Secret Prey

TWENTY-THREE

ELLE KRUGER CAME OUT OF THE OPERATING ROOM just after fourA. M. and the doctor, yawning, came to see Lucas, Sherrill, and Weather: Id say the prognosis is goodshes gonna have a few days in the ICU, but there wasnt any direct mechanical damage that I could see. Weve got swelling, but were controlling it. Were going to keep her sedated, keep her quiet, so she wont be talking for a couple of days.

Shes gonna make it, Lucas said.

Unless we missed somethingor if theres just a further natural complication. But its about as good as you could have hoped for, given the circumstances.

How about the other girl? Weather asked.

The doc shook his head: Shedidhave some mechanical damage. I think shes gonna live, were just gonna have to wait and see. She might be fine, she might be… not so fine.

Lucas turned away, suddenly exhausted. Man.

Lets go home, Sherrill said.

Weather said, Ill be back tomorrowevery day until she wakes up.

You got a ride? Lucas asked. Andi Manettte, whod brought Weather over, had left earlier.

Ill get a cab. They can have one here in a minute.

We came in the Porsche, Lucas said. Two seats: Weather smiled; she understood the math.

Out the door, walking to the car, Sherrill asked, Did Weather and Elle have some kind of relationship?

Yeah, they liked each other a lot, Lucas said.

Think Elle will like me? Sherrill asked.

Lucas nodded. She likes almost everybody. You twoll get along fine.

ROSE MARIE ROUX TALKEDTOTHE ST. PAUL CHIEF, AND St. Paul put together a group of four detectives to work with two Violent Crimes detectives from Minneapolis.

You can do what you want, personally, but I want you to stay clear of these guys, Roux told Lucas. Youve set up this paradigm: you think these attacks on Sister Mary Joseph and Weather are aimed at you. Maybe they are, but I want to keep these guys outside the paradigm. I want them to take a cold look at it.

Lucas agreed. Thats smart. But Im putting Del on the street, looking into a few things; and Ill be looking around. Sherrill, Sloan, and Black are going back to Homicide now that were done with McDonald.

DEL AND LUCAS SPENT THE DAY CRUISING THE STREET, talking to druggies, thieves, bikers, gamblersanyone smart enough to take revenge on Lucas by attacking his friends; and checking in every hour with the hospital. No change on Elle Kruger.

At the end of the day, they sat in Lucass office, Del with his feet on the edge of Lucass desk, Lucas with his feet on an open desk drawer, looking for new ideas.

All day, absolutely nothing. Ive never seen it this dry. Usually theres rumors, even if the rumors are bullshit.

Nobody wants to get involved with a run at a cop, Lucas said.

Tell you the truth, Ivebeen thinking of terminatingour friendship, at least for the time being. Maybe take out an ad in theStar-Tribune.

I once talked to a guy, a lawyerdefense attorney whose son was arrested for stealing some stereo gear from a Best Buy, Lucas said. The kid was one of those ineffectual audiovisual freaks, didnt know which way was up. Anyway, the judge gave him six months in the county jail, and this was a first offense.

Oops.

Yeah. And this attorney tells me, he knows it was because the judge didnt likehim, the attorney. Thought he was sleazy, because he did personal injury and DWI and made a lot of money at it. So anyway, the kid does most of the time, like four months, and gets out, and hes okay. But the attorney spent the whole time worrying that he was gonna hang himself in his cell or something.

Something to worry about, with kids like that, Del said.

The attorneyd go down every day to visit the kid, keep him connected. But he still worried. And what he told me was that he decided in the middle of the kids jail term that if the kid killed himself, hed kill the judge. He made the decision, he worked it all out. He wasnt irrational about it, it wasnt a big macho thing. Hed just do it, and try not to get caught. The first thing hed do was, hed wait two years before he made his move. Wait until his sons death was way in the past. Then hed find a way to kidnap the judgehe said that in his fantasies, he had to explain to the judge why he was going to kill him, he couldnt sleep if he didnt do thatand then he was gonna tie him up or chain him to a tree, and douse him with gasoline and set him on fire.

Jesus.

Yeah. He said hed decided this, but when his kid got out okay, it wasnt necessary, so he let it go. He hates the judge, but he says hell get at him politically, he doesnt have to burn him up.

What youre saying is…

What Im saying is, I hope its not something like that, Lucas said. I hope its not somebody I bumped into years ago, took care of business, didnt even think about it. And hes been plotting all this time.

We checked all recent prison releases.

Thats what I mean. What if its not recent? What if its somebody from ten years ago, somebody I busted on a solid felony, say, who did a couple of years but figures I ruined his life and his family? And now hes coming after me, by going after my family? I mean, I might never figure out who it is.

A TENTATIVE KNOCK INTERRUPTED THE THOUGHT. Del looked at the door, then back at Lucas, show-shrugged. Come in, Lucas called.

A woman stepped inside. He remembered her face instantly, and her last name. He pointed a finger at her and said, The bridal shop, Mrs. Ingall.

Annette, she said.

This is Detective Capslock, Lucas said. Del, this is Mrs. Ingall; her husband disappeared in that yacht up on Superior. The McDonald case.

Oh, sure.

Lucas: Sit down. What can we do for you? Ingall looked doubtfully at Del, who tried to smile pleasantly without showing too much of his yellowed teeth, and sat in the chair beside him, clutching her purse on her lap. I saw on TV Three about your friend the nun who was attacked last night. I hope shes going to be okay.

She should be, Lucas said.

Ive been bothered by it all day, she said. It kept nagging at me, and nagging at me, and finally I said, Annette, go over and talk to Chief Davenport for goodness sake, and let him worry about it.

Well… Lucas spread his hands, waiting, an edge of impatience barely suppressed.

After you told me that Wilson McDonald was probably responsible for killing Andy…

Mrs. Ingall, I didnt exactly say

She waved him down and continued:… I was pretty satisfied, because it made a nice pattern. He killed George Arris, shooting him with a gun. Then he killed Andy, by sabotaging the yacht. And then he killed Dan Kresge, shooting him, and Susan ODell, shootingher.

Yes?

But thenthis is what was nagging mewhen I read about what happened with you, with your fiance

ґe firebombed, and then this morning, with your friend the nun being hurt…

Yes, yes.

Look: There were two other incidents which helped Wilson McDonalds career, that nobody probably told you about, because they didnt involve anybody being killed at the bank, where it would be obvious.

Two others? Lucas leaned forward, now interested.

Two weird… accidents, Ingall said. One involved a man named McKinney, who was in the investments department and was also competitive for promotions with Wilson. They were sort of neck and neck. This is way back, when Wilson was still selling out of the investments division, before he went to mortgages. And all of a sudden, this other mans son was killed in a hit-and-run accident. If I remember, he was riding home in the evening on his bike, in the summer, I think he had a paper route or something, and he was hit and killed and they never found out who did it. Anyway, McKinney just fell apart. He couldnt do anything, and when the job came up, which was right after that, Wilson got it.

Huh, Lucas said. Del was looking at Ingall with interest.

Then, and this mustve been, oh, about 1990, there was sort of a bank recession going on. Lots of banks were restructuring and jobs were being cut. Wilson was one of a half-dozen people in the mortgage division as a vice president, and people knew some jobs were going to be cut over there. The man who was in charge of the cuts wasnamed Davis Baird, and he had an assistant named Dick McPhillips. Davis Baird didnt like Wilson, he thought he was a fat pompous oaf. He might have cut him. But Dick McPhillips was always under the influence of Wilsons father. If Davis Baird had wanted to cut Wilson, McPhillips couldnt stop it. But… She paused dramatically.

But, Lucas said, and Del nodded at her.

But, while they were working out the cutbacks, all of a sudden Bairds parents were killed in a fire at their cabin up north. I thought about this because of the firebomb at your friends house. Something exploded in the Bairds housethey even called it a firebomb in the paper, I thinkand they were killed, and Baird had to take time off to deal with all of it. McPhillips was in charge of making the cuts, and he got rid of two of the five vice presidents over there.. .

But not Wilson, Lucas said.

Not Wilson.

Go ahead, Lucas said.

So I started thinking, this took a strange mind. Not to attack the principal target directly, but to incapacitate the principal by attacking someone close to them. Distracting them in a really awful way. And I thought, you know, thats whats happening to Chief Davenport. Hes investigating these murders, and suddenly his fianceґes house blows up, and then an old friend is almost killed. If Wilson McDonald werent dead, I would say he was doing it for sure. Especially since Andys death almost might be an accident, and Arriss death was also easy to blame on somebody else that gang. Nothing is what it looks like.

Wilson McDonald is dead, Del said.

Yes. Shot to death, Ingall said. And thats very curious.

Lucas closed his eyes, rubbed his face: Jesus.

Do you think this line of thought might be useful? Ingall asked.

I dont know, Lucas said. But you are a very smart lady.

Yes, Ive always thought so, she said.