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64
Lou Knox was watching television when he received the summons he was expecting. Cal had warned him that he’d be driving a package out to West Redding, but he hadn’t been sure what time he would have to leave.
When he got to the house, he found Cal and Dr. Peter Black in the library. It was instantly apparent to him that they had just had a major row. Cal ’s mouth was a narrow, mean line, and his cheeks were flushed. Dr. Black was holding a large glass of what appeared to be straight scotch, and from the glazed look in his eyes it was obvious it wasn’t his first drink of the night.
The television was turned on, but the screen showed the deep blue of the video setting. Whatever they had been watching was no longer playing. When Cal saw that Lou was there, he snapped at Black, “Give it to him, you fool!”
“ Cal, I’m telling you-” Dr. Black protested, his voice a dull monotone.
“Just give it to him!”
From the table next to him, Black picked up a small box, loosely wrapped in brown paper. Mutely he held it out to Knox.
“Is this the package I’m to take to West Redding, sir?” Lou asked.
“You know damn well it is, Lou. Now hurry up.”
Lou remembered the phone call Cal had made this morning. This had to be the tape he was talking about with the ophthalmologist, Dr. Logue. Cal and Black must have been looking at it, because it was obvious the package had been opened and then rewrapped. “Right away, sir,” he said crisply. But not until I see what this tape is all about, he thought as he left.
He hurried back to his apartment and carefully double locked the door. It wasn’t difficult to open the package again without tearing the wrapping. As he’d expected, there was a videotape inside. Quickly he inserted it in the VCR and then pushed the PLAY button.
What was this about? he wondered as he studied the screen. He saw a hospital room-a pretty fancy one-with a young woman asleep or unconscious in bed, and a classy-looking old lady sitting next to her.
Wait a minute, Lou thought, I know who that woman is. She’s Barbara Colbert, and that’s her daughter, the one who has been in a coma for years. The family gave so much money for the long-term care building at Lasch that they named it after the girl.
The time the tape was made showed on the lower right corner of the screen: 8:30 this morning. Did this record the whole day? Lou wondered. Surely he didn’t have twelve hours on this one tape.
He fast-forwarded to the end of the tape, rewound a short way, then pressed PLAY again. The picture now showed the old lady sobbing, while two men held on to her. Dr. Black was bending over the bed. The girl must have died, Lou thought. He checked the time again at the bottom of the picture: 5:40 P.M.
Just a couple of hours ago, Lou thought. But this can’t be just about the girl dying, he reasoned. She’s been out of it for years, so they knew she was going to die some time.
Lou knew that at any moment Cal might come up the steps, demanding to know what was keeping him. His senses straining to hear Cal approaching, he again rewound the tape, this time going further back.
What he saw made him shiver. It was hard to believe, but there it was: the girl who had been out of it for years, waking up, turning her head, talking clearly, talking about Dr. Lasch. Then she closed her eyes and died. And then there was Black, telling the mother he hadn’t heard the girl say anything.
It was spooky. Whatever this was about, it was big stuff. Lou knew that. He also knew the chance he was taking when he spent precious time duplicating the last fifteen minutes of the tape and hiding it in the compartment behind the shelves in his apartment.
He was just getting in the car when Cal came out. “What kept you? What have you been up to, Lou?”
Lou was sure the naked fear he felt was visible in his face, but he forced himself to control it. He knew what he had in that tape, and the power it gave him. Long years of making deception an art form served him well.
“I was in the bathroom. My stomach isn’t so good.”
Without waiting for a response, he closed the car door and started the engine. An hour later he was at the farmhouse in West Redding, handing the package to the man he knew as Dr. Adrian Logue.
Almost feverish with excitement, Logue grabbed the package from Lou’s hand and slammed the door in his face.
65
“It was one of the hardest things I ever did in my entire life,” Edna Barry explained on the telephone to Marta Jones. She had just finished tidying up the kitchen after di
“Yes, it must have been dreadful for you,” Marta agreed.
Edna had no doubt that Fran Simmons would be nosing around again, asking more questions, and she might very well drop over to see Marta. Well, if she did, Edna wanted to be sure her neighbor got the story right. This time, Edna vowed, Marta was going to pass on information that wouldn’t hurt Wally. She took another sip of tea and moved the phone to her other ear. “Marta,” she continued, “you were the one who put the idea in my head that Molly might be dangerous, remember? I tried not to think about it, but she is acting strange. She’s very quiet. Sits for hours, just by herself. Doesn’t want anyone around. Today she was on the floor, going through boxes. There were stacks of pictures of the doctor.”
“No!” Marta gasped. “I would think she’d have gotten rid of them long ago. Why would she hold on to those? Would you want to look at a picture of a man you killed?”
“That’s what I mean about her acting so strange,” Edna said. “Then yesterday, when she said she never took the key from the hiding place in the garden-well, Marta, I realized then that all that business about forgetting everything started before the doctor died. I think it all began when she had the miscarriage. Depression must have set in then, and after that Molly was never the same.”
“Poor woman,” Marta said with a sigh. “It would be a lot better for her if they put her someplace where she can get real help, but I’m glad you’re staying away from her, Edna. Don’t forget, Wally needs you, and he has to be your first priority.”
“That’s the way I feel. Marta, it’s good to have a friend like you I can talk to. I’ve been so upset, and I had to get it off my chest.”
“I’m always here for you, Edna. Get to bed early and get a good night’s sleep.”
Satisfied at having accomplished her purpose, Edna got up, turned off the kitchen light, and went into the den. Wally was watching the all-news cha
“Wally, why don’t you switch cha
“Are they going to put Molly back in prison, Mom?”
“I don’t know, dear.”
“She looked so scared when she found him. I was sorry for her.”
“Wally, don’t say that. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I do, Mom. I was there, remember?”
Panicked, Edna grabbed her son’s face with both hands and forced him to look up at her. “Do you remember how the police scared you when Dr. Morrow was killed? How they kept asking you questions about where you were on the night he died? Do you remember, before they came I made you put your walking cast back on and use your crutches so they’d leave you alone?”