managed it. 'Candice, why are you really here?'
'I told you, someone's following Douglas. It's got to be the FBI. I want it stopped. So I came to make you do it.'
Lacey said, 'Why didn't you just call? It sure would have been cheaper. No answer to that? Just maybe you wanted to hire that guy again to terrorize me? Maybe you wanted to try to run me down again?'
'I don't know what you're talking about. As for you,' she continued, looking at Savich, 'you're blind. Douglas was too, but just for a little while. Now he realizes what she is.' Can-dice gave them a triumphant smile and sat down on the beautiful sofa. 'Well?'
'Well what, Mrs. Madigan?'
'Will you have the FBI stop following my husband?' Savich sighed. 'Sure, Mrs. Madigan. The thing is, though, we have an agent following him in order to keep him safe. Marlin Jones is still on the loose. It's possible he plans to go back to California. It's possible that he would want to see Douglas, maybe even kill him. That's why we have an agent on him, ma'am, to protect him.'
'That's crazy,' Candice said slowly. 'There's no reason in the world why Douglas would be in any danger from Marlin Jones.'
'Oh? Are you really so sure about that? Didn't Douglas tell you about Mrs. Sherlock seeing Marlin kissing Belinda in front of the house? Who the hell knows what's going on in Marlin Jones's mind these days? But who cares, when all's said and done? Sure, I'll call off the FBI. Douglas can be on his own, no problem.' Savich calmly picked up the phone and dialed a number.
'Do you really think he could be in danger?' Savich ignored her, waiting. Then he said, 'This is Dillon Savich. Please connect me with James Maitland. Thank you.' 'What if this creep is after him? What if he does manage to get to San Francisco? Douglas needs help. You can't just leave him alone like this. It's inhuman.'
'Sir, Savich here. Yes, we need to call off the protection on Douglas Madigan in San Francisco. Yes, I'm sure. There's no more need.'
'No, don't call it off! What if this Marlin Jones goes after Douglas? No, don't!'
'Yes, that's right. No need any longer. Thank you.'
Savich hung up the phone in time to block Candice Madigan from shoving him into the fireplace.
'That's it,' Lacey said. She roared toward Candice, grabbing her arm and pulling her around. She sent her fist into Candice's jaw.
'Ow! That hurts, you mean little bitch!' Sherlock hit her again, then groaned herself at the pain in her knuckles.
Candice looked at her, astonishment written clearly on her face, and slumped to the floor.
'Are you all right, Dillon?'
She was standing there rubbing her knuckles, asking him if he was all right. He could only shake his head. 'Thank you for protecting me,' he said, laughing.
She'd rushed in to protect him. Life with Sherlock would never be boring. He hoped she hadn't hurt her hand.
'Could you come and kiss me, Sherlock? I'm feeling a little shaky.'
'Sure,' she said, smiling sweetly at him. She kissed his chin, ran her fingertips over his eyebrows, kissed his nose. 'You're better now?'
'Getting there,' he said, and kept kissing her.
They stopped only when they heard Candice say from the floor, 'If the two of you make out in front of me, I'm going to call the police. Then you'll both be arrested.'
Lacey began to laugh; she couldn't help it. Savich said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee before you leave, Mrs. Madigan?''
'What I want is for the FBI to protect my husband.'
'But you flew all the way here to get us off him.'
'Look, I know I haven't been really nice to either of you, but Douglas, he's different. He needs me. Please, if you truly believe he's in danger, protect him.'
Savich walked to the phone, dialed, then said, 'Reinstate the surveillance on Douglas Madigan. Yes, that's right. Thank you.' He hung up, then turned to Candice. 'It's done.'
'Thank you,' she said. 'Really, thank you very much.' Then she turned to Lacey. 'As for you, you're nothing but trouble. You're going to bring trouble to this very nice man who doesn't know you at all. Stay away from Douglas!'
With that, she was gone.
Savich stood there, looking toward the front door. 'She is one strange woman,' he said. 'I guess she didn't want coffee.'
'Did you really have surveillance on Douglas?'
'Oh yes.'
'Did you take it off then put it back on?'
'Nope. Douglas is a suspect. I want an eye kept on him. Hey, if it protects him as well, so be it.'
'She loves him,' Lacey said. 'She really truly loves him.'
'The two of them deserve each other. I hope they live happily ever after. Now, if you're ready for bed, I'll race you.'
She'd been so depressed, then she'd wanted to srpot Can-dice, but now, looking at Dillon Savich, she felt relief pouring through her. 'Let's go.'
32
MARLIN JONES WAS STILL free on Thursday at noon. His photo was shown on TV special bulletins throughout the day and evening. Hundreds of sight-ings from Boca Raton to Anchorage had flooded in.
Savich tried to work, tried to concentrate on the killings in South Dakota and Iowa, but it was tough. He called everyone together Thursday afternoon to announce that Hannah Paisley had been reassigned. He would let everyone know where she would be going when it was decided. No one was particularly sorry to see her go.
As for Lacey, she felt as if a hundred-pound weight had been lifted off her back.
An hour later, there was a resolution to the nursing home murders in Florida. Savich, Ollie, and Sherlock were all hooting when they walked into the conference, giving everyone high fives.
Savich, grinning from ear to ear, rubbing his hands, said, 'Good news. Great news. It turns out our murderer is an old man-Benjamin Potter from Cincinnati who's been a magician for thirty years-he's a master of disguise, which all of you know. Also, he's never done a bad thing in his life. He easily entered the nursing homes as just another old person in need of round-the-clock attention. Sometimes he passed himself off as an old woman, other times, an old man. Because he was in basic good health, no nurse ever saw him without his clothes on, important since he could have been playacting an old woman. He never had difficulty escaping after each murder, because he didn't. Nope, he always stayed on until a 'relative' came to take him home to his family. He paid the 'relative' fifty bucks for this service.' Savich turned to Ollie. Ollie said, 'The cops found the 'relative' in Atlanta. He denied knowing anything about the murders. He said only that the old man was a kick and it was easy money.' He nodded to Lacey.
'Benjamin Potter wouldn't have been caught after the sixth murder except that he happened to trip on a used syringe on his way out of the victim's room and suffered a heart attack. He died before he could tell anyone why he'd killed six old women.'
Ollie picked it up. 'Yep, the relative is my part. He said he had no clue. The old man always seemed happy and well adjusted to him. So go figure.'
They all tried to figure it out, but no one could come up with anything that sounded like the perfect fit. Although Savich said that MAXINE thought it just might be that the old man had always wanted to be an old woman and he was killing off his competition.
'A real big one down,' Savich said. 'Everybody to the gym for celebrations.' There was groaning from around the table. Lacey was still on a high when she went to the women's room in the middle of the afternoon, a redone men's room that looked it. When workmen had removed the urinals, they hadn't patched the wall tile very well. The big room was always dank and smelled like Pine Sol.
Lacey was washing her hands when she looked up to see Hannah in the mirror, standing behind her. She didn't say anything, just looked at her reflection.
