Part 23 (1/2)
”You always were a bright kid,” the cop said. ”Must have gotten that from your father.”
His father. Slade looked into Curtis's eyes and knew. ”You made it look like a heart attack.” He never had a bad heart. He never had a bad heart. Inez's words seem to echo. Sweet heaven. ”You killed my father-and Dr. Wellington.” It was everything he could do not to launch himself at the man and take his chances. If he could just get his hands around the cop's throat- ”Dad must have found out that you were the one who killed Marcella.” Inez's words seem to echo. Sweet heaven. ”You killed my father-and Dr. Wellington.” It was everything he could do not to launch himself at the man and take his chances. If he could just get his hands around the cop's throat- ”Dad must have found out that you were the one who killed Marcella.”
”Your father was one h.e.l.l of a cop,” Curtis said almost sadly. ”He wanted to blow me away himself, but he had too much honor. It was just one of the things Norma loved about him. He gave me until the next morning to turn myself in. Wellington told me what I needed to make the death look like a heart attack. Ironically, I used the same drug on the good doctor when the time came.”
”But why kill Wellington if he was such a genuis?” Slade asked, trying to put it all together, knowing somewhere in it all was the key to what had happened to his baby girl.
”He was getting out of control and I was getting tired of cleaning up after him. And I didn't need him anymore.”
”Holly,” Slade guessed, inching toward the lab table. He moved so slowly. Too slowly. But he didn't dare make a misstep. He had to think of Holly. Finding Holly. ”You were afraid of him marrying a woman so much younger and controlling her mind through the use of drugs.”
”Wellington had taken her off the drug so he could get her pregnant, but he was having trouble controlling her.”
”It was you she was running from when she left the Inst.i.tute last Christmas Eve,” Slade said. It all made sense now. The way Holly had disappeared right after she'd met the chief and Norma. ”You could have killed her after you used the mind control to make her forget me,” he said, wondering if there wasn't some human compa.s.sion in the man.
”You were already obsessed over your mother's murder,” Curtis snapped. ”If I'd killed Holly, you would never have let up until you found out the truth.”
Slade was almost within reach of the table-and the microscope. Suddenly he saw something that stopped him dead. He watched a drop of blood fall from the cop's left side and splat on the floor, bright red, at the man's feet. Slade's glaze leapt to Curtis' zipped jacket. The knit band around the bottom on the left was soaked with blood. He'd been wounded! Had Carolyn Gray fought back? But how badly was the cop hurt? ”You had to know she was carrying my baby, Norma's grandbaby.”
”Inez convinced me that the baby was Wellington's.”
Slade saw it now, all of the pieces finally falling into place. Except one large empty hole that he had to have filled no matter what happened in this room tonight.
HOLLY STOOD in the middle of the hallway, lost. She had no idea where she was or where the lab was. She felt tears blur her vision. She swiped at them angrily. Which way? Back down the hall away from the elevator? But then the halls made a junction and- She saw something on the floor and knew before she reached down to touch the bright red spot what had been wrong with Chief Curtis. Blood. He'd been wounded. It made no sense, but she didn't question it as she looked down the hallway for another drop of blood, then another. Better than a breadcrumb trail, she thought.
She took off her boots, not wanting to make a sound, then began to follow the b.l.o.o.d.y trail back to the lab. As she drew closer, she began to run, fear and anger coursing through her veins like blood, a hot cauldron of fury. ”Dammit, Rawlins, don't you dare let that psychopath kill you!”
”WHAT IS IT you want, Slade?” The way Curtis said it he could have been asking him what he wanted for lunch. The cop sounded tired and old and Slade found himself wondering how well he'd ever known him.
”My baby and Holly.”
Curtis c.o.c.ked his head to the side. ”Why don't I believe that's all you want?”
”That's it. I don't give a d.a.m.n about the rest of this.” It surprised him, but it was true.
The cop grabbed a shelf on the wall next to him and flung its contents to the floor. ”Not you, Slade. You have to have truth and and justice. You couldn't live with yourself otherwise.” justice. You couldn't live with yourself otherwise.”
”You might be surprised,” Slade said.
Curtis wagged his bald head as he pulled a second gun from his coat.
Slade recognized it as his own-the one he couldn't find at Dr. Delaney's. ”Dr. Delaney was telling the truth. He wasn't at the birth of Holly's and my baby. It was you. You put the mask in Delaney's closet to frame him.” He could reach the microscope now. All he needed was the right moment and a h.e.l.l of a lot of luck. ”There is one thing I don't understand. Why not let Holly keep the baby? All Inez wanted was an heir for her brother-even a dead one. Why not let Inez have a live family heir? No one would be the wiser.”
”Holly was too unstable,” Curtis said with a sigh. ”I figured after her baby was born dead, she'd probably end up committing suicide.”
He'd planned to kill Holly. No doubt still did. Sweet heaven. ”What part did Dr. Delaney and Dr. O'Brien play in all this?”
The question seemed to take Curtis by surprise. He frowned. ”Dr. O'Brien has nothing to do with this. Why would you ask about him?”
Slade spotted Holly out of the corner of his eye and couldn't believe it for a moment. She peeked around the edge of the doorframe and winked at him. He'd never been so glad to see anyone in his life.
”I saw O'Brien at Inez's,” Slade said.
The cop's frown deepened. ”Inez and Dr. O'Brien? She told me she was just trying to get Holly recommitted, and Dr. O'Brien had offered to help.”
It was obvious Curtis wasn't so sure about Inez now. ”You know there is something that bothers me,” Slade said, motioning to the lab, actually motioning to the microscope on the lab table, hoping that Holly would see what he had planned. ”You don't give a d.a.m.n about superbabies or changing the world to meet some master plan. What were you really doing here?”
Holly nodded. She had her boots off. One in each hand. She motioned that she could throw them.
”Haven't you already guessed? At first, I was just angry that Norma and I couldn't have children when all the wrong couples were having babies. Then I realized there was money to be made with the babies that didn't quite stack up. Allan thought I...disposed of them. But babies, I found, are worth much more alive, either in hard cash or to pay off a debt.”
Slade wanted to kill the man with his bare hands, but instead he nodded at Holly as if answering Curtis. ”Was my baby cash or payment of a debt?”
”A debt. I was shutting down. Wellington had needed someone to clean up his messes, so we had a pretty good thing going until he became too much of a liability. Your baby was going to be my last...deal. Had a good run, no reason to push my luck.”
”But then Holly began to remember,” Slade said.
The cop nodded. ”Having your baby be stillborn, it's really made you crazy. And when it all comes out about Dr. Wellington and his mind control...well, everyone involved will be dead. I think I'll retire, too broken up about your death to continue law enforcement. Holly will commit suicide. That shouldn't surprise anyone. Once I get her back under my control again. My old method doesn't work, thanks to Dr. Delaney. I knew the day would come when his conscience would get to him. But he's gone now. All I have to worry about is Sh.e.l.ley. I'm sorry, Slade, but I think all of Norma's children and grandchildren are going to have to die.”
A thought lodged itself in Slade's brain like a splinter. The three monsters in Holly's painting. He'd thought they were Carolyn Gray, Lorraine Vogel and Dr. Delaney. Why hadn't he remembered that the monsters didn't seem to know what they were doing? Delaney had delivered thousands of babies. He wouldn't have panicked. But Delaney hadn't been there-Curtis had.
”What went wrong during Holly's delivery?” he asked the cop, positioning himself to grab the microscope the moment Holly threw the boots.
”Nothing,” Curtis said, momentarily distracted by the question. ”Just a little surprise. We were expecting one baby-not two!”
”Twins?” Slade shot a look to Holly. Curtis caught the look and started to turn. ”Now!” Slade yelled.
Holly threw the boots and ducked back out of the doorway. Slade grabbed the microscope and lunged at the cop.
But Curtis was in good shape and quick for a man of his age. He swung back around, realizing Slade was the greatest threat. The microscope hit the cop's hand, the gun went clattering across the floor, and then Curtis was on him, the second gun, Slade's own, in the big man's hand.
They fell to the floor, wrestling for the weapon.
”Get the other gun!” Slade cried to Holly as he and Curtis fought, Slade's pistol between them, Curtis strong as a bull.
She ran into the lab. Curtis's service revolver had slid under one of the cabinets near Carolyn's body. Slade saw Holly cringe at the sight of the dead woman, then flatten herself to the floor to reach back under the cabinet. Everything was happening so fast, and yet it seemed in slow motion, each detail so clear. He could see that she'd cut her bare foot on some gla.s.s, blood soaking through her sock, but she seemed oblivious of the wound as she dug for the weapon, unable to reach it.
Slade struggled for the gun between them, Curtis rolling so he was on top.
The blast surprised Slade when the gun went off.