Stalking The Phoenix Part 28

I am not disappointed. I have a collection of tapes now to make good evidence against her. Threats. Anger. Pain. She's nailing her own coffin closed.

Only a few more steps are necessary. Any day now, all h.e.l.l should break loose when her car is found.

Even her tame police chief won't be able to save her, then. There is no way that anyone will be able to keep her out of jail with the evidence I've acc.u.mulated against her.

Maybe she won't go to jail over the deaths of Luis and Juan. It's too late for that. But, she will suffer over this. She will. No amount of bodyguards' swearing as to her whereabouts will detract from the overwhelming physical evidence.

The police are a lot like hound dogs. Throw them meat and they'll eat it, even if it is poisoned.

*Chapter 38*

'Phil'

"Mallory," I answered as I picked up my office telephone on the morning of May 26. A woman's voice came over the line, "Chief Mallory? I am Detective Sergeant Larson of the St. Louis P.D. I'm with homicide."

"What can I do for you, Sergeant?"

I wished that I had never asked.

"Your car was found," I told Al as we sat in Geoff's living room.

"And?" she demanded as she paced behind the long sofa.

"Why don't you sit down, Al," Phil urged.

Instead, she walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured two stiff shots of Wild Turkey. Then she crossed over to Geoff and handed him one of the drinks. "I've got a feeling that we are going to need it." Then she looked over at me. "Give it to me straight." "The car was abandoned in a parking garage in St. Louis. The plates were switched, but your registration was in the glove box." Al looked at me, waiting for the rest of the story. She didn't know what was coming, but there had to be more to the tale. I could read that much on her face.

"The St. Louis police want to question you first thing tomorrow. The FBI want to talk with you as well," I continued.

"Over an abandoned car?" Geoff demanded.

"No, it's a little more serious than that."

"Oh?" Geoff asked.

"Hernandez' body was in the trunk."

"He's dead?" Al asked on a whisper.

"Very."

"Why do they want to question me?"

"It was your car," I told her.

"My car was stolen weeks ago."

"Phil knows that 'Licia."

"He does. The St. Louis police obviously feel otherwise," Al offered.

I watched as she downed the shot gla.s.s of amber liquid in one toss. She had never been much of a drinker. I wondered if she had been drinking more heavily lately.

*Chapter 39*

'Diary, May 26'

They found Raoul's body. Good. I wondered how long that would take. It might have been better if it had waited until Friday night when it would have been more dramatic. I could see it. The police bust into the wedding rehearsal with a warrant for her arrest on suspicion of murder charges. But, it doesn't look like it is going to be that dramatic.

I've been keeping the brat sedated. In a few days, I'll call someone and tell of her location. They'll chalk up the call to just another anonymous citizen doing her duty.

Then I'll take off with the money which Raoul and I got from the insurance company. I can live quite well, thank you, on $1.5 million, tax free and properly invested.

Poor Raoul. Simple Raoul. G.o.d rest his soul.

Yeah, right. As if G.o.d really exists. That fiction is good for hypocrites like Sister Mary Alice. A boogeyman to scare the simple minded.

Speaking of simple minded fools, there's no way that the authorities can disregard all of the evidence that I sent their way. The strands of her hair beneath his fingernails will be d.a.m.ning. Her engraved stainless letter-opener shoved through his heart was an elegant touch. The monogrammed lace edged linen handkerchief that lay beneath the body. The fact that the body was found in the trunk of her car is simply the piece de resistance.

She's going to roast over this one. It's past time that she was called to account for her sins. So what if they are my sins that she's paying for. If she hadn't started this, everything would have been just fine. But she called the tune, so it's time for her to pay the piper. I'm just sorry I won't be here to see it.

*Chapter 40*

'Alicia'

I sat in the conference room at the local police station on the morning of May 27.

Geoff was with me. The clock on the wall said that the hour had just gone past ten. The St. Louis detectives were due here any minute.

I sipped the coffee which Phil had given me only a couple of minutes before.

"This will all be over soon," Geoff told me.

"Will it?" I demanded. "I'm beginning to believe that it is never going to be over."

"Trust me," Geoff said.

I looked at him for the longest moment. Then, I realized I would never be able to trust him completely. That shook me. Did I have any business marrying a man whom I didn't completely trust?

"First," Detective Sergeant Kathryn Larson, a tall lanky brunette, said, "I want to thank you for speaking with us. I know that this has been a difficult time for you."

I nodded tightly. "What do you need from me?"

"You know that there was a body found in the trunk of your car?"

I nodded in acknowledgment of that fact.

"Then you also know that we've identified him as Raoul Hernandez."

Again, I nodded.

She produced a photograph. "Is this the man whom you know as Hernandez?"

I took the 8 x 10 glossy from her. It was a head and shoulder's shot of a dead man

lying in the trunk of my car. Somehow, seeing it made it much more real and far more horrible. "Yes. That's Hernandez." The bone weariness in my voice wasn't something that I could mask. I returned the photo to her. Geoff took my hand. I pulled away from him. I just wanted to be alone. There was a hurt expression on his face. Lord knew that I didn't want to hurt him. But, I also didn't want to be smothered in a mantle of care. "Why have you asked for this meeting?" I demanded somewhat harshly of the detective. "Do you own a stainless steel letter opener with the initials AMJ engraved on it?" she asked. "I do. It was stolen a few days ago when my business was vandalized." The policewoman nodded. "When was the last time that you were in St. Louis?" "May 7." "And your car was stolen when?" "April 22."

"Doctor Jenkins, all of the circ.u.mstantial evidence surrounding our discovery of the body leads us to you. Chief Mallory and I have had detailed conversation about the times and dates in question. Your alibi for the period when the murder must have been committed is tight. While you might have had motive, and while the murder weapon and the car in which the body was discovered were both yours, you didn't have the opportunity to commit the crime."

"Where is this leading, Sergeant?" Geoff asked.

"Doctor Jenkins, who wants to hurt you badly enough to try to frame you for murder?"

*Chapter 41*

'Alicia'

"Who hates you enough to want to frame you for murder?" That question echoed through my mind the rest of the morning. Until today, the only person would be Hernandez. But, there he lay dead.

At noon, I left the college and went back to Geoff's house. There was only one thing to do. I would be gone before Geoff would be home, I thought as I began packing. Part of me wanted to be out of here before he came home. And the other part screamed that I had to face him. Yet, I didn't want to hurt him.

My engagement ring lay on the dresser with the note explaining why I was breaking the engagement. I had never told Geoff that I loved him. And he had never asked me for that sort of declaration. If the baby had survived, it would have been a far different matter. I would have given that child a stable home with two parents. However, that was now a non-issue. No matter how badly it hurt, I needed to move on. Part of that moving on was to try to straighten out my own life. And I couldn't do that by making another mistake.

On my way home from the college, I had stopped off at the motel downtown and had rented a two-room suite with a kitchenette. It would serve my purposes at least until I could decide what I wanted to do.

All I knew was that I couldn't go through with this marriage. I just couldn't. It would be wrong. I wanted more in my life than what lay before me in this marriage to Geoff. I had thought this was what I had wanted. Certainly, the trappings fit my dreams. Yet, if the last few weeks had done anything, they had taught me to look inward.

I didn't particularly like what I saw.

So, I had called off the wedding. It was rather short notice. But, I couldn't marry Geoff. I should have talked with him first. Instead, I had simply called Father Dougla.s.s and called off the wedding. Then I had called and canceled the reception.

I snapped shut my suitcase and left the beautiful bedroom.

"I won't be needing your services any further," I told the bodyguards. "You are dismissed."

The two men looked at one another, then at me. It was clear they thought I had lost my mind. I couldn't argue with them. I wasn't certain that I hadn't. What I was about to do was profoundly dangerous and I knew it.

The taxi pulled up. I walked out of the house, without a backward glance. Until today, I had thought it was Hernandez who was behind this. Now, I wasn't sure whom I could trust. I had to force the person's hand. The only way to do that was to make myself vulnerable.

It would be an understatement to say I was frightened. Terrified came much closer to the truth. And that word didn't even come close to expressing it.

I dropped the suitcase off at the motel, and walked down to the Church. A few months ago there had been started a perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, so there were always people there. I'd be as safe at the Church as I would be anywhere else.

It was an old Church, done in a true Gothic style. The parish council had wisely opted to keep its statues, stations, stained gla.s.s, and tabernacle at the main altar. The only hint of modernity was that the altar had been moved out from the wall. The air was faintly scented with incense.

Stepping into the Church was like greeting an old friend. I crossed myself with holy water, genuflected, and slid into the back pew. The ancient rhythm of the words of the rosary came unbidden by long practice even as my fingers worked the chain of beads. Yet, my mind was anywhere except on the mysteries of the faith on which I was supposed to be meditating.

Someone slid into the pew beside me. I looked over. It was Father Dougla.s.s. "Do you want to talk?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Not now."

"I'm here whenever you need me," he said quietly.

"I know. Thank you."

I finished one set of mysteries and moved on to the next set of fifty-four prayers. People came and went. I forced myself to appear to be paying attention to my prayers even though I was quite too aware of them as they came and went.

Soon, I had moved on to the last set of mysteries. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you..."

Geoff slid into the pew beside me.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" he demanded in a harsh whisper.

*Chapter 42*