Ann Roberts - Paid in Full

by Ann Roberts

  She squatted down, thoroughly uncomfortable with the bloody wall two inches away, not to mention the fact that she had been in this position when she was attacked before. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the planks. She tried to wiggle them but they didn’t move. She shone the flashlight up and down the seams caked with Michael Thorndike’s blood.

  Nothing unusual. Perhaps her hunch was wrong.

  She checked along the baseboard, back and forth. During the second pass, she glimpsed a small notch in the center. She inserted the blade of her pocketknife and was amazed when the entire baseboard popped off with a simple tug.

  She closed the pocketknife and stuffed it into her shorts. Her attention was riveted to the planks. With a firm grip, she pulled the plank forward. An entire section came forward with great difficulty. She paused, took another breath and using both hands and all her strength, she tugged mightily. It gave suddenly, sending Ari backward a few feet.

  She crawled back to the exposed space and stared at the dial of a safe. She pulled at the handle and the door swung open freely, its lock inoperable. Ari stared at the small caliber gun and was sure she had found the murder weapon in a place only her best friend knew existed.

  Bob, the one who had insisted on personally supervising the floor installation, shutting Ari out of the loop, probably forgetting the offhanded remark he’d made about his dad’s secret place to stash his valuables. Suddenly she felt very foolish for ever having believed him.

  A shadow crossed in front of her and Ari turned around.

  Molly pulled off her jacket and faced Lily Watson. The woman had said nothing for the first hour, not a single word. It had taken that long to pull her attorney out of the Diamondbacks game and get him to the station. All the while Lily had stared at Molly, contempt pouring out of her. When Arthur Primrose had finally arrived, clad in a D-backs jersey and cap, he requested another hour to conference with his client. Now, two hours later, Molly was hot, impatient and very angry herself. She matched Lily’s seething gaze with her own.

  “My client is willing to answer any questions you have, Detective Nelson,” Primrose announced cheerily. His mood was in sharp comparison to that of his client’s, who gave him a cold stare.

  “I said I would answer any new questions, Arthur. Detective Nelson is the master of the broken record, asking the same things over and over. So you have anything new, Detective?” Lily asked, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

  “Did you know Michael Thorndike wasn’t going to leave his wife?” Molly shot the question at Lily hoping to catch her off guard.

  It seemed to have the opposite effect, since she cocked her head to one side and grinned. “Yes, I knew that.” Molly paused, stunned by Lily’s demeanor and certain she was missing something. The hinges on the interrogation room’s door squeaked as Andre appeared, drawing the attention of all three of them.

  He looked green. “Molly, I need to see you. Now.” He disappeared and Molly followed him out, grateful for the break and an opportunity to regroup her thoughts. Andre was slumped in a chair, chewing on a nail. “I think I screwed up,” he stated simply.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I finally interviewed Kristen Duke’s other roommate this morning. You know, the one who can verify her alibi?”

  Molly nodded, her gut already starting to turn. “Yeah.”

  “She wasn’t there. That whole story about her and Kristen watching a movie was bogus. She never saw Kristen. It seems she went on a spur-of-the-moment camping trip with her boyfriend that afternoon. She says she left a note with directions, but Kristen never mentioned it to me. I couldn’t find her for three days, and I went along thinking Kristen had an alibi.”

  “Which may have been exactly what she wanted.” Molly sighed deeply. “Where is Kristen now?”

  “That’s the other part. She’s supposed to be at work, but she never showed up. I’m gonna get right on it,” he added.

  “Great,” Molly said. She stared at the interrogation room door, knowing she would once again have to face Lily Watson. “You’re right, Andre,” she agreed. “You really screwed up.”

  “You haven’t figured much out, have you?” Kristen asked. Ari quickly noticed the thirty-eight she held in her hand. “Why don’t you stand up?”

  Ari closed the door to the safe and slowly rose against the wall. Kristen’s eyes drifted to the bulge in her pocket. She casually walked over and took the gun from Ari’s jacket, throwing it so hard it skidded down the hallway.

  “How did you get here? I thought you were at the Tempe store.”

  With her free hand, Kristen pulled out her cell phone from the depths of her jacket pocket. “Call forwarding. Isn’t technology wonderful?”

  “Terrific,” Ari responded.

  “You thought it was Bob, right?” she said, her tone smug.

  “Or Lily,” Ari admitted. “I didn’t think anyone else knew about the safe.”

  “Who do you think ordered the floor? His trusted assistant.”

  “Who also happened to be his lover,” Ari added.

  “Believe me, our relationship was all in his head,” she stated bluntly.

  “So you weren’t lovers?”

  She sighed, and Ari noticed she tended to look away when she spoke. “We fucked. Bob had this romantic notion that we were in love, but it was all him. I already had a man.”

  The truth slapped Ari in the face. “Michael Thorndike.”

  Kristen grinned. “Now you’re catching on. Do you want to know the sordid details?” Ari nodded. “We met when Russ Swanson sent me over to Michael’s office with some documents. I didn’t even know who Michael Thorndike was, but he put the moves on me during the first five minutes. It was the beginning of something special.”

  Kristen’s eyes drifted away, and Ari used the opportunity to remove the knife from her pocket. “I’m lost,” she announced. “How did you wind up with Bob?”

  “It was Michael’s idea. Brilliant, really. When I mentioned that I thought Bob had a crush on me, he decided to use it to his advantage. This was right around the time Russ and Bob were negotiating for the downtown store.” Lost in her own story, she didn’t notice Ari’s hand slide behind her back.

  “So you were Michael’s spy?” Ari was dumbfounded. She hadn’t given Kristen enough credit.

  “A regular Mata Hari,” Kristen said proudly. “I was the one who suggested to Michael that he could take a bribe from Russ Swanson. Russ has no spine.” Kristen leaned against the bar. She was holding the gun like a cocktail drink, not even aware that it wasn’t pointed anywhere near Ari.

  “That makes you a conspirator and a spy, correct?”

  “Don’t forget murderess.”

  “How did you do it?”

  Kristen smiled. “When I told you a fax came in that night at the store, that wasn’t a lie. There was a fax, but it was for me from Michael. I’d asked him to meet me, because I wanted to discuss our situation.”

  Ari watched Kristen fidget with the gun. She was becoming more agitated and impatient. “And what was your situation?”

  “He’d dumped me two days before. It was that bitch, his wife. He was going to leave her, but then she threatened to take half of everything. Once the asshole broke out the calculator and realized how much he was going to lose, he told me he couldn’t afford to get a divorce.” Kristen’s voice trembled along with her body. “I loved him, that bastard. I’d given up everything for him.”

  “And you couldn’t let him get away with that.”

  “Of course not! He said we could keep having fun together, but that’s not what I wanted.”

  “You wanted it all.”

  Tears welled in Kristen’s eyes and she nodded. Ari could sense she wasn’t on guard and Ari knew she would need to act quickly. She took a step closer to Kristen and gripped the knife tightly.

  “Why did you come here?”

  “It was vacant. I figured it would be a few days before anyone suspected
. So, I got here first. I pried open the back door and met him when he rang the bell. He tried to reason with me, make excuses, lie. But there was nothing he could say at that point.”

  “Where’d the gun come from?”

  “I always keep a gun in my purse,” she answered. “Anybody who works nights should always have a gun.”

  Ari was running out of questions and options. She needed to distract Kristen. “So where did that gun come from?” she asked, motioning to the one Kristen held in her hand.

  “This one? The one I’m going to kill you with?” Ari nodded. “This is a recent purchase, and of course, you already discovered the murder weapon.” They both looked at the safe beneath Ari.

  “What I don’t understand,” Ari said slowly, “is why you hid the gun in the safe. Why not throw it out?”

  Kristen shook her head. “My father owned that gun. It’s sentimental to me. I needed it to disappear for awhile, but I figured that once Bob was arrested and time had passed, I’d break into the house again and take it back. Who would know? Besides it’s not like there’s a bunch of lakes and rivers in Phoenix that you can toss a gun into,” she added sarcastically.

  Kristen took a few steps away from the bar and said, “It’s strange how we keep meeting this way. You interrupted me the other night when I came back.” She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Stupid me. I forgot to wipe the handle.” She stared at Ari. “I was certainly surprised to see you. I could have killed you, you know. But I didn’t want to. I liked you.”

  “Is that going to stop you from killing me now?” Ari asked. Kristen frowned. “It’s really your own fault. If you’d just stayed out of it.”

  “So why did you write Bob’s name on the wall?”

  Kristen came closer. Ari knew she would only have one opportunity. “Now, I know you’ve figured that out. Why don’t you tell me?”

  “To throw the police off. You wrote the name Robert because you thought Michael probably called him by his full name since they were business associates. And after you wrote Bob’s name in blood with Thorndike’s hand, you dragged his body into the living room. You figured that would keep them from noticing the safe.”

  “And it did. Not even Bob thought about it. He told me to have the floor guy cover it up, and I’m sure he thought his precious lover did exactly as she was told.” Kristen closed her mouth and stared at Ari. Question and answer time was over. She approached Ari, the gun squarely aimed at her chest. “You know, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be with a woman.”

  “It’s better than being with a man,” Ari said. “Women know what women need. They know each other’s secrets,” she whispered. As Ari hoped she would, Kristen blushed at Ari’s flirtation and looked away. Ari saw her chance. She lunged forward, throwing Kristen off balance and thrusting the knife forward at the same time. Kristen shifted her weight and Ari’s stab glanced her shoulder, the blade barely penetrating the skin.

  Still, it was enough to make her cry out and step back. Ari pushed away and lunged toward the hall and the discarded gun, but Kristen tripped her and sent her sprawling. She rolled into the middle of the floor while Kristen screamed as she watched her shoulder bleed. “Bitch!” she yelled.

  Ari found her feet and ran toward the hallway when a shot penetrated the air. Then Ari wasn’t standing anymore. She moved her head from side to side, looking first at the living room and then the kitchen. She was going to die not twenty feet from where she’d discovered Michael Thorndike’s body just one week before.

  Kristen stood over her, a look of superiority on her face. “Okay, that just pissed me off,” she said calmly, wincing as she touched her shoulder. “And from where I’m standing, I’d say my shoulder looks a lot better than yours.”

  Only then did Ari feel the throbbing. Pain flooded through her body, and she was dizzy. Her eyes darted around the room. She was helpless.

  Kristen smiled. “No way out, Ari. Or, maybe I should put it in terms you’ll understand. This sale is final.”

  Ari watched Kristen point the gun at her and fire.

  She imagined herself drifting away, darkness nearby, reaching out to her. She managed to focus long enough to watch Kristen fall backward, the gun still in her hand. But how could that have happened? How could she be watching? She was a murder victim, shot at close range. The sound of quick feet penetrated the ringing in her ears from the gun’s blasts.

  “Ari, honey,” a voice called. Someone was standing over her, holding her gun at his side. The voice materialized into Bob, looming over her, his face full of concern. Somehow the situation seemed familiar, and she was filled with déjà vu. “Sweetie, it’s going to be okay,” he whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Saturday, June 23

  4:48 p.m.

  The man sitting in front of Molly wasn’t what she had expected, having spent days literally envisioning his voice and temperament, seeing him as a killer. Bob Watson was polite, intelligent and soft spoken, and Molly now understood why Ari and Sol Gardner had proclaimed his innocence. What had begun as a formal interview had progressed into a pleasant conversation minus the scripted questions Molly had prepared, the chief and the district attorney having already assured Bob that he would not be arrested for any crime, since in the end he helped apprehend the killer and saved the life of a civilian. To take him into custody for his flight would be bad PR.

  She was sure Ari had not told Bob about their relationship, but so far he had steered the conversation away from her every time Molly tried to bring it up, like two drivers fighting for control of the same car. After twenty minutes she gave up, unable to slake her thirst for knowledge of the real estate agent. She knew Ari was resting in the hospital and would make a full recovery, but she knew nothing else. When they had arrived at the house, Molly had jumped out of the car, only to watch the ambulance pull away at the same time. During the next few hours they tried to piece together what happened, culminating in the current interview she was having with Bob Watson.

  “Of course, I knew that either Kristen or Lily was the killer,” he was saying, “and my money was on Kristen.”

  “How did you know?” Molly automatically asked and clicked the end of her pen to take notes.

  “She got a fax while I was there. I pulled it off the machine, and it said something about changing the meeting time to seven thirty. When Thorndike was dead the next day, I thought about that fax, and I thought about some of the little things that seemed off about Kristen.”

  “Off?” Molly asked.

  Bob cracked his knuckles and reached for his chewing gum. “Yeah, it never seemed right between us.” He shook his head. “Just little things,” he added before stopping abruptly. “Let’s just say I thought it was very convenient.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell me this in the first place? Why did you run?”

  He rubbed his hands together and stared at the floor. “It was complicated. After I drove away, I felt like an idiot for being so blinded by Kristen. I thought she loved me.”

  “So why did you suspect Lily?”

  “I knew she’d started seeing him again, and I also knew that he wasn’t going to leave his wife, even though he wanted to.”

  “Why not?”

  Bob smiled. “Two words—community property.” Bob looked down and blushed, very embarrassed. “You see, when I thought that I would leave Lily for Kristen, I wanted the best for Lily. I thought if she had someone, then maybe my leaving wouldn’t be so bad. So I met with him.” He shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Molly for her reaction.

  Molly raised an eyebrow. “What did he say?”

  “He said he was leaving his wife, but for some woman he’d met through work. They’d had a huge fight when he told her, but she was beginning to accept it.” Bob wiped his face with his hand. “Little did I know his mistress was my mistress.”

  “Did he say anything about the bribe?”

  “Not a word,” Bob insisted. “You know, it was pretty funny. We
actually buried the hatchet. The two of us spent fifteen minutes or so joking about divorce and alimony. He asked me about prenuptial agreements and if I had one with Lily. That was a hoot. When Lily and I met, we didn’t have two nickels to rub together. That made me think about how much money Lily was going to get, but I didn’t care. I told him, if he was smart he’d make his new wife sign on the dotted line before he said ‘I do.’ Then he gave me one of those knowing looks, and we shook hands. I still can’t believe it, but I actually shook that poor bastard’s hand.

  “The thing is, Michael Thorndike loved money more than anything, and there was no way he would risk losing half his fortune. When he was killed, I suspected he had changed his mind, and his lover had shot him in a jealous rage after he told her. So I confronted Lily, but she told me the truth.” Molly looked at him quizzically. “She didn’t care about marrying him. They could just keep sleeping together.” The pain in Bob’s face was obvious, and Molly felt so sorry for a man who had been through a week of hell in many ways. “But he dumped her anyway for Kristen.” He chewed furiously on the wad of gum and looked Molly straight in the eye. “When Lily left the motel, I knew she wasn’t the killer. And I knew she really had loved Thorndike.”

  “I’m sorry,” Molly said.

  “It’s okay,” he shrugged. “I’m not so attached to my money. When I ask Lily for a divorce, it will be a relief in many ways.” He shifted in the chair. “Back to the story. So, I thought the murderer was Kristen, but I had to be sure. So I called her and told her where I was, and darned if you people didn’t show up on my doorstep the next day,” he said sarcastically.

  “So she was the anonymous tip, and you knew we were coming, so you got out,” Molly concluded. “So where did you go next?”

  Bob leaned back and smiled at the loaded question. “I’m taking the fifth on that one. But I did start following Kristen.”