Part 31 (1/2)
”It was quite a long walk, but not an impossible one since I'm here. By the way, you left your side door unlocked.”
”How careless of me.”
She marveled that he looked perfectly calm. A little short of breath, maybe, because he must have hiked at least a mile or two through farmland to the north of her.
”Why didn't you just come to the front door?”
For an answer, he shrugged. He was dressed in a warm sheepskin jacket and his hair was boyishly tousled. She looked down at his feet and saw that his boots were encased in plastic.
”Why, Danny?”
”Why not?” He giggled, and Rae was pretty sure he was high. ”As you said, I've made some pretty c.r.a.ppy choices in women. I didn't need you to tell me to correct my errors.” He giggled again. Rae's stomach was doing the queasy thing. She walked into the kitchen for water. Danny followed.
When she'd filled her gla.s.s and drunk about half, she said, ”Water, Danny? Or coffee? You want to tell me about it? How you corrected your mistakes?”
”I'll do that much for you, Rae. I owe you. But first, let's go upstairs.”
”No. We'll talk here.” Her knees trembled, but thank G.o.d her voice remained firm.
Danny drew a small pistol from his coat pocket. ”No, we'll go upstairs.”
”You're going to shoot me?”
He laughed an eerie, crazy cackle. ”Of course not. Rae, how could you think such a thing?” He walked over and prodded her with the gun. ”Now, move slowly up the stairs.”
She obeyed, holding on to the stair railing for support. ”Now where?”
”Your bedroom.”
”My bedroom?” OhmiG.o.d, what's he thinking?
”Oh, no-no-noo. Rae, would I do a thing like that?”
She flipped on the hall light as they topped the flight of stairs. ”I didn't think so. I didn't think that of you, Danny.”
”I just want to take a look at something in your room.”
”What would that be?”
”Anthony's pistol.”
”How...” Instant replay. She'd told him, that's how. ”Why do you think it's in my room?”
”You said you keep it close by. At night, that's when you'd want it close by. In your bedroom--that's where you're most alone. When you need protection.”
”How smart you are, Danny.”
”Not really. Else I never would have made another mess I'd have to clean up. You can't imagine how much I regret the position you've put me in.”
”I've put you in? You think you have no responsibility here?”
”Sorry, Rae. I just can't afford to let you screw up my plans.” He pushed open the first bedroom door. ”It won't be hard to determine which room is yours.”
She hung back. ”You said you owed me. So tell me how you happened to kill JJ.”
”Your room first.” He prodded her in the back with the little gun. Up close she'd seen it was real--maybe like the one Markov had used. The little twenty-two that hadn't killed Anthony.
You can do this.
I'm not sure.
Yes, you can.
She opened the door to her room and entered ahead of Danny and switched on a bedside lamp. Grandma's quilt on her bed--she wanted to draw it around her--handmade in a pattern of Grandma's design--if he shot her, there would be blood on the quilt. She walked to the window, distancing herself from the bed. ”You think it'll be any harder to figure out if you use Anthony's gun?”
”I'm not going to use Anthony's gun.” Another crazy, crack-head giggle. ”You are.”
She turned to look into his eyes, and the Danny she thought she knew wasn't even there. ”You've really lost it.”
”No, Rae. It's you who are unbalanced. Your grief over your husband's death has left you despondent.”
”Oh, right. So despondent that I just bought a plane ticket to go see my kids.”
”Thanks for telling me. When we're finished, I'll just go into your computer and cancel it.”
”You can't do that. You don't even know what airline. Who's to say I didn't call my travel agent?”
”First, you don't have a travel agent. Second, I've become very proficient at hacking into computers.” He walked to the bedside table, opened its one drawer and removed the heavy flannel from Anthony's pistol. ”You said 'close by.' What could be closer?”
”No one would believe I'd kill myself.”
”You'd be surprised. Sandy and I have discussed your grief at length.”
”Sandy's in this with you?”
”No, Rae. Sandy's the same good old Sandy that you thought he was. We discussed your state of mind the day you hit me in the face. You do remember hitting me? And why do you think I never brought charges? Sympathy for your mental state, Rae.”
She suddenly felt cold creep down her spine. Her knees trembled. Why had she gotten herself into this? ”Tell me about JJ and Deidre. You owe me, Danny.”
”I do. You stuck by me, helped me get rid of Gil and the pack at RS and E. My removal as P/R is imminent, but you helped me buy some time. One good thing my dad taught me was how to strip properties of their worth. Gil suspected, but you got him so riled up that he resigned instead of following through, which meant I didn't have him breathing down my neck. You and Sandy are much more trusting. Good people are, you know?”
”You were the JJ connection after all.”
”Silly Kevin. He was the one that had it mixed up.”
”Then you killed Deidre--”