The Key

by Jennifer Sturman

  Instead, the car drew to a full stop. The night was so quiet that I could hear the sound of a window being lowered. Suddenly, a bright spear of light pierced the ground in front of me.

  I held my breath, and I could sense Peter and Frankie holding theirs, too, as the officer panned the flashlight beam over the hedge and assorted other flora lining the sidewalk.

  Only a few seconds must have passed, but it felt like hours before the beam was shut off. I could hear the window being raised again, and the car’s tires rolling down the street.

  We breathed a collective sigh of relief and picked ourselves up from the ground, brushing at the leaves and twigs clinging to our clothing.

  Then there was a sudden click, and a blinding light.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” a strange voice asked.

  I was at a loss for words.

  So I screamed instead.

  chapter thirty-one

  I t was an impressive scream—I’d been getting a lot of practice, after all—but it was met with a cackle of laughter.

  Frankie put her hands on her hips.

  “Not funny,” she said emphatically.

  “It’s sort of funny,” replied the strange voice.

  “Put that flashlight out,” Frankie said. “Now, Aunt Wanda. Before the cops come back.”

  “I’m not the one waking up the neighborhood. Does your friend think she’s auditioning for one of those horror movies?” But she switched off the light. “So, you folks going to come inside, or are you planning on hanging out in the bushes and yelping all night?”

  It was convenient that Frank’s sister, Wanda, lived within sprinting distance, and it was fortunate that she was an insomniac. She welcomed the wee-hour excitement of our arrival even if she was disappointed when nobody wanted to while away what remained of the night in a game of canasta.

  “What’s canasta?” Peter asked in a low voice as we trailed Wanda and Frankie up the stairs.

  We were ushered into a room that belonged to Wanda’s daughter, Diana, now away at college. “Just make yourselves right at home,” she told us. “Frankie here can bunk down on the couch in the den. You kids sleep well.” She shut the door behind her, but we could still hear her trying to entice Frankie into a game of cards as they moved down the hallway.

  I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, let alone well, with so many posters of Justin Timberlake staring down at me, but it turned out that our mini-marathon proved to be an excellent cure both for my own insomnia and for Peter’s snoring. We awakened to sunlight streaming in through the lace-curtained windows and the delicious smell of frying bacon wafting up from the kitchen.

  Wanda provided us with fresh disguises (a Steelers baseball cap for Peter and sunglasses and a headscarf printed with an image of Princess Diana for me) and a breakfast that included not only bacon, but pancakes, eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, and sticky buns, all elegantly presented on Princess Diana memorial dishes. After breakfast, we climbed into Wanda’s minivan for the ride to Thunderbolt headquarters. Peter and I hunched down in the back while she waved a stock certificate at the guard manning the security booth. The lot was so filled with cars and people that we felt safe once we passed through the gates, blending in easily with the crowd.

  I was in high spirits, excited to see how events would play themselves out that morning, but Peter was grumpy. He seemed unable to fully open his eyes, and the whites that were visible were more red than white. If I were a nicer person, I would have been more sensitive to his condition, especially since I was usually the one suffering the morning-after effects of immoderate drinking. But the very rarity of Peter’s hangover made it too good an opportunity to resist.

  “I’m not hung over,” he insisted. “Just tired.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t have one too many Iron Cit—”

  “Don’t say it.”

  “Say what?”

  “You know.”

  “You mean, Iron Cit—”

  “You did it again.”

  “This is a fun game.”

  He growled.

  We joined the men and women filing through an entrance that was most definitely not on the glass-annexed executive side of the building. The wide concrete-floored hallway led us into a large room filled with rows of collapsible metal chairs. Judging by the framed notices on the walls, a number of which provided instructions regarding steps to take in the event of a choking, I guessed this was the employee lunchroom, temporarily pressed into service for the shareholder meeting. A makeshift dais with a podium had been erected at the far end.

  The seats were already filling up, but there was a knot of people clustered off to one side, and I could see the top of a familiar trucker’s cap at the center of the group. Frankie and Wanda went to join Frank while Peter and I found empty chairs off the aisle in a row near the back.

  We watched as a man mounted the dais to test the podium microphone. He kneeled and fiddled with some wires, and the microphone screeched to life, causing at least half the crowd to jump. Next to me, Peter moaned and clutched at his head.

  A side door opened, and a line of suited executive types streamed through, climbing the steps to the dais and arranging themselves on the chairs that faced out onto the audience. The man at the microphone tapped it with his finger, which made it screech some more. Satisfied, he relinquished his post to one of the new arrivals, who cleared his throat and urged people to take their seats. The hum of conversation died down as the crowd sat, and soon every chair was filled, although there were still people standing against the walls. Most of the audience looked like Thunderbolt employees, but here and there I spotted more Yuppie-ish individuals who likely represented institutional shareholders.

  The new man at the podium mumbled something about welcoming us all here today, being the secretary of Thunderbolt’s board of directors, and calling the meeting to order before introducing Thunderbolt’s chairman and CEO.

  I squinted up at the dais. “Is that Jake?” I asked Peter in a whisper. “Two over from the right?”

  “Rachel. That’s a woman. She’s wearing a skirt. And she has gray hair. She looks nothing like Jake.”

  “Oh. I knew that. I just wanted to see if you knew that, too.”

  “Jake’s the third one in on the left.”

  “Still up for beating him silly after the meeting? Or are you too ‘tired’? Maybe you’d rather just go out for a couple of Iron Cit—”

  “Don’t.” His expression was pained.

  A tall dark-suited man stepped up to the podium. He was too far away for me to make out his features, but fortunately the previous speaker had already introduced him as Nicholas Perry. And I would have recognized his oily voice from when we’d met on Monday. A lot had happened since then.

  “Good morning,” Perry said. “And thank you all for coming today.” He added a few more words of welcome before getting to the point. “You’ve been invited here today to vote on a proposed sale of the company to a group of private investors led by myself. The board has discussed this matter at great length, and we feel it is the best way to maximize value for you, our shareholders. However, we’ve asked our financial advisor, Jake Channing of Winslow, Brown, to join us. Mr. Channing will provide you with an overview of the proposed buy—”

  “Nick!” Frank yelled from the midst of his posse, which was clustered against one of the walls about halfway down the room. “Hey, Nicky! Over here!” The knot of people shifted, and one of them hoisted up a bright light while two others raised large cameras to their shoulders. One camera focused on Perry while the other focused on Frank.

  Perry shielded his eyes against the light. “Who is that? We’ll be doing a question-and-answer session aft—”

  “It’s Frank Kryzluk, Nick, a shareholder and president of your local union chapter. Remember me from those contract negotiations? Good times, right? You might not know that I also host a TV show in my spare time. Frank Talk with Frank, on public access channel
fifty-five. Today we’re broadcasting live right here from the Thunderbolt shareholders’ meeting. Isn’t that something?”

  “Well, Frank, I don’t know if that’s the sort of thing that’s generally done at shareholders’ meetings,” Perry said smoothly, but not before shooting the security guards nearest him a pointed look. They just shrugged. Perhaps they were members of the union, too.

  “Well, Nick, maybe we should vote on it.” Frank turned to the crowd. “All those in favor, say ‘aye.’”

  He was rewarded with a boisterous chorus of “ayes” as the cameramen panned the room.

  “I guess that’s settled, then. And who’s in favor of starting the question-and-answer session right now?”

  He was rewarded with another, even more boisterous chorus of “ayes,” and it seemed as if the entire audience raised their hands at once. Frank had prepped his friends well. I’d known what was coming, but I was still finding the performance highly enjoyable.

  Perry gazed out at the sea of hands, but before he could call on anyone, a voice rang out from a rear row. “Hey, Nick, you made a bundle on the Tiger deal, didn’t you? Are any of the same investors involved in this buyout?”

  “Uh—” Perry began.

  “What happened at Tiger, Nick?” yelled somebody else from a row in the front and on the right. “You couldn’t get any government contracts when the public owned the company, but when you owned the company, the contracts came flooding in. Why was that, Nick?”

  “Are you counting on being able to get government contracts after you do the Thunderbolt buyout, Nick?” This came from halfway down on the left.

  “Yeah, Nick. What’s going on? Do you have the entire Armed Forces Committee in your pocket?”

  “Or just Senator Brisbane?”

  “Didn’t you two go to college together?”

  The questions were coming from every direction, at a rapid clip and in a carefully rehearsed sequence. Perry couldn’t get a word in, but I really wished I could make out the expression on his face.

  “Is your old friend Flipper Brisbane sitting on the Appropriations bill until after the buyout?”

  “So you can do the buyout for peanuts?”

  “And then he’ll steer some nice fat contracts your way?”

  “Is that legal?”

  “Yeah, Nick. Is it legal to fix things up that way with your buddy Flipper?” This last was from Frank, who’d moved forward so that he was standing only a few feet from the stage.

  Perry sputtered and looked behind him for support. Jake, that prince among men, didn’t seem to be rushing to his aid, nor did any of the board members.

  Then a new voice rang out from the back. “And what happens to the workers, Nick? Do you care about them?”

  This was unplanned, and the speaker’s voice held such emotion that I spun around to see who it was. Even though I already thought I knew.

  Mark Anders, or, more accurately, Andrew Marcus, was standing at the top of the aisle, his face white and drawn, his jaw set, and his hands stuffed in his pockets.

  “Do you care if their benefits get cut, or if they can’t pay their medical bills?” he demanded, advancing down the aisle with measured steps. Only a slight crack in his voice betrayed any nervousness.

  “Do you care?” he repeated. “Do you care?”

  Suddenly, it was if time downshifted into low gear, and the noise of the crowd receded. Andrew’s right arm appeared to move in slow motion as he began pulling something from the pocket of his windbreaker.

  One face in the blur of people behind Andrew swam into focus. Even without the deep bruise, I would have recognized the mysterious dark-haired stranger. Our eyes met, and we rushed forward at the same moment.

  “Noooooooooo!” I cried, lunging for Andrew’s gun arm as the shots rang out.

  chapter thirty-two

  W e hit the floor in a tangle: Andrew, the mysterious stranger, and me.

  My fingers scrambled for purchase on the slippery nylon of Andrew’s windbreaker. “Stop,” I pleaded. “You don’t want to do this.”

  “I have to do this,” he said between clenched teeth. “And I don’t want to hurt you, so let go.”

  He shook me off and raised his arm, pointing the gun toward the dais again.

  Then I saw the mysterious stranger’s hand descend, chopping fiercely at Andrew’s wrist. He gave a shout of pain and dropped the gun. I kicked at it, sending it spinning down the cold concrete floor.

  Andrew struggled to his feet, intent on recovering the weapon. The stranger and I both leaped to tackle him, but he was too fast. My arms closed around empty air, and I hit the floor again, but this time the stranger cushioned my impact.

  The audience finally started to react. Somebody grabbed Andrew’s gun, and a couple of people grabbed Andrew.

  On the dais, the board of directors began cautiously emerging from the chairs they’d dived behind, and Perry pulled himself up from where he’d ducked behind the podium. He was clutching at his arm. It was a good thing that I couldn’t see that well, as I had a feeling there was blood involved, and I’d gotten more than my fill of gore seeing to the mysterious stranger’s cut the night before last.

  “Are you okay up there?” asked the mysterious stranger. His voice was surprisingly deep.

  “What? Oh. Sorry.” I rolled off him.

  Wordlessly, he helped me up before melting into the crowd.

  Andrew was confessing to Gallagher’s murder even as the authorities led him away, assuring them and everyone else within earshot that he wouldn’t rest until Perry and Brisbane were also six feet under. We found out later that his brother, Bobby, had made a similar attempt on the good senator’s life that very morning, intercepting Brisbane outside of his Washington home. An off-duty Secret Service agent on his morning run had jogged by at just the right time—at least, the right time for Brisbane. Otherwise, the brothers would have been two for three.

  Their original plot had been much more elaborate than what eventually played out, the product of more than a year of careful planning. Just as Andrew had insinuated himself into Gallagher’s workplace, Bobby had recently secured an internship in Senator Brisbane’s office. They intended to make their respective employers’ deaths look like accidents before moving on to Perry.

  But once Perry launched the Thunderbolt buyout, they had to scrap their careful plans. They couldn’t let Perry and his cronies do to other families what had been done to theirs. They were willing to sacrifice their futures to avenge their mother’s death, but there were three targets, and only two of them. They had to kill one of the men on their list without being caught so that they could remain free long enough to finish the job.

  They were fortunate in that there was a long line of people who wanted to kill Gallagher, and Andrew improvised a murder that could have been committed by a number of them. This left the brothers free to kill Brisbane and Perry in parallel, at which point they would confess to the Gallagher murder, as well.

  The irony, of course, was that their only successful murder was the one for which they didn’t want to be caught. Killing people should have been a lot easier when they weren’t concerned about the consequences.

  Peter and I spent the rest of the morning and a significant chunk of the early afternoon making statements to the police. They seemed willing to suspend my fugitive status now they had the real killer in custody, and by midafternoon we’d said goodbye to the extended Kryzluk family and were back in Luisa’s car, heading east on the Interstate. This time Peter knew better than to order a salad at the McDonald’s drive-through.

  Traffic was light, and the weather was clear, so the drive back was pleasant and relatively quick. We’d called from the road to update my friends, and they were waiting for us in my apartment. They’d also already ordered dinner.

  Over the past several days I’d eaten Big Macs, pierogies, bacon, sausage, pancakes, coffee cake, various forms of fried potatoes (including several bags of salt-and-vinegar chips), enchiladas
, guacamole, pad thai, spring rolls, and lasagna. At this point a normal person would probably be craving vegetables, or at least liposuction.

  Fortunately, I wasn’t normal, and I’d squeezed in a number of unintended workouts escaping from the police and assorted other pursuers. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do justice to the samosas and curry that arrived shortly after Peter and me.

  “Anybody want a beer?” Hilary called out from the kitchen.

  “You told her to say that,” Peter accused me.

  I gave him my sweetest and most innocent smile.

  We all took our plates into the living room, where Peter and I recounted everything that had happened since we’d last checked in.

  “Was it like The Bodyguard, only you were Kevin Costner and Perry was Whitney Houston?” asked Hilary.

  “And what is a pierogie, exactly?” asked Jane. She’d never lived anywhere but Boston, and her exposure to Eastern European cuisine had been limited, although she could probably discourse at length on clam chowder and baked beans.

  “There’s something I don’t get,” said Emma after the topics of Kevin Costner and pierogies had been thoroughly exhausted. “Why would Andrew attack Dahlia?”

  I turned to her. “That’s exactly what Peter and I were wondering. And we don’t think he did. I mean, Andrew’s small enough that he could pass for me if he was dressed in the right outfit, so he probably could have done it, but that doesn’t explain why he would do it in the first place, much less why he would try to frame me. Meanwhile, the police seem ready to blame him, given that they let me completely off the hook.”

  “This Andrew person and his brother—their actions were fairly principled,” mused Luisa. “In a somewhat twisted way, but still principled. Some might even find their reason for killing Gallagher honorable given the context. But that wouldn’t extend to killing Dahlia, would it?”

  “Even if it did, it still doesn’t add up,” said Peter. “Why would Andrew care if Dahlia had realized something fishy was going on with the Thunderbolt deal? If anything, he would have welcomed it. But how could he even know what Dahlia suspected?”