Secret Prey

Not Davenport. He was ready to crucify her. She would have to move on this.

She dozed for a while, in a little pain, and woke up, calculating.

The lawyer said shed be here overnight, and then would be wheeled into court for a preliminary hearing on an open charge of murder. She would be allowed to enter a plea not guiltyand bail would be set. If she was willing, hed said, she could use her house as security. The assistant county attorney handling the case had already indicated that the state would have no objection, so the deal was as good as done, and she could go straight home from the courthouse.

Murder? Shed croaked. They're charging…?

Dont worry: theyre already backing off, Glass had said. When the police finish investigating, theyll almost certainly find that it was self-defense. Right now, its ninety-ten for no charges at all.

So Audrey had agreed to use the house as security, and had given him a limited power of attorney so that he could get all the paperwork. Shed be out tomorrow afternoon.

And that would be the time to handle the Davenport problem.

Shed thought she was doing that when she pitched the Molotov cocktail through Weather Karki

Wilson.

She sighed, and let a little tear start at the corner of her eye. She already missed Wilson. Shed known, in her heart of hearts, that someday shed have to kill him, the love of her life. He would inevitably get in her way, or even become a danger to her. And he finally had. If the police had put pressure on him, he wouldve pointed them at her, because he was basically a coward. He had no grit. Wilson

…

She wrenched her mind back to Davenport. The problem with the Karki

Now they were looking at her. Or at least, Davenport was. She didnt quite understand why. Shed given him an answer to his questionher own dead husband.

Shed actually given him an earlier answer, the answerto who killed Kresge, but he either hadnt gotten the message or had ignored it.

The Kresge murder weapon had the fingerprints of Kresges caretaker all over it. Hed been the one who put it away the last time Audrey saw it. A few of the lingering partygoers had been sitting around with Kresge, talking and cleaning the guns. When they were done with each one, theyd pass it to the caretaker, whod put it away.

Kresge had told her, on the shooting range, that she shot the Contender better than he did. That hed never shot it at all, after the first few times. So the caretakers prints should still be on it. But the papers hadnt had a whisper about the gun, and Wilson said nobody had even bothered to interview the caretaker. Something was screwed up, she thought. Typical. Very few people could act with her intellectual rigor…

Audrey was crazy and smart and she knew how to do research: shed taken an undergraduate degree in English from St. A

And there shed found a treasure trove.

TheStar-Tribunehad done a lengthy feature on Davenport after hed cleared the kidnapping of a psychologist and her two daughters by a madman named John Mail. Davenport and His Pals had pictured Davenport with Weather Karki

The two obvious targets for a diversionary attack were the nun and the surgeonDavenports oldest friend and hislover. She decided on Karki

Audrey knew Sister Mary Joseph from her college days: the nun had been her instructor in basic psychology, and Audrey remembered her as an intense young woman with a face terribly scarred by adolescent acne. But the nun, who was still at St. A

Karki

So shed gone for Karki

Shed need the nerve again: but nerve had never been a problem for her. Audrey McDonald had nerve, all right.

She thought again about the possibility of going after Davenport himself. There were two problems with that: First, he was large and tough-looking, and carried a gun. He would be difficult to get at quickly without exposing herself. She couldnt get close enough for poison, couldnt risk a gun attack; if she missed, shed be dead. And he was a cop, so might be a little more wary than the average citizen. Further, she didnt have time to research him as she had Arris and Ingall. And the second big problem was that killing him might lead the cops investigatinghiskilling to take a harder look at his current investigations, includingher.

A diversion would lead them away from her… So it would have to be the nun.

Her legs twitched down the bed, a kind of ru

Shed have no trouble with this. Shed been undercover for more than twenty-five years now. She might not ever come out.

FRANKLIN HAD BEEN IN A LONGTIME 401K PLAN. THE stocks had gone through the roof during the summer, so, like any Good American, hed borrowed against the fund to buy a new black Ford extended-cab pickup truck, which he and Lucas walked around, Lucas shaking his head. Finally Franklin said, So what next? Just wrap it up? Were done?

Wrap it up, Lucas said. They were standing at the curb outside McDonalds house. McDonalds the man, and hes dead: outa reach. Ill spend a couple days trying to figure out the firebomb thing with Weather, then maybe go up to the cabin.