Part 37 (2/2)
He tossed Linda aside and she flopped against the wall. ”I just might do that.”
He held the note and began dialing in the numbers. His first attempt failed to open the safe. He tried again. His second attempt also failed.
”Okay, gimme the right combination or I'll cut you open and gut you right here.”
Linda had pa.s.sed out, but was beginning to stir.
”What is it?” he shrieked.
Suddenly, the lights went out. I backed across the floor to Linda, gathered her to me. I couldn't see well, but I could hear something ... a soft mournful whisper, like wind corks.c.r.e.w.i.n.g through a crack. Then the whisper became louder, more insistent, until it formed recognizable words.
”Don't ... touch ...them.”
”What?” he said. ”What was that? Who said that?”
The wavering voice grew stronger. ”Don't ... touch ... them.” The hair rose at the back of my neck. I recognized the voice. Kelly's.
”You're dead,” he shouted. ”You're f.u.c.king dead. You stay the h.e.l.l away from me.” His knife cut the air as he swung it to the left and right.
The stairs creaked, and I heard each frightful footfall as Kelly descended.
”I'll kill you,” he shouted. ”I'll kill you again!”
A blinding light appeared on his face. He held up an arm to fend it off, then screamed, reaching back with the knife.
”Police officers. Don't move.”
Craig hurled the knife toward his target.
Shots split the air.
Craig squealed out in pain. ”G.o.d, I'm shot. I'm shot. For chrissake someone help me. Aaarrrggghhh.”
The overhead light came on and I saw Nate holding a gun on Craig. Two other police officers hustled down the stairs. Sue came in right behind them. She pointed at Linda, then shouted, ”Get someone in here in a hurry. She's losing blood.”
”Are you okay?” Sue asked, bending over me.
”Yes.”
”I'm sorry. We couldn't get here any sooner. Our man on Linda-he got caught out in the blizzard and couldn't reach us. We didn't know you were in trouble right away.”
I watched as medical emergency personnel rushed down the stairs to Linda.
”But ... how did you find us? And ... I heard ...”
”I put a GPS tracker on your Jeep, in the off chance your husband might drive it. When we lost track of Linda, we had to a.s.sume she might be with you. The Subaru hadn't moved off the ridge. So we kept an eye out. Then you parked on the street, not in the driveway, and that made our ears go up. One of my guys snuck around the back, found the garage open, a motorcycle inside. We figured it was Craig's.... And the voice? That was me. I'm sorry I had to use your sister in that way, but I had to find a way to distract Craig, get him away from you until the police arrived. I'd only listened to Kelly's voice on the videotape a few times, but I gave it a try, and it worked. It was almost as if she were here, protecting you. I do think she was trying to help me out in the end.”
Chapter 24.
Two days later, Caroline met me over at the old house. I'd hired a safecracker, just in case the combination I had in my possession failed to open the safe. I already knew what would be inside, the money Kelly had withdrawn from her account, the mysterious three hundred and fifty thousand dollars that had disappeared, the cash Craig was after.
Care and I watched as Herman R. Mathis, a smiling rail-thin man dressed in gray work clothes, knelt in front of the safe and delicately worked the dial.
”Nope, wouldn't want to mess around with this one without the combination,” he said, ”no you sure wouldn't. Anyone knows his business would take one look at her and say-no way. Doesn't surprise me your daddy built a special room for her. You try to drill into this lady and you'll be in a world of hurt.”
”How come?” I asked.
”Because she's got cyanide gla.s.s packs in the door and the rear of her, plus gla.s.s sheets. You drill her and she'll bite ya-bite ya bad.”
He pulled open the door. ”There you go.” He stepped aside. ”She'll be needing some maintenance. After you're finished here, I could do that for ya.”
”Sure,” I said. ”That would be fine.”
”I'll leave you to your business. You just give me a call when you're done here.”
”Okay.”
We watched as Herman took the stairs, humming as he went.
I looked at Caroline, then reached inside the safe for one of the largest vinyl packets and unzipped it. Inside lay several stacks of hundreds in bank wrappers.
”Whew, that's a lot of loot,” said Caroline. ”Do you think Craig knew about the cyanide?”
”No idea. Though he must have known other unscrupulous types like himself. They might have told him the safe was rigged. Maybe the cops will drag it out of him.”
”Yeah.”
Caroline helped me stack the packets. I counted them, then tossed them into two plastic garbage bags I'd brought to haul up to the Jeep. Kelly's stash did appear to be somewhere in the neighborhood of three hundred and fifty thousand, but I'd leave the actual counting to the bank. I planned to give half of the money to Linda, then donate the other half to a charity or some other good cause Kelly would have favored.
”Sure you don't want a couple of these?” I asked, holding out two stacks of hundreds. ”Kelly would approve.” But I already knew Caroline's answer.
”No, I don't. But thanks.” She smiled. ”I like to keep things simple. But you knew that. Weird, aren't I?”
”No.”
”I'll let you buy me lunch though.”
”Sure.”
”So how's Linda doing?” she asked.
”Better. She'll have a two-inch scar on her neck, but the plastic surgeon did a nice job. She's getting therapy too, to help her deal with all this, and she kicked Wolfgang out ... although it might only be temporary. She's ambivalent. Hard for her to let go. She told me she knew what kind of man he was from the beginning, and she knew about the affair with Kelly. Though it practically killed her, she kept quiet, figuring Kelly would eventually tire of him and move on. And she did. Linda says what she needs now is time alone to sort things out. She's delayed her trip to Hawaii until she feels up to the flight, but she still plans to go, and she's taking a girlfriend.”
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