Cold Target (35 page)

Meredith leaned over and kissed her. “I'm sorry I couldn't find her in time,” she said. “But I will find her if I have to search all my life.”

Meredith stood. Beyond tears.

Beyond feeling.

Both would come later. She knew they would come. But now shock dulled the pain. It was as if she were someone else. Watching from a distance.

She wanted to call Gage. She wanted to lean against him and borrow his strength. She wanted to share parts of her life with him. Feelings. Emotions.

She'd never wanted to do that before.

Instead she signed papers. She made phone calls.

The funeral would be in four days. She delayed it because she simply needed the extra time. She had just buried one parent. She needed time before burying this one.

Perhaps she could find her sister before that happened.

It gave her purpose.

It even gave her comfort.

But the pain lurked deep inside. She knew it was going to overflow before long.

twenty-two

N
EW
O
RLEANS

Meredith called Sarah's cell phone from a pay phone in the hospital.

“My mother died this afternoon,” she said.

“Oh, God,” Sarah said. “What can I do?”

“Two things. Can you take care of Nicky for a few days? That's Mrs. Starnes's dog. I'm going out of town, and I'll be busy most of the time so I can't follow up on whether Mrs. Starnes's relatives want him. In the meantime …”

“Where are you going?”

“Memphis,” she said. “I'll be back in time for the funeral. You can reach me on the cell phone if there's an emergency.”

“Do you really think you should go alone?”

“Yes. It's all I can do for her now.”

“You will call me often?”

“I'll try to, but I don't want anyone to know where I'm going, and our office phones might be tapped. My phone at home was.”

Silence for a moment.

Then, “My kids would love a dog for a few days. What else?”

Meredith sighed with relief. She really hadn't wanted to take the dog to a kennel.

“Will you take a cab to a car rental company and rent a car? Bring it back and park it in the office garage? I'll add the amount to your next paycheck. I want to avoid the press and anyone who might be trying to follow me.”

A pause. “Perhaps you should stay here where Detective Gaynor can keep an eye on you.” Concern laced every word.

“I need to get away for several days before the funeral. I'll be safe enough if no one knows where I am. And I want you to be careful while I'm gone.”

“Maybe it's all over now,” Sarah said. “Maybe Rick Fuller was responsible for everything that's happened. In any event, there's no reason for anyone to try to hurt me.”

Except you're close to me
.

But her mother's death was a natural one, if you could call someone wasting away natural. Her father … well, that
could
have been a simple hit-and-run, not intended murder. And Mrs. Starnes … again, it could have been Fuller. Or a random burglary gone bad. “I still want you to be careful.”

“I'm always careful. I worked in the DA's office, remember?”

“How are we on cases?”

“We've asked for continuances on our two court cases. You've just lost two parents. Becky and I can handle everything else.”

“Thanks. I'll come in about four for the car.”

“You'll keep in touch?”

“I'll only be gone two to three days. Maybe not that long. But I'll ring you every day at three on your cell phone.”

“And seven every morning,” Sarah insisted.

“And seven,” Meredith agreed.

“Done,” Sarah said. “And the dog?”

“I'll bring him up to the office. You can give me the keys to the rental then. Park it in a different part of the garage than where I usually park.”

“Does Detective Gaynor know about this?”

“He has problems of his own, mainly because of me. I don't want him to get in more trouble.”

“I'll continue working from this angle,” Sarah said.

“No,” Meredith said in a tone sharper than she'd intended. “The practice needs your attention. Let me take care of the other.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

“I'll see you in an hour then?”

“Yes. And Meredith, I am so very, very sorry about your mother.”

Meredith set the receiver back into place.

The two men met in the older man's library. Dusk shadowed the magnolia trees outside.

“We've lost the Rawson woman,” the older man said.

“I thought you hired good men. They can't even find the stupid bitch that you talked me into marrying.”

“I seem to remember a different scenario,” the older man reminded him. “You wanted her.”

Randolph glared at him. “Hire more men.”

The older man looked at Randolph like he'd just grown two heads. “You want the world to know your wife has run away from you because she discovered you were going to have her killed? That would do a lot for your image among women. I trust the men who are looking for her now. They're the best in the business. And they know how to keep quiet.”

“They can't be too good,” Randolph said.

“They'll find her. And Meredith Rawson. As soon as she returns, we'll find a way to eliminate her as well. Perhaps a fire. Too many sedatives. A little carelessness after everything that has happened.”

“Dammit, we have other problems. The police have found Carrick's body.”

“They don't know who he is. They'll soon lose interest.” The older man poured a glass of good brandy from a decanter, sat back and took an appreciative sip. “If you could have controlled your wife better, none of this would have been necessary.”

“She's your daughter.”

“The hell she is.”

They glared at each other, each concentrating on the other's failings.

“Perhaps Meredith Rawson will lead us to Holly,” Randolph Ames said.

“I made sure we covered all those tracks. I doubt she can discover who Holly is, much less find her. Charles can't help Meredith Rawson now. I thought he was frightened enough not to say anything, but I knew from our last conversation that he was becoming even more concerned about his daughter than for himself. We were lucky to recover those letters. I just don't know how much he told her that last night.”

“We should have had her killed in the first place.”

“We couldn't while Charles was alive. He would have sent us all to prison. His daughter was the biggest hold we had on him.”

“But now …”

“Now all bets are off. But it needs to be an accident.”

“You think anyone will believe an accident now?”

The man behind the desk shrugged. “Probably not, but it will be hard as hell to prove. Just as in Charles Rawson's death it is impossible to prove the perpetrator was anything but a drunk.”

“And if Gaynor doesn't accept it?”

“Some planted evidence. People already think he's dirty. Killing that officer didn't help.”

“He'll be exonerated on that. Too many witnesses.”

“But it all adds up to trouble. I've already planted a few seeds.”

“I hear Gaynor is no fool.”

“He has enough problems with that shooting last night. That call telling Fuller that he was going to be bounced from the force because of Meredith Rawson was one of my better ideas.”

Randolph chuckled. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

“You're too valuable to me. I have plans for you.”

They both had a second glass of brandy.

M
EMPHIS

Meredith reached the outskirts of Memphis by midafternoon. She'd spent the night in Baton Rouge. She appreciated the anonymity of a hotel room after all that had happened.

She'd taken precautions. She'd packed a good pair of slacks and silk blouse in her briefcase along with a few necessities and her laptop. No suitcases to signal that she was leaving town.

She took some obscure roads leading out of New Orleans that she'd learned years ago, always keeping an eye on the rearview mirror. She stopped at a diner where she had a wide view of the road.

When she felt as if she had thrown off any potential tail, she started to relax. Driving always relaxed her. Something about the road and the rich green of Louisiana and Mississippi helped her clean the cobwebs from her mind.

Unfortunately, none of that diverted her thoughts from Gage.

She'd left a message with his office that she would be out of town for several days. She did not want to involve him in her personal quest any longer. It was too dangerous for him. Not only for him personally, but for his job.

She also knew he needed to stay in New Orleans while the shooting investigation continued. He needed to be available to answer questions.

She had caused him enough grief.

But he'd established a firm place in her consciousness. In her mind and in her heart.

She cared about him in a way she'd never cared about any man before. There was excitement and sensuality and physical pleasure, but he also attracted her in so many other ways. He did things his way, but he did them with an unconscious integrity.

She didn't want to damage him as she seemed to have hurt so many others in the recent past.

Meredith hoped that Rick Fuller's death was the end of the nightmare that had started only days earlier. It seemed liked eons. But she didn't fool herself. There might still be something else at play. She might still be a Jonah.

Her brain kept telling her that during the drive. How would Fuller have known about Mrs. Starnes? He might have tapped the phone but how would he have known the woman's importance to her? Or had he just wanted her to find a body?

Would someone really kill just to terrify?

When she reached Memphis, she headed toward Germantown, the community where her aunt and uncle once lived.

She had used the Internet to locate the exact neighborhood, and she'd found a hotel just blocks away. She would unpack, then start interviewing the neighbors and hope she could find one that had lived there thirty years earlier. In this mobile society, she doubted it. But she was quickly running out of options.

After locating the neighborhood and the hotel, she took a room under a different name. It was the kind of hotel that didn't ask for identification as long as you had cash.

Something to eat, then she would start canvassing her great-aunt's old neighborhood.

N
EW
O
RLEANS

Gage hadn't been able to sleep after leaving Meredith and took the canoe down to his cabin. He'd grabbed a few hours sleep, then enjoyed a quiet dawn before heading back. Watching the rising sun change the colors of the sky had made him wish he'd brought Meredith. But then he'd needed this time to consider the last forty-eight hours.

He was not Meredith's keeper. She had made it clear she wanted no attachments. God knew, neither was he in a position to want them. He'd never been good at relationships, and now he had his brother to consider.

She could still be in danger. Rick Fuller may have been used. On the other hand, he might have acted on his own when he attacked his wife and made his wild threats. Either way, Gage didn't believe for a minute that Fuller had been at the bottom of all the attacks.

He trusted Mack, though, to keep her safe.

On the way back, his thoughts kept turning to the photo of Mrs. Starnes, Marguerite Rawson and the young man. The dark hair. The defiant yet proud tilt of his head. A sense of familiarity nagged at him.

Still restless when he arrived home, he changed clothes and went downtown to his office. Suspended or not, he wanted to know if there was any more news about the death of Charles Rawson.

Wagner approached him. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I feel naked, though, without my badge and gun.”

“I'm told you'll be out for at least a week. You should just take it easy. Get some sleep. Enjoy life.”

Gage gave him a disgusted look. “It's their idea. Not mine.”

“We have a suspect in the homeless murder. An informant said another derelict was talking about it.”

“Good. I'm more concerned about the floater. Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide his identity.”

“We've gone through every missing person report for the last three months. Nothing fits.”

“An out-of-towner?”

“Could be, but then why all the effort?”

“Do we have anything from the medical examiner on age or race?”

“No, but he sent a DNA sample to the feds. Maybe they have something.” Wagner grinned. “Be glad to have you back next week. Cases are piling up. In the meantime, take it easy.”

“I might do a little snooping on the Starnes case on my own.”

“Keep me posted.”

“I will. If you get anything on the floater, call me. Any time.”

“Will do.”

Gage hesitated at his desk, oddly reluctant to leave. He had relived the shooting over and over in his head in the last twenty-four hours. He couldn't get the images from his head. Nor could he dismiss the notion that something was very wrong.

He was about to leave when Dom called him on the cell phone.

“I saw your brother. I think I can find him something.”

“He'll need it for the parole hearing.”

“I know. Working on it. He wants to know when you'll be up there.”

“I'll try next Sunday.”

“He said the hearing is two weeks from today.”

“Will you be there?”

“I plan to.”

“Thanks.” Gage hesitated, then asked, “Dom, did you know Marguerite Rawson?”

A pause on the other side of the receiver. “I've met her, yes. I think everyone involved in charities has.”

“Did you know she's just died?”