Goddamnit, Lucas said.
My best idea was that somebody was trying to get at you through me, Weather said. Remember that newspaper article after the thing with Andi and John Mail? The Pals of Lucas Davenport? Maybe somebody who goes way back read that articlemaybe somebody in prison at the timeand decided to come after me. Thered be no way for an outsider to know that wed broken off the relationship. So… I think you might look at your past, more than mine. That is, if its not just some random crazy man.
How about the landlords? Would they
Oh God, Lucas, no. Theyre the nicest people in the world. I called to tell them about the house, and they were worried aboutme. No. Not them.
All right. Lucas looked at Sherrilclass="underline" Anything else?
Not if shes sure shes not the target. But Weather, if you think ofanything…
Ill call Lucas the next minute, she said.
So is that it? Andi Manette asked.
Lucas looked at Weather for a long five seconds, then to Manette: Yeah, thats it.
Outside on the sidewalk, with the door closing behind them, Sherrill pulled on her jacket and said, Whew.
What?
She said that thing about breaking off the relationship, and you never even flinched. And she just said it like…
It was done.
Yeah.
I flinched, Lucas said.
God, Sherrill said. Then, after a while, Bad day.
REAL BAD DAY.
That night, a little after ten-thirty, Wilson McDonald was shaking his hand in James T. Bones face, sputtering, Vicechairman. Thats nothing! Nothing! Youre treating me like a piece of shit.
Bone said, Look, Wilsonyoure not gonna get the top spot. Youre just not. I can commit to leaving you as top guy in the mortgage company. I can get you the vice chairmans job with the merged bank. But I cant say whatll happen after the merger.
Not gonna be any fuckin merger, McDonald said. Hed never taken off his coat. He headed for the door, turned when he got there, and said, And youre never gonna run the goddamned bank. Maybe I cant get it myself, but I can fuck you up.
And he was gone.
Kerin Baki said, If they go to ODell, we may have a problem.
Bone shook his head. Not necessarily. ODell needs ten. I cant see more than seven or eight. And frankly, I dont think McDonald can swing votes. Why should people swing on his say-so? Hes gone.
Its not all power and money equations, Baki said. Some of its family and friendship. And all he has to do is swing maybe two votes. ..
I dont think he can do it, Bone said.
Youre underestimating ODell, Baki said.
No. I just know what Im willing to do, and what Im not. If she gets itso be it. But I dont think she will.
REAL BAD DAY.
Susan ODell took a small red diabetic candy from a bowl on her coffee table, unrolled the cellophane with her fingertips, popped the candy in her mouth, and said, Im sure about Anderson, Bunde, Sanderson, Eirich, Sojen, and Goff. If you can give me Spartz, Rondeau, Young, and Brandt, then weve got it: weve got ten.
We can. Wilson talked to his father today, and hes got Rondeaus commitment. Spartz, Young, and Brandt have already committed to whatever Wilson wants to do, Audrey McDonald said. Audrey was sitting on a love seat, herfeet squarely on the floor, her purse squarely on her lap. Her whole body hurt, but nothing had been broken. When Wilson beat you, he did it carefully. Thoroughly, but carefully.
Weve got to be sure, ODell said.
Ill get written commitments if you wish, Audrey said stiffly. She hated ODell, but this was necessary.
Thats absurd, ODell said. Nobody would do that. And its not necessary. NoI want to talk to them. Itll all be very pleasant, but we have to talk.
Ill arrange it, Audrey said. But we do want your commitment in writing. We wont be able to show it to anyone, of course, if you go through with your end… but if you dont do what you say, well.. . hurt you with it.
ODell shook her head. Cant do it.
You can if you want the job, Audrey said. She twisted slightly, trying to ease a cramp in her back. He reallyhadhurt her.
ODell sat silently for a moment. Then: Can I call you tomorrow? First thing?
First thing, Audrey said. Theres not a lot of time left.
Audrey looked old, ODell thought, looking after her as she scuttled away toward the elevator. They were of an age, but already Audrey was bent over, stiff.
ODell worked out, both for strength and flexibility. She was a long-range planner, and had every intention of living to a nice ripe ninety.
AFTER LETTING AUDREY OUT, O DELL WENT TO THE REFRIGERATOR, got a bottle of Dos Equis, popped the top, and sat down on the couch to think about it. Five minutes later the telephone burped from the end table, a single half-ring. She waited, but whoever it was had rung off. She took a couple of sips of the beer, leaned sideways and picked up the phone, punched in Louise Comptons number.
Compton picked it up on the third ring, and ODell said, Audrey McDonald was just here. She said she can deliverSpartz, Rondeau, Young, and Brandt. But there are some conditions.
Like what?
Like they want a written statement: Im president and CEO, but Wilson gets the chairmans job. Hed just be a figurehead, but the salaries would be the same.
That sounds…
Illegal. It might be.
Why dont you see if you could commit yourself with a couple of witnessesmaybe a couple of the board membersrather than putting it in writing. Then in a couple of years, when weve got the place under control…
We bump him off.
Exactly.
I like your thinking, ODell said. The doorbell rang, and she turned, frowned. Somebody at the door. Hang on.
ODell hopped off the couch and hurried across the living room, looked through the peephole into the hallway, frowned, and opened the door.
I… Then she saw the muzzle of the gun. No, she said.
In the narrow space of the reception hall, the shot sounded like the end of the world, and for ODell, it was. The slug hit her in the eye, and knocked out the back of her skull.
She went down on her back, and a second later another shot hit her in the forehead: but she was already dead.
The telephone lay on the couch, and a tiny, tinny voice screamed Susan? Susan, what was that? Susan?
A real bad day for Susan ODell.
THIRTEEN
LUCAS STEPPED OUT OF THE ELEVATOR, BRUSHED PAST a couple of uniformed cops in the hallway, stopped in ODells door and looked down at the body. She was lying flat on her back, her feet toed in, her nose pointed straight up. Her face had been ruined by the two gunshots; a small bloodstain was visible in the carpet below her skull. He could smell the blood.
What the fuck is this? Lucas asked in anger and utter disgust. What the fuck is it?
An older plainclothes cop named Swanson was sitting in a ladder-back chair, flipping through an appointment book. Same old shit, he said. Swanson had seen maybe six hundred murders in his career. Watch your feet, nothings been processed.
His partner, who was named Riley, said, We got that McDonald woman coming over. She was here just before the shooting.
Audrey McDonald? How do we know that? Lucas asked. He was walking around ODell, peering down at the body as though a clue might be written on it.
ODell was on the phone with a friend from the bank when she was killed. The frienduh, let me see, Louise Comptoncalled us, called 911. But anyway, just before
ODell was killed, she told this Compton that Audrey McDonald had just left. We understand youve been talking to her. Audrey McDonald.
Never laid eyes on her, Lucas said. Talked to her husband. He squatted next to ODell, picked out the powder burns on her face. Small- to medium-caliber pistol, fired from a few inches away, he thought. Got a slug?
Swanson pointed a pistol at an entryway wall. Right there… well get it. And it looks like maybe the second shot was fired when she was already down, so it might be right under her head. Wooden floors.