“Enemies who would set you up?”
“Why not? I was a likely suspect with all my talk of how I was going to get even with them.” He laughed dryly. “My plan to get even with them was to get their contract with the music company broken. I had friends at Revel Music who were already looking for loopholes in the contract. They weren’t anxious to be connected with a band whose lead singer had just been arrested for nearly killing a girl.”
They walked to the low wall and sat down, right arms wrapped around each other, left hands clasped. Paul’s hands had always been strong, but the skin was soft. Now the skin was rough and callused. They were silent for a moment before Nicole asked, “Do you still play?”
“Whenever I’m near a piano and no one else is around. It would take a long time for me to get back to my former level. Maybe I never could.”
“I’m sure you could,” Nicole said fervently. “Paul, why did you come back now?”
“I was here when your father killed himself. I knew you’d be shattered, so I stayed to watch over you for a while.”
“You risked remaining here because you were worried about me, even though you also believed I might have murdered Zand and Magaro?”
“If you had killed them, I wouldn’t have blamed you.”
“Even if I’d set you up, allowed you to take the blame?” Nicole asked incredulously.
“Nicole, I told you I knew that if you hadn’t been at my house that night, those two wouldn’t have gotten you. And you were so battered, physically and mentally. You were also young. I could understand you blaming me. I felt what happened to you was my fault. So I had to come back now and help you if I could. But I haven’t helped. I’ve just made everything worse.”
“No, you haven’t.” Nicole was beginning to shiver with cold and nerves. Paul pulled her closer to him. She looked up at the strong profile, the dark hair pulled back in the sleek ponytail exposing the strong neck. Her protector, she thought. Even with his doubts about her, he’d still risked his freedom, maybe his life, to help her. “But Paul, all these recent murders are connected to me. The police suspect me.”
“They’re supposed to.” He looked at her. “Now you are being set up.”
“Why? Who could hate me so much?”
“Your husband?”
“Carmen thought it was Roger wanting me to look crazy so he could get full custody of Shelley.”
“Killing people is an extreme way of making you look crazy.”
“The girlfriend of the man who was killed and hanged in my yard said he’d been paid three thousand dollars to murder someone’s wife, a teacher.”
“Your cop friend told you that.”
Nicole felt a stab of guilt at the thought of Ray. What would he think of her sneaking off to see Paul, clinging to him and immediately accepting everything he said as truth? He would be appalled. He might even stop believing in her innocence. “Yes, he told me,” she said softly. “His name is Ray DeSoto. He’s been wonderful to me, Paul.”
“He knows I’m in San Antonio and the very thought of my being near you makes him draw his gun.”
“You hit him in the motel parking lot that night, didn’t you?”
“Yes. He almost caught me. I’ve been following you everywhere, doing my best to look out for you and your daughter. I didn’t feel you were safe in that motel room. Somehow he knew I was there.”
“Someone called the room, pretending to be Magaro.”
“Magaro!” He shook his head. “Not only I, but a dead person is supposedly calling you. But I knew something was going to happen that night. I just couldn’t stay after hitting DeSoto. I was afraid that after he regained consciousness, he’d call in backup. I had to leave the protecting to Jordan.”
“She did a fine job.” Nicole reached out and petted Jordan’s head. She licked Nicole’s hand. “Thank you for saving Jesse, Paul.”
“You should thank Jordan. I saw you going up and down the street, looking for Jesse. Then a patrol car came. I thought you were safe, so Jordan and I went looking for Jesse. She found him around four in the morning.”
“Around the time Abbott and Dooley were being killed at my house.”
“If I hadn’t been looking for Jesse, I would have seen who killed them.”
“Whoever did kill Dooley saved my life. But the others—the patrolman Abbott and Avis Simon-Smith—I wasn’t in danger from them.”
Paul looked at her blankly. “Who’s Avis Simon-Smith?”
“She was a woman I worked with. She was very unstable and she hated me. We had a fight yesterday. She knocked me down in the parking lot. Late this afternoon she was found dead, hanging from a tree in her backyard with a bullet in her head and wearing a hood.”
“Good lord,” Paul breathed. “I saw what Dooley did to you on the River Walk. I’ve even seen what goes on between you and your husband. But I didn’t know anything about this Smith woman.”
“Ray found her.”
“Tell me about Ray.”
“I don’t know much. He’s a couple of years younger than I am. He wouldn’t have been around when you were arrested.”
“It seems so long ago,” Paul said.
“It was.”
“Long enough for you to find someone else to love and marry and have a child with.”
There was no rebuke in his words, only sadness and a note of loss. “It was a kind of love, Paul. Not like mine for you. Roger was strong and smart and if he was a little dull and stodgy—”
“At least he wasn’t the killer you thought I was.”
Nicole looked at him regretfully. “Paul, I never really believed you killed anyone. But you never called me after you ran away. Why?”
“I was afraid you would tell the police.”
“I wouldn’t have, not back then. Later I thought you’d died.” She closed her eyes. “God, Paul, I was devastated. If only you’d let me know you were alive.”
“Again, I was afraid. The police believed I was dead. They stopped looking for me. But if I called you and you told them…”
“They would have resumed their search. I understand.”
“And I understand why you married. You deserved a normal life. And a beautiful daughter. She looks like you.”
“She’s a great kid.” She frowned. “Did you watch her at the playground one day?”
“Yes. I wasn’t trying to frighten her.”
“You didn’t.”
“I didn’t mean to frighten you at your father’s funeral. I didn’t think you would see me. When you did, I froze.”
“Why did you come?”
“Partly out of respect for your father. He was nice to me when I was very young, even if he came to dislike me later. And because I wanted to see you.”
“I thought maybe you’d come back for revenge.”
Paul’s jaw dropped. “Revenge! Good God, it never occurred to me you’d think that. I must have scared the daylights out of you.”
Nicole smiled. “Yes, Paul, you did.”
“But you’re not scared now?”
“Would I have come here if I were?”
“I suppose not. Still, it took a lot of nerve to meet me out here. But then, you were always brave.”
“I don’t feel too brave these days, Paul. Carmen pointed out to me none too gently that I haven’t even cried over my father’s death. I guess I’m in shock—his death was so horrible. Then all this started. I can’t mourn my father when I’m scared to death I’m going to be arrested for these murders. What will happen to Shelley?”
“You won’t be arrested if I can help it,” Paul said fervently. Then he paused. “Nicole, are you sure your father committed suicide?”
Nicole’s stomach tightened. It was a question that had run through her mind for days, although she hadn’t let herself dwell on it. She combed fingers through her long, wind-tossed hair. “The police are, but I’m not, although both Mother and his assistant, Kay, say he was upset those last weeks. He was also receiving mail t
hat disturbed him. No one knows what the letters said or where they came from, but the last one had a picture of you in it.”
Paul looked genuinely surprised. “A picture of me!”
“Yes. Kay found it partly burned in Dad’s wastebasket in his office.”
“Burned? Why would he burn my picture?” Nicole was silent. “Oh. He was still angry over my relationship with you. But why would someone send a picture after all this time?”
“I have no idea. It wasn’t as if Dad had anything to do with your arrest. It’s true he didn’t like you, but he never said you killed Magaro and Zand. He believed it was some kind of cult killing and you’d been set up because by then everyone knew about our relationship. You were a convenient scapegoat. He didn’t think their deaths had anything to do with me. But Dad’s death was the beginning of this nightmare.”
“No,” Paul said slowly. “The nightmare began fifteen years ago. Everything goes back to your attack and the deaths of Zand and Magaro, even your father’s suicide, if it was suicide. The mysterious mail and the picture of me sent to him convince me of that.” He hesitated. “Good lord, you don’t think he believed I was sending the mail and that I was coming after him!”
“He was afraid you were going to kill him, so he killed himself first? That doesn’t make sense.”
“No, I guess not.”
“Besides, he thought you were dead. We all did.” Nicole reached up and touched his face. “Paul, I’m so sorry. You had such a fabulous life until I came into it.”
Paul looked at her tenderly. “I have quite a few regrets about my life, but meeting you isn’t one of them. I feel the same way about you as I did the last time we were here. Do you remember that day?”
“It was sunny and beautiful. We talked endlessly. We took pictures of each other. I knew that day that I loved you. Yes, Paul, I remember. I’ll remember it forever.”
Slowly Paul’s face lowered over hers. The kiss was gentle and tentative at first, then increasing in passion. Nicole’s mind spun back fifteen years, and suddenly she felt as if she hadn’t been kissed since Paul said good night to her at his door before she left his house that last night. A wave of love that she’d been trying to suppress for so long washed over her and she returned his kiss with equal passion, her slender body seeming to melt into his, their souls seeming to meet the way they had the very first time they kissed. “Some loves are forever,” Alicia had said. She was right Her love for Paul had never died.
She wasn’t sure how long they kissed before Jordan abruptly stood up and growled. Paul broke away from Nicole, who felt weak and disoriented. “What is it, girl?” he asked the dog.
She stood rigidly, gazing out onto the vast, unlighted grounds. “Paul?” Nicole’s voice quavered.
He continued to hold her. “Jordan.” The dog glanced at him, then focused again on the grounds. “Someone is out there.”
“Oh, God,” Nicole said. “What should we do?”
“We stay calm.”
“Go inside,” Nicole ordered, her wits coming back to her. “The first room is still intact. Go in there. I’ll see who it is.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Hey, lady!” a voice shouted. “I’m not waitin’ no more. If you’re out here, come on. I’m leavin’.”
The pent-up air fled from Nicole’s lungs. “It’s the taxi driver. I told him to wait.”
“Then go,” Paul said. “I can’t have you stranded out here.”
“But when will I see you again?”
“Soon.” He kissed her, a quick, hard kiss on the lips. “I love you, chérie. As always. Now go.”
In an instant he and Jordan had disappeared like ghosts inside the unfinished church. Nicole sat for a moment, overwhelmed by the meeting, the kiss, their abrupt disappearance.
“Lady, this is your last chance!” the man yelled. “I’m goin’ back to the cab now.”
Nicole jumped up and ran into the open, spotting the man almost immediately. He was only about fifty feet away. “Wait!” she called to his retreating back. “I’m coming.”
He turned to look at her, his heavy face annoyed. “Well, at last. You’re gonna have a helluva fare, you know.”
“That’s all right,” she said breathlessly, catching up to him. “It was worth it.”
Twenty-Six
1
After Nicole had returned home that night, she couldn’t sleep. Well, that was nothing new, she thought as she lay on the bed. And tonight it really didn’t matter. She felt energized, even lighthearted. She still didn’t know who was committing the murders, she was still under suspicion by the police, but she knew that Paul was innocent and that he still loved her.
“He still loves me,” she said aloud, touching the cross hanging from the chain around her neck. She wished she had someone to tell. At one time she could have told Carmen, but not now. Not even before she’d slammed out of the house on Sunday. Carmen was too determined to believe that Paul had killed Zand and Magaro. But Lisa said maybe Carmen had actually been the killer. It was true Zand’s death had given her Bobby. The question was, would she have killed to have him?
When the alarm went off the next morning, Nicole was still awake and staring at the ceiling, trying to find answers. But she couldn’t. All she knew was that she believed with all her heart in Paul’s innocence.
When she left for school, she felt better than she had for weeks. When a sad-eyed Nancy stopped her before she got to her office, she had to camouflage the improvement in her spirits.
“Nicole, I’m so horrified by what happened to Avis!” Nancy said. “When I was at her house earlier in the day, she was dead in her backyard. If only I’d gone on around.”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference,” Nicole said gently, aware that Nancy did not know all the details of Avis’s death. As with Dooley’s death, the police were withholding that information.
“Yes, I guess you’re right. It wasn’t suicide, though. Your friend with the police—did he tell you if they have any suspects?”
Yes, I’m the prime suspect, Nicole thought. “He didn’t say.”
Nancy sighed. “I can’t help feeling this has something to do with Avis’s behavior lately. She’s been saying the most awful things to just about everyone, and I’m sure there have been other incidents like the one with you in the parking lot yesterday. I begged her to get help—”
“Nancy, you were a good friend to her. You did all you could. Don’t torture yourself.”
“That’s what my husband says. And the Avis who was my friend hasn’t existed for a long time. I was so hoping this sabbatical would help. Three months. Three more months and she would have been in England doing research.” Nancy sighed again. “Oh, well, I’m handling the funeral arrangements. I doubt if you want to attend, but there will be so few people, so few flowers…”
Nicole put her hand on Nancy’s arm. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend.” I might be in jail, she thought with a shiver. “But I’ll certainly send flowers. Just tell me where to send them when the arrangements are made.”
After her first class, Nicole returned to her office to find Ray and Cy Waters waiting for her. She’d been telling herself all morning to expect this—after all, Ray had told her she would probably be formally questioned today. Still, seeing Ray in an official capacity jolted her, especially after her meeting with Paul last night.
“Do you want me to go to headquarters?” she asked.
“No, Mrs. Chandler,” Waters said. “We can talk here for now.”
“All right.” Nicole closed her door. “Would you like some coffee?”
“This isn’t a social call,” Waters snapped.
Nicole’s gaze fluttered to Ray, but he was taking out a pen and notebook, his face impassive. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to make light of this,” she said.
Waters nodded. “Good. Now, we’ve heard you and Ms. Simon-Smith weren’t the best of friends.”
Nicole sat down behi
nd her desk. “No, we weren’t. She was rather odd. She was close to Nancy Silver, who also teaches in this department. Nancy could tell you more about Avis’s personality than I.”
“But you had a fight in the parking lot day before yesterday.”
“Yes. I’d said something last week that made her mad. I was trying to apologize, but she wouldn’t listen. She insulted me, and I insulted her back, and she shoved me. Not hard—I wouldn’t have fallen if I hadn’t been in high heels.”
“But you did fall and you were furious.”
“No, Sergeant Waters, I wasn’t furious. I was surprised and embarrassed.”
“If someone pushed me down like that, I’d be furious.”
“Well, I wasn’t.”
“But you didn’t like her.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Is it true that the next day you called Sergeant DeSoto and asked him to check on this woman because she hadn’t shown up for work and no one could reach her?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm.” Waters looked up at a framed print of a Degas painting that hung over a bookshelf, then back at Nicole. “Mrs. Chandler, why were you so concerned about a woman you admit you disliked?”
“Because I know she has…had mental problems. When Nancy said she might have killed herself because she thought the incident in the parking lot was going to cost her her job, and I had provoked that incident by saying something cruel when I should have simply ignored her taunting…” Nicole raised her hands. “I felt responsible. I wanted to make sure she was all right.”
“That’s very noble.”
Nicole was silent. She glanced at Ray again. He had not said a word.
“Mrs. Chandler, where were you between ten and twelve night before last?”
“At home,” she said promptly.
“Did you have any visitors?”
“No.”
“Do you have any way of proving you were there during those hours?”
Ray was still gazing at his notebook. “There was a patrolman out front,” Nicole said. “He can verify that I didn’t leave.”
“You could have sneaked out the back.”
Nicole could feel herself coloring as she thought of last night’s secret flight. “The backyard is fenced in. I’m afraid I’m not up to jumping a six-foot fence.”
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