Trial By Fire

Now it was Do

“You’re Do

“Yes, I am, but can’t you see we’re busy here?”

The escrow officer stuffed the two stacks of documents into a file folder. “Just give me a minute, Ms. Carson,” she said. “I’ll get rid of them.”

“No, you won’t,” Detective Salazar said. “We’re not going anywhere.” She pointed at a chair. “Sit,” she ordered. Without further objection, the escrow officer sat.

“What’s this all about?” Do

“It’s about two attempted homicides that occurred northeast of here yesterday afternoon. You’re a person of interest in those two cases, Ms. Carson, along with another incident that happened earlier this week in Camp Verde. We need you to tell us where you were yesterday afternoon, and what you were doing.”

Do

“Sit,” Maria said again, this time pointing a finger at Do

“That would be at Saint Gregory’s Hospital?” Maria asked.

“Yes,” Do

“So are you acquainted with Sister Anselm, a Sister of Providence who was working as a patient advocate there?”

Do

There was the tiniest tremor in the corner of her eyes when she gave that answer. Ali suspected that Do

“I suppose we should read her her rights,” Maria said casually to Ali. “Just in case she turns into a suspect.”

“Right,” Ali said agreeably. “Just in case.”

Maria recited the Miranda warning from memory. Ali waited until the Mirandizing was complete. Ali expected Do

“What did you do with Mimi Cooper’s watercolor?” she asked. “We know what happened to the fake Paul Klee. What happened to the real one?”

“What painting?” Do

“Yes, you do,” Ali insisted. “You stole Mimi’s Klee months ago, when you took it out for reframing. You replaced it with a fake. The two house fires in Camp Verde were supposed to get rid of the evidence. So what’s your co

Do

“I didn’t have to persuade him,” she said dismissively. “He offered to help me. He wanted to help me. He hated those people as much as I do.”

A hint of a smile twitched at the corners of Detective Salazar’s mouth, but she said nothing.

“What people did he hate?” Ali continued. “Sister Anselm? Mimi Cooper? What did they ever do to you, or to him? You still haven’t said what you did with the real Paul Klee. Where is it?”

“It’s on its way somewhere you’ll never find it,” Do

Do

But if she’s damaged goods, Ali thought, if her uncle took advantage of her…

Ali decided to tackle that delicate subject head-on.

“Why did you do this?” she asked. “Why are you lashing out at Winston Langley’s family? Is it because your uncle molested you? Was he your lover?”

For a moment Do

Ali and Maria exchanged looks. If Do

“And he wasn’t my damned uncle, either,” Do

Ali was appalled by the whole idea. “You’re saying Winston Langley was your father, and that he raped his own sister?” she repeated.

“Yes.”

“What about your mother’s parents?”

“What about them? I never even met them until after my mother went to prison. That’s when Winston came riding to the rescue, playing the part of the generous uncle. And all this time, that’s what I thought he was.”

“Your mother never told you what happened?”

“Tom McGregor was the only person who ever told me the truth. Winston didn’t, not even when he was dying, and his goody-goody bitch of a wife didn’t tell me, either, although she knew. She claimed she didn’t, but she must have. As far as the world was concerned, Winston Langley was this really good guy-the magnanimous uncle who stepped up to the plate to help out his poor, deprived, and orphaned niece by seeing to it that I got an education and by giving me a job. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut about my mother. She was the bad seed, and the less said about her the better.

“So I went along with the program. I was the charity case. I wore Serenity’s cast-off clothing, but I had a place to live and food to eat. That was the price I was prepared to pay as long as I was an orphan. But it turns out I wasn’t an orphan at all. Once Tom told me the truth, I realized how badly I’ve been cheated-by Winston and Mimi and by Serenity and Win, too.

“What I’ve earned in paychecks over the years is a drop in the bucket compared to what Win and Serenity got when Winston died. I’m expected to bow and scrape and do whatever Serenity says, while she treats me like dirt. But then, she can afford to. She had access to her share of Winston’s estate, and mine, too.”

“That painting belonged to Mimi,” Ali put in. “How does stealing it even the score with her dead husband?”

“It didn’t,” Do

“Tell us about Tom McGregor,” Detective Salazar suggested. “What brought him into the picture?”

“He reached out to me after he saw Winston Langley’s obituary in one of the Phoenix papers,” Do

“When did you first hear from him?”

“A little over a year ago. He said his conscience was bothering him and that he owed it to my mother to set the record straight. When he first told me, I didn’t believe it, either, but then I had some DNA testing done. You’re cops. DNA doesn’t lie, does it?”

“So you convinced Tom McGregor to help you,” Ali asked.

“I already told you. He offered to help me.”

“Why kidnap Sister Anselm? What did you have against her?”

“Because Tom blew it the first time around. Mimi was supposed to be dead, but she wasn’t. I was afraid she’d tell someone that I was involved before I had a chance to get away.”

“You’re right,” Ali said. “She did tell someone.”

“The nun?” Do