?Without my help, your lungs will quickly grow worse. The short time you have left will be even more miserable. When you can hardly breathe at all, panic will entrap you. You will slowly strangle to death, choked by the emphysema. Wouldn?t you prefer perfect health and a long life? Wouldn?t you prefer to escape this concrete trap and enjoy the benefits I promise??
Coughing hard, Lee clutched at the wound in his side.?There?s no way out of this cage. Even if there were, why would you want to help Blake??
?I will help get Blake out of here, help him find Brad Falon, help him force Falon to confess. That is exactly what you are planning, so, you see, I simply want to assist in your venture.?
Morgan?s escape was what he?d planned, ever since Becky came to visiting day so excited she could hardly get it out fast enough, that there was a warrant for Falon. That as soon as Falon was found he?d be shipped off to L.A. for arraignment and trial, with a good chance he?d go to prison out there.
IN THE VISITING room, Becky had spoken in heated whispers, sitting in the far corner on an isolated couch close between Morgan and Lee. She hadn?t brought Sammie; she said Anne had taken the child to a movie. This was a different kind of visit, she was all business, was strung tight with her news and seemed to want no distraction.
But still she?d left a lot unsaid, questions to which Lee still wanted answers. Who had shot Falon? She said she didn?t know but Lee thought she did know. Maybe, if Becky had shot him herself, she didn?t want to upset Morgan? Maybe that was why she hadn?t brought Sammie, because Sammie would say too much?
But Lee sensed, as well, something more left unrevealed. The way Becky looked at him puzzled and embarrassed him; she was holding something back. Yet how could it affect him, when he hardly knew her? Whatever it was, it left him with questions that, he thought, he might not want to ask.
Morgan had sat stone-faced, saying nothing. Lee hadn?t been able to tell what either one was thinking. But questions or not, with a warrant out for Falon, Lee?s plan had begun to take shape. If Falon was arrested, was out on the West Coast?if Lee and Morgancould get to him, could break out of prison, hightail it out there, get themselves arrestedand locked in the same institution, they?d have Falon where he couldn?t escape. Could force a confession from him, make him reveal where the bank money was hidden. Once the money was found, and maybe the murder weapon, Morgan should have more than enough to clear him.
A lot of ifs and maybes, Lee thought. But that was what life was made of.
But it was not the devil?s plan that they force information from Falon. Now, standing there on the wet walkway, the wraith kept pressing at Lee. ?Once you?ve broken out of here, Fontana, and Blake thinks you?re helping him, you will be in a position to crush him. You will raise his hopes high. Then you will destroy him.?
Lee glanced along the walks again, and now they were alone.
?With my help,? Lucifer said, ?you will arrange that Blake kills Falon. That a number of reliable witnesses are present, and that Blake is arrested. The prosecuting attorney will easily prove that Blake broke out of prison with the intention of killing Falon. This,? Satan said, smiling, ?will put an end to Morgan?s bid for an appeal. When he attacks Falon, he destroys whatever chance he might have had.?
?Why would you want him to kill Falon? Falon?s one of yours.?
?Falon has been useful. Now, when all is finished, he will join my ranks. He will work the game from the other side, and that should please him.?
?And when Blake goes down, I would be arrested as his accomplice.?
?Oh, no,? the devil said. ?I will see that you conveniently vanish, into any kind of life you choose. Healthy again, with wealth, with bawdy women, the finest horses, gold, whatever is your pleasure.?
?If Morgan and I got out of here, if that was even possible?and if I didn?t double-cross him, if I continued to help him and kept him out of trouble, what would you do then??
?I would destroy you both.?
?You haven?t destroyed me so far. What makes you think you can take down Blake, either? The truth is,? Lee said, ?you?re more bluff than substance.?
Though, in fact, he knew better. He knew too well how Lucifer could twist human thought. If he and Morgan did escape, it might be more than they could do to fight off whatever influence Satan brought to bear. It might be more than they could handle, not to follow the dark?s lead.
?Once I?ve helped you escape,if you are capable of that feat, and if then you tried to double-cross me and save Blake, tried to make Falon reveal the evidence, it will be easy enough to twist your plan to my own design.?
?If you?re that powerful, you don?t need my help to destroy Blake.?
?I need you to encourage Blake. He is?not an easy subject,? said the dark spirit. ?Too religious, for one thing, and what a waste that is. It is you who must show him the broader way, who must lay out the plan. But first, you must inflame his desire to break out. Blake would never have the courage on his own.?
Lee looked hard at him.?Why Blake? What the hell do youhave against Blake??
The devil didn?t answer. The tall inmate grew indistinct, blending into the building behind him, and he vanished on the rain-sodden wind. It was in that moment that Lee thought about Becky, about her secrecy in the visiting room and her shuttered looks, and he wondered what had made him think of that.
24
BECKY WOKE TO rain pounding at the windows, and to a residue of fear. In the night she had experienced again Falon?s car careening at hers, had fought the wheel again to avoid going off the bridge. Now, waking fully, she lay listening to the comforting clatter from the kitchen, smelling the aromas of baking bread and pies and, this morning, the scent of bacon as Caroline made their breakfast. Rising, she showered and dressed quickly, then woke Sammie, watched as Sammie sleepily pulled her on clothes and ran a brush through her hair.
In the big kitchen Caroline and her assistant, redheaded Nettie Parks, were lifting pecan pies and fresh bread from the two big ovens. Nettie was a neighbor, a widow whose five children had left the nest. She liked getting up early, she liked the extra money, and most of all, she and Caroline enjoyed working together. Nettie was among the few who had stood by them during the trial. Nettie set their breakfast on a corner of the long, crowded table and hugged Becky.?I hope Brad Falon burns in hell.?
That made Becky smile. Sitting down, she cupped her hands around the warm coffee cup while listening to the rain, watched her mother turn out muffins from their tins and ease them into the familiar bakery boxes stampedCAROLINE?S. They ate quickly this morning and didn?t linger; it would take a while at the police station to file the complaints and go over the details of Falon?s attacks. Their overnight stay with Caroline was too short, but they?d had a cozy visit after Sergeant Trevis left.
She had called Quaker Lowe last night, too, on the after-hours number he?d given her. He said, ?I tried to call you, at your aunt?s, Becky. Good news! There?s a warrant out for Falon, he?s wanted in California.?
She laughed.?I know. I?m in Rome, Sergeant Trevis told me.? She told Lowe about Falon?s attack on the bridge, and that she was on her way to the station.
?But you?re both all right??
?We?re fine. Sammie?s a soldier.?
?I?m glad you changed your mind about naming Falon, glad the police have a record of his attacks. This will be a big help if .†.†. if there are complaints on file against Falon,? Lowe said quietly. His unspoken wordsIf we lose the appeal resonated in silence between them.If we lose the appeal and have to start over .†.†.
Now, rising from the table, promising Caroline she?d call when they were safely home, she hugged her mother, hugged Nettie, and went to get her car from the garage?leaving Caroline to deal with her own poor, damaged vehicle.
Getting Sammie settled in the front seat with her books, they headed along the rain-sloughed streets for the station. Becky missed Caroline already. Sometimes she felt as needful of mothering as was Sammie. That amused and annoyed her.