Part 29 (1/2)
Leaving my purse and gun, I got out of my car. Running past the Mercedes, I saw Gerald in the driver's seat, ignoring me. At Celia's front door, I hesitated a moment, then tried the k.n.o.b. It was unlocked. Opening it, I stepped in and walked down the hallway. Glancing into the living room, I continued to the kitchen. Peeling an apple, Parson sat at the table. He did not bother to look up. Dressed in polo s.h.i.+rt and slacks, Luis stood behind him. Lithe and lethal looking, his teak-colored skin glowed as warm as the table. Bruno leaned against the Sub Zero, managing to make it look small in comparison. I could almost smell the stink of his sweat when he'd pressed his body against mine in the elevator ”Luis found this in the refrigerator for me. He's always trying to get me to eat more. I think apples are better left out in the fresh air. Please sit down, Ms. Poole.” Parson wore a gray cashmere windbreaker with the collar turned up and gray slacks. His skeletal face looked as if the flesh had been scooped out from under his cheekbones with a spoon. His lips drawn down toward his goatee, he cut the apple in half.
I remained standing. ”Is that Ben's car in the drive? Where's Heath?”
”Right to the point.”
”You're a sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
Luis moved swiftly to my side, a knife appearing in his hand.
I stopped breathing for a moment. ”Where are Heath and Ben?”
”You're a b.a.l.l.sy woman. Just like your mother.” Parson set down the two halves of the apple and pushed himself up from the table. ”She told me to go f.u.c.k myself. But I'm afraid you won't be able to do that. Come along.” He moved to the door that connected to the garage and opened it for me. Luis pocketed his knife.
Inside, a single ray of dusty light shone through a small window. A chair lay on its side in a faded oil stain, flip-flops resting nearby, and a shadow moved over them. I looked up. I staggered backwards. From the garage's crossbeam Ben hung by a rope, the noose tight around his neck, his face swollen, his eyes looked down at us.
I lunged for him, screaming, ”No, no, no!” As I tried to lift his legs up, to take the weight off the noose, Luis and Bruno pulled me back.
”He's been dead almost an hour.” Parson watched from the door.
”You did this.” Tears ran down my face as I struggled to free myself from the two men.
”Let her go,” Parson ordered. ”No. I found Ben hanging just as you see him.”
”I don't understand. I spoke to him here and then he left.”
”He must've returned.”
I leaned against the wall for support. I thought of Ben standing in the kitchen fixated on the door. Was he thinking of suicide when I had surprised him?
”When I arrived,” Parson said, ”Heath was trying to get him down. Ben may have been alive then. It's hard to say. Of course, Luis and Bruno had to stop Heath.”
”Where is he?”
Parson nodded and Luis moved to a pile of tarps in the corner and flipped one up. I followed him. Heath lay on his back, bound and gagged. Blood ran down his unshaven face from the top of his head. He still wore the s.h.i.+rt I had ripped the b.u.t.tons off of last night.
Luis slapped Heath twice. Heath groaned and opened his eyes. Seeing me, he immediately began to struggle to free himself. I put my hand on his bare chest and he stopped moving. Feeling the warmth of his skin, his heart beating wildly, I leaned close and whispered ”I'll be all right. Remember, you promised not to underestimate me.”
Heath closed his eyes, then opened them. Bruno moved in and struck him in the head with the b.u.t.t of his gun. I grabbed for Bruno, but Luis pulled me away and shoved me back into the kitchen.
”Now, shall we talk?” Parson was already easing his long body back into the kitchen chair. Meticulously, he sliced the inner core from each apple half.
Shaking, I wiped my tears with the sleeve of my sweater. ”You want me to tell you where Celia is.”
”Personally, I don't think you know where she is. But I think you'll find her. You know her better than any of us. Even Zaitlin.” He shook his head sadly.
”I'm not sure of that anymore.”
”Yes, you must feel deeply betrayed by her. I know that feeling. Did you know my wife killed herself?”
”No.” I glanced at Bruno, who was busy wiping Heath's blood from the b.u.t.t of his gun with his handkerchief.
”We kept it out of the news. Suicide is a betrayal, too. First my daughter dies, now my wife. This has been the blackest period of my life.”
”I wonder if Hitler felt as victimized as you do.”
Luis was trying to decide if that was a slur against his boss.
”What am I supposed to do when I find Celia?” I asked.
”Get the memory card from the camera that Ben and my daughter used to film their ... clients. We will do the rest.” He neatly sliced each apple half into two more equal parts, creating quarters.
”You mean kill her. How do you know she has the camera?”
”We've searched Ben's condo. He didn't have it. We searched the Zaitlins' house. They don't have it. It's not here. We know the police don't have it.”
”How do you know that?”
”Let's just say I have contacts. I think when Celia killed my daughter, she took it. Or maybe she took it when she shot Zackary Logan. You look perplexed.”
”Why would she murder either one?”
”A mother's love, however late it may be. She was trying to protect her son.” He stabbed his knife into one of the apple quarters, raised the piece to his mouth, and bit.
”You know?”
”Of course.” He chewed.
”Protect him from what?”
”From my daughter. I'm speaking from Celia's point of view. I see it the other way round, of course. Logan was probably an act of necessity. Under duress, Zaitlin told me he had just found out that Ben was his son and Celia his real mother. He pleaded with me not to hurt Ben. He even asked me to kill him instead. So I gave him a gun to use on himself.”
”You are an evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
”Is that the same as being a sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d?” He grinned. ”Keep your cell phone on, Ms. Poole. I will be in contact with you. Any more questions?”
”No.”
”Odd. I thought you might ask me when I was going to let Heath go.”
”You have no intention of letting him go.”
His jaw tensed. ”Don't try to be more clever than me.”
”I wouldn't think of it.” I was just hoping to be as clever. ”I know why you were blackmailing my husband. You should be very proud of your daughter. She was just like you. A psychopath.”
He rose up out of his chair, slamming his hands down on the table. The apple pieces danced. I turned my back on him and left. They let me walk out of the house. They had to. Parson wanted Celia more than he wanted me. Until he was finished with her, that is.