Vixen

16

Tamara, Runyon, and I held an early conference in her office the following morning. After hearing Jake’s account of Margaret Vorhees’ death-he’d notified us both after the police let him leave St. Francis Wood-it seemed pretty clear what Cory Beckett’s motives were; we all agreed on that. Payback for the attempted frame-up was part of it, but the primary motive had to be greed: with the present Mrs. Vorhees out of the way, Cory had a clear shot at becoming the next in line. Marrying fat cats, as Tamara pointed out, had been her deal all along.

At first consideration, it seemed incredible that the murder plan had been carried out only two days after Runyon had confronted Frank Chaleen. But the more you considered the principals and the issues involved, the less untenable it seemed. Cory Beckett was whip-smart, bold, relentless, deadly clever, a brilliant manipulator of men, and at least a borderline psychotic-certainly unbalanced enough to consider herself invincible. She would not have gone ahead if she hadn’t believed they would get away with it.

Timing was the primary reason: Margaret Vorhees had to die before her brother’s trial. Once the woman was dead, Cory could work on Andrew Vorhees, as next of kin, to use his influence with the DA’s office to drop the theft charge. Clearly she had no qualms about using Kenneth-shifting the frame to him had gotten her off the hook so she could plan her revenge-but she cared just enough not to want him to go to prison. As wicked as she was, in her own way she was still her brother’s keeper.

Margaret Vorhees’ death had been carefully manufactured. And she’d kept herself and Kenneth from being suspects if the police questioned the accident setup by inviting Vorhees to their apartment last night-perfect alibis for both of them. Chaleen was obviously putty in her hands; if he’d had had any qualms about doing the dirty work, she’d beguiled him into it the same way she’d hooked him in the first place-by using sex and the promise of a large cash payoff once she was married to Vorhees. As Tamara said, “Chaleen’s the kind of dude who can be bought. Now particularly, with his business in trouble and a string of debts piling up. Plus he’s a risk taker, like her. Willing to do whatever’s necessary for the big prize.”

If Cory suspected it was her brother who was responsible for the tip-off to Runyon, it probably wouldn’t matter all that much to her. She’d always been able to control Kenneth, the same as any other man. And she knew that he had no hard evidence to pass along; that without it, Tamara and Jake and I could not afford to take our suspicions to the police. Runyon had done the right thing last night. If I’d been in his place, I’d have kept my mouth shut as well-and hated having to do so as much as he did.

I asked Jake how he thought Kenneth would react to the news of Margaret Vorhees’ death.

“If he accuses his sister, she’ll just play innocent. The monoxide job looks like an accident-she’ll swear to him that it was, that neither she nor Chaleen had anything to do with it.”

“But he’ll know she’s lying. Is there any chance he’ll be upset enough to defy her, go to the police on his own?”

“The way I read him, no, not much. More than likely he’ll end up doing what he’s always done-giving her the benefit of the doubt.”

“Real love-hate thing there,” Tamara said.

Runyon said, “That’s what’s tearing him apart. He wants to break loose from her, but he can’t do it on his own. Took about all the courage he had to run off to Belardi’s, and he only managed that because he’s terrified of going to prison.”

“Must have some guts to reach out to you the way he has.”

“Desperate cry for help, not an act of courage.”

I said, “Sees you as an authority figure, a father confessor.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“You think he’ll contact you again?”

“He might if he can get away from her long enough to use a phone. Figures she took his cell away from him after bringing him back from Belardi’s.”

“If you do hear, try to get together with him again in person and convince him to do the right thing. From what you’ve told us, he’s not too coherent on the phone. And you seem to be the only person besides his sister he’ll listen to.”

Tamara said musingly, “You know, one thing bothers me. That gun Kenny found. He claims Cory never owned a piece before. And Chaleen didn’t use it or need it last night. Then why did she buy it?”

“Protection’s the obvious answer.”

“Who from? Chaleen? No reason for her to be afraid of lover boy Vorhees.”

“That we know about,” I said. “She may not have either of them as tightly controlled as we surmise, Chaleen in particular. The gun could be an insurance policy.”

“Here’s another idea. She bought it for some new scheme she’s cooking up.”

“Such as?”

“Who knows? Bitch is capable of anything, right? Any damn thing at all.”

“Whatever the reason,” Runyon said, “I wish I knew what she’s done with it. I don’t like the idea that it’s still in the apartment.”

“If it is, she’s got it hid this time where Kenny can’t find it.”

“Let’s hope so.”

“You don’t think she’d use it on him?”

“That’s not what worries me.”

“Kenny using it on her?”

“Not that, either. I doubt he’s capable of harming her, or else he’d have done it long ago.”

“Uh, oh. Use it on himself, then?”

“That’s it.”

I said, “He strike you as potentially suicidal, Jake?”

“No, but there’s no way to be sure. He’s weak, scared, on the ragged edge. Hates himself as well as his sister. If the trial goes badly, if there’s enough pressure to push him over the line, he might decide killing himself is his only way out.”

The phone rang just then, as if to add an exclamation point to Jake’s words. Tamara slid her chair around to answer the call. Listened, raised an eyebrow in Runyon’s direction, listened some more. “I’ll see if he’s available,” she said, tapped the hold button, and said to us, “Andrew Vorhees’ secretary. Man wants to see Jake ASAP.”

Well, we might have expected it, though not this soon. Runyon and I exchanged glances; he nodded, and I said to Tamara, “Go ahead and make an appointment.”

She did that. “Vorhees’ office at eleven,” she said when she broke the connection. “Man’s wife dies last night, he’s in his office bright and early this morning. Business as usual.”

Runyon said, “He’d say it was his way of keeping his mind off his loss.”

“Yeah, sure. What’ll you tell him when he asks why you were out at his house?”

“Nothing that’ll reflect badly on us. Play it by ear.”

“Right.”

“There’s another way to handle it,” I said.

Tamara raised an eyebrow. “What way?”

“Jake and I both keep the appointment. Double up on him. Two are more convincing than one.”

“What do you mean, convincing?”

“There doesn’t seem to be much we can do to prove Cory and Chaleen are murderers, at least not directly. But there is something we can do to rock the boat she doesn’t want rocked. If we work it right, we might even be able to punch enough holes to sink it.”