run off and been gone for a couple of months. It was entirely possible that the baby had been fathered by someone Allison met after she ran away. The DNA test could just as easily prove Forrest was not the father as prove that he was. Phil had no way to know in advance of the test. Phil didn’t know the precise circumstances. Forrest might have killed Allison because he was the father of her child, or killed her because he was not. Phil had no evidence that would prove Theodore Forrest had even known eight years ago that Allison was pregnant. And Forrest had to know, if the baby was to be his motive for murder.
Phil had collected a great many exhibits showing that Theodore Forrest had a suspicious relationship with Allison Straight. If a jury believed Phil-and probably Sam Bowen, who would be called to testify-then they might agree with Phil’s belief that Forrest had killed Allison. But they might not. Phil was a big-city private detective who would have to admit to having kidnapped a girl who was murdered a month or two later. And his credibility would also have to survive a thorough investigation by Forrest’s own private detectives. Theodore Forrest could afford the best lawyers to make himself look like a victim.
So Phil had kept collecting and assembling evidence. He had left the box under April’s bed while he had done it. He must have been afraid that his repeated visits to the Central Valley to collect more evidence might be noticed and reported to Theodore Forrest.
Phil had kept at his investigation for months. He had long before delegated all of the real work of the detective agency to Ray and Dewey. Billy Przwalski was still a trainee, but he was alert and energetic and smart. They could handle the cases, and April was appealing enough to keep buying them time when a client got impatient, and to keep at least some clients paying. Phil had spent all of his time on Theodore Forrest.
Emily sat on the wooden deck, holding the box of evidence in her lap and staring out at Puget Sound. The sun was getting lower now, and it looked like a pale red ball through the fog.
Sam said, “What do you think? Was he trying to blackmail Forrest? Is that what this is?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I think that at first he was furious. I can feel it. He was trying to assemble all the evidence he could find to prove that Forrest murdered Allison. He was using his officialstatement style to tell what happened. I don’t think there would be any reason for him to do that for Forrest. He did a lot of work, and gathered things from up north that he didn’t know before, just so he would have a complete package. I don’t think he needed pictures of Forrest’s ranch to prove anything to Forrest. I think he was genuinely trying to put Forrest away.”
“Then what do you think happened?” Sam asked.
“I think he tried as hard as he could, and thought he’d failed.”
“So do I. I think he collected it all, and put it in that box, and when he ran out of things to collect, he looked it all over. And I think that when he did, he realized that it wasn’t enough.”
“Was he right?”
“I think he probably was. It’s hard to go into a strange town and get a local jury to convict one of their most prominent citizens of anything, and this is a capital offense. It’s eight years old, and the evidence is all circumstantial. But Phil was damaged. He could never look at himself in the mirror again without seeing a man who had hunted down a young girl running from danger and dragged her back to be murdered. It’s such a painful, debilitating piece of information that at first I don’t think he even considered telling me. He didn’t want me to have the same feelings he was having, unless and until it was unavoidable. I didn’t hear from him during any of this. That’s a sign of how much knowing this hurt him.”
“But he left the box with someone, and he asked that it be mailed to you if he didn’t come back for it.”
Sam shrugged. “I’m the only one who was with him to see the first part of this story. I guess he figured that if he didn’t come back for it he would be dead, and I’d be the only witness to swear it was true. He couldn’t let Forrest off.”
“When he was killed, he was out alone at one thirty at night, and it looked as though he was on his way back from meeting someone. He was getting into his car. And the man who kidnapped me said Phil had been trying to blackmail Forrest.”
“I’m sure Phil set it up to look that way, but I don’t think there’s any chance Phil was really after money. There wouldn’t have been enough money in the world to make Phil keep quiet about that girl. That’s what it is, you know. When you blackmail somebody, you become their best friend. You’re making sure that they’ll never be punished. “
“Then what do you think he was doing? I want to know if you think what I think.”
“And what’s that?” Sam asked.
“I think that Phil realized he didn’t have the perfect piece of evidence, the bit that makes a conviction a sure thing. I think knowing he didn’t was eating away at him. He kept searching, but ran out of things to find. And then I think he called Theodore Forrest, and told him he wanted to meet with him. I think what he wanted to do was to manufacture the perfect piece of evidence.”
“You think he was going to make a tape of Forrest paying him off?”
“Yes, and maybe admitting what he had done. But not that night. I think Phil went to meet Forrest and show him some of this file. Maybe he showed him copies of all of it. I think he probably showed him enough to make him pay blackmail. But this was a huge crime, and the payoff would have to be large, too, or Forrest would never believe it was blackmail-too much money for Forrest to have brought with him without even seeing the evidence. I think Phil was planning to meet Forrest again for the payoff-maybe with a microphone or a video camera, and maybe with a few police officers waiting to make the arrest.”
Sam nodded and took another sip of his drink. “That’s what I think, too. Phil knew Theodore Forrest was guilty-that he had used Phil and me to help him kill that poor girl-but that the only punishment he would ever get was what Phil Kramer brought to him. So he decided to trap him.”
Emily found herself in tears. “Oh, Sam. You don’t know how much I wish I were sure that was it. I feel as though it is, but I need to be sure.”
Sam said, “I don’t know everything. I do know that when I was a cop, the way we could figure out whether somebody was guilty of something was that he had come into some money he couldn’t explain. I mean, Forrest wasn’t the first person Phil knew bad things about. He could have blackmailed hundreds of people. Did Phil leave you a whole lot of money, Em?”
Emily laughed through her tears. “No. I’d declare bankruptcy if I could afford a lawyer.”
“Good. Then we know he was an honest man.”
“He was hardly that. He wasn’t honest with me.”
“He loved you, so you were the hardest, because the truth would chase you away. But if he didn’t have any money, he wasn’t blackmailing any millionaires.”
“It doesn’t seem likely, does it?”
“There’s one thing that makes it certain he didn’t. You read Phil’s statement. He found out about Allison on June 14. He had enough to blackmail Forrest on the first day, but he didn’t do it. He worked on the case for months, collecting all kinds of bits and pieces that didn’t add anything to the prospects for blackmail, but would be helpful to the police. He kept at it until all he needed was that one last piece of evidence that made the case undeniable. He needed to have Forrest convict himself. He needed to have him on tape admitting he killed the girl. There’s no doubt at all that Phil was trying to do the right thing. The only thing I’m disappointed in him for is trying to do it alone.”
Emily could picture Phil going to meet Theodore Forrest. He had made sure nobody who would worry about him knew where he was going. He couldn’t have anyone following him and making Forrest suspicious. Maybe he carried one of the tiny tape recorders from the office in his pocket, but probably he didn’t, because he was afraid that Forrest would frisk him before speaking. He had already put together the copy of the evidence for Forrest, before he had brought the originals to Lee Anne’s house for safekeeping.
She imagined that Phil made sure everything he brought to Forrest had been copied on a photocopier, even the photographs. It was all black and white and grainy. She knew that he had done that because he didn’t want Theodore Forrest to think, even for a second, that he held the originals. Theodore Forrest was, after all, a murderer.
36
Ted Forrest sat in the kitchen of his house and tried to work out his next moves. The house seemed
