The morning started off as normal as possible for Toni. Aside from waking up with a woman in her bed and one downstairs, it was just like any other morning. She went downstairs to make coffee, but it was already made. In fact, Vicky had even fed Mr.
Rupert. Toni gladly accepted a steaming hot mug and plugged back upstairs for a shower. A half-hour later she returned to the living room. She was dressed and ready for work.
“Okay,” Vicky said as she was leaving. “We all know our mis-sions. Remember to be subtle. I’ll see you guys back here around ten tonight.”
Toni retrieved her briefcase and some fried rice from the fridge before she and Boggs also headed out the door.
After settling in at her desk, Toni found this Monday morning to be like any other. There were a couple short court appearances, motions to file and numerous phone calls to make.
Around one Toni headed into the lunchroom to reheat her rice.
180
She was waiting for the microwave to beep when she felt a presence behind her. She turned quickly to find David Wellington III, the cookie-cutter guy, standing right behind her. She had been introduced to him when she started but hadn’t spoken to him since. Although she had seen him in the courtroom and in the halls, he never seemed very friendly. In fact, she thought he was a snob.
“Hello, David,” she said, trying to act casual. “Waiting for the microwave?”
Of course it wasn’t the most intelligent thing she’d ever said.
He was standing there with an unpopped bag of microwave popcorn in his hand. He smiled slightly. The microwave beeped and Toni removed her rice.
“There you go,” she said. “It’s all yours.” She knew she needed to ask him about Friday night, but she was a little nervous. This was not her cup of tea, but she gave it a shot. “Oh, David,” she asked with a smile, “were you by chance at Duffy’s Bar Friday night?”
He looked at her with surprise, as if she were flirting with him.
He blushed slightly. “Um, no,” he said. “I haven’t been there since law school.”
“Really?” Toni said. She was getting the hang of this. “I swear I saw you there.”
“Um, no. I was at the Westdale High football game. My little brother plays,” he added.
“Gosh,” Toni said, probably a little too enthusiastically. “You must have a double. I was going to go over and say hi, but then you left. Or your twin left, I mean.” She turned to go back to her office.
With her rice in one hand she waved to David with the other. “See you later.”
She was pretty pleased with herself. It was just like Boggs said.
Most people will gladly tell you where they were and what they were doing. She felt that David was being truthful, although it would be tough to prove he was at the game. She crossed him off her list. She was still mentally patting herself on the back when she 181
literally bumped into Paul Capelli and nearly spilled her rice. He was still filling in for Anne Mulhoney. He’d been reading something on his yellow legal pad and never looked up. He merely grumbled something and continued on. Toni noticed he was limping slightly. She also realized there was no way in hell she’d ask him about Friday night.
Toni was sitting at her desk, reading some motions and eating her fried rice when she was startled by a knock on her opened door. “Well, hi, Betty,” she said. “You startled me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Toni,” Betty said. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Not at all. Come on in. I was just eating my lunch and catch-ing up on some backlog. What brings you down here?” Betty smiled. “Well, I brought some lunch for Sam. Usually he goes out with Boggs on Mondays, but with all this activity going on, I guess they’re keeping close to the office. I just thought I’d pop in and see how you were doing.”
“Okay, I guess,” Toni said. “This whole thing is so strange. I feel like I’m in the witness protection program. I sure will be happy when he’s back behind bars.”
“So will I,” Betty said. “I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you. And I’ll send some prayers your way.” Toni thanked her. Betty smiled and waved good-bye. Toni walked her to the outer door of her office.
Before leaving, Betty turned around and hugged her. “Take good care of yourself, Toni. And be careful.” She felt deeply touched by Betty’s concern. She wondered for a moment if Betty knew more than she was saying and that Toni was in more danger than she realized. She went over the events of the past few days in her mind. After a minute or so she realized she was standing near the doorway, totally zoned out. She wondered if anyone had seen her standing there, staring off into space. Slightly embarrassed, she returned to her office.
182
The man had seen the two women standing at the doorway.
Before Betty left, he thought he heard her say to be careful. She didn’t see him, but it wouldn’t have mattered. He would have acted normal and she wouldn’t have thought anything about it. After she left, he noticed that Toni stood there a while. She looked disturbed and deep in thought. He wondered for a moment if she had seen him there in the hall, but he didn’t think so. Still, he wanted to be cautious. Everything must appear to be normal. Even though he could easily come up with an answer as to why he was just standing there, it wasn’t a normal pattern for him. He watched her go back into her office. He didn’t particularly dislike her, but he wasn’t as obsessed with her as he was with the others. She was young and single. Maybe she was just “being a lawyer” until she found a man to marry. He smiled. He liked being able to have a positive outlook on things. As he walked through the corridors of Metro, he felt his pride and confidence soar. Here he was . . . and no one knew how close to his greatness they were. He then went about his day. The next lesson for the rest of the world was close and he had lots of work to do.
Later that afternoon, Toni was summoned to Anne’s office. She grabbed her notebook and hurried down the hall. Even though Anne had never given her a reason to panic, Toni was always apprehensive in front of her boss. After all, she was a new attorney and had a lot to learn. She stood in front of Dorothy’s desk.
“How are you, Toni,” Dorothy asked. “Things okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” Toni said. “Just the usual stuff in the day of an assistant prosecuting attorney.” She laughed.
Dorothy smiled. “Go on in,” she said. “Anne’s waiting for you.” Toni knocked lightly on the door and heard Anne beckon her inside. “You wanted to see me?” she asked. She immediately berated herself for asking such a question. Of course she wanted to see her.
183
“Yes,” said Anne. “Sit down. I wanted to know how you’re doing. It’s pretty nerve-wracking to have a bodyguard.”
“Everything is fine,” Toni said. “Although the whole situation is scary, I feel very comfortable with Boggs and Vicky.” Toni wanted to say more, to talk about her suspicions, but she knew the time wasn’t right. Besides, they really didn’t know anything. “Is there anything new on Crown?” she asked instead.
“No good leads as of this morning,” Anne replied. “Frank is still checking places. We did get the blood results back this morning. The blood on my fence matched the blood at Judge Haley’s. I guess that confirms the same person was at both places. We never tested Crown because there was no blood at the other crime scenes. Once we get him back in custody we’ll ask for a warrant to get a sample from him.”
Toni could see the involuntary shudder in Anne. The thought of someone stalking her had clearly reached her core. She sat there quietly, apparently lost in her own thoughts. Toni broke the silence. “Did we ever get any medical results from the guy at the jail? The man who was drunk and they couldn’t wake up?” Anne’s focus was now back on the case. “Mr. Collins? Oh, yes.
Last Friday,” she said. “He had a significant amount of a drug called thioridazine in his system, which is a tranquilizer, as I understand it. It looks like someone, probably Crown, must have slipped him the s
tuff early that morning, because the doctor said it would have been impossible for him to have taken it the night before. Too much alcohol. He would have been out, or maybe worse. The desk sergeant who worked that night said the guy was singing until about two a.m. A pretty typical happy drunk. In fact he had to tell him to be quiet several times.” She rearranged a few papers on her desk, then sighed. She seemed exhausted. It was the first time Toni had noticed and she desperately wanted to reach out. “You know, Toni, Crown may be a lot smarter than we thought. Please be careful.”
“I will,” Toni promised.
“Let me know if your caseload gets too chaotic,” Anne said.
184
“And don’t worry about doing your weekly status report for a while. It’s not a priority right now. I’ll let Paul know so he doesn’t expect it.”
Toni nodded. Anne reached for a file, so Toni stood up to leave.
As Toni opened the door, Anne said, “Oh, yes. Where is my head today. There’s a memorial service for Judge Haley Friday at two thirty. The courthouse will be closed for the afternoon, so feel free to attend.”
Toni thanked her for the information and headed back to her office. Her mind was in a spin. Being stalked. Crown disappearing.
An accomplice? Judge Haley’s memorial service Friday. Having a bodyguard assigned. With all this going on, she still had to do her job. Add that to the excitement she had about being with Boggs in the near future and Toni felt almost completely overwhelmed.
The man had seen Toni go into Anne’s office. She wasn’t inside too long. He was able to see Anne’s outer office from his vantage point. He stood near one of the vending machines, holding official-looking documents. No one even noticed him. He kept up the appearance of examining the papers but he watched Toni as she left the outer office and went down the hall. She seemed concerned and possibly upset. Why had Anne called her in and what had Anne told her? He began to fume just thinking about Anne in her high and mighty job. Plan. He must go and make plans.
He returned to his office and disregarded the work he had neatly stacked on the corner of his desk. He was fixated on the flashing red light on his phone. A message. It could be from a hundred different people. He hated it when people left those damn
“voice mail” messages. Then it was up to him to call them back.
He liked things the way they used to be. If someone wanted to talk to you they had to keep trying. The light continued to flash, almost mocking him. Part of him longed to ignore it, but he hated loose ends and unanswered questions more than the flashing light.
He picked up the receiver and punched in his code.
185
The first two messages were unimportant. He immediately deleted those. Next, he heard Anne’s voice. Why would she leave him a message?
“Hello, Anne Mulhoney here. I just wanted to make sure you knew that Judge Haley’s memorial service is Friday at two thirty.
Also, the blood tests are back and it appears the blood found at my house is a match for the blood found at Judge Haley’s. If you want to talk about what’s going on, come by my office.” The message ended. He didn’t move. He felt his heart begin to race. A bead of sweat formed on his upper lip. He blinked several times before he realized that the automated voice on the phone was repeating itself. “If you’d like to hear this message again, press two. If you would like to delete this message, press four. If you would like to save this message, press seven. For the next message, press eight. If you would like to hear this message again, press two.
If you would like to delete this message . . .” He stared at the phone. What number to hear this again? He waited. Number two. He pressed number two and held his breath.
He again heard Anne’s voice. After the message he pressed seven to save, then slowly replaced the receiver.
He was up now, pacing in front of his desk. He glanced at his open door and then shut it. He took a deep breath and returned to his desk. He straightened the stacks of paper on his desk. Why did Anne leave this message about the blood? Did she know something? Was she trying to show her superiority by flaunting information? Of course he knew about the blood. He paced some more.
He then closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the events of Friday night. As he remembered walking to his preview, he was filled with excitement. Soon his preview would become the feature presentation. He tried to calm himself down and concentrate on the events, without so much emotion. The fence. He had been startled by the car full of laughing girls. The cut on his leg. He automatically reached down to touch the wound. It was still tender and slightly swollen. Then he remembered the blood-soaked sock when he got home. He hadn’t realized until later that he had left 186
blood at both places. Now they had the results and knew that it came from the same person.
The voice inside him screamed obscenities and called him names. How could he be so stupid? Not only did the carload of girls see him, but he left blood at both places.
He tried to calm himself down and quell the inner voice. It took a few moments, then his thinking began to clear. They assumed the blood belonged to Crown. There was no reason to connect anything to him, and by the time the world understood his mission, it would be too late. He smiled.
A few more minutes passed and he continued to be pleased with himself. Then the thought of Anne leaving that message returned.
He hated the way she acted, as though she knew more than everyone else. Now she had left this message, flaunting her authority.
He didn’t like the sound of this or of her. She was next. Soon. He reached in his pocket and retrieved his aspirin bottle. Two small pills would help him think more clearly. After a few moments he decided the phone message meant nothing to him.
Anne Mulhoney sat at her desk and tried to concentrate. It seemed inordinately difficult. Along with her caseload, she was also responsible for running the office, handling the media and playing politics. She hated the political side of her job, but it was a given.
She glanced at her appointment book. She had held more press conferences in the last few weeks than she had all year. This Crown case was a nightmare, on more than one level.
She was determined to at least clear off her desk in hopes of gaining some sense of control. She began with her in box and sorted the papers into a pile for Dorothy to file, a pile that needed some type of response and a trash pile. Her frustration grew.
There were several memos from various attorneys complaining about the new investigator, Peter. He apparently was too busy to handle routine requests from them. Great. All she needed was an investigator with an attitude. She made a note on her to-do list to 187
call Sam and have a chat with him. Normally he was really good about dividing the work among the investigators. The next disturbing bit of information was the weekly assignment sheet. Since she had been dealing with the media a lot lately, she had given the task of assigning cases to Paul. Normally she wouldn’t have given it another thought after that, but the assignments didn’t look right.
On first glance they seemed evenly distributed, but upon further study she noticed that the big cases, like murder or aggravated rob-bery, were all assigned to the men. The female attorneys had been given only misdemeanor cases and minor property crimes.
Why would he do this? She wondered. Cases were to be assigned according to the experience of the lawyer and on no other basis. What was he thinking? He’d even assigned an embezzlement case to David Wellington, who had absolutely no clue about that type of crime. Elizabeth was far more experienced and actually liked paper cases. Anne tried to look for an explanation for Paul’s system but could find none. She added a note to her list to call Paul. After about an hour she had gone through all her paperwork and called Dorothy into her office. Dorothy appeared before Anne hung up the phone.
Anne grinned. She could always count on Dorothy. “What took you so long?” She laughed.
Dorothy made some remark about having to finish typing several letters.
“Well, I’d like to see them before I leave today if they’re available.”
Dorothy buzzed Anne a few minutes later. “Paul will be down in a few minutes. He has court in forty-five minutes. David will be 188
here in a half-hour and Sam will be down in an hour. I told Frank to come in an hour and a half.”
Anne thanked her and looked down at her desk. It was relatively clean. She pulled a legal pad from her drawer and began jotting down some notes.
The man sat at his desk in shock. Anne had summoned him to her office. That bitch. Who did she think she was? She acted like she was the queen of the palace calling for her servants. His blood boiled. He should just do it now. Why wait? The thought of being polite and kind made him sick. The voices inside his head made it very hard to concentrate, and that’s when he made mistakes. The voices were pushing him, screaming at him. He needed to think.
He was tired. He reached inside his jacket and retrieved two more tiny pills and swallowed them without water. He closed his eyes for just a moment and willed himself to calm down.
He knew it would be next to impossible to teach Anne her lesson in her home, as he had done with the rest. Not with bodyguards day and night. Unless . . . hmm. He smiled. Perfect. He would set the stage in her office. In her big fancy office. The place she had no right to be. To show the world that she didn’t deserve that office or the responsibilities it held. Yes. This would be perfect. No one would be expecting this. It could be his best ever. He grinned. Just a few minor details to iron out and he would be ready. With renewed hope he prepared to meet Anne.
Anne sat at her desk and looked at her notes. It was after 5:00
and Frank had just left. She had an uneasy feeling but couldn’t really say why. She looked at her notes again.
Anticipation Page 19
