Lifeguard

Chapter 79

“OKAY,” THE COP SAID with a shrug, “so tell me the right questions.”

“Like, who else knew the art was going to be stolen?” I said. “And who was in Tess McAuliffe’s suite after me? Who sent that punk up to Boston to kill my brother. And who is Gachet?”

They looked at each other for a second, then the FBI man smiled. “You ever stop to think that’s because we know the answers to those questions, Ned?”

My gaze hardened on him. I waited for him to blink. They knew. They knew I didn’t kill anybody. They had me in there, grilling me, and they knew I didn’t kill Tess or Dave. They even knew who Gachet was. The longer he waited to answer, the more I was sure he was going to say, Your father is Dr. Gachet.

“The ballistics matched,” the Palm Beach detective said, gri

Liz… Gachet? I looked at them incredulously. Waiting, as though they were going to crack big smiles.

Liz wasn’t Gachet. Stratton had twisted this, set her up. He had maneuvered the whole thing. And they were buying it!

“Actually, there’s only one question we still have for you,” Lawson said, leaning in close.

“What the hell happened to the art?”

Chapter 80

I WAS BROUGHT BEFORE a judge and charged with burglary, resisting arrest, and interstate flight.

For once, they got the charges right. I was guilty of all three.

The public defender they assigned me advised me to plead not guilty, which I did, until I figured I could call Uncle George in Watertown and have him get me one of his fancy lawyers, as he had offered. I sure needed one now.

They set my bail at $500,000.

“Can the defendant post bail?” The judge looked down from the bench.

“No, Your Honor, I can’t.” So they took me back to my cell.

I stared at the cold, concrete walls, thinking this was going to be the first day of many like it.

“Ned.”

I heard a familiar voice from outside. I shot up on my cot.

It was Ellie.

She looked so good, in a cute print skirt and a short linen jacket. I ran over to the bars. I just wanted to touch her. But I felt so ashamed in my orange jumpsuit, on the wrong side of the bars. I don’t know, but that might have been the most depressing moment of all.

“It’s going to be all right, Ned.” Ellie tried to look upbeat. “You’re going to answer all their questions. Tell them everything, Ned. I promise, I’ll see what we can do.”

“They think it was Liz, Ellie,” I said, shaking my head. “They think she was Gachet. That she set everything up, with her bodyguard. The art… They got it all wrong.”

“I know.” Ellie swallowed hard, clenching her jaw.

“He’s go

“No – ” she shook her head – “he’s not. Listen, though. Cooperate. Be smart, okay?”

“That would be a shift.” I gave her my best self-effacing smile. I searched her eyes. “So, hey, how’s it going for you?”

Ellie shrugged. “You made me a big hero, Ned. The press is all over me.”

She put her hand next to mine on the bar and glanced down the hall to see if anyone was watching. Then she wrapped her little finger around mine.

“I feel pretty ashamed, in here like this. Just like my father. I guess everything’s changed.”

“Nothing’s changed, Ned.” Ellie shook her head.

I nodded. I was a felon, about to plead guilty and go to prison. And she was an agent for the FBI. Nothing’s changed…

“I want you to know something…” Her eyes were glistening.

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to get him for you, Ned. I promise. For your friends. For your brother. You can count on it, Ned.”

“Thanks,” I whispered. “They put my bail at five hundred thousand dollars. Guess I’m go

“At least there’s one good thing that can come out of this…”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

She smiled coyly. “You can go back to being blond.” That got me to smile, too. I looked in Ellie’s eyes. God, I wanted to hug her. She squeezed my hand once more and gave me a wink. “So, I’ll have Champ crash through the wall at, say, 10:05?”

I laughed.

“Take it easy, Ned.” Ellie brushed her thumb tenderly against my hand. She started to back away. “I’ll see you. Before you even know.”

“You know where to find me.”

She stopped. “I meant what I said, Ned.” She looked me in the eye.

“About Stratton?”

“About all those things, Ned. About you.”

She gave a one-fingered wave and backed down the corridor. I sat back and took a look around at the small, cramped place that was going to be my home for a while. A cot. A metal toilet, bolted to the floor. I was psyching myself up to spend some quality time.

Ellie had been gone for only a couple of minutes when the heavy black cop appeared in front of the cell again. He inserted a key.

“The spa, right?” I pulled myself up. Guess they weren’t done with me yet.

“Not this time,” he laughed. “You just made bail.”

Chapter 81

THEY LED ME to the Intake Center and handed back my clothes and my wallet. I signed a couple of forms and looked beyond the desk to the outer room. They hadn’t told me who had bailed me out.

Standing on the other side of the glass, outside the Intake area, was Sollie Roth.

The door buzzed open, and clutching my bundle, I stepped through. I put out my hand.

Sollie took it, smiling. “Like I said, kid, about your friends… the highest, kid, the highest.”

He put his arm around me and led me down the stairs into the garage. “I don’t know how to thank you,” I said. And I meant it.

Sol’s latest car pulled up – a Caddie. The driver hopped out.

“Don’t thank me so much,” he said as the driver opened the rear door, “as her.”

Ellie was sitting in the backseat.

“Oh God, you’re great,” I said. I jumped in beside her and gave her a hug. Best hug of my entire life. Then I looked at those deep blue eyes and kissed her on the lips. I didn’t care whether anybody saw, whether it was wrong or right.

“If you two lovebirds don’t mind,” Sol said, clearing his throat in the front seat, “it’s late, I’m a few thousand poorer on account of you, and we have work to do.”

“Work?”

“Why am I under the impression there was someone you wanted to nail for murder?”

I couldn’t contain the grin spreading across my face. I squeezed Sol’s arm. It was hard to explain how warm I felt inside – these two people standing up for me.

“I figure we can beat the press by going out the back way,” Sol said, nudging his driver. “You mind your old room back at the house?”

“You mean I can just go back to the house?”

“You’re free to go where you want, Ned,” Ellie said. “At least, until your trial. Mr. Roth here took responsibility for you.”

“So, don’t get any ideas.” He shot a stern look back at me. “Besides, you still owe me two hundred bucks. And I aim to collect.”

I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was numb. I’d felt hunted for so long. Now I had people who believed in me, who would fight for me.

We got back to Sol’s house in a few minutes. The gates to his estate swung open and the Caddie pulled into the bricked courtyard in front. Sol turned to me. “I think you’ll find the place like when you left. In the morning, we’ll see about hooking you up with a good lawyer. That sound okay?”