She stood flat against the wall and listened. Hearing nothing, she climbed two stairs into the kitchen. Recessed lights over a massive marble island chased the grey day out of the room. Lydia saw no signs of a recently eaten lunch. No coffee pot filled with comfort for a busy household staff. She moved to the living room.
Three distinct conversation areas sprawled across the enormous space. Empty sofas and chairs sat on Persian rugs. A wall of windows showcased the drizzled front lawn. Lydia crossed the entrance hall to the ornately carved staircase. She took a step and looked up.
Mort Grant sat on the mid-flight landing. Elbows on bent knees. Head down.
“She’s not here, Liddy.”
Lydia froze. Her heart pounded a panicked staccato to accompany the frenzied dance of a dozen thoughts.
Mort looked up and she calmed a little.
“Where is she?” She saw the disappointment in his face but could offer no apology.
He drew a long breath. “We got her. Picked her up this morning for questioning in the murder of Bradley Wells.
She swallowed hard. The heaviness in her chest threatened to pull her down.
“I want you to go, Liddy.” Mort sounded tired. “Leave now. Don’t go back to Olympia. Just turn around and disappear.”
Lydia took a step toward him but his upraised hand stopped her.
“I don’t understand.” She coughed the catch in her throat clear.
A layer of tears glistened in Mort’s eyes. “I’m familiar with The Fixer’s body of work. I imagine it’s been lucrative. I’m sure you’ve got access to various identities.” He rubbed his hand through his graying hair.
Lydia’s knees buckled. She leaned against the carved railing. “How long have you known?”
Mort looked at her for several long seconds. “I think some part of me knew a while ago. I kept pushing coincidences out of my head. Hell, I don’t know when.” His jaw muscles twitched. “But I know now. My guess is she’s blackmailing you, right?”
Lydia felt the sting of tears and blinked them away.
“Please answer me, Liddy.” Mort was calm. “You came here to kill her. What did she want you to do?”
Her ears were ringing. Her bones ached. She wanted to be back home, sharing coffee with him and watching the morning roll in. “She wanted me to kill Cameron Williams. Then wait for further instructions.”
Mort hung his head. His voice barely a whisper. “You killed Cameron?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t say that.”
Mort snapped his head up. His voice stern enough to press her back to the wall. “Don’t play games with me, Lydia. I asked you if you killed Cameron.”
Lydia could hear her pulse pounding. For the first time in a long time she could tell the complete and unvarnished truth. She knew he’d listen. She stared silently at him, ashamed at her cowardice.
His voice softened. A loving father teaching his daughter a life lesson. “You got used, Liddy. Or I should say The Fixer got used. You and Wally both. Poor Wally thought he was helping his mentor by hiring you. Who the hell knows what she told that kid.” Mort rested his cheek against his palm. “Hell, when I saw what Bastian did to that gorilla I wanted to kill him myself. But why would she want Cameron dead?”
Lydia choked out the word. “Jealousy. Cameron told me Meredith and Bastian were a couple before she met him.”
“So the two spurned lovers concocted the scheme together. Wells had the money and the goons. Meredith had the patsy and the synthesizer.” Mort hung his hands between his knees. “And you had the chops.”
“She had help,” Lydia said. “They got into my house.”
Mort nodded. “We’ve got one on tape. We’ll get him. If there are others we’ll get them, too. You don’t need to worry.”
Lydia’s shame pushed her further back. She wanted to disappear. Run far from the heaviness of Mort’s disappointment. But the pleading look in his eyes riveted her to where she stood.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry for the pain I’m causing you.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right. Leave right now and you’ll be, too. Go live your life somewhere safe. Away from all this.”
Lydia wiped the tears off her face with both hands. “Why? After all you know, why would you let me walk away?”
Mort’s stare was heartrending. “When this story breaks The Fixer will become a folk hero to every person ever denied justice. I’m sure more than a few cops will be singing your praises, too. But I’m not letting The Fixer go.” Mort’s eyes lased into hers. “I’m giving Peggy Denise Simmons a break. What’s done is done. I know you thought you were doing something good for the world.” He coughed his throat clear. “I promised I’d have your back, and I will. Now go.”
“Meredith knows who I am. She has recordings and photos.”
“She’d have to admit to hiring you. I’m betting she won’t do that. If she does, well, I’m sure you can make yourself invisible.” Mort stood and walked three steps down. “The important thing is you’ll be safe.”
Lydia’s mind raced through her options. Could she start over? Free from The Fixer? She reached inside her parka, pulled out an envelope, and held it Mort’s way.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Lydia was numb. Her voice an echo to her own ears. She felt far away, suspended above the scene, watching it play out. “It’s an address. Go there and find Cameron Williams.”
“You hid her body?” Mort reached for the envelope. “That’s not like The Fixer.”
She shook her head. Mort shrank in her field of vision, as though she was looking at him from the end of a long hallway. “She’s not dead. She’s waiting for you.”
She barely could see the confused look on Mort’s face. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“She knows I killed Bastian.” Lydia allowed herself a little smile. “You’d be surprised how easy it was to convince her to let me draw a few vials of her blood and spray it around the room after I told her I’d been sent to kill her, too. She’s safe. She knows to stay put until you come get her.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m not a murderer,” she whispered.
Mort held the envelope. The sadness on his face tormented Lydia. She could still feel something like love.
His voice was hoarse with regret. “I’ll bring her home. Now go. You’ll have nothing to fear from Cameron. I’ll make sure of it. Just go.”
Lydia shook her head. “I’m not Allie, Mort. You’re not responsible for saving me. And you couldn’t live with yourself if you let me walk away from this. You know what you need to do. I won’t go to jail.” She pulled her revolver from her pocket.
“You gonna shoot me, Liddy?”
The hand that escorted so many to their deaths trembled with the weight of the Smith and Wesson. “Do what you need to do. Please.”
The sound of footsteps interrupted their focus and they both looked toward the kitchen. Lydia took two steps into the living room and saw a man walking toward them. She turned her gun toward Mort.
“Is this an arrest?” Her shame was replaced by despair. “You pretended to care long enough to distract me until your team showed up?”
Mort descended the staircase and stood five feet from her. “You hear any sirens, Liddy?” He looked toward the intruder.
“Hello, Carl.” Mort watched the Executive Provost pull a revolver from the jacket of his pocket.
Lydia turned her own gun toward the red-haired man.
“Well what have we here?” Carl Snelling clucked his satisfaction. “This is all a bit too easy now, isn’t it? God knows I’m in for a bit of luck after the day I’m having.”
“Put down your weapon,” Lydia commanded.
Carl held Lydia’s gaze and stepped closer. He leveled his gun toward the side of Mort’s head. “You first, Fixer. Drop your gun now or the good officer dies. And don’t expect any drama of my counting to three. Drop it now or wish you had.”
Her mind raced. This stranger knew who she was. She wanted to shoot. But the risk of his finger reflexively pulling his own trigger could kill Mort.
“Fine.” He turned his eyes toward Mort.
“Stop!” Lydia threw her gun to the floor.
The redheaded man chuckled and kicked Lydia’s gun across the floor. “That’s a good little girl.” He waved them both to the sofa. “Now sit.”
Mort and Lydia traversed the large room and took a seat across from the expansive windows. Carl Snelling sat in a chair opposite them.
“You okay?” Mort whispered to Lydia. His eyes were filled with concern and she wondered how a man came to be so rock-steady. She nodded and turned her attention back to the man with the gun.
“You’re Private Number?” she asked.
The man looked puzzled. Then a rush of recognition washed over his face. “Is that what you call me? How charming. One would suppose it’s necessary to have some way to identify one’s controller, wouldn’t one? The screen announcing my calls would suffice, I’d imagine. Allow me to introduce myself, My Dear. I’m Carl Snelling. Of course, I already know you.” He turned his attention to Mort. “And you, Detective Grant. I imagine you’re sifting through every conversation we’ve ever had. Wondering what you missed and all that. Am I right?”
Mort’s voice was cold but composed. “I’m not missing a thing, Snelling. You’re Meredith Thornton’s lackey. You do her bidding at the university and you dance the tune she called when it came to killing Bastian and Buchner. Cameron Williams, too.”
Snelling dropped the façade of congeniality. His eyes narrowed and Lydia watched his face turn to ice. “You couldn’t be more wrong, Detective. Meredith is as flummoxed by the deaths as the rest of the university. I tried to tell you I was the one you should be speaking with. True to form, Meredith knows nothing.” He settled back into the chair and crossed one leg over the other. “As relates to who is lackey to whom, I’m afraid you have the arrow pointing in the wrong direction. A common mistake for the poorly educated.”
Mort sat mute, focused on the gunman. Lydia watched both men. Despite the fact Snelling was armed, Mort challenged him for Alpha position.
“You don’t believe me?” Snelling raised an eyebrow.
Mort stayed silent. He held Snelling’s gaze and Lydia wondered if he was breathing.
Snelling glanced toward Lydia. “You think this is about monkeys being beheaded, don’t you?” His grin held no mirth. “My poor, deluded Fixer. As it always is, this is about money.”
“What do you mean?” Lydia needed to keep him talking. She needed time to think of a way to get Mort out of this. A way that guaranteed Snelling didn’t leave the house alive.
“Bradley Wells approached me several months ago. He wanted to develop four hundred acres of university property along the Lake Washington shoreline. He offered me five hundred thousand dollars to convince Meredith to direct the board of trustees to sell it to him. I was offended, of course.” He gave another of his frigid smiles. “But when he upped his offer to seven hundred fifty thousand I reassessed my position. Meredith has always relied on me to keep the university running as she goes about raising funds and seducing the legislature. I knew I could make her see things our way. And let’s be frank. Three-quarters of a million dollars would go far toward feathering my retirement nest. A civil servant’s lot is a thankless one.”
“But Thornton wouldn’t play ball?” Mort asked.
“Ah, you see? You’re wrong again, Detective. As always, I was able to bring Meredith around. I phonied some numbers to make her think the university was on the brink of financial ruin. Wells played his part as the disappointed benefactor. She became convinced selling the property to Wells was the right move for the university.”
“Then why did you have me kill Bastian?” Lydia asked.
“Because Bastian had grown weary of Meredith. He wanted her gone.” Snelling uncrossed and re-crossed his legs. Lydia hoped it indicated he was growing tired. “You see, Wells had shared his land development idea with Cameron prior to her ending their engagement. When she switched her affections to Bastian, she must have mentioned it as pillow talk. I began to hear rumors of Bastian reaching out to various trustees with the idea Meredith be replaced. Some were listening. Meredith was key to convincing the trustees to sell Wells the land. If she was out of the president’s seat Wells was out of a deal and my coffers were empty. I tried to reason with Bastion, but he was resolute. He threatened to reveal my role in Wells’ plan.” Snelling grimaced. “After all I did to get his precious Ortoo into his lab undetected. This is how he thanked me.”
“Did Meredith know you were planning to kill Bastian?” Mort asked.
Snelling laughed. “God, no. Meredith deals in abstracts, Detective. I’d heard of you, Fixer. I thought you were an urban myth, but Wells thought you were worth a try. We developed a plan to have you eliminate our obstacle.”
“And Wally Buchner?” Mort asked.
“A simple conduit, Detective,” Snelling said. “I needed a face to negotiate with The Fixer while I stood behind the scenes. Buchner was extremely loyal to Meredith. He was also a bleeding heart when it came to animals. It took very little effort to convince him to do this for the good of the university. I assured him The Fixer would find a way to humiliate Bastian so that he’d resign.” Snelling threw Lydia a smile. “Poor Wally thought Bastian’s heart attack was a coincidence. It’s my understanding he took quite a bit of convincing when he had to call you to say you’d killed the wrong man.”
“And you followed Lydia from the warehouse. Found out who she really was.” Mort’s voice was arctic steel.
Snelling shifted the gun to his left hand. Lydia knew Mort had the same idea she did. Keep him talking and let that gun grow heavy.
“It was a delightful serendipity.” Snelling turned toward Lydia. “I fully expected to follow you to an airport. Perhaps learn the name of your home city. Imagine my utter joy to find The Fixer lived just down the road. When I told Wells he was as thrilled as I. The thought of having a professional of your caliber, Fixer; available at our beck and call, was quite the unexpected bonus. That’s when poor Wally had to die. We had to get your attention. Introduce you to your new employer, as it were.”
“You’re saying you killed him?” Mort asked.
“Oh, my goodness, no.” Snelling returned his gun to his right hand. “Wells had people who took care of that. I was at the warehouse. The voice behind the synthesizer.”