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 Karkinnens window. From what she could tell by questioning Wilson, and careful questions to others at the bank, Davenport had been the only reason that Wilson had been looked at so closely. Audrey had attacked Karkinnen in an effort to turn Lucas aroundthe same tactic had worked in the past, with the McKinney situation and the Bairds. And from what she could tell of the investigations pace, and from stories in the newspapers, the attackhaddiverted him for a time. Investigators had vanished from the bank, thered been two days of silence from the police… and then suddenly, they were back, and all over Wilson.
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 Karkinnen diversion was that the police investigation hadnt led anywhere. The newspapers said the police were simply mystified. Theyd run down every single clue and theyd found nothing at all. After a while, there was nothing left to do, so they went back to Wilson and had apparently stumbled over something that pointed at the Arris killing. If theyd been preoccupied with Karkinnen a little bit longer, they might never have found whatever it was.
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. Annes, and then, while she was pushing Wilson through law school, shed taken a masters degree from the University of Minnesota in library science. She was still working in the library when computers moved in, and shed more or less kept up with them over the years, and when the bank went on-line. When Davenport became a problem, shed looked him up in theStar-Tribunelibrary node on the Internet.
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 Karkinnen, with Sister Mary Josephwhom hed known since their childhood togetherand with a variety of cops, lawyers, TV and newspaper reporters, doctors, jocks, and street people, all friends of his.
The two obvious targets for a diversionary attack were the nun and the surgeonDavenports oldest friend and hislover. She decided on Karkinnen because Karkinnen was simpler.
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. Annes, lived in a communal dormitory-style setting in which intruders would be instantly noticed. And attack would be risky.
Karkinnen, on the other hand, was out in the open. Audrey had been puzzled that the year-old article implied that Karkinnen was Davenports live-in lover, while Audreys search turned up different addresses, but she assumed there was something that she didnt know. She considered the possibility that theyd broken up, but then found an engagement announcement only a few months old…
So shed gone for Karkinnen. Shed thrown the bomb through the window, concerned not a whit for the possibility that she might kill the woman, but very concerned at the possibility of being caught. The final attackout of the car, across the lawn, throw, back in the car, ten seconds minimized the possibility, but it had still taken nerve.
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 running motion, as she began working out a possible plan. Shed have to do it the minute she got out. Shed have to emphasize her injuries, complain of cracked ribs, something that wouldnt show on X rays, but would keep her from doing anything heavy. Shed have to hobble and whimper and limp and make people feel sorry for her, and the instant she was alone, she had to go for the nun.
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.
Going up alone? Franklin asked.
Cut some firewood, put the snow blade on the Gator, haul the snowmobiles out and get them checked, Lucas said.
Going up alone?
Get the batteries out of the boat, put the boat away. Maybe figure out some way to cover it. I had some squirrels get in it last year, in the shed, and the damn thing was full of decapitated acorn shells when I got it out this spring.
Jesus, I wish I was single again, sometimes, Franklin said. And had a cabin up north. Nothing like a little strange pussy in November.
If youd asked me, I could have advised you against getting a Ford, Lucas said. Anyway, see you around.