The Associate (30 page)

Kate sat on the couch next to Daniel.

“Remember, I told you that my sister went through this with her baby? She’s a good person and no one knows why her baby was born the way it was. And remember what you told me about life being unfair, about bad things happening to people for no reason? It’s true. We have to accept that, even when it’s hard, even when we need something to rail against. Insufort is not responsible for Patrick’s birth defect, and the courts aren’t always the right place to go for help.”

“I still feel like I robbed that poor woman. I used her to get at Flynn. The end result is that I’ll be killing her dreams and Patrick’s future.”

“You have to bring down Flynn. He’s a murderer.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Kate put her arms around Daniel. “Don’t get down on yourself, Daniel. You’re a good man. I can see how hard this is for you, but we’re so close. Don’t fold when we’re almost there.”

Daniel sighed. “I’m okay. I just wish—”

Kate put a fingertip to his lips. “Don’t,” she said. Then she kissed him—once quickly, her lips lingering the second time. They looked at each other for a moment, then Daniel let himself go, losing himself in the contradictory softness of her breast and hard muscles of her back. After a moment they broke their kiss. Daniel closed his eyes and rested his cheek against her hair. It smelled sweet and felt so soft. Kate was a haven from all the bad things that had happened to him.

Daniel felt Kate move and he opened his eyes. She stood up and took his hand. “Come on,” she said softly, pulling him slowly to his feet and toward the bedroom.

The call from Susan Webster had confirmed Aaron Flynn’s worst fears. Before he died, Kaidanov had told Daniel Ames that his study was a fraud. But Flynn didn’t know if Ames could prove the study was a hoax. Without proof, all Geller would have was the hearsay testimony of a man charged with murder and Flynn was certain he could still force a settlement.

“Alice Cummings is on line two,” Aaron Flynn’s receptionist announced.

Flynn debated not taking the call for a moment, but little Patrick was worth a bundle if everything worked out.

“Good afternoon, Alice,” Flynn said in his heartiest voice. “How’s my boy?”

“He had a rough night.”

“I’m so sorry. What can I do for you?”

“I hope I’m not interrupting, but it’s been bothering me since your associate left. He never said if you needed me to sign anything about the phone call. I can come down anytime.”

“The phone call?”

“From Mr. Arnold.” Flynn’s eyes shut reflexively and a sick feeling spread through his gut. “Your associate said a lawyer is claiming that you never talked with him, but I remember it very clearly. Did you want me to sign an affidavit?”

“What was this associate’s name, Alice?”

“You know, I can’t remember. I’m not certain he even told me. But you introduced us. It was several weeks ago. I wheeled Patrick into the lobby in his stroller and you brought him over to meet us.”

Flynn felt a flash of fear.

“Ah, yes,” he said. “Well, I appreciate your call, but I won’t need you to sign anything. The matter has been resolved. Thank you for calling, though. Give Patrick a kiss for me,” Flynn said as he hung up.

“Everything is falling apart,” Aaron Flynn said as soon as he was through the front door. A look of panic was etched on his face. “Ames found the client who was with me when Gene called.”

“How did he do that?”

“How the fuck should I know? He just did and she remembers Gene’s call. She just phoned me. She wanted to know if I needed her to sign an affidavit that could be used as evidence. Jesus Christ!”

“You’ve got to calm down so we can think this out.”

“There’s nothing to think about. If that homicide detective, Brewster, finds out I lied about Gene’s call, we’re dead.”

“Who is the client?”

“Alice Cummings, the mother of one of the Insufort brats.”

“Where does she live?”

“I don’t know offhand.”

“But it’s in your file?”

“I can get it.”

“We have to kill her.”

“What?”

“We have to kill her and Ames and Ross.”

“You’re insane.”

Flynn felt a hand snake through his hair. Then warm lips brushed his and a hand stroked his crotch. It took all of his willpower, but he broke away and headed for the couch. Flynn heard a cruel laugh behind him.

“You didn’t mind when I took care of Briggs, Kaidanov, and Randall. Why are you so squeamish now?”

“Alice is . . . She’s just this woman.”

“No, Aaron, she’s not just some woman. The bitch is a witness who can put both of us on death row, not to mention rob us of millions we have worked very hard to earn.” A hand strayed to his zipper. “I’ll kill them to protect you—to protect us—so we can be together.”

A finger brushed the tip of his penis, emphasizing the point.

“You can’t do this again,” Flynn protested weakly.

“We can do anything.”

Flynn was having trouble thinking. There were warm lips on his, fingers stroking his nipples, and a hand as soft as silk inside his fly.

“If it bothers you, I’ll take care of Cummings while you take care of Ames and Ross.”

Flynn’s eyes went wide. “I can’t. I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“It’s easy, baby,” he heard as his body moved against its will to the rhythm set by the fingertips, tongue, and lips that were everywhere at once. “I’ll tell you how to do it. Besides, we don’t have a choice. The cops don’t know about Cummings yet. If they did, she wouldn’t have called you. That means that Ross and Ames haven’t told them yet. We’ve got a window of opportunity here, but we’ve got to move, and I can’t be in two places at once.”

Flynn wanted to protest, but he was having trouble thinking. One part of his brain knew that someone who killed so easily could kill him, too, but the part of Flynn’s brain that craved sex whispered that he was safe because only he could collect the millions from the Insufort settlement. And his partner had sworn they would be together after he’d banked his attorney’s fee, living on a beach in an exotic country with servants and hot sex whenever he wanted it. That’s what he’d been told and he wanted to believe—had to believe to rationalize the things that had been done and would be done for the millions they craved.

Juan Fulano smiled as he pulled down the binoculars. He’d gotten a very good look at the person Flynn was meeting before the front door closed. Martin would be pleased. Fulano took out his phone and made a long-distance call to Desert Grove, Arizona.

Kate’s doorbell rang at two in the morning. After the third ring, she staggered out of bed in a T-shirt and sweatpants. Daniel pulled on a sweatshirt and followed her to the front door. Kate looked through the peephole and was surprised to see Aaron Flynn looking wild-eyed and agitated.

“It’s two in the morning, Flynn. What’s going on?” she asked.

“I’m desperate. We have to talk. I need help. I’m afraid.”

Daniel and Kate looked at each other.

“Let him in,” Daniel said. “This could be our break.”

Kate opened the front door. Flynn had barely stepped inside when he turned and struck her viciously in the head with a gun butt, sending her into the wall. Daniel started forward as Kate slid to the floor, but Flynn extended a .22 pistol in his direction.

“Get inside,” he ordered as he bolted the door.

Daniel hesitated.

“Do it,” Flynn screamed, pointing the gun at Kate. His hand was shaking badly.

Kate was dazed. Blood trickled from a gash on her cheek. Daniel helped Kate to her feet and stepped backward into the living room.

“Why couldn’t you stay out of this?” Flynn shouted. “Why did you have to go to Alice Cummings?”

Flynn was sweating and his eyes were wild. Daniel knew that he had to keep him talking.

“You framed me for murder,” he said. “Now you’re angry because I’m trying to clear my name?”

“You stupid bastard. You’re going to die, your girlfriend is going to die, and Cummings is going to die, too, and it’s your fault.”

Daniel was stunned. “You don’t have to kill Alice.”

“You put her in this position.”

Kate sat on the arm of the couch and put a hand to her head. Daniel took a step forward.

“Stop! I
will
kill you,” Flynn said as if to reassure himself that he could do it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw Kate pull herself together. She was taking in the situation, focusing on Flynn.

“I know you’ve got someone at Reed, Briggs who’s helping you,” Daniel said to Flynn. “Tell the cops who it is. We can help you cut a deal.”

Kate stood up.

“Goddamn it, stop,” Flynn shouted as he moved the gun between Daniel’s body and Kate’s. He’d been told to kill them quickly and get out, but he was having trouble pulling the trigger.

Daniel lunged. Flynn fired into his torso. Daniel grunted with pain as he hit Flynn with every ounce of his strength. Flynn staggered into the door and fired again, shocked that Daniel hadn’t fallen. The second shot stunned Daniel, but he still had enough strength to drive his thumb into Flynn’s eye. Flynn screamed. Daniel’s knees gave way. Flynn lashed out, using the gun as a club, and knocked Daniel to the floor. As he fell Kate made a spearhead with her rigid fingers and struck Flynn in the larynx. His hands flew to his throat and the gun dropped to the floor.

Flynn had trouble seeing and breathing, but he lashed out with a wild punch that caught Kate in the temple, dazing her. Flynn grabbed Kate by the throat. She tried to break the hold, but he kneed her in the stomach and she sagged. A blow to Flynn’s crotch went wide and glanced off his thigh. Kate couldn’t breathe. Her sight dimmed and she lashed out ineffectively in a panic. Flynn smashed her head into the wall and her body grew limp. Then there was an explosion. Blood bathed the side of Flynn’s head and the grip on her throat relaxed.

Kate staggered away from Flynn and gasped for air. Flynn fell to the ground. Daniel was on one knee holding Flynn’s gun. Then he toppled over on his back and clutched his stomach, now saturated with blood.

Kate dropped beside him. “Oh, God! Daniel!”

A wave of nausea swept through him. Daniel’s vision blurred, but he forced himself to speak.

“Nine-one-one,” he croaked. “Save Alice Cummings.”

“Don’t talk,” Kate said as she pulled up his shirt so she could see the bullet wounds. Daniel tried to give Kate Alice Cummings’s address but he felt like he was lost in a patch of fog. He knew that Kate was talking to him because he could see her lips move, but he couldn’t hear her words. Those lips were the last thing he saw before he slipped away.

Aaron Flynn’s partner pulled on a ski mask and cut across a yard that backed on the ground-floor garden apartment where Alice Cummings lived. A door at the back of the house opened onto the postage-stamp-size patch of lawn, which was enclosed by a low wood fence. The screen door was unlocked and the lock would not be much of a challenge. The plan was to jimmy the lock and cut the bitch’s throat. To kill or not to kill the kid, that was the question. If he was as fucked up as Flynn said, the brat was probably better off dead.

The door only took a few minutes to open. Flynn’s partner pulled a hunting knife from a sheath and took a step into the apartment.

Alice Cummings sat up in bed. Her clock read 2:13. The house was quiet, but she was certain that a noise had awakened her. Maybe Patrick was having a dream and made the noise in his sleep, because he was quiet now.

Alice lay down and closed her eyes. It was always a blessing when Patrick slept. She’d put him down at ten and crashed immediately. Five hours was good.

Alice’s eyes opened wide again. She was certain that she’d just heard something. She slipped out of bed and walked to the bedroom door, which she always kept open so she could hear Patrick, and peered into the front room. Nothing seemed out of place.

The only part of the apartment she couldn’t see was the kitchen, which was at the back. She edged along the wall. As soon as she turned the corner Alice saw that the back door was open.

The moment Flynn’s partner took a step into Alice Cummings’s apartment, a sixth sense warned her of danger. She was half turned when a damp ether-soaked cloth pressed across her mouth and nose and a muscular arm circled her chest, pinning her arms to her side. She tried to kick free as she was hoisted off her feet. She knew she only had moments before she passed out. In desperation she raised her heel and jammed it down on her attacker’s instep. He swore, but his grip did not weaken. As she was dragged back across the lawn she saw the stars swirling above her, twisting in faster circles.

Alice froze at the entrance to the kitchen. Was someone in her house? Was Patrick safe? She switched on a light as she rushed to his room. His door was open. She stopped at the railing to his crib. He was curled on his side, breathing fitfully but sound asleep.

Relieved, Alice checked the rest of the small apartment. When she returned to the kitchen a cold wind swept through the door. She shivered as she pushed it shut. Then she turned the lights off so she could see outside, pressing her nose to the kitchen window to see every inch of the yard and beyond. She saw nothing strange. But someone had definitely tried to get in. Why had they left? Who had they been?

Kate tried to keep her face neutral when the police guard showed her into Daniel’s hospital room. There were bruises on her face and the gash on her cheek had required stitches. But Daniel’s injuries had been far more severe.

“You look awful,” she said.

“Gee thanks,” he said, his voice subdued by painkillers. “You look pretty ugly yourself.”

Kate smiled, relieved that he could joke. “That picked my spirits up.” She sat down next to Daniel’s bed. “Now I’m going to pick up yours. Amanda and I had a long talk with Mike Greene. I think we convinced him that Flynn framed you. Amanda is pretty certain your case will be dismissed by the time you’re discharged. Also, Alice Cummings is okay. When the police got to her house she told them that someone tried to break in. Her back door was wide open. But nothing happened.”