Shes in the room, Lucas said.
Have you talked to her?
Nobodys talked to her, Lucas said. She opened the door to her house and said, I want my attorney. Nobodys said a word to her since, except Stand up, sit down, turn to the right.
Good. Glass nodded. Ill tell you, though, its gonna be a while before you can see her.
We can wait, Lucas said.
THEY WAITED. GLASS TALKED TO HER FOR A HALF-hour, asked Lucas if he could get a couple of cans of Diet Pepsi for them. Lucas walked through the dark hallways to a Pepsi machine, got two cans, walked back, passed them through the door.
Thanks, Glass said, as he shut the door.
Another twenty minutes passed, and then Glass opened the door and said, Come in.
Sloan led the way, carrying a portable tape recorder. Lucas nodded at Audrey. She fixed him for a moment with her cobra eyes, then broke off and looked down at the table. When Sloan was ready, and had a cassette running, he said, This is a preliminary interview with Mrs. Audrey Mc-Donald, in the presence of her attorney, Jason Glass, conducted by Detectives Sloan and Davenport.
He ran the machine back to make sure it was working, replayed the statement, pushed record again, added the time and date, and turned to McDonald.
Mrs. McDonald, you have been rearrested after the revocation of your bail granted after the killing of your husband, Wilson McDonald. .. The bail revocation, however, is based on what we believe was the murder of your mother, Amelia Lamb.
I did no such thing. I loved my mother, she said, calmly.
Mrs. McDonald, did you know that your sister saved a lock of your mothers hair after she died?
Yes, I knew that.
We had the hair sample analyzed by the state crime laboratory, Mrs. McDonald, and the hair was found to contain amounts of arsenic which would be lethal to a human being.
I dont know anything about that, she said.
Um, do you know where she livedMrs. Lambat the time she died? Glass asked Lucas.
In Lakeville.
Have the police inspected the house they lived in?
Not yet.
It was a very old houseyou find arsenic all over the place in those old houses. Its in the wallpaper, the paint, people used it all the time to spray for bugs. Mrs. Lamb may have had arsenic in her hair, but theres no reason to think that my client put it there. In fact, she did not.
Did you get large insurance payments from both the death of your father and your mother, Mrs. McDonald? Sloan asked.
She wont answer that, Glass said. He looked down at Audrey. Thats something weve got to look into ourselves, before we start discussing it.
Did you use the insurance payments to put yourself through St. Annes, where you met Sister Mary Joseph? Lucas asked.
Glass shook his head: Well refuse to answer that.
We have gray duct tape from your house with only oneset of fingerprints on it, said Sloan. The adhesive on the duct tape matches exactly adhesive taken off the door locks outside Susan ODells apartment. Did you put that tape there, Mrs. McDonald?
No, I did not.
The questioning went on for half an hour, Audrey growing more and more angry. Finally, she turned to Glass and said, How much longer do we have to do this?
You want to stop now?
Yes.
Then were done, Glass said. To Sloan, No more questions. Sloan looked at Lucas, reached out to the recorder. Before he could turn it off, Audrey hissed at Lucas. You think youre so smart, but you just dont understand anything.
Sloan froze, then, as unobtrusively as possible, let his arm slide sideways and rest on the table next to the recorder. Sometimes you got the best stuff after the formal questioning was done.
I think I do, Lucas said. Ive talked to your friends, Ive talked to your sister. We dont have every piece, because you got rid of some of them. But theres enough left to hang you, Audrey.
So dumb, she said. She stood up, and turned toward Glass. Will there be another bond hearing?
Yes, tomorrow morning.
Gonna cost you a little more, this time, Lucas said. And when we finish all the paper on your mother, well just pick you up again. Itd be easier just to stay put. Mr. Glass could arrange for your sister to watch your house.
My sister… my sister, she said. She pushed her hands up through her hair, as though she were about to tear it out. My sister gave you a lock of Mothers hair?
Yes.
That was good of her. And my sister told you about this whole murder idea in the first place, didnt she?
Lucas looked at Sloan, then nodded. Glass opened his mouth to say something, then shut it.
And did my sister tell you that all those years when I was supposedly killing these people, her sole support came from us? From Wilson and me? That we gave her cash to keep her head above water? That if Wilson didnt do well, if he lost his job or lost a promotion, shed be hurt as much as we would? Did she tell you about our father feeling her up, about finding a box of rat poison in the machine shed and pouring it into Dads whiskey? Did my sister tell you all of that? Did she tell you about fighting with Mom about screwing boys out by the cornfield in Lakeville? And more than that, screwing them for money? Did you look at everything you have, and ask, What if her sister did it? And did you ask, if you send little Audrey McDonald off to prison, if she could tolerate it? Ill answer that for you: Im claustrophobic. I wouldnt last a year in a prison. Id find some way to hang myself. And then who gets my share of the money? My sister? Thats what she thinks…
Lucas was astonished: at that moment, he believed that Audrey believed. She was utterly convincing, a beetle-hard, scuttling young-old woman. Jesus, he said.
We gotta stop, Glass said convulsively. We gotta stop this.
He put an arm around Audrey to stop her: and for a moment, the womans dead cobra eyes gave something away, a spark, something almost like humor. Then the moment passed, and she was as sullen as ever.
Lucas looked after her as she left: What was this all about?
LUCAS AND SLOAN STOPPED AT A GREASY SPOON ON the way home, Lucas following Sloan out in separate cars. As they walked inside, Sloan said, What if the sister did it?
Lucas shook his head: No way.
Why not?
She was too young to kill her old man; I dont care if he was groping her. But the big thing is, why would she ever risk calling attention to that whole string of killings?
Even if she blamed them on McDonald, there was always the possibility that McDonald would be able to prove that he didnt do it. .. and if he could prove he couldnt do any one of them, then all of them would be in question. Nope. Whoever killed these peopleAudreyis too smart to have called attention to them.
But what… what if she saw Wilson McDonald going down, and shot Kresge specifically to pull McDonald down, so that Audrey would get his money? And then, when you get on top of Audrey, she decides to sacrifice Audrey? I mean, what if shes three layers back, waiting for Audrey to die in prison? Or even planning to poison her if shes acquitted?
No fuckin way, Lucas said. You gotta know the people.
They found a booth, ordered beer and fries: She scared the shit out of me, man. And Ill tell you what, Glass was looking at that tape machine like it was solid gold, Sloan said. Anybody who listens to that tape is gonna believe her too. Like a jury.
Lucas shook his head again: Not if they listen to Helen at the same time. Helen is just… an innocent. She picked up on McDonald because the pattern became so clear to her over the years. She talked to them often enough that she knew when a promotion was up, and then shed read about some guy from the bank being killed,
