by Edie Claire
It was all the head start Leigh needed. She sprinted for the staff gate, which was the quickest way to whomever was out there.
"Leigh, no!" Carmen called, using the same harried tone a mother might to keep a child from mischief.
Leigh landed against the door with a bounce and pulled up on the latch with one motion. It didn't move.
"You're going to hurt your shoulder," Carmen chastised. "Now stop that. Just come here, and this will all be over with real quick."
Whirling around, Leigh watched in horror as Carmen reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a clear plastic baggie containing what looked like a wet paper towel. "I was afraid you wouldn't want to come. God knows why—you've got nothing ahead of you here but prison. But you always were stubborn."
"You haven't told me where we're going," Leigh croaked, still trying hard to sound casual. "Maybe I will go."
Carmen tilted her head and smiled. "Never con a con, Leigh. You're dealing with one of the best. I always wanted to fake my own death, and it's been a blast. But I don't need the cops chasing after me thinking I'm Kristin. I could be arrested for my own murder—pretty wild, huh?"
Heavy footsteps pounded on the pavement outside the gate, and Leigh screamed. It was a loud scream, but a short one, as Carmen darted forward, whirled Leigh around, and pressed the paper towel over her nose and mouth.
Ether.
Knowing better than to inhale, or even try to pull off the cloth, Leigh opted for a quick elbow jab to the ribs, and was rewarded. Carmen shrieked, and the gate burst open to reveal a uniformed city cop. Seeing Carmen doubled over, he trained his gun promptly on Leigh.
"Not me, you idiot!" she yelled. "She's the murderer!"
"How dare you!" Carmen bleated, not missing a beat. "How dare you say that after what you did! You've killed two people, and one was supposed to be your friend!"
Leigh's jaw dropped open. The young officer stood helplessly, his gun wavering between the two. "On your knees! Both of you!"
But it was not to be. As Leigh complied, Carmen darted behind her. A strong arm encircled Leigh's neck, and a cool piece of steel lay flat against her throat.
A pocketknife. Damn.
"Take it easy," the officer cajoled. "Nobody needs to get hurt here."
"Nobody would have if you'd stayed out of it," Carmen chastised. "Now, here's what's going to happen. Leigh and I are going back into the tunnel, and you're not. Got it?"
Beads of sweat erupted on the young officer's forehead. Leigh could tell he was waiting anxiously for backup, as was she. They soon heard shouts, and the young officer answered them with relief. But Carmen wasn't waiting for more company. She dragged Leigh back into the tunnel, being none too careful with the knife blade on the way.
Leigh walked backward with Carmen as best she could, wincing as the knife blade grated against her skin. It didn't appear to be all that sharp—but she wasn't taking any chances. If she struggled, Carmen could easily take out an artery.
They were inside the tunnel again, and after moving beyond the first curve, they were out of sight of the officer—and his presumed backup. "Now see what you did, Leigh," Carmen said, just a hint of frustration entering her voice. "I can't drag you all the way through this tunnel. You're going to have to walk. So go on ahead of me. I have a gun too, you know."
Leigh didn't believe her, but what did it matter? When she felt Carmen let up pressure on the knife, she started ahead. Did Carmen really think the police were stupid enough to stand around at the bottom of the hill and wait for them to come back out? Of course there would be someone stationed at the other end.
She plodded forward rapidly, hoping to get well ahead of Carmen by the time they met up with their rescuers. But Carmen kept hold of Leigh's arm behind her back, the knife hovering near her ear. They were behind the polar bear run when Carmen jerked her roughly to a stop, placing the knife again at her throat.
"This has all gotten too complicated," Carmen said, the annoyance in her voice increasing. She looked down the tunnel in front of them, and Leigh's hopes fell. So, Carmen wasn't so dumb after all. She knew the police would be closing in. But what did she plan to do about it?
Leigh tried to think of a plan, but she was tapped out, and her neck hurt like hell. "What are we supposed to do now?" she asked weakly.
Carmen sighed as she forced Leigh to kneel. "I don't think I can get you out of here. Sorry. You'll just have to stay and take the rap for me. Or for Kristin, I should say." She smiled. "But it sure would help me out if you said all this tonight was a joke. You're going to jail anyway, it shouldn't matter to you. Just get them to stop looking for Kristin. They've got to cut that out or it will ruin everything."
Leigh tried to follow the convoluted logic. "You're going to D.C.?"
"Sure," Carmen smiled. "I have Kristin's job all ready and waiting for me. And now I have a little bit of money; I'd have more if she hadn't maxed out all her damn cards."
With her free hand, Carmen pulled something else from her pocket and began to fidget with it as she talked. "I have plans, you know. Being dead has taken a load off. I can start all over. And it's worked out for everybody. Especially for Mike. He won't have to support some brat now, and he can finally stop thinking about that wench of a wife of his."
"And what about Kristin?" Leigh blurted, feeling a little faint. "Is she happier now too, you think?"
"Probably," Carmen answered seriously. "Mike would never have married her, and she wouldn't do well raising some kid on her own. She was just such a bitch that night, telling me Mike was going to marry her and she wasn't going to let him see me any more. Right. She was asking for it, I swear. But I wasn't going to kill her. Really, I wasn't."
Leigh felt, rather than saw, someone approaching slowly from around the bend. Soon, she told herself. Soon. When they made their move, she was making hers. If Carmen was the least bit distracted, Leigh could pull away enough to get her throat clear of the knife. Then even if Carmen struck out at her, she wasn't likely to do serious damage.
"I just hit her once, with the shovel," Carmen rambled, still fiddling with something behind Leigh's back. "Then I got the idea, you know. Not the dying thing, I was already planning that, but then it hit me—here's my body!"
Leigh swallowed in preparation. She wasn't sure, but she thought that someone was closing in from behind them too.
Then, without warning, Carmen yelled so loudly that Leigh's ears rang with pain. "Everybody freeze! I want you both to take three steps back or the good girl gets sliced, got it?"
"No problem. Just stay calm." The familiar voice that retreated up the hall was, for the first time, quite comforting. It was Detective Frank.
"Both of you!" Carmen screamed again.
"Backing up now," the second voice said soothingly.
Maura. How had they known to come here?
Carmen continued struggling with something, and soon Leigh heard a dull squeak. "It's been real, Leigh. Sorry you couldn't jump bail. It would have been fun for you. Just remember what I said. Either suicide or just confess, that should get the heat off Kristin. Okay? You owe me, you know. Remember that."
Leigh was still trying to make sense of the words when she realized the knife was away from her throat. She lunged forward up the tunnel, colliding with Frank's feet as they rounded the bend. He bolted over her, the light in the tunnel suddenly dimming as he and Maura blocked the opening to the polar bear run.
Leigh stood up and wheeled around, hoping to see a subdued Carmen in thick handcuffs.
She didn't see Carmen at all.
It happened so quickly that neither Maura nor Frank had a chance of stopping it, even if they'd known how. Carmen the daredevil, a woman who seemed to lack any capacity for fear, was taking on one more challenge. She had unlocked the gate into the polar bear run, a convenient shortcut to freedom. She had sprinted across exhibits before—all she would have to do would be to get to the moat. Then she, unlike the bears, could shinny up the vertical cable plant
ed strategically on its far wall.
But the polar bears were restless. Strange sounds had been coming from their ordinarily quiet tunnel, and when an odd animal suddenly arrived in their midst and invited chase, they were more than willing to oblige.
Leigh joined Maura and Frank at the gate, but after the briefest of looks, she turned away. It was an unfair fight—two on one, 1,000-plus pounds against 125. The bullets Frank shot were too little, too late. One swipe of a colossal white paw knocked Carmen to the rocks, and two giant sets of jaws closed in.
The battle was over in seconds.
Chapter 24
"So who all's coming?" Leigh asked, loading two sacks of ice into her freezer. At first she had felt a little funny about having a celebration so soon after the last in a grim trio of untimely deaths, but Warren had insisted that she needed closure, and after some thought, she had agreed.
"Your folks, Cara's gang, Katharine, and Maura all said they'd drop by," Warren answered, transferring two-liters from grocery sacks to Leigh's countertop. "Maura will have her mother with her, though, so they may not stay long."
"I'll send some food home with them if they miss it." Leigh smiled. "I'm so glad Maura's taking her mother to see Maplewood. I just hope Mary responds well. It's a miracle, her qualifying for that private funding."
"It's not that unusual a setup, if you can find it," Warren said matter-of-factly. "A few wealthy benefactors who've been touched by Alzheimer's can make all the difference to a family like the Polanskis."
Leigh's buzzer rang, and she was happy to admit her first guests a little early. Warren made Mary comfortable while Maura, who was beaming from ear to ear, gave Leigh a stellar report on Maplewood. "They knew exactly what they were doing," she gushed. "They anticipated every question I had, and the whole place is just beautiful. Mom said she could sit for hours and listen to the little waterfall in the lounge, and they even have a greenhouse where residents keep up their own plots. Everything is very calm, very structured. It's exactly what Mom needs. And it's right on the bus line, so my aunts can visit anytime…"
Leigh grinned. She hadn't heard her friend gush so much in years. Only after Maura had finished a considerable testimony to Maplewood did she remember the purpose of the party. "And how are you doing?" Maura asked. "That was a pretty gruesome scene last night, but I hope you're not still feeling guilty about Carmen's death. Because if you are, I'm afraid I'll have to slap you around again."
Leigh's mouth curved into a small, sad smile. "I was sorry Carmen got killed the first time—and I'm just as sorry the second. Even if she did kill Kristin and Stacey. But I'm trying not to feel guilty about it. I didn't even know she was going in the cage until it was too late. If I had known—"
"You couldn't have done anything then, either," Maura said firmly. "Carmen had a knife to your neck and Kristin's keys in her hand. She was going to do what she was going to do."
Leigh sighed. "I do wonder, though, if she would have actually hurt me. It sounded like she just wanted to make me look guilty to divert attention from Kristin—"
"Don't delude yourself, Koslow," Maura said sternly. "The woman killed one of her oldest friends in a fit of jealousy and didn't think twice about it. In fact, she used the situation to her advantage—to get out of debt and probably to get away from some pretty dangerous creditors."
Leigh sighed. Maura was probably right. "It's ironic that my getting arrested was her lucky break, don't you think? I mean, nobody would have ever suspected Kristin if it hadn't been for Stacey's murder and the tie-in with the tan Eldorado. But once the police started on Kristin's trail, Carmen's scheme was in trouble. And I made the perfect scapegoat."
"That's why you shouldn't delude yourself," Maura said heavily. "I think Carmen planned to make it look like you were guilty and had skipped bail. She would have taken you away somewhere, forced you to make a phone call or write a confession, and then you would have disappeared. If you get my drift."
Leigh got it. But the whole scenario was still hard to fathom. Carmen had switched her clothes and jewelry for Kristin's, leaving behind just enough of the body to prove someone was dead, yet nothing that would give away its identity. She had even thought to tear out some of her own hair at the scene. "Carmen was pretty clever, wasn't she?" Leigh thought out loud.
Maura scoffed. "She wasn't clever. She was damned lucky. The scheme would have blown up in a day if her blood type hadn't matched Kristin's."
"Then why didn't they do DNA tests or something?" Leigh asked critically.
Maura looked at her sternly. "DNA tests aren't free, Koslow. They cost money, and a detective has to have a darn good reason to request them. But Carmen had no relatives crying foul, and there was a fair amount of evidence pointing to the body being Carmen's, and not a shred pointing against it."
Leigh didn't argue the point. She looked at her watch and threw a glance at the door.
"Who are you waiting on?" Maura asked suspiciously. "Don't tell me Warren invited Tanner over."
Leigh looked up in surprise. "No. I mean, I don't think so." Perhaps they should have invited Tanner—after all, the charges against him were going to be dropped, too. The State Police were now convinced that Carmen had killed Stacey after the two ran into each other at the cabin hideout. Stacey had probably threatened to blow the whistle, and that was that.
"So you're over the guy, eh?" Maura asked hopefully.
Leigh considered. She owed the man a nice dinner and a beating, but her desire to deliver either was gone. Perhaps she should do nothing and call it a wash. "Definitely," she answered.
The buzzer buzzed, and the first guest headed up. It was Katharine Bower, looking especially attractive in a close-fitting turquoise suit. "It's official!" She smiled, looking at Leigh. "The charges against you have been dropped."
A cheer commenced, and Leigh promptly offered Katharine profuse thanks and a large cola on the rocks. "Will anything happen to Dena Johnson?" Leigh asked, curious about the accuser she still had never remembered meeting.
"Probably not," Katharine said, sipping thirstily. "She says now that she and Tonya met Kristin on their way out of the zoo that night. Apparently, Kristin had just found out she was pregnant and couldn't wait to tell Tanner—and rub Carmen's nose in it. She was heading for the tiger shed when they left. When they heard the next morning that Carmen was dead, they thought that the two had fought again, and that Kristin must have killed her. Since they were the only other people who knew Kristin had been at the zoo, they figured they'd do their pregnant friend a favor and not mention it. And when they found out the police suspected you, Dena foolishly decided to go a step further."
Leigh scowled. "I still think Dena was afraid of Kristin doing something to her if she didn't help."
"Maybe," Katharine answered, smiling slightly, "but you're the only one I talked to who had anything really negative to say about Kristin Yates. Everyone else at the zoo seemed to like her."
Leigh sighed and shrugged. Her confidence in her character-judging abilities was flagging of late. The door buzzer rang again, and she headed toward it. "I hope that's the pizza," she announced.
A male voice came over the speaker. "Henderson Floral. Delivery for Leigh Koslow." Skeptical, Leigh walked over to the window, and was pleased to see a floral van parked below. She buzzed the young man up, and accepted a beautiful fall bouquet with amazement.
Her cheeks red, she put the flowers on her coffee table and extracted the card. Mao Tse, who had been in hiding ever since Warren arrived, promptly popped up on the table to investigate. Leigh read the card, and couldn't help grinning. Sorry I misjudged you. Gerald Frank.
She made a quick mental note to send a similar offering down to the bureau tomorrow. She knew just what it would say: Ditto.
"Now that's got to be the pizza," Warren announced when the buzzer rang again. "I'll get it. It's my treat."
"He's so generous, isn't he?" Katharine asked, standing at Leigh's side and watching Warren adoringly.
<
br /> "Yes," Leigh answered a little tightly, "he is."
"You've got to respect a man who'd go to such lengths for a friend," Katharine continued. She started to say something else, but stopped herself.
Leigh followed Katharine's eyes to Mary Polanski, and wondered what Katharine knew that she didn't. Then a thought dawned. Warren had told her that the fund at Maplewood had been set up by a small group of wealthy benefactors. Could this have been a recent phenomenon, and could they have had a little urging, perhaps?
She looked at Maura, who was as happy as Leigh had seen her in months. Yes, that was what had happened. The Harmon magic. And probably a little chunk of the Harmon bank account as well. She smiled, but kept her thoughts to herself. Warren was right to keep it a secret. Maura could never know.
"Thanks for getting that package to him the other day, by the way," Katharine said cheerfully, trying to change the subject. "I don't think it worked, though."
Leigh looked up. "And what exactly was it?"
Katharine laughed. "What do you think? A beanie baby elephant with a 'Vote Republican' button on its tail, of course!"
Leigh laughed, but with a touch of chagrin. So, they shared the same sense of humor, too.
Cara's family and the Koslows arrived en masse, and soon Leigh's small apartment was buzzing with activity—and pizza consumption. Even Mao Tse seemed to be in a festive mood as she risked the horrors of a crowd to get a closer look at the bizarre bundle in Cara's arms. Katharine announced to the newcomers that her client was now a free woman, and cheers went up from all except Frances, who was busily partitioning Warren into a corner. Probably, Leigh thought, to ask about her legal bills.
Little Mathias took the whole affair in stride, alternately yawning and peering out at the big black fur ball that kept popping up into his field of vision. "She's always liked you," Leigh said to Cara, pulling Mao Tse away from the baby's head. "I guess it figures she'd like your son, too."
Cara smiled, but her eyes were on Katharine, who had finally managed to wrest Warren away from Frances. "I'm glad I finally got a chance to meet your lawyer. She seems quite competent."
