If Monk… or Jilly… got hold of her… Carrie rushed to the phone, got an outside line, and called Tony collect. She prayed
he hadn't already left for the airport.
He must have been sitting by the phone, because he picked up on the first ring.
Carrie didn't waste time on preliminaries. "They're going to put me in a house and keep me here, in Colorado," she blurted.
"Where in Colorado?" he asked.
"They wouldn't tell me, but I heard one of them talking on his cell phone. He didn't know I was listening, and he mentioned
a place called Wedgewood. It must be some kind of suburb."
"Aspen's too small to have suburbs," he countered.
"I don't know where the hell it is. Look it up on the Internet, for God's sake. Use your head. There can't be more than one Wedgewood suburb in Colorado." She burst into tears. "If I have to be in a safe house for a long time, what will happen to
my company? I can't be away too long. I can't…"
"Honey, I can handle things here. I've run a company before."
"But I need you with me, Tony. You have to come."
"All right, I will," he promised. "I won't let you go through this alone. Do you want me to come to the hospital? Can they wait
to move you until I get there?"
"I'll make them wait," she said. "Sara has already been moved into the new physical therapy wing. It hasn't even been opened
yet, so security's easy. I'll stay there with her until they move both of us. I won't let them take me anywhere until you get here."
"Yes, okay," he said, sounding relieved.
"Do you know they can't find Avery? When she called me, she told me she wouldn't be joining me in protective custody. Have
you talked to her?"
"No, not yet. I've been pacing by the phone, waiting. It's not like Avery to make me worry. I don't understand why she hasn't called."
"She knows you'll give her hell for upsetting me," Carrie said. "She doesn't like to disappoint either one of us."
"I know, honey, but I'm worried sick about her."
"Me too. She'll call, and when she does, you tell her not to go to Sheldon Beach. Make her realize how dangerous it will be
for her."
"Yes, I will," he promised. "I'm not going to let anything happen to her."
"What if Avery calls after you've left for the airport?"
"Honey, she knows my cell phone number."
Of course Avery did. Carrie was so rattled she couldn't think. "I'll see you soon."
Carrie hung up the phone and decided to call Avery's office to find out if her friends had heard from her, but she was prevented from making any more calls when Agent Hillman walked into the room and told her that Judge Collins wanted to talk to her.
"We'll be moving you into the new wing in a few minutes."
"Yes, all right. Whatever you say."
Hillman was surprised and pleased by her cooperation. He was feeling a bit smug too, for he'd been right. He'd told Bean and Gorman that once Mrs. Salvetti calmed down, she would cooperate, and she was doing exactly that now.
Maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad assignment after all.
Chapter 34
Jilly had just had a full body massage and was now wrapped in a four-hundred-count Egyptian cotton sheet with the
logo of Utopia stamped on the hem. She lay on her back, her eyes closed, while the female technician applied an avocado
facial mask. The stupid woman wouldn't stop talking. She gave Jilly one compliment after another about her flawless
complexion and her oh, so perfect body.
Jilly never tired of hearing compliments from men, but she didn't care what women thought about her, and just when she was about to tell the technician to shut up, she finished applying the goo and said, "We'll just let this set for fifteen minutes."
She was finally alone. Loosening the sheet, she let the cool air caress her body. It felt good to relax, especially after she'd
become so distraught over the news that Carrie and the judge had survived the explosion. Fortunately, Monk hadn't been in the bungalow when that horrid news came on the television, so she didn't have to try to behave. He had never seen her throw a full-blown tantrum, and she didn't know how he would react. She certainly didn't want to scare him, not yet anyway, because he was so terribly useful. There was still too much to be done, and it was imperative that Monk stay the loyal lap-dog.
Carrie used to call her fits rages, but Jilly had learned control over the years. Not much, but some, she qualified. Admittedly,
if one of the housekeeping staff had happened to walk into the bungalow just after Jilly had heard the news about Carrie, Jilly probably would have attacked her. And enjoyed every moment of it.
Jilly had never killed a person. She'd let her men take care of her problems. Wasn't that what they were for? She had often wondered, though, what it would feel like to kill someone with a gun or maybe even with her bare hands. If someone caused
her to be unhappy, then watching her die did seem fitting. Why should she deny herself that joy and satisfaction? She realized
now that Monk had been right all along. He had wanted to kill each woman separately and make the deaths look like accidents, but Jilly had pleaded and cajoled until he'd given in and done things her way. How could such a brilliant plan not work? It was so perfect, so simple, so… brilliant.
Carrie. Carrie was the reason the plan hadn't worked. That selfish bitch had ruined everything.
Jilly threw herself on the bed and pounded her fists into the pillows. She stopped suddenly. She heard the newscaster on CNN with the lead-in for the footage that was coming on the screen again. She bolted upright, impatiently wiping the tears from her eyes, and stared at the screen. The film was focusing on the judge, but Jilly wasn't interested in her, no matter how famous she was supposed to be. She waited, whimpering, until finally the camera turned to her bitch of a sister as she was being carried on
a stretcher into the ambulance. Men, paramedics, no doubt, but still men, were actually fawning over her. How dare they give
her any attention? How dare they? Jilly was more enraged by the men's behavior than by the fact that her sister was still very
much alive.
The camera zoomed in on Carrie's face. Jilly thought she saw her smiling, and that proved to be the last straw. Screaming obscenities, she picked up a lamp and hurled it into the wall.
Carrie was ruining everything.
It took an hour for her to calm down. Then she called the spa and had a masseur come to the bungalow. The massage helped,
and she was now able to think about a new plan. This one wouldn't be as complicated, she decided.
Why hadn't she given in to the urge and killed Carrie with her scissors? Because that wouldn't have been as much fun. After everything her sister had done to her, she deserved to suffer a long while before she died. It wasn't fair. Men worrying about
her, taking care of her. Couldn't they see how ugly she was?
Jilly could feel herself getting worked up again. The mask on her face was beginning to itch. Her cell phone rang just as the technician came back into the suite.
"Go away," she said. "I'll wash this off. Shut the door behind you."
Jilly knocked over a stack of towels as she reached for the phone. "Yes?"
"I thought you would want to hear some good news. I found out where Carrie and the judge are."
She immediately perked up. "You know? Where, darling? Was I right?" she asked before he could answer. "Are they going to Sheldon Beach? Is that where they're going to hide Carrie until the trial?"
"Your sister isn't going to Florida because she isn't going to testify at the trial."
Jilly laughed with delight. "She's afraid."
"Yes."
The mask on her face cracked when she smiled. "That's wonderful news. Now tell me everything."