Charade

by Sandra Brown

  Chapter Fifty

  They got caught in morning rush hour traffic and barely made it to the airport in time to catch their flight. Less than an hour later, they disembarked at Love Field in Dallas, where Alex had reserved a rental car.

  “This thirty-mile drive to Fort Worth will take longer than the flight,” he remarked as they left the airport.

  “Do you know where you’re going?” Cat was looking at the city’s glittering skyline. She’d never been to Dallas and wished this trip were merely for sightseeing.

  “Mrs. Reyes-Dunne gave me directions. Anyway, I know the general vicinity.”

  “How’d you locate her?”

  “I once worked a case with FWPD and became good buddies with one of their detectives. Several days ago I called him and asked if he remembered the Reyes case. Hard to forget it, he said, although he hadn’t followed it much after the trial was moved to Houston.

  “As a favor, I asked him to track down some of Paul Reyes’s family and explained why. I stressed it wasn’t a police-related matter.

  “A few days later, he called and told me he’d located Reyes’s sister. He said she was wary, so he left the choice up to her. He gave her my number in case she decided to talk. Lo and behold, when I got back from Hunsaker’s office yesterday, she’d left a message on my machine. I called her back and she agreed to this appointment.”

  “Did she give you any information over the phone?”

  “No. She only confirmed that she was the sister of the Paul Reyes I was looking for. All her answers to my questions were guarded, but she was interested in the prospect that you might have received Judy Reyes’s heart.”

  Following both the road map and his instinct, he navigated the labyrinth of expressways connecting the two cities. One community seamlessly merged with another to form a large suburban sprawl.

  Alex found the street they were looking for in an older neighborhood west of downtown Fort Worth, off Camp Bowie Boulevard. He parked at the curb in front of the neat brick home. The front yard was shaded by a large sycamore tree. Fallen leaves crunched beneath their feet as he and Cat made their way up the walk.

  A pretty Hispanic woman stepped onto the porch to greet them. She was dressed in a white nurse’s uniform. “Are you Mr. Pierce?”

  “Yes, I am. Mrs. Dunne, this is Cat Delaney.”

  “How do you do?” The woman shook hands with both of them. She held on to Cat’s hand for a long time while visually exploring her face. “You think you got Judy’s heart?”

  “It’s possible.”

  The woman continued to stare at her, then, remembering her manners, gestured them into the wicker chairs on the porch. “We could go inside if you’d rather.”

  “This is fine,” Cat said, taking a seat.

  “I like to soak up all the fresh air I can before reporting to work.”

  “You’re a nurse?”

  “Yes, at John Peter Smith, the county hospital. My husband is a radiologist there. I’m currently working the late shift.” She glanced up at the sky. “I miss daylight.”

  Then she turned to Alex and said, “I’m not sure why you wanted to see me. You were rather vague over the telephone.”

  “We’re interested in locating your brother.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of. Has he done something wrong?”

  Cat glanced at Alex to see if he found any significance to those two innocent statements. Obviously he did. He was sitting on the edge of his seat—literally.

  “Has your brother been in trouble since he was acquitted of his wife’s murder?”

  Mrs. Dunne answered Cat’s question with one of her own. “What do you want with him? I won’t tell you anything until I know what brought you here.”

  From a manila envelope Alex withdrew the newspaper clippings that had been sent to Cat. He passed them to Reyes’s sister. “Have you ever seen these before?”

  As she read the newspaper accounts, it became increasingly clear that they disturbed her. Behind her glasses, her eyes filled with apprehension. “What do these have to do with Paul?”

  “Possibly nothing,” Cat said gently. “But I’d like to call your attention to the dates on them. It’s tomorrow’s date. It’s the date on which these three, supposedly unrelated deaths occurred. It’s also the anniversary of your sister-in-law’s murder and my transplant.

  “We—Mr. Pierce and I—don’t believe those three transplantees died accidentally. We think they might have been killed by a donor’s family member who wants to stop the donated heart on the date it was harvested.”

  Mrs. Dunne took a tissue from her pocket and blotted her tears. “My brother loved Judy to distraction. What he did to her was horrible. I’m not condoning it. He acted out a fit of jealous rage, but not because he hated her. He loved her so much that when he saw her with another man…”

  She paused to dab at her nose. “Judy was very pretty, you see. She’d been the love of his life since they were children. She was intelligent, much smarter than Paul. Because of that, he’d placed her on a pedestal.”

  “The top of a pedestal can be a lonely place,” Cat remarked.

  “Yes. I think that’s true,” the nurse agreed. “I don’t excuse Judy’s adultery, but I can understand it. She wasn’t an immoral woman. In fact, she was devoutly religious. Falling in love with another man must have been a tremendous personal conflict for her.

  “I’m sure if you could ask her now, she would say that Paul was justified in what he did, and that she forgave him. I doubt she would ever forgive herself for the destruction she caused in his life and that of their children.”

  She cleared her throat. “I also believe Judy would still be in love with this man. It wasn’t a casual affair. She loved him enough to die for him.”

  Cat remembered Jeff asking her about the lover; her own interest had been piqued. “What happened to him?”

  “I wish I knew.” Mrs. Dunne’s voice conveyed her bitter antipathy. “The coward ran. He never came forward. Paul—none of us—ever even knew his name.”

  Cat touched her hand. “Mrs. Dunne, do you know where your brother is?”

  She divided a cautious glance between them. “Yes.”

  “Could you arrange for us to talk to him?”

  No answer.

  Alex leaned toward her. “Is there a remote possibility that he sent Ms. Delaney these clippings and the phony obituary as some sort of warning? I know you don’t want to incriminate your brother, but is there even a slim chance he committed three murders in order to stop Judy’s heart?”

  “No! Paul’s not a violent man.” Realizing the absurdity of that statement in light of the crime he’d committed, she amended it. “Only that once. Judy’s betrayal drove him crazy. Otherwise, he could never have raised a hand to her.”

  Cat said, “What prompted him to donate her heart for transplantation?”

  “I…I asked him about that later. Some members of the family were very upset over that. Paul…” Her eyes fluttered behind her glasses.

  “What? What’d he say?”

  Softly she replied, “He said, for what she’d done, she deserved to have her heart cut out.”

  Alex turned to Cat and looked at her meaningfully. “And now he can’t live with knowing that her unfaithful heart still beats.”

  “My brother isn’t harassing Ms. Delaney,” Mrs. Dunne said sharply. “I’m sure of it. He wouldn’t punish anyone else for the sins of Judy and her lover.” She stood. “I’m sorry, but I must leave for work soon.”

  “Please,” Cat said, standing and grasping her hand. “If you know where your brother is, please tell us.”

  “He dropped out of sight after the trial in Houston,” Alex said, prompting her. “Why, since he’d been acquitted?”

  “For the girls’ sake. His daughters. He didn’t want to be an embarrassment to them.” She glanced over her shoulder into an open window on the porch. “They live with my husband and me. We have legal custody.”

 
“Does Paul come to see them?”

  She hesitated. “Sometimes.”

  “How does he support himself?” Her failure to respond didn’t deter Alex. “Could he have traveled to these other states? Have there been extended periods of time when you didn’t know where he was?”

  “If you know anything, please tell us,” Cat urged. “It could save lives. Mine and his. Please.”

  Mrs. Dunne sat back down, bowed her head, and began to cry. “My brother has suffered such heartache. When he killed Judy—and he killed her despite the jury’s ruling—he died himself. He’s still deeply disturbed. But what you’re suggesting he’s capable of is so terrible, I—”

  “Has he recently been in San Antonio?”

  Mournfully, she shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s possible.”

  Cat and Alex glanced at each other, excited now.

  “But he recently showed up here,” she added.

  “He’s here? In the house?”

  “No. He’s here in Fort Worth.”

  “Can we see him?”

  “Please don’t ask that. Can’t you leave him alone?” She sobbed. “Every day, for the rest of his life, he has to live with what he did.”

  “What if he harms Ms. Delaney? Will you be able to live with that?” Alex asked her.

  “He won’t harm her.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know.” She removed her glasses and dried her eyes. Then, in a very dignified manner, she replaced her glasses and stood up. “If you insist on seeing him, come with me.”

  Even from the outside the facility looked foreboding. Most of the windows had bars. They were required to pass through a series of security checks before being admitted into the ward.

  “I’m not sure this is a good idea.” The staff psychiatrist shook his head doubtfully. They had already explained the situation to him and asked his permission to talk to Paul Reyes. “I haven’t had time to complete my analysis. My patient’s well-being is my first priority.”

  “Your patient might be implicated in three murders,” Alex said.

  “But if he’s locked up here, he can’t harm Ms. Delaney. Certainly not tomorrow.”

  “We need to know if Reyes is the one who’s been stalking her.”

  “Or rule him out as a suspect.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You’re no longer a police officer, are you, Mr. Pierce? What jurisdiction do you have here?”

  “Absolutely none.”

  “We just want to see him and ask him a few questions,” Cat said to the doctor. “And gauge his reaction to seeing me. We wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his mental health.”

  The psychiatrist turned to Reyes’s sister. “You know him best, Mrs. Dunne. What’s your evaluation?”

  He trusted her opinion because she was a psychiatric nurse on staff in the women’s wing of the hospital. She’d explained that to Alex and Cat on the way over.

  “If I thought it might be harmful,” she said, “I wouldn’t have brought them. I think seeing him will cancel their suspicions.”

  The doctor weighed his decision thoughtfully. Finally, he agreed. “Two or three minutes, max. No tough stuff.” He addressed the last remark to Alex. “Burt will go with you.”

  Burt, a black man in white pants and T-shirt, was as physically imposing as an NFL linebacker.

  “How is my brother today?” Mrs. Dunne asked him.

  “He did some reading this morning,” he replied over his wide shoulders as they followed his down the corridor. “I think he’s playing cards in the rec room now.”

  They entered a large, bright room where patients were watching television, playing board games, reading, and milling about.

  “That’s him.” Alex pointed out Paul Reyes to Cat. “I recognize him from his trial in Houston.”

  Reyes was slightly built and partially bald. He was sitting apart from the others, staring into space, seemingly in a world of his own. His hands were loosely clasped between his knees.

  “He’s been medicated,” Burt told them. “So y’all should be able to have a quiet visit. But as the doc said, if the patient gets upset, you’ll have to leave right away.”

  “We understand,” Mrs. Dunne said.

  Burt withdrew, but only as far as the door. Cat noticed several other uniformed personnel mingling with the patients. Looking around, she felt compassion for each of them. They were grown men, but as dependent as children, living in confinement, locked inside walls and their own emotional misery.

  Mrs. Dunne seemed to read Cat’s depressing thoughts. She said, “For what it is, this is an excellent facility. We have wonderful, caring doctors on staff.”

  Her brother hadn’t noticed her yet. She regarded him with pity. “Paul arrived at the house unexpectedly three days ago. We never know when he’s going to pop in or what condition he’ll be in when he does. Sometimes he’ll stay for a few days and everything will be fine.”

  Her eyes clouded. “Other times, we’re forced to commit him to the hospital until he gets better. Like this time. He was extremely depressed when he arrived. I attributed it to the date. Tomorrow, it will be four years since…But you know that.”

  Cat nodded.

  “He began behaving irrationally. The girls love him, but they were frightened. My husband and I brought him here for analysis. We were strongly urged to commit him so he could undergo complete psychiatric testing.” Tears filled her eyes as she gazed at her brother. “Is it absolutely necessary for you to disturb him?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Alex replied, giving Cat no opportunity to speak. “If only for a minute. We’ll make it as easy and brief as possible.”

  Mrs. Dunne placed her fingertips against her lips to keep them from trembling. “When we were children, he was so sweet. Never in trouble. Kind and gentle. If he killed those people, I know he didn’t mean to. It was another personality living inside him, not my sweet Paul.”

  Alex laid a consoling hand on her arm. “We don’t know anything for certain yet.”

  Mrs. Dunne led them to her brother. She placed her hand on his shoulder and softly spoke his name. He raised his head and looked up at her, but his eyes were vacant.

  “Hello, Paul. Are you having a good day?” She sat in the chair beside his and covered his listless hands with hers.

  “Tomorrow’s the day.” His voice was hoarse, as though his throat was very dry from disuse. “That’s the day I found her with him.”

  “Try not to think about it.”

  “I always think about it.”

  Mrs. Dunne nervously moistened her lips. “Someone wants to see you, Paul. This is Mr. Pierce. And this is Ms. Delaney.”

  While she was speaking, he gave Alex an indifferent glance, but when his eyes moved to Cat, he suddenly sprang out of his chair. “Did you get the things I sent you? Did you? Did you?”

  Instinctively, Cat recoiled. Alex stepped between her and Reyes. Mrs. Dunne grabbed her brother’s arm. Burt came running and would have subdued the patient if Cat hadn’t intervened.

  “Please,” she said, stepping out from behind Alex. “Let him talk.” Speaking directly to Reyes, she asked, “Did you send me those clippings?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  Despite her fearlessness, Burt had a firm grip on Reyes’s upper arm. Mrs. Dunne still had hold of the other. “You’re going to die. Like the others. Like that old lady. And the boy. He drowned, you know. Hours in the water before they found him. The other one…”

  “Severed his femoral artery with a chain saw,” Alex said.

  “Yes, yes.” He sprayed them with spittle. His eyes glowed feverishly. “Now you. You’re going to die because you got her heart!”

  “Oh, my God,” his sister moaned. “Paul, what have you done?”

  “Did you kill those three people, Reyes?” Alex asked.

  His head made a quick swiveling movement, very much like an owl. He fixed his wide, wild eyes on Alex. “Who are you? Do I kn
ow you? I know you!”

  “Answer the question. Did you kill those transplantees?”

  “I killed my whore of a wife,” he shouted. “She was lying with him. I saw them. So I killed her. I’m glad. She deserved to die. I wish I could kill her over and over again. I wish I could have killed him, too, and licked his blood off my hands.”

  He was growing more agitated by the second and began struggling against Burt’s restraint. Burt called for assistance. Because of the commotion Reyes was creating, other patients were becoming restless and anxious.

  The doctor rushed in. “I was afraid of this. Out of here, now!” he shouted.

  “Wait! Just a second more, please.” Cat stepped closer to Reyes. “Why did you bother to warn me?”

  “You got a heart. I read about you. Do you have Judy’s heart?”

  Somehow managing to wrestle free of Burt, Reyes lurched forward and splayed his hand over Cat’s chest. “Oh, Jesus. Oh, God,” he groaned when he felt her heartbeat. “My Judy. My beautiful Judy. Why? Why? I loved you. But you had to die.”

  “Paul,” his sister cried in a ragged voice. “God forgive you.”

  Burt’s massive arms encircled the patient and pulled him away. Alex shoved Cat aside. She’d been stunned by Reyes’s action and yet strangely moved. The man’s agony was intense. He’d been driven mad by love and guilt and rage. She felt more sympathy than fear.

  Alex placed his arm around her. “You okay?”

  She nodded, watching with pity and horror as Reyes struggled with Burt, who was having difficulty holding him back as he strained forward, yelling, “You’ll die!”

  The cords in his neck bulged against his skin. His face was mottled and distorted. “Tomorrow. That’s the day. Like the others, you’ll die.”

  The doctor plunged a syringe into Paul Reyes’s biceps. He seemed impervious to the jab of the needle, but almost instantly he slumped against the burly attendant.

  He struggled to focus on Cat one final time. “You’ll die, too,” he rasped.

  Then he succumbed to the powerful drug.

  Chapter Fifty-One