office. They told me about the woman who was murdered at the Heathman. They wanted to know about the woman who disappeared on St. Jerome. They showed me pictures of the two of you on the beach.
'I didn't understand where they were going, at first. The black detective, Dennis, is very smooth. When it became clear that they thought you might have killed the woman at the hotel, I had to make a decision. I asked myself if I truly believed that you could murder someone the way they said that poor woman was killed. I had to decide what type of person I married and I decided that you could never do that.'
'Laura, some other things have happened to me this past week that you don't know about. They explain why the woman at the hotel was murdered. I love you very much. The one thing I want more than anything in the world is for us to be together again. But I don't want to hide anything from you.'
Laura waited for Quinn to continue. The look of wariness on her face frightened Quinn. By the time he finished explaining about the blackmail attempt by the man in the ski mask, Claire Reston's visit to his chambers and the way he had decided the Crease case, her expression was unreadable.
'After I suppressed the evidence, I prepared for the worst, but I never dreamed that the blackmailers would murder someone to frame me. I've been sick about it. The way that woman died ...'
'Why didn't the blackmailers just carry out their threat and send the photographs to the authorities on St. Jerome?'
'They couldn't, Laura. Andrea Chapman did not die on St. Jerome.'
'What?'
'It was a hoax. The woman who posed as Andrea Chapman on St. Jerome and the woman who pretended to be Claire Reston were the same person, Marie Ritter, a Seattle call girl. Ritter has a distinctive scar on her hip. I saw it in the cove and I saw it on Reston's body in the hotel room. By killing Ritter, the blackmailer got rid of a witness at the same time that he set me up for her murder. Last night he tried to wrap everything up by killing me.'
Laura's eyes widened. 'Fran told me that someone attacked you in the parking garage. I thought that was a robbery attempt.'
'The man who attacked me is the same man who broke into my apartment.'
'God, Dick. Do you have any idea who's behind this plot?'
'Benjamin Gage has an aide who is an ex-SEAL. He'd have had no trouble faking the underwater murder on St. Jerome. But I talked to Marie Ritter's sister in Seattle. She told me that Marie had a customer who lives in Oregon. Denise didn't know his name, but she had the impression that he's young and he's an undertaker.'
'Lamar Hoyt's son.'
'Yes. And I've also learned that Junior and his father quarreled shortly before Hoyt's death because Senior believed that his son was skimming money from the mortuary business.'
'Then you think Junior is behind everything?'
''That's where the evidence seems to be pointing, but Lamar, Jr., and Ryan Clark are both the same size as the blackmailer and the man who attacked me in the garage.'
'Have you given this information to the police?'
'No. I just learned the information about Lamar, Jr., tonight and I really can't prove that Junior knew Ritter. Marie never told Denise the name of her client. If Junior denies knowing Ritter, we can't prove he's lying.'
'And Hoyt's statements to Fargo are hearsay.'
Quinn closed his eyes and let his head fall back.
'I don't know what I'm going to do, Laura.'
'One thing you are not going to do is give up,' Laura said forcefully. 'We are going to get through this.'
Quinn opened his eyes and he looked at his wife hopefully.
'Does that mean that you want me back?'
Laura reached out and took Quinn's hand.
'I put up a good front, Dick, but I'm always scared. I've been scared since my parents divorced. Scared for years and years. Scared that I'll lose everything if I don't work harder than everybody. That I'll end up like my father.'
'I have a hard time picturing you failing at anything, Laura.'
'Our marriage almost failed, but I'm not going to let it. I do want you back. I want us to try to . . . to be together like we were when . . . when we first ...'
Quinn took Laura in his arms before she could finish. Her body shuddered and so did his. Quinn stroked Laura's hair and kissed the top of her head. She raised her face and Quinn kissed her lips. The kiss was tentative at first, then they were sprawled on the carpet and Laura was opening Quinn s belt. Quinn broke away only for the brief time that it took them to struggle out of their clothes. Then they became a tangle of bodies, soft and hard, the kisses so eager that they both wondered if there would be anything left of them when they were through.
After their first frenzied bout of lovemaking, Quinn and Laura gathered their clothes and went upstairs to the bedroom. The second time they made love it was less frantic and Quinn took his time renewing his acquaintance with a body that had become foreign to him. When they were sated, Quinn collapsed beside Laura. Her hand found his and she said, 'I love you.'
'I never thought I'd hear you say that again.'
'Well, I have. I want our marriage to work, Dick. I want it more than I want anything else. No matter what happens from now on, I'm standing with you.'
[5]
Benjamin Gage listened to the recording of Richard Quinn's meeting with Ellen Crease and Jack Brademas for a second time. When the minicassette stopped spinning, Ryan Clark turned off the tape recorder. Gage looked grim.
'Can we use this?' Gage asked.
'No. The recording was obtained illegally. We'd also be forcing Quinn to go public.'
'And he'd have to admit that he fixed Crease's case. She'd be discredited.'
'Maybe not. Quinn would say that the blackmailer wanted him to make sure that Crease was found guilty. Now that there is an alternative explanation for the blood spatter evidence, a lot of voters will conclude that she's been framed. I don't think we can afford to gamble. Not with you leading in all of the polls.'
'You're right.' Gage picked up the minicassette. 'Have there been more of these?'
'One other. The information wasn't useful, but the intelligence on this cassette is certainly interesting.'
'Our man seems to be on top of things. Make sure he's taken care of. I want him working hard for us.'
Chapter 22.
[1]
When Lou Anthony arrived at work Saturday morning there was a message from Denise Ritter asking him to call. Ritter sounded nervous when the detective identified himself.
'Something happened yesterday. I wasn't going to call, at first. I ... I don't want to get anyone in trouble. But I thought about Marie. That this might help find the person who killed her.'
'Finding your sister's killer is very important to me, Ms. Ritter. If you have information that might help, please tell me.'
'When you and Detective Dennis interviewed me you asked if Marie ever mentioned Richard Quinn. She didn't. She never said that she knew any judge.'
Denise Ritter hesitated. Anthony waited patiently for her to continue.
'I hope I didn't do anything wrong, but I couldn't stop thinking about that question, so I called Judge Quinn. He flew to Seattle yesterday evening.'
'Quinn flew up to see you?'
'Yes.'
'What did you two talk about?'
'Marie mostly. He told me how they met on St. Jerome . . .'
'He knew that the woman in the photograph I showed you was your sister? The woman who was murdered at the Heathman?'
'He seemed to know. Why?'
'Nothing. It's not that important. Go on.'
