Cold Rain

Chapter 25

Saturday morning the phone rang incessantly.

At midday, a TV van pulled up into our driveway. Molly took her shotgun out and sent them off in a hurry.

In the evening Lucy, having not spoken to me all day, drove off again. Molly asked where she was going but didn’t really get an answer. Alone for the evening, we talked about what happened after an arrest. That came down to money, I said. Like everything else, there were different prices for different people. A trial defence could be purchased at anything from bargain basement rates to a multimillion dollar media show. A public defender would get me the needle. Twenty thousand could probably keep me off death row. Fifty thousand would probably buy a retrial. A couple hundred thousand might get an acquittal on the second trial. Of course, if Buddy Elder decided to plant some evidence, which I thought he would do, there were only a handful of lawyers in the country who could get me off.

We could find the money, Molly said.

Of course we could, I answered, but that would stop all of our income. With my suspension continuing into the next semester, almost certainly now without pay, everything we had would go to the lawyers.

Doc and Olga could help.

I said it wasn’t their problem. It wasn’t Molly’s either.

Molly swore at this. This was our problem, and we were going to fight the bastards every step of the way!

‘Move to Florida,’ I said. ‘Take everything. I’ll get a public defender to advise me and defend myself.’

‘We fight this together, David.’

With a coy smile I asked her, ‘How do you know I’m innocent, Molly?’

‘Because this isn’t about your dick.’

‘If Buddy Elder set this up,’ I countered, ‘wasn’t it possible he had Denise keep a bogus diary?’

‘Denise isn’t on Buddy’s team anymore, David.’

‘Are you sure about that?’

The Sunday morning paper featured Johnna Masterson with her beauty pageant smile on the front page, the headlines proclaiming, ‘Search Continues for Missing Grad Student.’

My crimes and misdemeanours were listed mid-column. Unlike the article about Walt Beery, they didn’t say a thing about my book.

The sheriff’s spokesperson, Lt. Gibbons of sex crimes, insisted there were no suspects. In fact, investigators were still trying to determine if a crime had been committed. Certain discrepancies in my statement to them, however, were troubling.

I hadn’t even finished the story before the phone began to ring. The first two were death threats. One involved certain choice parts of my anatomy being fed to me. The other promised a handgun of a certain calibre rammed into a certain orifice before being discharged. The sincerity of cold rage from perfect strangers astonished me almost as much as their sexually deviant bloodlust.

It seemed to me only a matter of time before the sheriff came with a warrant for my arrest. When I heard Gail Etheridge on the answering machine I didn’t bother picking up. Gail’s message was supportive. This was what they did when they couldn’t make an arrest.

I just had to hang tough.

I decided to take Ahab around the property, though it was a cold, miserable day. I half-expected to find a grave out there somewhere, something easy to notice if you just went back and looked. What would I have done if I found a corpse? I thought about it without deciding. The right thing would be to call the sheriff.

The smart thing would be to dig it up and drop it on Buddy’s doorstep.

In fact, there was no grave. Nothing at all. I rode for nearly two hours before I took Ahab back to the barn.

Lucy was waiting for me. ‘We have to talk,’ she said.

I got the currycomb and brush from a shelf and began working over Ahab’s flanks. ‘I’m listening.’

‘You have to change your story, Dave.’

I laughed at this. ‘Why is that?’ I walked to the other side of the horse, glancing over Ahab’s back.

‘Buddy wasn’t with Johnna Masterson Tuesday night.’ I looked up, frowning at her. ‘He was with me,’ she said.

I studied my stepdaughter’s face. She was struggling with her confession. ‘You were home Tuesday night, Lucy.’

‘He called me.’ She blinked as she tried to meet my gaze. ‘He wanted to see me.’

‘Is Buddy the guy you’re interested in?’

Lucy rolled her eyes, an expression designed to convey adolescent opinion of adult intelligence. ‘It’s a little more than interest, Dave.’

I probably should have been angry. Giving the matter any thought at all, I should have realized the kind of trouble I was in, but at that moment all I felt was fear for Lucy.

I put the brush and currycomb away and got the shovel. I walked into Ahab’s stall. ‘Does your mother know about this?’

‘I just told her. She’s pissed.’

‘You know how old this guy is?’

‘Please, Dave.’

‘Let me ask you something.’

‘The answer is yes.’

I found myself holding a shovel full of dirty sawdust and unable to move. ‘That wasn’t the question,’ I said finally, and dumped the load into the wheelbarrow.

Back inside the stall I said, ‘My question was if you actually saw him Tuesday night or just talked to him.’

‘He was out here at midnight. We’d been on the phone for a couple of hours. He wanted me to come outside and, you know, drive around. I went out through my bedroom window.’

‘What time did you get home?’

‘A little before three.’

‘You drove around with this guy for almost three hours?’

‘We didn’t drive the whole time.’

This came off too smart, too cute. ‘This isn’t a joke, Lucy!’

‘I talked to Buddy last night. He says the two of you aren’t getting along because of Denise.’

‘How did you meet Buddy?’

Lucy gave me a look of exasperation. I was missing the point.

‘Humour me,’ I said.

‘Kathy and I went to a college party. Her brother is in a fraternity. Buddy was there.’

‘Buddy Elder was at a fraternity party?’

‘Why not?’

‘Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing this guy?’

‘He’s only like ten years older!’

‘That’s the least of his problems!’

‘He doesn’t think you hurt Johnna.’

‘He doesn’t?’

‘He told me last night you couldn’t do something like that.’

I smiled. ‘But you think I could?‘

Lucy considered this for moment. I wasn’t sure if she had made up her mind or not. ‘I thought… when I saw the news…’

‘That’s not my style, Lucy. You know that.’

‘They made it sound like-’

‘It’s what they’re paid to do.’

I took Ahab into his stall and gave him a scoop of oats. Jezebel protested and Lucy took her a treat.

‘Buddy thinks Johnna disappeared just to hurt you.’

‘I want you to stay away from Buddy. I know it’s not my business and I don’t have any right to tell you what to do-’

‘No problem. He ended it last night.’

‘He ended it?’ She nodded uncomfortably. ‘Did he say why?’

‘He asked me to marry him.’

I expect I swore, but I can’t remember. I only recall looking at her as I tried to fathom my emotions.

‘I told him I wasn’t ready. I don’t want to get married!’

‘You said no?’

‘He said you won’t let me see him again if we’re not married, so we might as well end things.’

Lucy was in her room when I went back to the house. Molly was upstairs sanding the new floor.

I waited patiently until she stopped.

‘You talk to Lucy?’ I asked.

‘She’s grounded for life.’

‘If Dalton gets hold of the phone records, Molly, he’s going to find out about this.’

‘If Buddy was with Lucy Tuesday he couldn’t have done anything to Johnna Masterson, David.’

‘He called me, Molly! He was laughing at me! He knew what was going on with Johnna!’

‘Lucy says Buddy thinks Johnna is doing this to hurt you.’

I shook my head. ‘Buddy has played us from the start. I don’t care anymore if you believe me about Denise Conway, but this thing with Lucy was a setup.

He spent the whole evening talking to her and driving around with her because he knew I would point my finger at him!’

‘We don’t know Johnna,’ Molly persisted. ‘She could have-’

‘She had her revenge, Molly. She reported me to Affirmative Action.’

‘How could Buddy kidnap her if he was out with Lucy?’

‘Roger Beery did it. Tell me you don’t think he’s capable of something like that.’

‘I thought you said it was Buddy. Now it’s Roger.

What’s Roger-?’

‘They’re in this together, Molly! I told you, it’s how they got away with killing Walt and Barbara!’

Molly looked at me as if stricken, and for the first time everything I had told her became possible. But then it faded and she shook her head. It didn’t make sense. Walt and Barbara… for the money… maybe, but what did Johnna have to do with that? I told her I didn’t know.

I called Gail that afternoon and arranged a meeting for seven-thirty Monday morning. Big problem, I said.

Sunday evening passed in funereal silence. Molly had exercised a mother’s prerogative. She had confiscated Lucy’s television set, her keys, and both phones.

Lucy thought she was being unfair. Molly told her she didn’t know what unfair was.

Having walked the streets of Chicago without a place to lay her head at the age of fifteen, pregnant and alone, Molly knew about unfair. It was house policy never to ask about those days. When she was younger Lucy had made inquiries, of course. How had her mother survived? Molly had answered glibly. She got lucky and picked up a job as a waitress. The people at the restaurant gave her a little apartment to live in until she got on her feet. Later she got into a trade school and trained to be a carpenter. I was fairly sure that Lucy understood there was a bit more to coming off the streets than her mother admitted, but she never asked once she was of an age to understand such things. Molly said Lucy didn’t know what unfair was, and Lucy retreated to silence. So did I, for that matter.

Around ten that evening, Molly came to me in my monk’s cell on the third floor. ‘You want to toss those books off the bed, Professor?’ she asked.

I was reading Marcus Aurelius and holding the lesser Stoics in reserve. ‘What did you have in mind?’ I answered stoically.

‘Clear your bed and I’ll show you.’

We made love with the reverence and uncertainty of first times. Curiously, the weeks of celibacy had blunted the sense of urgency in both of us. We did not move quickly or work ourselves into a frenzy. We took our time, savouring the touch of flesh. We made it last, and even as it concluded we were quiet. The intimacy was more important than the rest.

And it seemed to me as we lay together afterwards that Molly had come to me because we were about to lose each other, that this was not a reunion but her goodbye before I went to jail.

We dropped Lucy off at school shortly after seven-fifteen. She was humiliated by the door-to-door service, but Molly was adamant. Lucy had precious few rules to live by, but she had decided to break them.

That was fine, she could do whatever she wanted, but if she wanted to live at home, she had better learn to deal with the consequences.

Alone with Molly finally I tried to talk to her about Lucy. ‘Try to understand,’ I said, ‘what she’s going through!’ It was no use. Molly was doing what she thought was best. We got to Gail’s office at exactly seven-thirty. Gail looked tired at the start of our meeting. As I related Lucy’s confession her demeanour grew increasingly grim.

‘You had no idea she was seeing this guy?’ she asked Molly when I had finished the story.

Molly shook her head.

Gail broke her office’s non-smoking rule and lit a cigarette. ‘He asked her to marry him, and she turned him down?’

‘I think things were happening a little too fast for her,’ I answered.

Gail looked at Molly. ‘If you want me to go to the prosecutor, we can bring criminal charges against this bastard. You know that?’

Molly shook her head. Lucy was almost eighteen.

She knew what she was doing.

‘Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.’

‘I’m not going to put Lucy through something like that,’ Molly answered.

Gail looked at me. ‘I suppose you’re ready to kill him?’

‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but as an officer of the court aren’t you obliged to tell the police if you know a client is about to commit a crime?’

‘Tell me you’re joking.’

I smiled good-naturedly, telling her nothing.

‘What are the chances Johnna decided to disappear?’

Molly asked. ‘Lucy thinks, I mean Buddy told her he thinks Johnna did this to get at David.’

Gail considered the possibility for a moment, then shook her head. ‘Have you seen her parents on TV?

This thing is killing them. If Johnna Masterson disappeared to hurt David, I guarantee you one thing: she hates her parents a lot more than she hates him.’

‘But it’s possible?’

‘Johnna Masterson is the victim,’ I said.

‘And you’re the suspect,’ Gail answered, her voice sharp with authority. Gail was tired of my Buddy Elder theories. It was time I faced up to the situation.

‘No argument there. On the face of it, my story sounds incredible.’

‘Then change your story before it’s too late,’ Gail answered.

‘Even if it’s true?’

Gail looked away from us, swallowing whatever insult she intended. Finally, she said, ‘A woman called Denny’s. A woman, not a man. This was twelve, twelve-fifteen?’

‘Just after Lucy gets off the phone and before she goes down the hill and gets in the car with the son of a bitch.’

Gail smiled at me condescendingly. ‘The window of opportunity?’

‘What would you call it?‘

‘Unless Lucy made the call to Denny’s, you’ve still got a problem. You pick up the phone and it’s Buddy Elder. The only way he knows you’re at Denny’s is if Johnna told him, but he’s been on the phone with Lucy since ten-thirty.’

‘He has a partner who snatches her.’

‘While Buddy’s on the phone?’

‘The perfect alibi.’

Gail seemed dubious. ‘Who was the woman who called Denny’s, David? Another partner?’

‘Denise Conway. Why not?’

‘Why not? Well, for starters, Lucy comes out and gets in the car. Where’s Denise – in the backseat?’

When I didn’t answer her, Gail levelled her gaze at me as if she had caught me in a lie. ‘I didn’t like your story when it was possible. I’m sure as hell not buying it now.’

‘What if I’m not lying, Gail? Can you just consider that for a minute?’

‘It’s a waste of time.’

‘I know you don’t like it. I don’t like it, but I’m telling you what happened! What if she has a car parked out there, makes the call for Buddy, and then drives off before Lucy shows up?’

‘Why go to all that trouble?’

‘I don’t know, Gail! Maybe because I’ll look like a muddle-headed fool trying to explain how I got a phone call from Buddy Elder while he was seducing my stepdaughter!’

Gail shook her head angrily. ‘You’re convicting yourself with this story, David. You can’t stay with it!’

‘You tell me what I did then! You’re the attorney.

Pick a story that will float, because I don’t have a clue what you want to hear!’

Gail leaned back in her chair, looking exasperated.

‘You need another lawyer. I can’t handle this. I’ll stick with you until you get someone, but I can’t deal with you when you get like this.’

‘Like what?’

‘It’s like you want to go to prison.’

‘I want a lawyer who believes me.’

‘They don’t make lawyers that stupid.’ Gail looked shocked by her own response, but she didn’t back down. ‘Sorry, but it’s the truth.’

‘If David says-’

‘David says whatever he thinks people will believe.

You know that, Molly. You of all people! Fine, that’s David. Part of his charm, once you get used to it. The trouble is we’re not drinking cocktails and talking about cars and horses! We’re fighting for his life here, and he’s too stubborn to admit he’s lying!’

‘I guess you need to tell us what we owe you. For everything,’ Molly answered. ‘We’re going to find another attorney.’

‘I’ll get a bill out to you this afternoon,’ Gail answered with a touch of relief. She stood up, her eyes shifting between us. ‘I can give you some names if you want.’

Molly would not look at her. She said that wouldn’t be necessary.

In the truck, Molly said to me, ‘What now?’

‘Dalton,’ I said.