Gault smiled. The blood had drained from David’s face.
“In my story the writer tortures this fellow, who answers every question he is asked. It’s quite a violent scene. Blood spraying all over, bones cracking. I may have to tone it down before submitting it to my editor. She has a weak stomach, and I don’t know if she’ll be able to take this much graphic violence.
“Anyway, the writer has just had some trouble with the law, so he has to keep this little incident hush-hush. All this torture has taken place on a large rug that does an admirable job of absorbing the blood. The writer rolls up the dead man in the rug, cleans up the mess, and gets rid of the body, leaving no clues for a sleuth to find. But that’s where I’m stuck. What happens next? For the life of me, I can’t figure it out.
“My character knows the identity of the dastardly coward who hired the victim. I guess the writer could confront him. But I don’t know… That seems like such a cliche, and the critics have been so lavish in praising my originality.” Gault shrugged. “I’ll admit I’m stumped. That’s why I called. You have a fertile imagination. I hoped you could help me.”
David stood up so quickly, he knocked over his chair. Gault watched, greatly amused. The sound of the chair crashing to the floor brought on a sudden hush in the restaurant. The diners turned toward David as he staggered away. Gault threw his head back, and his laughter followed David out onto the street.
6
Monica Powers was getting ready for bed when the doorbell rang. She put a bathrobe on over her nightgown and went to the door. David had never been to her apartment and she was surprised to see him. She was more surprised by his appearance. Since the Stafford trial she had heard disturbing rumors about David, and his disheveled clothes, bloodshot eyes, and uncombed hair seemed to bear them out.
“I need your help, Monica,” David said. His shoulders were hunched, and he could not look directly at her when he spoke. Monica stood aside and let David into the apartment.
“You look awful. What’s going on?”
David wandered into the living room and slumped down onto the couch. Monica sat opposite the couch on a straight-back chair. Suddenly David’s shoulders shook and he began to cry. He hid his face in his hands. Monica rushed to the couch.
“I didn’t know where else to go,” David sobbed.
Monica held him tight and rocked him. David clung to her. After a few minutes she could feel him relax and she let go. David ran his coat sleeve across his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he managed.
“What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
David rested his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes.
“It’s Terry Conklin. He’s dead and I’m responsible.”
“What?!”
“Thomas Gault tortured him and buried the body.”
“I don’t understand…”
David sat up and leaned forward. He looked straight down, his head bowed.
“Gault told me something in confidence. I couldn’t go to the police. What Gault said was protected by the attorney-client privilege. Gault is a sadist. He’d confessed to killing someone before to unnerve me. Then he told me it was a joke. He had me so confused. When he…when he told me this new information… I believed him, but he’s such a convincing liar…”
David paused. His lips were dry and his throat was raw from crying.
“I… I thought I’d be clever, so I hired Terry to check out Gault’s story. Then, yesterday, I met with Gault. He told me he tortured Terry to death and disposed of the body.”
“He confessed to murder?” Monica asked, as if she were not certain she had heard David correctly.
“Not directly.”
David recounted his lunch conversation with Gault.
“How do you know Gault isn’t playing another sadistic game with you?” Monica asked when he was done.
“Terry is missing. I called his wife as soon as I got back to my office. Rose doesn’t know where he is. He always comes home or checks in with her. She hasn’t heard from him since the day before yesterday.”
“What did Gault say that prompted you to hire Terry Conklin?” Monica asked.
David hesitated. Then he said,
“He told me he murdered Darlene Hersch.”
“Larry Stafford killed Darlene Hersch.”
“Gault has a build similar to Larry Stafford’s, he drives a beige Mercedes, and he showed me the curly blond wig he wore when he murdered Darlene Hersch. He also confessed to other killings, including Julie Gault’s.
“Remember Grimes’s testimony about the killer having brown hair? Gault has brown hair. If Gault wore a curly blond wig, then took it off in his car, Ortiz would have seen a man with curly blond hair and Grimes would have seen a man with brown hair.”
“Ortiz is still certain he saw Stafford.”
“You know what the lighting conditions were like that night. You saw Terry Conklin’s pictures.”
“Very skillfully taken pictures, I must admit,” Monica said sarcastically.
“No, Monica, those pictures weren’t doctored. I had other professional photographers duplicate Terry’s work. They weren’t phonies.”
“I know,” Monica said with a sigh. “I sent a police photographer to the motel, and he got similar results.”
David spent the next half hour going over his relationship with Gault from their first contact to the meeting at the restaurant. He omitted only reference to Jenny and their affair. He knew it would be better to tell Monica everything, but he couldn’t bring himself to reveal their relationship.
“I don’t know,” Monica said when he was finished. “Gault obviously has mental problems or else he wouldn’t be playing this kind of game with you, whether the confession is true or false. But he did retract his first confession, and as you pointed out, there isn’t a shred of evidence that connects him to the murder of Darlene Hersch. As for Terry Conklin, we don’t even have a body.”
“He did it, Monica. If you’d been there and heard him…”
“I wasn’t, though.”
“Does that mean you won’t do anything?”
“No, David. You wouldn’t have come to see me if you didn’t think Gault murdered Darlene Hersch and Terry Conklin.”
Monica paused. She seemed uncertain whether to continue with what she was going to say.
“David,” she asked hesitantly, “what happened to you during Stafford’s trial? You seemed to fold up and die when I put Johnson on. You must know that you had a good chance to keep him from testifying.”
David looked at the tabletop to avoid looking at Monica.
“I won’t discuss the Stafford trial. You’ll have to respect my wishes.”
Monica wanted to pursue the matter, but she sensed David’s pain. She had too much respect for him to go any further.
“I think I should bring Bert Ortiz in on this,” she said. “He’s the one you have to convince. If he doesn’t change his mind, you have no case.”
“You’re right,” David agreed. “Can he be trusted to keep this quiet?”
“I think so.”
“Then call him.”
“David gave me some very unsettling information about the Darlene Hersch murder tonight. I want you to hear it, but you have to agree to keep this meeting confidential.”
Ortiz was confused. When Monica had called, she had told him she wanted to discuss the Stafford case, but
