house without setting off the alarm? Only he and Lisa knew the alarm code and… Darius froze. His mind made the logical connection and he headed for the basement, switching on the house lights as he went.
Darius paused at the top of the cellar stairs, knowing what he would see when he turned on the light. He heard the first siren when he was halfway down. He thought about going back, but he had to know. A police car skidded to a halt in front of the house as Darius reached the bottom of the stairs. He put his gun down, because he did not want to risk being shot. Besides, he would not need it. There was no one in the house with him. He knew that when he saw the way the body was arranged.
Lisa Darius lay on her back in the center of the basement. She was naked. Her stomach had been sliced open and her entrails poked through a gaping, bloodsoaked hole. The body of Patricia Cross had been left in Henry Waters's basement in exactly this way.
As soon as Rick and Kathy drove away, Betsy went back to the kitchen and fixed herself something to eat. She had toyed with the idea of going out for dinner or calling a friend, but the idea of spending a quiet night alone was too appealing.
When she was finished with dinner, Betsy went into the living room and glanced at the television listings.
Nothing looked interesting, so she settled into an easy chair with an Updike novel. She was just starting to get into it when the phone rang.
Betsy sighed and ran into the kitchen to answer it.
'Mrs. Tannenbaum?'
'Yes.'
'This is Alan Page.' He sounded angry. 'I'm at Martin Darius's estate.
We've rearrested him.'
'On what grounds?'
'He just murdered his wife.'
'My God! What happened?'
'Your client gutted Lisa Darius in his basement.'
'Oh, no.'
'You did her a real favor when you convinced Norwood to release Darius on bail,' Page said bitterly. 'Your client wants to talk to you.'
'Do you believe me now, Tannenbaum?' Darius asked. 'Do you see what's going on?'
'Don't say anything. The police are listening, Martin. I'll see you in the morning.'
'Then you're sticking with me?'
'I didn't say that.'
'You've got to. Ask yourself how the police found out about Lisa and you'll know I'm innocent.'
Was Darius really innocent? It didn't make sense that he would kill his wife and leave her body to decompose in his own basement. Betsy thought over what she knew about the Hunter's Point case. Betsy imagined Henry Waters answering the door, Nancy Gordon walking down the steps to Waters's basement, the shocked look on Waters's face when he saw Patricia Cross sprawled in her own blood, disemboweled. It was Patricia Cross all over again. Darius had asked her to find out how the police knew Lisa Darius was in his basement.
She tried to remember how the police had found out about Patricia Cross.
'Put Page back on,' she told Darius.
'I don't want anyone talking to Darius,' she told the district attorney.
'I wouldn't think of it,' Page replied rudely.
'You're wasting your anger on me, Alan. I knew Lisa Darius better than you did. This hurts, believe me.'
Page was silent for a moment. He sounded subdued when he spoke.
'You're right. I had no business biting your head off.
I'm as mad at myself for screwing up at the bail hearing as I am at you for doing such a good job. But he's staying in this time. Norwood won't make another mistake.'
'Alan, how did you know you'd find Lisa's body in the basement?'
Betsy held her breath while Page decided if he would answer.
'Ah, you'll find out anyway. It was a tip.'
'Who told you?'
'I can't tell you that, now.'
A tip, just like the anonymous tip that led the Hunter's Point police to Henry Waters's basement. Betsy hung up the phone. Her doubts about Darius's guilt were starting to grow. Martin Darius had murdered the women in Hunter's Point, but was he innocent of the Portland murders?
Chapter Twenty-four
The door to the jail interview room opened and Darius walked in. He was dressed in the shirt and suit pants he had been wearing when he was arrested. His eyes were bloodshot and he seemed less self-assured than he looked during their other meetings.
'I knew you'd be here, Tannenbaum,' Darius said, trying to appear calm but sounding a little desperate.
'I don't want to be. I'm required to represent you until another attorney relieves me of my obligation.'
'You can't leave me in the lurch.'
'I haven't changed my mind, Martin. I meant everything I said the other day.'
'Even though you know I'm innocent?'
'I don't know that for certain. And even if you are innocent, it doesn't change what you did in Hunter's Point.'
Darius leaned forward slightly and locked his eyes on hers.
'You do know I'm innocent, unless you think I'm stupid enough to murder my wife in my basement, then call Alan Page and tell him where to find the corpse.'
Darius was right, of course. The case against him was too pat and the timing of this new killing too opportune. Doubts had kept Betsy up for most of the night, but they had not changed the way she felt about Darius.
'We'll be going up to court in a few minutes. Page will arraign you on a complaint charging you with Lisa's murder. He'll ask for a no-bail hold and ask Norwood to revoke your bail on the other charges. I can't see any way of convincing the judge to let you out on bail.'
'Tell the judge what we know about Gordon. Tell him I'm being framed.'
'We have no proof of that.'
'So this is how it's going to be. I guess I figured you wrong, Tannenbaum. What happened to your high-blown sense of ethics? Your oath as an attorney? You're going to throw this one, aren't you, because you can't stand me?'
Betsy flushed with anger. 'I'm not throwing a goddamn thing. I shouldn't even be here. What I am doing is letting you know the facts of life. judge Norwood took a big chance letting you out. When he sees the pictures of Lisa spread-eagled in your basement with her guts pulled through her abdominal wall, he is not going to feel like letting you out again.'
'The State calls Victor Ryder, Your Honor,' Alan Page said, turning toward the rear of the room to watch the courtly justice walk past the spectators and through the bar of the court. Ryder was six feet three with a full head of snow-white hair. He walked with a slight limp from a wound he had received in World War Two. Ryder kept his back rigid, scrupulously avoiding eye contact with Martin Darius, as if he was afraid of the rage that might overpower him if he set eyes on the man.
'For the record,' Page said as soon as Ryder was sworn, 'You are a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and the father of Lisa Darius?'
'Yes,' Ryder answered, his voice cracking slightly.
'Your (daughter was married to the defendant, was she not?'
'Yes, sir.'
