Secret Prey

THIRTY-THREE

LUCAS CALLED THE COUNTY ATTORNEY FROM HELEN Bells house, told him about the pill: All right, thats it, Towson said. Pick her up. Well put her away this time. No bail. No nothing.

Lucas hung up and nodded to Sherrill: Were gonna go get her. Want to follow me over?

Ill ride with you, she said. You can always drop me back here to get the car.

Lets go, he said. Well get a squad to meet us there.

Four miles out, Dispatch called and said a man from AT amp;T Wireless was on the phone.

Patch him through, Lucas said.

Therere dozens of calls from that account in the past week, the AT amp;T man said. What was the time and date?

Lucas gave it to him and said, Look for a 699 prefix.

After a moments wait: Here it is. Here it is, by gosh.

AUDREY WAS TALKING TO A FIDELITY ACCOUNT MANAGERwhen the phone rang in her purse. I better take that, she said, pleasantly. She was wearing her best, acting the bankers wife: she wanted to get the money out of Fidelitybefore some legalism held it up. If she could get the cash and stash it somewhere, she would be good for at least a few years, no matter what else happened.

Let me get the rest of these numbers, the manager said. She was a young woman dressed in a nice Ann Taylor suit, with a pretty silk scarf, nothing flashy, nothing too expensive. Audrey approved; maybe Fidelity wasnt throwing her money away on exorbitant salaries.

Audrey answered the phone on the third ring and Helen said to her, Did you do it?

And Audrey could hear Connie in the background, saying, urgently, Mom, hang up. Hang up.

Do what? Audrey said calmly, though she knew.

Youd know, if you did it.

That Davenports been there again, hasnt he? Audrey asked. May I speak to him?

Hes gone, Helen said. She choked on the words, and Audrey heard Connie say, Mom, Im gonna hang this up. You shouldnt

And the connection was gone. Audrey looked at the phone for a moment, then punched the power button and turned it off. Davenport had found the pill. She wouldnt need to talk to Helen again.

As she walked out through the Fidelity office, she met the young manager on her way back: Im sorry, Audrey said. Ive got something of a family emergency. I have to go home.

She drove back toward her house on remote control. She didnt have access to any serious money, so running was not a possibility. And with Helen alive, she didnt really have many options left. She could think of precisely one.

I can die, she said to the car. She was overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness, not for herself, but for the world. Shed be gone. The world wouldnt have her anymore. But theyll see then, she told the car. Thats when theyll see.

The car seemed to steer itself, but she knew where it was going: North Woods Arms, in Wayzata. The gun shop wasa small place, a door beside a picture window, the window laced over with security bars disguised as wrought-iron curlicues. The area beside the door and around the window had weathered-wood siding, to simulate a North Woods cabin; small Christmas lights blinked in the window, around a festive display of nine-millimeter pistols.

A bell rang above the door as she walked in, and the owner looked up from a magazine. Hello.

Hello, Audrey said, glancing around at the rack of long guns. Im looking for a gun for my husband for Christmas.

Youve come to the right place, the owner said pleasantly. Do you know what youre looking for, or

Yes. Audrey unfolded a piece of yellow notebook paper. Shed thought that would be a nice touch. A Remington 870 Wingmaster twelve-gauge shotgun.

No problem, the owner said enthusiastically. You know what hes going to use it for?

Ducks, I guess. He mostly hunts ducks. And geese.

No problem…

She took the 870 along with two boxes of No. 2 shells. The store owner took her check, carried the boxes out to the car, and said, Tell your husband I said, Good hunting.

When I see him, she said, and got in the car. The store owner thought that was an odd thing to say; he would mention it to his wife that night.

LUCAS AND SHERRILL HAD GOTTEN TO THE McDonald house before Audrey, and a minute before two patrol cops in a squad car. Lucas knocked on the front door, got no response, and while the uniforms waited in front, they walked together once around the house. Nobody. Peering through the deck windows, they saw no sign of movement or light. Back in front, Sherrill rang the doorbell again. Lucas said, looking up at the bedroom windows, Nobodys home. Feels too quiet. I hope shes not running.

They were standing in the L made by the front of the house, the living wing to the front, extending to the left, the three-car garage swinging off to the right. Maybe put out a call on her. Or we could just wait, Sherrill said. The uniforms were leaning on the front fender of their squad car, chatting.

I hope shes not looking for Helen, Lucas said. And thought about Elle Kruger, and his jaw tightened. Or anybody else. By God, Id like to be there to bust her; but maybe wed betterWhoops. There she is.

AUDREY TURNED INTO THE BOTTOM OF THE DRIVEWAY, saw the Porsche and the police car at the top. She reached up and pushed the garage door opener. The shotgun rode beside her, muzzle down, in the passenger foot-well, the butt resting against her hip. Shed loaded four shells, as many as it would take, and had two more loose on the seat for reloading.

And she was ready for it. On the way home from the gun store, her vision had seemed to narrow: on the highway, she could see only the road itself. On the driveway, she could see only the garage door, until she made the little left, then right loop that could take her into the garage. Then, she looked out the passenger-side window and saw Davenport walking toward the garage, and her vision narrowed to a small point: Davenports face. A mean man, she thought. Harsh. A man like Daddy.

WHEN THE GARAGE DOOR STARTED UP, THE TWO UNIFORMED cops pushed away from the fender of their squad car, and looked down the drive. Audrey rolled slowly up the drive, made a little jog that took her straight in toward the far door. Lucas and Sherrill started walking toward it from the front stoop, and the two uniformed cops started toward it from their parking spot at the edge of the driveway. The back of Audreys car had just cleared the inside of the door when it started down again.

Lucas turned and said, Side door. Sherrill followedhim toward an access door at the near end of the three overhead doors, just ambling along without thinking about it. Lucas opened the access door and stepped into the semidark garage, which was getting darker as the end door dropped the last couple of feet. Mrs. McDonald, he said.

AUDREY HEARD THAT, AND LOOKING LEFT, SAW DAVENPORT step inside the garage. He was standing in a shaft of light from the open access door. She grabbed the shotgun with her right hand, took a second to make sure the safety was off, then opened the door with her left hand, pushed it out with her feet, and pivoted out of the car. The shotgun was long and awkward, and she had to maneuver it around the cars roof post. Still, once it was out, it came up smoothly, and she saw the surprise register on Davenports face and heard him scream a word and saw a violent motion and then the muzzle was coming down…

THE DOME AND DOOR LIGHTS CAME ON IN AUDREY'S car as she opened the door; and with that light, Lucas could see the shotgun barrel as it came up. Sherrill had come in behind him and he screamed, Gun! and battered her sideways as he went down behind a Lexus. At the same instant, the shotgun blew a foot-long finger of flame at him, and the wall behind exploded in a shower of drywall plaster.