run with it obviously. It was even hard for him to bend down, but necessary, as he had to move the unconscious cop to the other side of the bed, so that he would not be so readily visible to anyone who might take a casual look into the room.
However, the hardest part, was putting the pants on. The cast was too thick for the leg. Of course, he could cut them. But that would attract attention. And that would defeat the purpose. He wanted to escape undetected. Walking away in a police uniform with a leg slit up to the thigh would hardly be traveling incognito. So he struggled to pull the pants up without tearing them.
He was just doing the belt when a nurse came into the room. She had walked in several steps before she noticed that the bed was empty and recognized Manning as the patient. She turned and was about to scream when Manning reached in to the belt, pulled out the taser and zapped the nurse, bringing her quietly to the ground with a much softer thud than the one made by the cop when he had fallen a few minutes earlier.
“I’ve got an old score to settle,” he said, stepping over her semi-conscious form as he walked to the door and left the room.
Wednesday, 2 September 2009 — 13:05
Elias Claymore was watching the 42 inch plasma TV in his Balcony Suite at the Hyatt Regency, San Francisco. He had decided not to travel back home right after the trial, especially as he knew he would be hounded by reporters. So he had phoned Alex and caught up with him when Alex had finished with the reporters. Alex had invited him back to the office, but Claymore had been reluctant to go there, anxious to avoid Andi’s disapproving gave. So, at Alex’s suggestion, he had booked this huge luxury suite at the Hyatt Regency in Building Five of the Embarcadero Center, with a private 30-foot balcony and a magnificent view of the Bay Bridge through dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows.
He was sitting in the suite’s lounge, drinking a cup of coffee as he watched the TV report on the evening news about the outcome of his case. Alex had told him about Martine having to step aside from reporting the case for ethical reasons and he had been curious as to how her replacement was covering it. But what he really wanted to know was how he was being portrayed: as the aggrieved party or the lucky villain?
The reality was, that the reporting was quite neutral and objective. The reports made it clear that he was innocent, but there was no hint of any emotion in the coverage, let alone sympathy. And as it was rolling news, it was becoming somewhat repetitious.
But something else was troubling him.
He went to the phone and called Alex. Juanita answered.
“Alex Sedaka’s office.”
“Oh hi Juanita. Listen I was wondering if I could have a word with Andi.”
“She’s not here.”
“Has she been there today? Or has she gone back to LA?”
“No, she hasn’t. Weren’t you with her when your case was dismissed?”
There was only the mildest note of suspicion in her tone.
“Yes but I haven’t seen her since then. Do you know if Alex has seen her? Or spoken to her?”
“Just a minute. I’ll ask.”
She put him on hold and he heard music.
“Hallo Elias.”
It was Alex.
“Yes, hi Alex. I was wondering if you’d seen Andi. We split up after the hearing and…”
He trailed off.
“No I haven’t seen her,” said Alex. “Is it anything I could help with?”
“Well no not really. Have you… have you spoken to her… since the hearing.”
There was a pause.
“Look, Elias… is there something wrong?”
Claymore sighed and tried to focus on how to explain it.
“Well it’s just that we… that is, she… she seemed a little bit upset when we parted.”
Again the silence from Alex’s end of the line.
“Did anything happen?”
“It depends what you mean by happen.”
“I mean did you have an argument?”
Alex sounded irritated when he said this, as if he resented that Claymore was being so coy. Or maybe she
“No not really. I mean not exactly an argument. But she said something that-”
“What?”
“No I mean it’s not like it was one thing in particular. It was like… it was like she blamed me for what she had to put Gene through.
Another pause.
“Yes, I can see why that might have upset her. I guess it’s possible that she’s gone back to LA to be with Gene.”
Claymore didn’t buy this.
“I think after what happened in court…”
There was no need to finish.
“No you’re right,” said Alex. “But I don’t know where she is. Maybe she’s gone somewhere to work off her anger.”
“Do you know how she’d go about working off-”
“I really don’t know Elias. Look she may be jogging, she may be drinking, she may even be sitting in her hotel room sulking.”
“Do you have the number of her hotel? Or her cell phone?”
“Yes I do. Actually she’s
It was the best Claymore could hope for.
“Okay thank you.”
Wednesday, 2 September 2009 — 13:20
Eleven stories down from Claymore, Andi was in her room swigging vodka and popping pills. She was supposed to check out today and return to LA. But there was no way she could go back to that house — not now. She wasn’t afraid of Gene. It’s just that the atmosphere would be too cold.
So instead she took comfort in the bottle, and when that wasn’t enough she resorted to tranquilizers. The last time she had been on such a self-destructive spiral was after that time that she mentioned — all too briefly — in her parting words to Claymore: the time she had been raped.
Then it was Gene who had got her through the crisis. But this time she couldn’t call on Gene for support. Gene
It was all too fuzzy and unclear. Gene hadn’t set out to do anything to her. Gene had merely set out for revenge against Claymore, having finally spotted the chance years later. But it was a reckless kind of revenge that hurt the innocent as well as the guilty. Bethel Newton was now robbed of her chance to see the real rapist brought to justice. Despite the mitochondrial DNA, they’d have a hell of a job proving Louis Manning guilty after Bethel had clearly identified Claymore in court. The DNA might prove sexual activity, but the defense could still attack Bethel
