Audrey looked old, ODell thought, looking after her as she scuttled away toward the elevator. They were of an age, but already Audrey was bent over, stiff.
ODell worked out, both for strength and flexibility. She was a long-range planner, and had every intention of living to a nice ripe ninety.
AFTER LETTING AUDREY OUT, O DELL WENT TO THE REFRIGERATOR, got a bottle of Dos Equis, popped the top, and sat down on the couch to think about it. Five minutes later the telephone burped from the end table, a single half-ring. She waited, but whoever it was had rung off. She took a couple of sips of the beer, leaned sideways and picked up the phone, punched in Louise Comptons number.
Compton picked it up on the third ring, and ODell said, Audrey McDonald was just here. She said she can deliverSpartz, Rondeau, Young, and Brandt. But there are some conditions.
Like what?
Like they want a written statement: Im president and CEO, but Wilson gets the chairmans job. Hed just be a figurehead, but the salaries would be the same.
That sounds…
Illegal. It might be.
Why dont you see if you could commit yourself with a couple of witnessesmaybe a couple of the board membersrather than putting it in writing. Then in a couple of years, when weve got the place under control…
We bump him off.
Exactly.
I like your thinking, ODell said. The doorbell rang, and she turned, frowned. Somebody at the door. Hang on.
ODell hopped off the couch and hurried across the living room, looked through the peephole into the hallway, frowned, and opened the door.
I… Then she saw the muzzle of the gun. No, she said.
In the narrow space of the reception hall, the shot sounded like the end of the world, and for ODell, it was. The slug hit her in the eye, and knocked out the back of her skull.
She went down on her back, and a second later another shot hit her in the forehead: but she was already dead.
The telephone lay on the couch, and a tiny, tinny voice screamed Susan? Susan, what was that? Susan?
A real bad day for Susan ODell.
THIRTEEN
LUCAS STEPPED OUT OF THE ELEVATOR, BRUSHED PAST a couple of uniformed cops in the hallway, stopped in ODells door and looked down at the body. She was lying flat on her back, her feet toed in, her nose pointed straight up. Her face had been ruined by the two gunshots; a small bloodstain was visible in the carpet below her skull. He could smell the blood.
What the fuck is this? Lucas asked in anger and utter disgust. What the fuck is it?
An older plainclothes cop named Swanson was sitting in a ladder-back chair, flipping through an appointment book. Same old shit, he said. Swanson had seen maybe six hundred murders in his career. Watch your feet, nothings been processed.
His partner, who was named Riley, said, We got that McDonald woman coming over. She was here just before the shooting.
Audrey McDonald? How do we know that? Lucas asked. He was walking around ODell, peering down at the body as though a clue might be written on it.
ODell was on the phone with a friend from the bank when she was killed. The frienduh, let me see, Louise Comptoncalled us, called 911. But anyway, just before
ODell was killed, she told this Compton that Audrey McDonald had just left. We understand youve been talking to her. Audrey McDonald.
Never laid eyes on her, Lucas said. Talked to her husband. He squatted next to ODell, picked out the powder burns on her face. Small- to medium-caliber pistol, fired from a few inches away, he thought. Got a slug?
Swanson pointed a pistol at an entryway wall. Right there… well get it. And it looks like maybe the second shot was fired when she was already down, so it might be right under her head. Wooden floors.
What about this friend? Compton?
Shes on her wayought to be here any minute, actually.
Lets get something over her then, Lucas said. Cover her up.
Ill get it, Riley said.
What time we got? Lucas asked.
Compton called 911 at eleven-oh-four, Swanson said. She say she was on the phone, heard the shots, and when ODell didnt come to the phone after she screamed for a few seconds, she called. So we figure it was a minute or two after eleven oclock.
You know, Sloan and Sherrill have already interviewed everybody involved, Lucas said. Maybe you ought to get them up here.
All right Ill give em a ring.
Christ, what a mess, Lucas said, turning away from the body. She opens the door and bang. Thats all.
Thats about the way we see it… We called you because youre up-to-date on this bank thingwe figured if its a goofball knocking off the top guys…
Doesnt make sense, Lucas said. Shes the wrong one to get shot.
Huh?
We thought Kresge was shot because he was pushing a merge with a bigger bank. But ODell was going after his job on the basis ofstoppingthe merger.
Swanson said, Maybe the merger doesnt have anything to do with it. Maybe they were killed for some bank reason, but nothing to do with the merger.
Lucas said, I dont know.
Whatever happened with the firebomb business? Swanson asked.
Nothing. Just fuckin nothin, Lucas said. His mind switched tracks to the firebomb. And Knox, the Caterpillar man, was probably right, he thought. A kid in the neighborhood who liked to watch fires. But not a street action.
RILEY PULLED A RUBBER SHEET OVER ODELLS BODY and stood up and turned. People in the hall. Then Wilson McDonald stepped through the door, jerked to a halt when he saw the figure on the floor, and said, My God, is that her? Audrey McDonald followed reluctantly, a foot or two behind, and peeked around her husband at the covered body. She reminded Lucas of a small, brown hen.
Swanson was just punching off his cell phone: Sloan was on the way. Whore you? Swanson asked.
Wilson and Audrey McDonald… McDonald spotted Lucas emerging from the kitchen hallway. Lucas had taken a quick tour of the apartment after talking to Swanson, but had found nothing that meant anything to him. Officer Davenport… what happened?
Somebody shot ODell, Lucas said flatly. He examined McDonald, then his wife, then said, Where were you tonight at eleven oclock?
McDonald flushed: Are you questioningme?
Do you have an answer to the question?
McDonald looked at his wife, then said, I was driving home. Id just left Jim Bones place.
Your wife was here, and you were at Jim Bones?
Yes. We were trying to put together a deal on the succession to Dan Kresge. We needed to talk to the two of them simultaneously.
Lucas shifted his gaze to Audrey: And you were driving home as well.
Yes. She touched her throat. I was.
Her voice touched a memory cell: How long were you here? Lucas asked. And what did you decide?
