Part 11 (1/2)
She felt truly afraid for the first time and alone even with the officers there. The full impact of what had happened earlier had finally hit her. Someone had tried to run her down in the street. Tried to kill her.
And now Captain Brad Baxter had ordered her into protective custody, pending a psychiatric evaluation. She doubted he really thought her ad in the newspaper was a death wish. Maybe he was just trying to protect her.
But she thought it was more his way of warning Jack and Denny. This was his murder case and no one had better get in his way-including the star witness.
She couldn't believe that just because for one instant she happened to see a man in a hallway, her life was now in danger and her freedom taken from her. At least temporarily. She hoped.
”Don't worry,” Jack had said. But he'd looked worried. And so had Denny.
So where did that leave her? In the hands of men she didn't know. Men she didn't necessarily trust. She liked that even less than she'd liked being dependent on Jack. Thank G.o.d he'd been there today. She just hoped she hadn't gotten him fired. Or jailed.
She slammed the mug book closed and went to stand at the window to stare out at the dying afternoon. She saw the line of people buying tokens for the carousel across the river and wondered where Jack was. By now, he could be miles from here. She wished she could talk to him, but she knew any more contact might only lose him his job. She'd been afraid of leaning on him too much and now she ached to hear his voice.
Just the memory of being in his arms- What was she doing standing here daydreaming about Jack? There was a killer out there who wanted her dead.
As she stood at the window, the day fading fast, she began to formulate a plan to escape. She couldn't accomplish anything locked up here. Who knew how long the psychiatric evaluation would take? And who knew what the outcome would be? Maybe she was nuts for putting the ad in the paper.
The next meeting was in less than an hour with the man who'd written the second letter. This time it could be Liz's secret lover but Karen was too far from the carousel to recognize him. She'd seen him twice now. What was it about him the second time that made her so sure it had been him? She didn't know.
She wanted him caught. The only way that was going to happen was for her to be there. Identify him. So she could get her life back.
Funny, but her old life didn't have as much appeal, she thought, remembering the ski lodge and Jack and that overwhelming feeling of belonging there. Pure fantasy. She'd felt safe there and she was sure that was the big appeal.
Why was she trying so hard to rationalize her feelings for the ski lodge? For Jack? What was she so afraid of?
She dragged her thoughts back to her plan, hoping to see the secret lover again-this evening.
JACK COULDN'T SIT STILL. He had time to kill and too much on his mind. He kept thinking about Denny and Liz. It beat worrying about Karen and fuming in frustration that he didn't know where Baxter had her.
Denny had said he'd met Liz at The Oxford for a drink. Jack doubted that, even if the same bartender was on duty, he'd remember Denny and Liz, but it was worth a shot.
The bar, locally known as The Ox, was only a few blocks away. The walk felt good, the day warm and clear, but not hot yet.
Jack pushed open the door to find the bar half-empty this time of the day. Fans turned overhead against the dark green of the old tin ceiling. He pulled up one of the red vinyl stools and sat down. Behind the bar, a variety of old rifles were framed in gla.s.s and wooden boxes. He studied them until the bartender slid a napkin in front of him and asked what he'd take.
The bartender was a robust blonde woman who fortunately was friendly. He engaged her in conversation. About the spring weather, the University of Montana Grizzlies' basketball season and finally the murder at the Carlton.
”You know that woman was in here the other night with some guy,” the bartender said.
Always skeptical, Jack asked, ”You remember her, huh?”
”Can't help but remember her. She was with this really good-looking guy.” Denny. ”But the only reason I remember her was the fight she got into with him.”
The blood pounded in Jack's ears. ”Do you know what they were fighting about?”
She laughed. ”Probably the usual. Another man. I only caught the worst of it and it sounded like she'd done something to really tick him off. He kept saying, 'How could you do something like that to me? What the h.e.l.l did you think was going to happen when I found out? I could kill you with my bare hands for doing this to me.'”
Jack felt sick. He left a large tip and stumbled out into the spring afternoon, afraid Denny wouldn't show back at Al and Vic's, let alone bring him Karen's location. And it was less than twenty minutes until the second meeting.
Jack tried to put the picture together. Liz and Denny. The married woman Denny had been seeing on the sly? Didn't seem likely since Liz supposedly had only been in town a week. But Columbia Falls wasn't that far away. They could have been meeting for some time.
Add to that, the fight at the bar. Over another man? Liz's secret lover? The woman had more secrets than the CIA. Then Denny gets wind of it and blows. The next thing you know Liz is dead. Jack didn't like the way it all fell into chronological order.
The question was how long did the secret lover stay in Liz's room? What if he'd left quickly and Denny had been waiting in the wings? There were thirty-five minutes between the moment when Karen had seen Liz open the hotel-room door to the mystery man until the time when Liz was murdered. A lot could happen in thirty-five minutes.
Too much. Had Denny been the one who called Karen after Liz was dead? Had he been the one to find Liz's latte-shop napkin with Karen's number on it? It had been Denny's idea for Karen to put the newspaper ad in the personals column, knowing Karen would be risking her life.
With a terrible sense of foreboding, Jack went back to the first bar to wait for Denny, praying his friend would show. Praying he was wrong and that there was another explanation.
DENNY DIDN'T SHOW when he was supposed to. Jack was sipping a beer, growing more anxious, when a news special flashed on the television. when he was supposed to. Jack was sipping a beer, growing more anxious, when a news special flashed on the television.
”Could you turn that up?” he asked the bartender.
”Dr. Carl Vandermullen had been picked up for questioning by police and released, following the murder of his ex-wife Liz Jones,” the newsman said. ”Their divorce was finalized just twenty-four hours before Jones was found murdered at the Hotel Carlton. Dr. Vandermullen refused to comment except to say his ex-wife's death was a great loss and he hopes the police apprehend the killer soon.”
Baxter had obviously used kid gloves on the doctor.
Regular programming resumed and Jack looked again at his watch, growing more anxious as the clock ticked away each minute. The second meeting was to go off in less than ten minutes. But Denny had no reason to be there. He'd been taken off the case. And he knew Karen wasn't going to be there.
So where was Denny? Had he found Karen's hiding place and gone there instead? Had Jack just enlisted the killer to find Karen?
Denny walked in just as Jack was getting ready to leave.
”Baxter's got her locked up tighter than h.e.l.l and no one is talking, and I mean no-” Denny stopped in midstep, midsentence. ”What is it?”
”Dammit, Denny,” Jack cursed. ”I know about the fight you had with Liz the night you met her for a drink, just two days before she was killed.”
”Don't do this, old buddy.”
”Where's Karen?” he demanded.
”I don't know.” Denny glared at him, anger in his dark eyes. ”I told you. I couldn't get squat.”
Jack shook his head. ”I need to know the truth, Denny. Now. No more bull.”
”I already told you I didn't have anything to do with Liz's death. I want her killer caught as much as you do. More.” He looked away, then motioned to the bartender that he was going in the back and didn't want to be bothered.
”Get a clue,” Denny said the moment they were seated at the farthest table in the back. ”Why do you think I called you Sat.u.r.day morning and told you it was urgent that you come to the Carlton?”
”A stupid practical joke.” Except it seemed all wrong considering what he now knew about Denny and Liz.
”Would I have wanted you on this case if I'd killed Liz?” Denny demanded. ”Look, Jack, you're the best cop I know. That's why I need you.”