“Please tell me Darcy’s been caught,” she said.
Theo sat beside her. “I can’t.”
She leaned back in the chair and groaned. No surprise there.
“I followed the cop who went after him until Darcy jumped in his car and took off like a freakin’ maniac. I also went to Lillian’s place, but he didn’t show up.”
She opened her eyes. “Will Darcy go back to Rhonda’s house? He’s still expecting me to hand over that money, right?”
“Yes, but he knows it’s too risky to show up right now. How’s Lou?”
“His lung collapsed.” She shifted in her chair. “I hate hospitals.”
“Me, too.” Theo glanced at magazines on the round table in front of them. “My wife was in intensive care for two days before she passed away. Hit by a drunk driver with three prior convictions. Guy went to jail briefly. A month after he got out, he died too.” Theo met Casey’s gaze. “Did you know Lou’s in love with you?”
She swallowed back the guilt. “I’d begun to get that feeling.”
“How do you feel about him?”
Casey’s eyes filled with tears. “More than I can say.” More than she wanted to tell this guy. Hadn’t Theo played a role in this nightmare? She wiped her eyes with a tissue. “How on god’s earth did Lou wind up in your car?”
“You weren’t returning my calls, presumably because of trust issues, so I asked for help from the person you trusted. I thought you’d want a witness and good friend close by when I showed you what I had. Lou wasn’t hard to track down.”
“He wouldn’t have cooperated if he thought it would put me in danger.”
“Actually, he’s the one who told me you were in danger. He was about to rush out the door to follow you to Marcus’s place when I showed up, so I offered to help.”
Casey blinked back more tears.
“We passed you on Marine Drive and turned around, but couldn’t catch up,” Theo said. “When we reached Napier, I spotted Darcy’s car speeding toward the house.”
Casey saw the large clock on a wall outside the alcove. It felt much later than nine-thirty. “You, Mother, and Darcy.” She shook her head. “Death and destruction follow you three wherever you go, don’t they?”
“They don’t follow us. Darcy creates them and I’ve been trying to stop him.”
A nurse hurried by. Other visitors ambled past, glancing furtively at her.
“Maybe Darcy creates chaos with your blessing. Maybe you had him kill Dad, fully expecting to locate the money, only it wasn’t where you thought it’d be.”
“Darcy acted on his own and here’s the proof I told you about.” Theo removed a letter, cassette tape, and folded sheet of paper with black smudges from his pockets. He handed the sheet to her. “It was in a locker at the bus terminal. Simone Archambault probably wanted you to drive her there to collect the stuff.”
Casey remembered Simone lifting a folded smudged sheet and cassette from her trunk before she handed over the notebook. “How’d you know about her locker?”
“I followed you to the theater, but it didn’t take long to realize Darcy was also tailing you.”
“Great. Which one of you followed me to my car?”
“I did, to make sure he didn’t hurt you. I should have realized the bastard had a reason for hanging back. I’m guessing that he spotted Simone and went after her. Once you were in your car, I headed back to the theater to confront Darcy and that’s when I found Simone lying between the building and some bushes.” Theo paused as more people walked by. “She told me her name and I called 911. Poor thing was badly beaten.”
“I didn’t see Simone, and if she was there, why didn’t she approach me?”
“Probably because she recognized Darcy when she saw him follow you to the theater. She would have wanted to stay hidden until he left.”
“They knew each other?”
“She knew who he was. When I told her my name, she gave me a key to a locker at the bus terminal, and told me to give everything in the locker to you.”
“How’d she end up on the porch?”
“That’s where I messed up. I’d assumed Darcy took off after the beating, but he must have spotted me coming and hid. I’m guessing he’d planned to get more information out of Simone. Obviously, he didn’t know about the key. When I heard the ambulance a couple of blocks away, I took off.”
Casey scowled. “If you’d bloody stayed with Simone, she might still be alive.”
“Or he would have killed us both. When the ambulance was a block away, I left. I honestly didn’t think he’d grab her. I underestimated his need to take his rage out on her and you.”
Casey unfolded the sheet of paper and found herself looking at a sketch of Simone and Dad seated at a table. On the left side, a tall man with curly hair and shaded glasses stood in a doorway. Darcy.
“Is that Alvin’s All-Canadian Café?”
“Yes. I talked to staff back then and found out that Simone’s nephew was eating with them that night. He’s an artist. I never did get a chance to talk to the man. All I could find out was that he left for a backpacking trip around Australia the day after that meal.”
Casey wasn’t sure she bought Theo’s story. “I drove back to the theater for a last look, then went to the bus terminal. I didn’t see you, Darcy, or Simone anywhere.”
“The bushes kept a lot hidden, and anyway, how closely did you look?”
He was right. She hadn’t gotten out of her car, but had only driven past.
“You were probably on your way home by the time I found the terminal,” Theo added, handing her the letter. “Simone had two keys on the chain she wore. I don’t know what the other one was for.”
As he showed her the keys, Casey thought she recognized the smaller one. Simone had used one just like it to open the trunk in her home. She held the torn envelope in front of Theo. “Did you read the letter?”
“Yes, and you should too.”
She opened the letter and began reading the tiny but legible handwriting.
I should have told you when you came. Darcy phoned after you left. Found out where I lived. I had to hide. Marcus was murdered. He knew there was trouble when Darcy showed up at the café. Marcus asked my nephew to draw Darcy to have a record.
Marcus gave me notebook at the hospital. He wanted to listen to Mozart. He couldn’t tolerate light or loud noise. His throat was swollen—could hardly talk or move. I gave him my nephew’s old tape player and put it under his blanket so he could reach the buttons. Next day, I heard music playing, then voices. Marcus and Darcy talking. Marcus wanted me to have the tape. I tried to leave the hospital, but Darcy was there, so I hid. Later I learned Marcus was dead.
Simone
Casey looked at the cassette in Theo’s hand. Mozart: The Last Four String Quartets. “What did Dad and Darcy talk about?”
“What Darcy did to him, and why.” Theo paused. “I’m not sure if Marcus was supposed to die, at least not until Darcy found the money. He probably miscalculated the dosage.”
Casey turned the tape over in her hands.
“You need to hear it, so I brought this.” Theo removed a small cassette player from a pocket inside his coat.
Casey wasn’t sure she was ready. How long would it take before she stopped slamming into one crisis after another? She felt like a pinball trapped inside a machine built from her own memories, obstacles, and disasters. The more battles she survived, the more chance she had of winning. But if she rolled between those flippers . . .
Theo popped the cassette in and Casey heard Mozart. Seconds later, the sound of Dad’s voice made her tear up. Long pauses separated slurred, barely audible words. When Darcy spoke, her back stiffened.
“Look, Marcus, just tell me where the money is, then you can have the antitoxin.”