy a new house, Mike. This place holds too many painful memories.”

“Hey, come on. It holds some good memories, too, doesn't it? This is where the kids were born. Do you really want to leave?”

Connie didn't hesitate. “Yes. I want a new start. For all of us. No looking back.”

They sold the house.

 

“I
CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D SERIOUSLY WANT
to help Grace? Where did that spring from?”

They were in the formal sitting room of their new town house. Connie had gone all out for their first Christmas, decorating the entire house in silver and white. A traditionalist, she refused to take down any of the decorations till Twelfth Night. Michael felt like he was coming home to Santa's grotto.

“I don't know. Nowhere specific. We have so much, that's all.”

“And Grace doesn't?” Connie laughed bitterly. Whenever the conversation turned to Grace or Lenny, her anger seemed to reemerge, like a caged demon unleashed. “That Quorum money is out there somewhere, Mike. The FBI is convinced little Gracie knows where it is. Who are we to say different?”

Mike wanted to say,
Her family,
but he didn't. He was too afraid.

Connie saw the fear in his eyes and felt her own fear subside.

Good. He's not going to force the issue. He loves me too much.

Connie was puzzled by her sister's escape. The Grace she knew would never have had the chutzpah to plan anything so daring, never mind see it through and outfox the police. Deep down Connie knew that Grace had had nothing to do with stealing the Quorum billions.

It's not the money she's after. It's something else.

The truth
,
perhaps?

Mike still had no idea about Connie's affair with Lenny Brookstein.
Nor had he questioned her mysterious inheritance.
He's so trusting. Just like Grace.
Connie wanted it to stay that way.

Wrapping her arms around Michael's neck, she whispered, “I want us to be happy, darling. To put the past behind us. Don't you?”

“Of course I do, my darling.” He hugged her back fiercely.

“So no more talk about helping Grace. That chapter in our lives is closed forever.”