Weep No More, My Lady

asked.

'Something that I have to do-that only I can do.'

Despite Scott's increasingly stern demands for an explanation, she would not tell him more. He did remember to tell her that Alvirah Meehan had managed to utter one word. 'Does Voices' suggest anything to you?'

Elizabeth 's smile was enigmatic.

'You bet it does,' she said grimly.

Nine

Ted had bolted from the Spa grounds in early afternoon. By five o'clock he had still not returned. Henry Bartlett was visibly chafing to go back to New York. 'We came here to prepare Ted's defense,' he said. 'I hope he realized his trial is scheduled to start in five days. If he won't meet with me, I'm not doing any good sitting around here.'

The phone rang. Craig jumped to answer it. ' Elizabeth. What a nice surprise… Yes, it's true. I'd like to think we can still persuade the district attorney to accept a plea, but that's pretty unrealistic… We hadn't talked about dinner yet, but of course it would be good to be with you… Oh, that! I don't know. It just didn't seem funny anymore. And it always annoyed Ted. Fine… See you at dinner.'

* * *

Scott drove home with the windows of the car open, appreciating the cool breeze that had begun to blow in from the ocean. It felt good, but he could not shake the sense of apprehension that was overcoming him. Elizabeth was up to something, and every instinct told him that whatever it was, it might be dangerous.

A faint mist was setting in along the shoreline of Pacific Grove. It would develop into a heavy fog later on. He turned the corner and pulled into the driveway of a pleasant narrow house a block from the ocean. For six years now he had been coming home to this empty place and never once not felt that moment of nostalgia that Jeanie was no longer here waiting for him. He used to talk cases through with her. Tonight he would have asked her some hypothetical questions. Would you say that there is a connection between Dora Samuels' death and Al-virah Meehan's coma? Another question jumped into his mind. Would you say that there is a connection between those two women and Leila's death?

And finally: Jeanie, what the hell is Elizabeth up to?

* * *

To clear his head, Scott showered, changed into old slacks and a sweater. He made a pot of coffee and put a hamburger on the grill. When he was ready to eat, he turned on the first of Alvirah's tapes.

He began listening at quarter of five. At six o'clock, his notebook, like Elizabeth 's, was filled with jottings. At quarter of seven, he heard the tape that documented the attack on Alvirah. 'That son of a bitch, Von Schreiber!' he muttered. He did inject her with something. But with what? Suppose he had started the collagen and seen her go into some sort of attack? He had returned almost immediately with the nurse.

Scott replayed the tape, then played it a third time and finally realized what Elizabeth had wanted him to hear. There was something odd about the Baron's voice the first time he spoke to Mrs. Meehan. It was hoarse, guttural, startlingly different from his voice a moment or two later, when he was shouting orders to the nurse.

He phoned the hospital and asked for Dr. Whitley. He had one question for him. 'Do you think an injection that drew blood is the kind that a doctor would have administered?'

'I've seen some sloppy injections given by topflight surgeons. And if a doctor gave the shot that was meant to harm Mrs. Meehan-he may have had the grace to be nervous.'

'Thanks, John.'

'Don't mention it.'

* * *

He was reheating the coffee when his bell rang. In quick strides he reached the door, flung it open to face Ted Winters.

His clothes were rumpled, his face smudged with dirt, his hair matted; vivid, fresh scratches covered his arms and legs. He stumbled forward and would have fallen if Scott had not reached out to grasp him.

'Scott, you've got to help me. Somebody's got to help me. It's a trap, I swear it is. Scott, I tried for hours and I couldn't do it. I couldn't make myself do it.'

'Easy… easy.' Scott put his arm around Ted and guided him to the couch. 'You're ready to pass out.' He poured a generous amount of brandy into a tumbler. 'Come on, drink this.'

After a few sips, Ted ran his hand over his face, as if trying to erase the naked panic he had shown. His attempt at a smile was a wan failure, and he slumped with weariness. He looked young, vulnerable, totally unlike the sophisticated head of a multimillion-dollar corporation. Twenty-five years vanished, and Scott felt that he was looking at the nine-year-old boy who used to go fishing with him.

'Have you eaten today?' he asked.

'Not that I remember.'

'Then sip that brandy slowly, and I'll get you a sandwich and coffee.'

He waited until Ted had finished the sandwich before he said, 'All right, you'd better tell me all about it.'

'Scott, I don't know what's happening, but I do know this: I could not have killed Leila the way they're trying to say I did. I don't care how many witnesses come out of the woodwork-something is wrong.'

He leaned forward. Now his eyes were pleading. 'Scott, you remember how terrified Mother was of heights?'

'She had good cause to be. That bastard of a father of yours-'

Ted interrupted him. 'He was disgusted because he could see that I was developing that same phobia. One day when I was about eight, he made her stand out on the terrace of the penthouse and look down. She began to cry. She said, 'Come on, Teddy,' and we started to go inside. He grabbed her and picked her up, and that son of a bitch held her over the railing. It was thirty-eight floors up. She was screaming, begging. I was clawing at him. He didn't pull her in until she'd fainted. Then he just dropped her on the terrace floor and said to me, 'If I ever see you look frightened out here, I'll do the same thing to you.''

Ted swallowed. His voice broke. 'This new eyewitness says I did that to Leila. Today I tried to make myself walk down the cliffs at Point Sur. I couldn't do it! I couldn't make my legs go to the edge.'

'People under stress can do some pretty funny things.'

'No. No. If I'd killed Leila, I'd have done it some other way. I know that. To say that drunk or sober, I could hold her over the railing… Syd swears I told him that my father pushed Leila off the terrace; he may have known that story about my father. Maybe everybody's lying to me. Scott, I've got to remember what happened that night.'

With compassionate eyes, Scott studied Ted, taking in the exhausted droop of his shoulders, the fatigue that emanated from his body. He'd been walking all afternoon, trying to make himself stand at the edge of a cliff, battling his own personal demon in search of the truth. 'Did you tell them this when they began questioning you about Leila's death?'

'It would have sounded ridiculous. I build hotels where we make people want terraces. I've always been able to avoid going out on them without making an issue of it.'

Darkness was setting in. Beads of perspiration like unchecked tears were running down Ted's cheeks. Scott switched on a light. The room with its comfortable overstuffed furniture, the pillows Jeanie had embroidered, the tall-backed rocking chair, the pine bookcase came to life. Ted did not seem to notice. He was in a world where he