The Last Precinct

"Who set you up? Righter? Buford's behind this?' I ask.

A

We go into the living room, where I reach for a cordless phone on an elegant yew wood stand. "You realize, you don't have to be telling me all this, A

"I do not care what I should or should not do. The moment I got the subpoena, Buford called and explained what he needed from me. I called Lucy right away." A

"What time did the deputy show up at your house with the subpoena?" I ask A

"About ten o'clock this morning," A

"Interesting," I reply. "About the same time Chando

"In your mind, how does all of 'his co

"I'm not sure," I reply. "Except Berger was interested in seeing who showed up at Bray's service. I'm now wondering if she wanted to see if I would, and if that might indicate she knows I'm being investigated and is checking me out on her own." A

"What's going on?" Marino says loudly over his television.

"I'm just begi

He knows instantly by my tone not to ask questions but to get in his truck and drive over here right now. It is time for

truth. No games and no secrets, I tell him. We wait for Mm in

front of the fire in A

"This isn't making any sense," Lucy says. "Diane Bray hadn't even been murdered yet. Why was Righter talking to A

"I don't get it," McGovern agrees. "Something really stinks about this."

She and Lucy sit on the floor in front of the fire. I am in my usual rocking chair and A

"When Righter called on the fourteenth, what exactly did he say to you?" I ask A

She meets my eyes. "There was concern about your mental health. That is what he said right off."

I simply nod. I am not offended. Although it is true I wobbled badly after Benton was murdered, I have never been mentally ill. I am secure in my sanity and my ability to reason and think. I have been guilty only of ru

"How do you handle something like that well?" Lucy replies.

"No, no. That is not what Buford meant," A

"What relationship?" I instantly wonder if Bray called

Righter_yet one more trap she set for me. "I hardly knew her."

A

"Instigated by her," I am quick to say. "We didn't have a personal relationship. Not even a social one."

"I think when you go to war against someone, that is personal. Even people who hate each other have a personal relationship, if you see what I am saying. Certainly, she had gotten very personal with you, Kay. Starting rumors. Lying about you. Creating a bogus medical column on the Internet that made it appear you were the one writing it, making a fool out of you and getting you into trouble with the secretary of public safety, even with the governor."

"I was just with the governor. I don't feel I'm in trouble with him at all." I say this and at the same time find it curious. If Mitchell knows I am being investigated by a special grand jury, and I know he must, then why didn't he accept my resignation and thank God to be rid of me and my messy life?

"She also put Marino's career in jeopardy because he is your sidekick," A

The only thought that flashes is Marino would not appreciate being called my sidekick. As if on cue, the intercom blares, a

"Sabotaging your career, in other words." A

"Me, baby." The rude sounds of Marino and his truck fill the living room.

"Oh, he calls me baby again I will kill him." A

She goes to the door, and then Marino is walking into the living room. He left his house in such a hurry he didn't bother with a coat, only a gray sweat suit and te

dumbstruck when he sees McGovern sitting by the fire, looking up at him from her Indian-style position on the floor.

"Well, I'll be damned," Marino says. "Look what the cat drug in."

"Great to see you, too, Marino," McGovern replies.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell's going on?" He moves a wing chair closer to the fire and sits, going from one face to the other, trying to read the situation, acting obtuse, as if he doesn't already know. I believe he knows. Oh yes, now it is clear why he has been acting so strange.

We get into it. A