Death Angel (38 page)

“If this is true, do you see what it
means?” When Mike shook his head, Kate reached across the table and grabbed his
arm with both of her hands. “It would indicate some sort of pattern. If Garvey
did molest that child, it would make it a lot easier to convince the police
that he might have been involved in Jenny’s death.”

“Maybe.”

“Do you think we could get any proof?”

“No.”
 

The single syllable wasn’t encouraging.
She pulled her hands away.
 

“Why not?”

“According to Joanne, there were no
police records.”

“What about the girl?”

“She and the mother left town shortly
after Garvey was cleared. Some thought there might have been a financial
settlement to encourage her to leave. Even if we could find her, why would her
story be any more believable now than it was then? Garvey had an alibi.”

“Do you suppose we could appeal to
Lisa?”

Mike snorted. “Not a chance. If little
Lisa lied to advance herself when she had absolutely nothing, do you really
think she’d tell the truth now? She has wealth, social position, and a
reputation for good works. She could lose all of that, maybe even leave herself
open to some kind of criminal charges.”

“There must be something we can do.”
Kate tapped a spoon against the tabletop in frustration. “Do you think if we
went to Leidecker he’d do anything?”

“I don’t think he’d do a damn thing.
It’s our word against Garvey’s that this ever happened. Face it, Kate, Joseph
Garvey’s an important man in this town. And Leidecker and Garvey are good
friends.”

“Then I’ll just have to go back to my
investigations.”

When Mike made no comment, she looked
up. She tried not to flinch beneath his searching gaze.
 

“You’re never going to give this up, are
you?” he said, a trace of sadness in his voice.

“I’m sorry, Mike. I can’t.”

“I don’t want to frighten you anymore
than I have to, but I’m worried that you’re in danger. Someone put that candy
in your purse on Saturday. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Garvey or not.
Someone is interested in you, and I think we have to take some precautions.”

“I’m being careful, Mike. What more can
I do?”

“I think you should leave Pickard for a
little while.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”
 

One look at his face was sufficient to
convince Kate he was serious. He must have sensed her shock because he reached
across to take her hands, his grasp steadying not intimate. When she tried to
pull away, he held her in place.

“Hear me out. I’ve been so worried about
your safety that I can’t think straight. Originally I thought the candy was
just a warning to back off. But the more I think about it, the more I worry
that you could become the focus of this man.”

Kate shuddered.
   
 

“I think you should go away for a while.
A week or two. Maybe more. Enough time to let any interest in you die down.
It’ll also serve a second purpose. Whoever it is must know you’re asking
questions, so just the fact that you’d go away might convince him that you’re
no threat to him.”

“That’s ridiculous, Mike. I can’t leave
town. Where would I go?”

“Chris has a place out in Palm Springs.
I’m sure he’d let you use it. You could go out there for a vacation.”

“And then what? I can’t stay away
forever.”

“Damn it, Kate. It looks more and more
possible that Garvey might be a suspect, but what if he isn’t? It could be
anyone. It’s driving me crazy. I need to know you’re safe. You and Richard and
Jenny were my family. I couldn’t bear it if I lost you too.”

Kate caught the slight tremor in his
voice and turned her hands so they were holding his in a reassuring grasp.

“You’re not going to lose me, Mike,” she
said.
 

He cleared his throat, then smiled
across the table. With a final squeeze he disengaged his hands, and drank the
last of his coffee.
 

“With this Harvard story we know there’s
more to Garvey’s life,” Kate said. “What if we could find evidence of other
incidents? If Garvey’s guilty, he must have committed other assaults over the
years. All we need to do is find one. Then we could go to Leidecker.”

“I don’t know where to look for
information like that. Maybe a private detective would know. At least it’s
something to consider.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Like you, I think we’re
close to getting at the truth. If we could sit down with no distractions, lay
everything out, we might be able to see some way to proceed.”

Mike fell silent. Suddenly he rapped his
knuckle on the top of the table.

“That’s it, Kate. That’s exactly what
we’ll do. We’ll both go away for a few days.”

“Not that again.” She threw up her hands
in exasperation.

“This is different. We could go up to my
place in Wisconsin. It’s not very far and you’d be safe there. I’ll admit it’s
nothing luxurious, but you’d be surrounded by water and trees and sky. What
could be more healing?”

Seeing her hesitation, he continued.

“You look just as tired as I feel. With
all that fresh air, you’d sleep and eat better. And knowing you’re safe would
make it easier for me to think clearly. Together we can work out a plan of
action. No matter what we discover, you’ll be stronger and better rested when
you return. Today’s Wednesday. We could leave Friday for a long weekend. Will
you come with me?”

His excitement communicated to her and
she could feel a lessening of the fear and confusion that had taken over her
mind.

“I guess I could use a couple days
away,” she admitted.

Mike’s relief was so apparent that it
was evident how much he had been worrying about her. Conscious of her earlier
thoughts about their relationship, she vowed to talk to him over the
weekend.
 

His enthusiasm for the trip carried them
through the drive back home. She agreed to a Friday departure and suggested he
work out the details.
 

Getting ready for bed, Kate accepted the
fact that she would have trouble sleeping. The fear that had jerked her awake
at every sound in the night was replaced by anticipation for the trip to
Wisconsin.

For the first time since Jenny’s death,
Kate felt in control of her life. She knew exactly what needed to be done. She
thought about all that she had learned since she’d begun her investigations.
The discovery that Garvey had molested a child many years ago was the piece of
evidence she’d been searching for. She was convinced that he had murdered
Jenny.

She suspected that Mike wanted her to
get away so that he could convince her to give up her investigations. She had
to admit that she was exhausted and needed to build up her strength. If she
caught up on her sleep, she’d be able to think more clearly. Richard had always
loved Mike’s cabin. Surrounded by the peaceful beauty of the lake, her mind
would be able to plan with precision, and her body would be prepared for
action. Now that she was convinced of Garvey’s guilt, there was only one thing
to do.

When she returned to Pickard, she would
kill Joseph Garvey.

Kate sat at the bottom of the steps,
staring at the baggage stacked in the front hall. It was only nine-thirty. Mike
wasn’t due for an hour.
 

Although at first the idea of killing
Garvey had appalled her, once she began to consider the options she could come
to no other conclusion. In the last two days, she had come to believe that she
had made the right decision. Not only did she want justice for Jenny but she
needed to ensure that Garvey never hurt another child.

Making the decision was one thing.
Executing it was another. She’d never realized how difficult it was to plan a
murder.
 

She knew she’d only have one chance, so
she’d have to find a method with the greatest degree of success. The plan would
need to be simple and couldn’t endanger anyone else. She had no illusions that
she would be able to get away with it. It didn’t matter. Garvey’s death was the
priority.

Since Wednesday, she’d considered and
discarded a thousand schemes. She had no access to poison and had no idea how
she could administer it. She didn’t think she could stab him. She debated
running him down with her car, but that wouldn’t guarantee his death.

Aside from the fact that she didn’t have
the foggiest idea how to hire a hitman, she didn’t think it was morally right
to ask someone to kill for her. She saw nothing contradictory in her thinking.
As Jenny’s mother, she had the right to act as executioner. After much thought,
she decided that shooting would be the easiest and most accurate method.
 

And she already had a gun.

The gun had belonged to Richard’s
father. In the early days of their marriage, Richard had taken great pains to
show her how to assemble, clean, and use it. He’d been pleased by her accuracy,
but Kate had been uncomfortable with the weapon. She’d worried about the safety
of having a gun in the house after Jenny was born and insisted that he store it
in the attic. When she went up to get her suitcase, she searched until she
found the gun in an old trunk.

Kate’s fingers stroked the soft tan
leather gun case in her lap. She unzipped the case and took out the gun,
grasping it firmly as Richard had taught her.
 

The Savage automatic was a thirty-two
caliber with a high-luster, blue steel finish. The gun had hard, black rubber
handgrips. Built to fit the hand, it was small; weighing a little over a pound.

 
Standing up, she carried the gun and the
ammunition over to the hall table. Thanks to Richard’s painstaking
instructions, she had no trouble remembering how to load the pistol. She shoved
the magazine into the butt. Pulling back on the cocking piece, she shot a
cartridge into the firing chamber then set the gun on safety.
 

She was standing in the front hall with
the gun in her hand when the doorbell rang.

Mike wasn’t due for another fifteen
minutes. Heart pounding, she shoved the gun into the leather case, fingers
shaking as she zipped it up. She looked around for a place to hide it just as
the doorbell rang again.

Her open duffle bag was at her feet, and
she thrust the gun case between her raincoat and a sweatshirt and closed the
top. Her hands were sweating and she wiped them against her shirt as she
reached for the doorknob. Marian was just turning away from the door.

“Oh, you are home.”

“I was upstairs.” Kate sounded
breathless to her own ears and she caught Marian’s sharp glance. “I tried to
call you yesterday, but I must have missed you.”

When Kate didn’t immediately invite her
in, the older woman stood uncertainly in the doorway, “I haven’t seen you for
awhile. Have you been working?”

“No.”
 

Marian raised an eyebrow at the brusque
response. When she spotted the duffle beside the hall table, her expression
changed to one of surprise. “You’re going away?”
 

“Yes. I haven’t had a chance to tell
you. For a couple of days. A long weekend. With Mike. He thought a fishing trip
would be good for me. Relaxing.”

Kate knew she was making a muddle of
everything, practically stumbling over her words.
 

“You’re going fishing with Mike?”

“Yes. We’re going up to his cabin in
Wisconsin.”

This time Marian’s eyebrows rose almost
to her hairline. “Have you ever been up there? I heard the place is a
hellhole.”

“Mike said it’s pretty primitive. Sort
of like camping.” The comment made little sense, but Kate couldn’t think of
anything else to say. She pointed at her bedroll and the fishing rod leaning
against the closet door.

“Camping at Mike’s place. Sounds like
nirvana.”

The bite to Marian’s words indicated she
was aware that Kate was shutting her out.

“When I get back, we’ll have dinner,”
Kate said.

“Of course, dear.” Marian leaned over
and gave her a quick hug. “In the meantime, have a good trip.”

Without another word, she left. Kate
stood in the doorway, staring after her, regretting the fact she’d hurt her
friend. One part of her mind told her it was necessary to distance herself from
Marian because, if she went through with her plans for Garvey, she didn’t want
anyone else involved in the consequences.

Before she could close the door, Mike
pulled into the driveway. He was full of enthusiasm as he carried her things to
the car, and they got underway. His running dialogue needed little response on
Kate’s part. She had slept only fitfully since the night she found the candy in
her purse, and as exhaustion settled over her, she dozed during the drive to
Beaverton Lake.