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He slipped out, his footsteps noiseless as he cut across the path, avoiding the areas where the lanterns sent out beams of light. If only he'd been able to finish this on Monday night… but Ted had been standing near the pool watching Elizabeth .
Ted always in the way. Always the one with money and looks, always the one the girls flocked around. He'd forced himself to accept it, to make himself useful to Ted, first in college, then in the office: the go-fer, the tenacious assistant. He'd had to fight his way up until the executive-plane accident had instantly made him Ted's right hand, and then when Ted lost Kathy and Teddy, he'd been able to take over the reins of the company…
Until Leila.
His loins ached remembering Leila. How it had felt to make love to her. Until he'd brought her here and she'd met Ted. And discarded him, like garbage tossed into a bin.
He had watched those slim arms slide around Ted's neck, that wanton body snuggling against Ted, had helplessly walked away not able to bear the sight of them together, pla
And he'd found it with the play. He'd had to prove investing in the play was a mistake. It was already clear that Ted was begi
Grateful for his advice, Leila had agreed, "But tell me, "she'd begged. "Is it true, Bulldog? Is there someone else?" His elaborate protests had had the effect he wanted. She'd believed the letters.
He hadn't worried about those last two. He'd thought all that unopened mail had been thrown out. But it hadn't mattered. Cheryl burned one, and he had taken the other one from Sammy. Everything was at last working for him. On Saturday he would become chairman and president of Winters Enterprises.
He was at the pool.
He slipped into the dark water and swam to the shallow end. Elizabeth always dived into the deepest area. That night in Elaine's he'd known the time had come to kill Leila. Everyone would believe it was a suicide. He'd let himself in through one of the guest suites on the upper floor of the duplex and listened to them quarrel, listened when Ted stormed out, and then the idea had come to mimic Ted's voice to make Elizabeth think Ted was with Leila just before she died.
He heard the sound of footsteps on the path. She was coming. Soon he would be safe. In those weeks after Leila's death, he'd thought he had lost. Ted hadn't fallen apart. He'd turned to Elizabeth. The death had been considered an accident. Until that unbelievable stroke of luck when that crazy woman had come forward and said she had seen Ted struggling with Leila. And Elizabeth had become the chief witness.
It was destined to be this way. Now the Baron and Syd had become material witnesses against Ted. The Baron wouldn't be able to deny that he had heard Ted struggling with Leila. Syd had seen Ted on the street. Even Ted himself must have glimpsed them on the terrace and because he was drunk and it was dark, relived that episode with his father.
The footsteps were getting closer. He allowed himself to sink to the bottom of the pool. She was so sure of herself, so clever. Waiting for him to come, anxious for him to attack her, ready to outswim him while she blew the whistle and called for help. She wouldn't get the chance.
It was ten o'clock, and there was a difference in the atmosphere of the Spa. Many of the bungalows were already dark, and Elizabeth wondered how many people had actually checked out. The talk-show host was gone; the Countess and her friends must have left before di
Evening fog had settled in, heavy, penetrating, enveloping. Even the Japanese lanterns along the path seemed hooded.
She dropped her robe by the side of the pool and looked carefully into the water. It was absolutely still. There was no one here yet.
She felt for the whistle around her neck. All she would need was to be able to put her lips to it. A blast from this whistle would bring help.
She dived in. The water felt clammy tonight. Or was it because she was afraid? I can outswim anyone, she reassured herself. I had to take this chance. It's the only way. Would the bait be taken?
Voices. Alvirah Meehan had been persistent on that subject. That persistence might have cost her her life. That was what she had been trying to tell them. She'd known it wasn't Helmut's voice.
She'd reached the north end of the pool; she flipped over and began to backstroke. Voices. It was her identification of Ted's voice that had placed him in that room with Leila a few minutes before her death.
The night Leila died, Craig had claimed to be in his apartment watching a television show when Ted tried to call him. No one had questioned that Craig was home. Ted had been his alibi.
Voices.
Craig wanted Ted to be convicted. Ted was about to turn over the ru
When she asked Craig about changing the message on his recorder, had she frightened him enough to force him into an overt attack?
Elizabeth began a freestyle breaststroke. From beneath her, arms encircled her, pi
Eleven
"After Kathy and Teddy died, I went to pieces." It was as if Ted were talking to himself, not Scott. The car raced past the gate to Pebble Beach without stopping. The roaring siren shattered the peace of the surroundings; the headlights opened only a few feet of visibility in the deepening fog.
"Craig took over ru
"And he's the one who hired the detective to follow that first witness; the detective who was so conveniently there to make sure the new witness didn't get away."
They were on the grounds of the Spa. Scott drove the car across the lawn and stopped in front of Elizabeth 's bungalow. The maid rushed from her station. Ted was banging on the door. "Where is Elizabeth?"
"I don't know," the maid said, her voice faltering. "She gave me a letter. She didn't say she was going out."
"Let me see the letter."
"I don't think-"
"Give me the letter."
Scott read the note to Vicky, ripped open the letter addressed to him and began to read.