Do You Want to Know a Secret?

by Mary Jane Clark

  “Well, somebody wants me dead. Somebody thinks I know something. My psychiatrist is dead. And Jean, poor Jean. I didn’t listen. She wanted me to know something about Bill. Something in his computer. She was concerned about Pete. But there was more. I have to get into Bill’s files.”

  “Well, I have a key to Pete’s office,” Yelena said.

  Chapter 121

  He didn’t want to lose her.

  He wanted to stay by her side as much as possible but no matter how many strings he tried to pull, Mack couldn’t get a seat on the plane back to New York with Eliza. He was booked instead on a flight forty-five minutes behind her.

  The Mole smears, the murder of Leo Karas, the death of Jean White, Dennis Quinn with Wingard, the digitalis poisoning. It had all gone too far.

  Mack checked his watch. He still had a few minutes until boarding. He pulled out his cell phone, called information and dialed the number for The Record in Hackensack, New Jersey.

  Chapter 122

  He repeatedly reminded himself that nothing should surprise him, but this did.

  Detective Colburn stood in Tiffany’s business office. The name and the return address registered to the key ring were well known. Extremely well known.

  Eliza Blake, KEY News, New York.

  Chapter 123

  When the plane landed at LaGuardia, Eliza and Yelena went directly to KEY News. Yelena opened Pete’s empty office.

  Eliza sat at the computer, Yelena kept guard at the door. Eliza clicked and double-clicked her way through the directories and subdirectories on Bill’s hard drive. She made her way to the REMEMBER directory, with an alphabetical list of files staring back at her from the screen.

  Now came the hard part.

  Password.

  It could be anything. What would Bill choose? Something he wouldn’t forget. Eliza thought of Bill, the man, the professional, the friend, the father.

  When she double-clicked on ETHICS.PC, the first file in the list, a Password Dialog box appeared. She typed in K-E-N-D-A-L-L.

  No.

  K-E-Y-N-E-W-S.

  No.

  N-E-B-R-A-S-K-A. Nothing.

  “How about ‘William’?” volunteered Yelena.

  No go.

  Eliza tried F-R-A-G-I-L-E-X.

  Zip.

  Eliza thought of Bill’s son. Louise said he was still struggling with his father’s death. He was repeating over and over, “An elephant never forgets. An elephant never forgets.”

  Elephant!

  Eliza typed in the eight letters.

  Chapter 124

  “Somebody thinks I know something. I hope these notes tell me who.” Eliza opened the door of the cab that pulled up in front of the broadcast center. “I’ll call you.”

  “I have some work to do. I’ll be here in my office.” Yelena closed the car door.

  On the ride home, Eliza began to read the hard copy. The ETHICS.PC file confirmed everything Yelena had said and more. Pete had threatened Bill with going public about his—AIDS?

  Bill? AIDS? God help him. Her mind raced, but that meant Joy Wingard could be at risk.

  And the future president!

  The cab reached its destination. Eliza stashed the rest of the papers in her bag.

  Eliza could hear Janie laughing through the apartment door. What a joyous sound her giggles were! She eagerly put her key into the lock.

  “Mommeeeee. You’re home!” Janie, dressed in violet sunsuit and pink sneakers, ran to her mother. Eliza gathered the child into her arms, hugging and kissing her and holding her tight. Oh, it felt good!

  “Thanks, Mrs. Twomey. It’s good to be back. I missed my little sweetheart so!” Eliza gave Janie another squeeze.

  The housekeeper stared at Eliza. “You look pale, Mrs. Blake.”

  “Our vacation next week will be a good remedy for that, won’t it, Janie?” Eliza forced herself to take her eyes off the child, turning to Mrs. Twomey. “Thank you for taking such good care of my baby. Talk about me, you look tired! You must be eager to get home.”

  “Oh, that can wait a bit. Janie’s already had her supper, but I thought I’d stay and get supper ready for you.”

  “You are so good, Mrs. Twomey. Okay, if you don’t mind, while you get dinner ready, I’ll give Janie her bath.”

  Chapter 125

  Mack hailed a cab on the arrivals platform at LaGuardia Airport.

  Once settled in the back of the car, he took out his cell phone and called his office.

  “Any messages?”

  He listened as a fax from The Record was read to him. The newspaper article was an in-depth interview with Dennis Quinn after his appointment to the Superior Court bench. Mack was bored until Quinn spoke of his background. The man who would be a Bergen County Superior Court judge had suffered the loss of his father when he was very young. His mother had remarried. Quinn’s stepfather died of congestive heart failure.

  “What was Quinn’s stepfather’s name again?” he asked incredulously.

  Chapter 126

  Two New York City detectives stood in the offices of the president of KEY News.

  “You missed her. She was just here,” Yelena answered Detective Colburn.

  “We’ve already tried her apartment. She wasn’t there.”

  “Well, you must have passed each other on the way here. What’s this all about?”

  “We want to question her. A key ring registered to Ms. Blake was found next to the body of Dr. Leo Karas.” Colburn looked uncomfortable.

  Yelena jumped from her seat. “What! I don’t know what you’re thinking, but if you think Eliza Blake had anything at all to do with the death of Dr. Karas, you’re completely wrong. Ms. Blake and I have just returned from Houston. She’s scared out of her wits herself.”

  She took a breath and stared into Colburn’s eyes. “She’s not a murderer. She’s a victim!”

  “Please understand, Ms. Gregory, we’re certain that Ms. Blake only lost or misplaced the key ring. We just need to speak with her to clear this matter up.”

  Chapter 127

  “Make sure there are lots of bubbles, Mommy.”

  Janie grinned as Eliza poured more Mr. Bubble into the tub.

  “I love Mrs. Twomey, but I missed you, Mommy.”

  Janie, her precious Janie. How close they had come to losing one another!

  Eliza longed to sit here and just watch her child splash away, but she knew that they would never be safe unless she figured out who had tried to kill her.

  “Why did you bring your work bag in here with us, Mommy?”

  “I have something I have to read now, sweetheart. It won’t take me long. I promise.”

  “Promise?”

  “Cross my heart.”

  Janie began playing with her plastic tub toys and Eliza picked up Bill’s personal notes. On top of the sheaf of papers they’d printed out in Bill’s office was the file on Joy Wingard.

  With tears in her eyes, Eliza read of Bill’s love for the woman and his heartbreak over the end of their love affair. The text rambled on a bit, especially when he began to describe his fear that he might have exposed Joy to the horrible disease.

  At the end was a direction: “See ROMANIA.AID.”

  Eliza remembered that this file had been toward the end. She quickly rifled through the pages until she found Bill’s recounting of his trip to Romania to do the special on the hellholes there called orphanages. He described the sickening, outraged feelings he’d experienced as he witnessed the retarded and physically deformed children stockpiled, mistreated and forgotten in the filthy, dangerous warehouses. He included snatches of dialogue between himself and some of the civil authorities there, venting his feelings of frustration with the Romanian government that valued its own citizens so little.

  “When are you going to be done, Mommy?”

  “Soon, sweetheart. Thank you for being so patient.”

  Eliza caught her breath as she read Bill’s next words.

  In the end,
I, too, was a victim of their callous disregard for human life. When Range and I drove back from shooting at an orphanage outside Bucharest, we had a serious car accident. Range and I were both pretty badly injured, but only I required a blood transfusion.

  Imagine how I felt upon later discovering that a full 10 percent of the blood collected and tested in Bucharest was found to be tainted with HIV.

  “Oh my God.”

  “Mommy, what’s wrong, what’s wrong?” Janie looked at her worriedly.

  “Oh my angel, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Mommy, please stop reading and play with me.”

  Chapter 128

  The phone rang and Mrs. Twomey answered.

  “Mrs. Blake is giving Janie her bath, Ms. Gregory.”

  “Well, tell Mrs. Blake, please, that the police were just here and they want to talk to her about a lost key ring.”

  Chapter 129

  Eliza was eager to read the notes from the filed labeled JUDGE.$. She knew it would have something to do with Dennis Quinn.

  “Janie, if you just bear with Mommy a few more minutes, I’ll read you two extra stories tonight.”

  “That would make six all together?” Janie asked guardedly.

  “Six.”

  “Okay.”

  Eliza read that municipal judge Dennis Quinn had once been the treasurer for New Visions for Living. He’d seemed, in Bill’s estimation, to be a good man, Quinn even dressing up as a clown at New Visions parties.

  Two years ago, the notes continued, Bill had discovered that Quinn had embezzled $500,000 from New Visions. When confronted by Bill, Quinn, who’d just been nominated for a seat on the Bergen County Superior Court, had begged Bill not to turn him in. The encounter was a bizarre one, as Bill had pulled the man aside during a party at one of the group homes. The judge was in his clown makeup when Bill confronted him.

  “William’s ‘man with the funny red hair’!” Eliza blurted out loud. “He played a clown!”

  “Ronald McDonald?”

  “No, sweetie, someone else.”

  Eliza continued reading.

  “Please, not for me. This would kill my mother. She’s already buried two husbands. She’s worked hard all her life. It would kill her if she knew about this.”

  Bill doubted that Quinn was getting the Superior Court slot based on his legal expertise and merits. His suspicions had been confirmed when he demanded that Quinn replace the funds. The judge admitted he had financed his new position on the bench with the retarded people’s money.

  Bill had written down the dialogue.

  “You mean all the money is gone?”

  “Almost.”

  “Well, you are going to give it back. Every last bit of it.”

  “How can I do that?”

  “We’ll figure out a way. And you’re damned lucky I don’t expose you and that crooked little bunch you hang out with on the other side of the Hudson. But I’m a sucker and I do feel sorry for your mother. Tell me her name, I want to see if she really exists.”

  Then Janie said, “Mommy, I forgot to tell you. A real policeman was here today.’

  Chapter 130

  Eliza’s phone was busy.

  Mack’s cab was stalled in traffic on the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge.

  He had to tell Eliza—she and Janie were in danger.

  Urgently, he punched the numbers again.

  Busy.

  Chapter 131

  Again, the phone rang. It was her Dennis, full of news about his trip to Houston and the convention. “It was grand. The best time I’ve had in years. It’s so wonderful to have the load of those payments off my back. Things are really turning around for me. Isn’t it strange, Ma, how things take care of themselves sometimes? First, Bill Kendall killing himself. Then Leo Karas being murdered.” A lighthearted Dennis chuckled.

  Their conversation over, she left the phone off the hook.

  Ah, Denny. You’ve no idea what I’ve done for you. What I’m doing for you. For you, my son.

  I didn’t tell you how close Eliza Blake was getting to you. Much too close.

  Frances Twomey thought of the woman down the hall bathing her daughter.

  Things don’t take care of themselves, Denny. They have to be helped along.

  Chapter 132

  Oh my God! My baby’s in here and the killer is in the kitchen.

  When Eliza saw the name of Dennis Quinn’s mother in Bill’s notes, she dropped the papers on the bathroom floor. She lifted the child from the tub and wrapped a towel around her.

  “Janie, just stay here. Promise me you’ll stay here.”

  The child looked scared.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart, but you have to stay right here for Mommy. Don’t move. Promise me.”

  Janie nodded.

  Eliza opened the bathroom door. The hallway was empty. She darted to her room and went straight to her closet. She stood on tiptoe, reaching to the back of the high shelf. She felt the wooden container and pulled it down. With trembling fingers, she opened the mahogany box.

  It was empty!

  Eliza turned to run back to Janie.

  Mrs. Twomey stood in the doorway. Eliza’s gun was in the housekeeper’s hand.

  Chapter 133

  The unmarked police car pulled up again in front of Eliza Blake’s building.

  As they waited for the elevator, Detective Colburn turned to his partner.

  “Eliza Blake may not have killed her psychiatrist, but she knows who did.”

  Chapter 134

  Mrs. Twomey pointed the gun steadily at Eliza. She was amazingly calm as she spoke.

  “Ms. Gregory called. The police are on their way. I can’t have you telling them that I dropped your key ring at Dr. Karas’s body—my son’s career will be over. I can’t let that happen.”

  “You killed Dr. Karas?” whispered Eliza incredulously. “But why?”

  “He was blackmailing my son, Dennis.”

  “And now you’re going to kill me? No, Mrs. Twomey, you can’t.”

  The housekeeper’s eyes narrowed.

  “I killed Bill Kendall’s nosy secretary when I thought she was on to Denny’s secret. I can kill you, too. I have to.”

  “You pushed Jean in front of that train?”

  “I don’t want to kill you, Mrs. Blake, but I have no choice.”

  “You’d leave Janie motherless?”

  The housekeeper seemed to hesitate.

  And suddenly, Janie was behind Mrs. Twomey at the bedroom door.

  “Mommy . . .” Mrs. Twomey started to turn and Eliza lunged for her gun.

  Chapter 135

  As Detective Colburn and his partner exited the elevator, they heard a shot.

  Rushing shoulders first through Eliza Blake’s apartment door, both men burst in with guns drawn.

  A little girl wrapped in a pink towel stood crying at the end of the hallway. The detectives raced down the corridor, one pushing the child aside, the other taking down the woman standing in the doorway.

  Eliza Blake lay on the bloody bedroom floor.

  Chapter 136

  The cab screeched to a halt and Mack sprang out, throwing money at the driver. The angry flashing lights of an ambulance parked in front of Eliza’s apartment building warned that it might be too late.

  It can’t be too late.

  Mack ran past the doorman and sprinted to the elevator, pounding the Up button.

  Hurry. Hurry.

  The elevator door slid open. Two EMS paramedics flanked a chrome stretcher.

  Eliza lay white and unmoving.

  “Buddy, get out of the way. She’s losing a lot of blood.”

  Chapter 137

  Judge Dennis Quinn was leaving for the PNC Bank branch office to draw out a $500,000 cashier’s check when his phone rang.

  “Judge Quinn, we’re sorry to inform you, sir, but we’ve arrested your mother for murder. She refuses to speak until she has legal representation and she’s asking for
you.”

  Dennis hung up, realizing that when Haines Wingard made it to the White House, he could never appoint the son of a murderer to a federal judgeship.

  Chapter 138

  Mack’s kiss was warm and sweet.

  “You look much better today, darling.”

  Mack had broken away from work at lunchtime to visit Eliza at Roosevelt Hospital. The bullet wound to the torso had caused a lot of bleeding, but miraculously no vital organ had been hit. As he gazed at Eliza smiling from her hospital bed, Mack was relieved to see that color was returning to her cheeks.

  “You just missed my mother and Janie. I can’t wait to get out of here. Tell me what’s going on,” she said eagerly.

  Mack grinned. “Now I know you’re feeling better.” He pulled up a chair next to her bed. “The Wingard campaign is disavowing any connection to Dennis Quinn.”

  “Of course.” Eliza nodded.

  Mack continued. “And since Quinn didn’t break any laws himself, save the embezzlement, which can’t be proved, he’ll likely be keeping his Superior Court seat.”

  “Well, the embezzlement could probably be proved if we handed over Bill’s notes.”

  For a few moments, they considered the implications.

  “Let’s let Bill Kendall rest in peace,” Eliza said.

  Mack nodded. “My sentiments exactly.”

  “It’s a good example, though, isn’t it?” Eliza asked and then answered her own question. “We have a legal system—not necessarily a justice system.” Shaking her head wearily, she asked, “And what about Pete Carlson?”

  Mack spoke solemnly.

  “He has no career left at KEY News.”