Chapter 25

 

Hal had taken out the contract on her life. Hal.

Sarah wasn’t surprised, somehow.

The information Owen brought out of the prison made her feel wounded, lied to, betrayed, angry. But after having had a chance to sort out her thoughts during the memorial service earlier today, she could no longer feel surprise at the news.

“Four years ago, he courted me to help strengthen his battle against his family, but things didn’t work out the way he’d planned. He must have felt deserted in seeing me go over to Avery’s and the judge’s side.” Sarah leaned her head against the side window and thought of the events of recent months as they sped along the highway toward Providence. Blurred lines of blue and green and pink houses along the highway blended with the grimy brick red and black of deserted shops and factories.

“But that is hardly reason enough to have someone killed.” Owen’s hand reached for hers.

“I guess it was for Hal. Everyone had a purpose for him. My purpose for existing was to get Judge Arnold off his back. Avery’s purpose was to set right the will left by Hal’s father and make sure he received all that was his by birthright. We both failed to act as he expected us to act.”

She swallowed hard. “You know, I should have guessed how angry he was at the time of the reading his mother’s will. He shut down on me. Wouldn’t tell me how he felt about anything. I even advised him that it was within his rights to challenge the will. Although I was executor to the estate, I was well aware of how ill she’d been in the last months of her life and how influential her husband had been during that time. It was no secret that Hal and Judge Arnold never saw eye-to-eye on anything at all.”

“He didn’t contest it, did he?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Foolishly, I assumed his decision was made out of respect for his mother. He seemed to be doing well enough with his company, so I thought he was happy to let things stand as they were.”

“What were the stipulations of the will, anyway?”

“Hal would continue to get a yearly allowance, which was relatively small compared to the size of the estate. This was consistent with the trust that had been set up by Everard Van Horn. Outside of that, he could draw lump sums on the principal, but not without all types of trustees’ approvals and signatures. The level of approval depended on the amount he wanted to draw.”

“I assume Judge Arnold was one of those trustees.”

“Of course.”

Sarah stared straight ahead. Unexpectedly, a fierce anger bubbled to the surface.

“I was so naïve. I can’t believe I let myself get caught in the middle of all this. Both of those men tried to use me for their own purposes. I was a loyal partner to the judge, worshipping the ground he walked on. I did as he advised, and learned, and saw my own practice begin to flourish. And that was just fine, so long as I didn’t try to exert my own independence in anything that the judge already made up his mind on.” She laughed bitterly. “And Hal…I tried to remain a friend to him. But from his perspective I was a horrible human being all the way around. I was his mother’s lawyer, and the office partner of his worst enemy. I knew about the stipulations of the will and did not warn him about it. And I was the ice queen—”

“Don’t.” He immediately pulled the car onto the shoulder of the highway and turned to her. “You can’t blame yourself for a family that was clearly dysfunctional long before you ever arrived on the scene.”

He cupped her chin, looking into her eyes. “You should be proud of how you have acted. You’ve been walking a tightrope with balance and integrity. You used great judgment. And in the end, you didn’t let either of them manipulate you.”

He kissed her with such tenderness that Sarah felt the warmth wash down through her, wrapping itself around her heart. When he pulled back, her eyes saw only him.

“What scares me now is what we still don’t know. We can’t forget what Gantley said about arriving at your apartment and finding that someone else had done the job.” His gaze lingered on her face a moment longer. “Frankie recognized the guy who knifed Hal. Jake Gantley says the recognition went both ways, and that’s why his cousin was murdered.”

His face was all business again as he pulled back on the highway

“Did he have a name or a description? Anything we can go by?”

“Uh, yes he did. The killer’s name is Paul Yeats. From what Gantley says, he was a—”

“Newport cop until six months ago.” She finished the sentence for him.

Owen’s head snapped in her direction.

“Remember what I told you about the run-in I had with the Newport Police? About the fifteen-year-old and the cops who had intimidated the girl?”

“I remember.”

“Well, the younger cop—the one who was forced to resign—that was Paul Yeats.” She leaned down and gathered the newspapers she had folded at her feet. She opened it up to the front page and headlines. “This is the same case. They just cracked it. William Hamilton was the creep who’d raped my client. And this woman, Cherie Lake, was the one who’d arranged it back then, too. This has been going on for a while, and there were a number of underage girls who’d been lured in and used.”

Sarah leafed through the pages again until she found the section she was looking for. “They even mention my name and the lawsuit against the department last spring. But here…they also mention the two officers involved. The older one is in Florida and refused to make a statement to the reporter who contacted him. The other one, Paul Yeats, still lives on the island but couldn’t be reached.”

“That’s why Jake mentioned the article.”

“What do you mean?” She dropped the paper on her lap. “Is Yeats trying to kill me because of that lawsuit?”

“What else do you know about Yeats?”

“He had military background. I believe he was a marine MP. No wife or kids. He’d moved in the area after getting out of the service. A real man’s man. Uncomfortable…in fact, I’d say hostile toward women. An Ollie North type when it came to following orders, though not as bright. Not surprisingly, he was well-liked by other men in the department, though the female officers didn’t have much to say on his behalf.”

“Following orders,” Owen repeated. “An ex-cop, possibly with good connections to area police departments, perhaps even with access to police cars. Also an ex-marine having expertise with close combat.”

“He wasn’t the one, who stuck a gun in my back this morning.”

“You said there were two officers who stopped you on the road last Wednesday night.”

“That’s true. He could have been the other one.” She watched Owen maneuver the car through the S-curve in Providence before heading south along the eastern side of the Narragansett Bay. “But these two are only peons, aren’t they?”

“Damned ruthless peons, but peons nonetheless. They had to be operating on orders from someone else.”

Sarah wiped her sweating palms on her dress. “Is everything all set for tomorrow?”

“I think so. We just have to hope that Rosen keeps his promise.”

 

~~~~

 

All but two of the cribs in the nursery were gone. Scott saw the blue caps and name cards on the sleeping babies and guessed his daughter was in with Lucy.

The smell of dinner was already wafting out of some of the rooms when he turned toward his wife’s private one. Sounds of conversation mixed with a laugh here and there and a baby’s soft cry seemed such a natural part of this section of the hospital, so different from the stillness of the ICU three floors above.

By the door of Lucy’s room, Scott saw the untouched tray of food on a rolling table. He took another step in and frowned at the empty bed. His heart suddenly sank at the thought that she’d already checked out of the hospital without even telling him.

A soft cooing from a portable crib made of see-through plastic drew his attention at the same time that he heard a toilet flush. In a moment, the bathroom door opened. Standing motionless in the door, he enjoyed the eternity of thirty seconds of watching his wife before she noticed him.

She looked good. No, she looked beautiful, he corrected, admiring the warm smile she gave the infant as she leaned over to pick her up.

“I’m right here, sweetheart. Such a face…” She froze with the baby in her arms as her gaze lit on him. “Scott.”

“Is this a bad time?”

“Of course not.”

For the lack of something better to do, he shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against the doorjamb. A stupid half smile edged onto his face as he watched the baby’s mouth continue to move in her direction.

“I…I think she is hungry.”

“She is always hungry.” Lucy laid the infant against her shoulder, supporting the fragile head and neck with her hand. “I think I ordered steak and potatoes for dinner. If you pull the cover off that food and cut up the meat real small, we can feed her some dinner.”

He straightened up from the door, pulling his hands out of his pocket. “You’re not serious.”

Her laughter was a kind music that he had been missing in his life for too long. His spirit lifted, his mind cleared somewhat.

“Now that’s more like it.” The dimples that used to drive him crazy now appeared. “You know, you’ve been acting like a real jerk the past couple of days. Come over here.”

He did exactly as she told him. They sat on the small sofa side by side. He watched her breast-feed the eager infant, and then she taught him how to hold the baby.

Sitting there with his daughter in his arms, he realized he’d never held a baby in his life. She smelled like milk and bath powder. Holding her made him think of dreams and innocence. He pushed the knit cap away and rubbed his cheek on her soft wisps of hair. The perfect little fingers moved. He stared in awe at the fingernails. Even they were so perfect.

“So you two are coming home tomorrow?”

“Hopefully, early in the morning.” She kissed him over the baby’s head. “Now, I can call a—”

“No. I’ll be here,” he said, meaning it. “Lucy, I need you to give me a chance. I promise to be a good father…and a much better husband.”

“Don’t be silly!” She shook her head, though her expression was thoughtful as she turned her face away. They had never discussed it, had never openly said the words, but they’d both known for a while that he’d been standing on a ledge. As he stared at her profile, he knew that this was Lucy through and through, pouring it all inward and acting as if nothing was ever wrong.

When she turned her attention back to him, Scott saw her gaze go from the sleeping face of her daughter to his pleading eyes.

“We’ll be here waiting for you.”