“I’ve had some trouble,” she said as soon as Betty answered. “Can I come over?”
“Lovers’ quarrel?” Betty asked, shaking the sleep from her voice. “This is great. We’ll pretend we’re living in a dormitory and we can talk about it all night. That way, when school reopens, we’ll be better able to communicate with our students.”
“I’m sorry, Betty. It’s pretty serious.”
“Hey, I’m the one who’s sorry. I always have to be the wise guy, and you sound really upset. Come on over. I’ll put some hot tea on for us.”
Eleanor resolved to stop at a convenience store on the way to her friend’s house. She had no intention of entering her apartment, not even for a toothbrush.
With her purchases in a brown paper bag, she knocked at Betty’s door.
“What is it?” Betty asked, hurrying her inside. “You look dreadful. What’d you do, take a swim in the fountains and then volunteer for Chinese water torture treatments?”
“Almost,” Eleanor said. Her voice broke several times as she told her friend about Rayburn Smith’s violent death.
“What have you gotten into, Eleanor?”
“I wish I knew. Betty, I needed to talk with you, but I also need to talk with your friend, Alva Rousel. Do you know how to reach him?”
“He’s working out of a house not too far from here. It’s a cover house, so he told me never to go there.”
“Maybe tomorrow?” Eleanor suggested. She was suddenly too exhausted to talk further.
“Absolutely.”
Eleanor found herself grinning wryly. “And that’s only the half of it. I forgot to tell you about the bomb on the riverboat.”
“What?” She saw Betty’s face blanch.
“I was checking out this group of animal lovers for Peter, and someone tried to blow up the houseboat. I grabbed the bomb and threw it into the water.”
“Eleanor!” Betty grasped her arm tightly. “You could have been killed. All of them could have been.”
“I think that was the general idea. But the thing is, I don’t know if the bomb was meant to blow up the people on the houseboat or me or both.” She felt the tears rising and turned away. “Could I crash on your sofa? I really can’t go back to my apartment.”
“Let me get a blanket,” Betty said. She was trembling. “You’ve been through it, girl.”
“I just need a few hours sleep, and then I’m going to get up and find my cat.”
“Familiar’s missing, too?”
Eleanor nodded. “But I’ll find him. He’s a really special cat. Peter thinks he’s dead, but I know he isn’t. I can sense that he’s alive. I’ll find him tomorrow.”
“You bet,” Betty said, tucking the blanket around Eleanor. “You bet.”
“Were your friends hurt?” Peter stood on the steps at Magdalena’s. He didn’t wait for her to invite him in. Just as he suspected, she was up and dressed, her coat flung over one arm in her hurry to leave.
“Your timing is incredibly bad,” she said, opening the door to admit him. “I expected to see you, but not tonight.” She scanned his face, gauging his anger. “You aren’t as mad as I expected you to be.”
“Oh, I was safely in the car, knocked on the head. It was Eleanor who took the big risk. She was nearly blown to bits.” His voice was as cutting as the lash of a whip.
“Eleanor! Is she hurt?” Magdalena grabbed the back of a chair. “How did she get involved in all of this? You said you were going.”
“So I’m the one that you thought would get hurt.” Peter shook his head in disbelief. “I knew you were an extremist, but I never guessed how far you’d go.”
“I didn’t think you’d get hurt! Not you or anyone else. Don’t be a complete fool.” Magdalena pulled him inside and closed the door. “I need to go and check on a few of the AFA members. They aren’t hurt badly, just shaken up. How is Eleanor?”
“She saw the man throw the bomb, and she picked it up and threw it in the river. If it hadn’t been for her, all of them would be dead.”
The coat slipped from Magdalena’s nerveless hand to the floor. “I can’t believe this has happened.”
“Why not? You’ve clamored for open war for years. Well, now we have it. I only want to know why you wanted me to go to that meeting. Why you lied to me about being a member.”
“Because I know who you are, and I wanted the other members to meet you. Some of them still believe you’re as guilty as Evans. I wanted you to have a chance to tell them the truth.” She took a breath. “But I didn’t leave that flyer in Eleanor’s office. When you found it, I just didn’t try and stop you from making your assumptions.”
Instead of an attempt at a frame, she had thought she was giving him an opportunity. His temper dropped several degrees. “How long have you known about my past?”
“Just recently. I put it together when I saw you at Brenniton’s. I really wasn’t certain then. Almost, but not a hundred percent. Then I checked the old records and easily picked up your trail.”
“Why?” He barely breathed the word.
“Arnold Evans has resurfaced.”
His breath left him in a hiss. “So you know. Have you located him yet?”
“He’s in Washington.” Her smile was tight with victory. “I spoke with him recently, face-to-face.”
“Impossible!”
“Quite the contrary. Eleanor spoke with him, too. That’s what got me thinking about you. Once I saw Evans, then I began to remember the whole story and I recognized you.”
“Where is he?” Pete asked. His hands were clenched at his sides. “I want to know where he is.”
“So what, so you can beat him up?” Magdalena’s smile grew cold. “We don’t want him hurt, we want him behind bars.”
“Evans nearly ruined my life. He tried to kill me and frame me for horrendous things!” Peter’s words were thick with anger.
“I know all of that. But when you start condemning me for using you a little, think what you’ve been doing. Isn’t it the same? You latched on to Eleanor because you thought she could lead you into a group of activists. You had your own agenda to follow. It’s true, I used her, too. We’re both equally guilty.”
Her words were harsh, but essentially true. The last of the anger went out of Peter like a match being snuffed.
“At first,” Pete admitted, “I did think she was involved in some of the raids. That cat had a catheter in his leg. The catheter had a distinctive mark, a notch that was exactly like Arnold used. Like a personal brand.” He shook his head. “I wanted to find Evans so badly, I willingly used Eleanor. But now it’s gotten out of hand. A man was killed in her apartment tonight.”
“Who?”
“Some guy from Colorado named Rayburn Smith. He was a friend of her ex-husband. He was shot on her sofa.”
“How is he involved?” Magdalena asked. “His name isn’t one I recognize.”
“Maybe he got caught in the cross fire, sort of like Eleanor. The thing that troubles me now is that we’ve both been so good at setting Eleanor up, maybe someone out there believes she’s really guilty of something.”
“If you’re right...”
“She could be hurt.” Peter withdrew his keys from his pocket. “Where is Evans?”
“The Behavioral Institute. I saw him the night I went there with Breck and Eleanor.”
“So close.” Peter walked away from her. He paced the room, his eyes lowered in concentration. “How could the creep be so close and I didn’t even know it?”
“In a sense, Eleanor has been crucial in bringing you to him. If she hadn’t picked up that cat and brought it to your office, then you’d never know this.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” Thin lines of anger tightened his mouth. “All of this time Evans has been under my nose. What name is he using?”
“Vrenner. Cal Vrenner. I did a little checking, and I’m sure he must be laughing at us all. The real Cal Vrenner died years ago. He was one of the lea
ding animal activists in West Germany. Evans has not only stolen his name, he’s done it to be cute.”
“I’m warning you, Magdalena. Keep your group away from Evans. He’s mine. And he owes me a large personal debt.”
Magdalena approached Peter, raising one hand. “Think about what you’re saying. There are several members of ARSA and AFA who want to see Evans disappear. Forever.”
“I would like nothing better myself,” Peter declared.
“I could get a lot more vivid and graphic in what I’d like to do to him, but we can’t afford it.” There was an urgency in Magdalena’s voice. “We want him punished, publicly. And we can’t do anything to risk messing that up.”
“So that’s why you broke into the lab,” Peter said.
Magdalena shook her head emphatically. “We tracked him for years, and we finally ran him to ground. Then an outside agent raided the lab. We didn’t expect it, and to be honest, it threw a monkey wrench into our plans. The cats were stolen, several of them in bad condition. Familiar obviously escaped.”
“Who raided the lab?” The question had been gnawing at Peter since he’d given up all thought that it was Eleanor.
“We aren’t really certain.”
“I’m not in the mood for games,” Peter threatened. “Eleanor is boxed into a bad position. Who robbed that lab? I’m not going to let her take a fall for something she didn’t do.”
“We haven’t been able to pin it down. I swear, it wasn’t someone from ARSA or AFA. A wild-card striker is the best we can figure. I promise I’ll tell you when we find out. If we find out. We’re running mailing lists to see if we can match a person with the place and time. We have no real idea who did it.”
Peter believed her, and it only deepened his worries. “There are a lot of things happening around Eleanor that no one can explain. She thinks that warning you got when you were attacked was meant for her.”
“That’s impossible. Her husband is dead,” Magdalena asserted.
“Tell it to her. She thinks she saw him in her parking garage, and he seems to be threatening her.”
“What is going on?” Magdalena walked to a crochet-covered rocker. Gently pushing two cats aside, she sat down. “Dead men walking, labs raided, Evans resurrected and back in business. I’m getting too old for all of this.”
“Well, if we don’t figure it out, Eleanor won’t get a chance to grow much older. I’m really worried about her. When the CIA agent showed up, I honestly believed she was guilty. Now I don’t know what’s going on.”
Acting twenty years older than when she’d first sat down, Magdalena rose. “I have to get down to the emergency room.”
“No serious injuries among your colleagues?”
“No, apparently thanks to Eleanor.”
“By the way, Familiar’s missing. I’m afraid whoever killed Rayburn Smith might have taken the cat.”
“Oh, Familiar,” Magdalena sighed. “He looked like a perfectly common old tom cat. He’s certainly spiced up Eleanor’s life, but why would anyone take him?”
“Eleanor and I believe he carries a clue.”
“Something that fiend Evans did to him, no doubt!” Magdalena exclaimed. “I was the SPCA worker who was sent to examine what was left of Evans’s experiments at International Chem-Co. The carnage was unbelievable.” She looked at him. “You were accused of the fire and the atrocities. I saw the news clips where you were led out of the smoldering building, and I hated you.”
Her words brought back the past. Peter remembered the lab, the inhumanity he’d discovered. 1977. “When I confronted Evans, he lost his mind. He attacked me, knocked me unconscious and then tried to burn down the laboratory. He’d already changed the records to try and put the blame on me for all of the atrocities done to the animals.”
Magdalena nodded slowly. “For a while it looked as if you were guilty. But you cleared your name. And Evans disappeared underground.”
The stir of emotions created a pounding headache in the back of Peter’s head. “I quit vet school for two years after the fire. I couldn’t accept what had happened, what Evans had done.” He paced the room again. “I was almost finished with my degree. I had three weeks left in the summer to work at the chemical company. Three weeks, and I stumbled on Arnold’s experiments.”
A worried look crossed Magdalena’s face. “Have you revealed any of this to Eleanor?”
“No.” The word was spoken in a near whisper.
“You have to tell her, Peter. Before she finds out about it from someone else. She must hate me, knowing that I’ve lied to her. If she finds that you’ve betrayed her, it might break her heart. I see the way she looks at you. It’s something rare and special. Don’t lose it.”
Magdalena’s words created a sudden panic in Peter’s blood that mingled with the pounding in his head. He’d been a fool to leave her alone in her apartment building. If they could find her on a houseboat, then...
“I’d better talk with her now,” he said, heading for the door.
“Good idea,” Magdalena said. “And ask her to forgive me. My deception was never malicious.” She had her hand on the front door when the bell rang. She pulled the door open.
“Magdalena Caruso?” a uniformed officer asked.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Please come with us.” He took her arm and signaled to his partner, who appeared from the side of the house.
“What is this about?” Peter asked. He didn’t like the way they were hauling at Magdalena’s arm.
“You have the right to remain silent—” the officer said, beginning the litany of the Miranda rights.
“What’s the charge?” Peter interrupted.
Bewildered, Magdalena looked from one to the other. At last she jerked her arm so suddenly that she was free. “What is the charge?” she demanded.
“First-degree murder of Rayburn Smith.”
Chapter Twelve
Peter recognized the tall, slender figure and stepped out from behind a column near The Hub. “Wait up,” he called to Eleanor as he started to jog. “I looked all over for you last night. I’ve been here since eight this morning, waiting for you.” With all of the worry about her, it had been the longest night of his life.
“You aren’t the only person I know in town,” she said, never slackening her pace. He drew abreast and she finally looked at him. “And you’re the last person I want to see.”
“Magdalena’s been arrested for the murder of that man in your apartment.”
Those words worked like hydraulic brakes. Eleanor stopped so fast that she nearly fell over.
“Magdalena? Charged with murder? What kind of joke is that?”
She was still wary of him. Peter saw it clearly in her eyes. The brown depths that had once reflected such trust now harbored only suspicion.
“I wish it were a joke,” he said softly. “The police checked the murder weapon that was left in your apartment. It was registered to Magdalena. In fact, it’s probably one of the few registered guns in town,” he added dryly.
“Any fool could see that the gun has been planted,” Eleanor said hotly.
“I’m glad you can defend Magdalena, even after she held things back from you.” He let that point sink in. “I’m hoping you’ll be able to get over your anger at me and let me explain.”
“Both of you used me for your own reasons.” Mixed with the anger was pain. “It doesn’t matter. As soon as I find Familiar, I’m leaving Washington.”
“Leaving? To go where?”
“Someplace different. Someplace where I can try and start again. I don’t know what you got me mixed up in, you and Magdalena, but whatever is it, I can’t live in it. I want my own life, my own past.” She turned away. “Tell Magdalena I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to help her. It’s a bitter irony, but I really am innocent.”
“I know that.” Peter touched her arm, his fingers circling the delicate flesh until he stopped her and pulled her to face him. “Now,” he
added. “At first I didn’t believe you.”
“Better late than never.” She tried to harden her tone, but it wasn’t working very effectively. There was a dangerous crack.
“You can help Magdalena.”
“How?”
“Tell me everything that happened the night you went to the Behavioral Institute. What did you observe about the man calling himself Cal Vrenner? What about the facilities? What did Breck say? How did he react to Vrenner? What exactly are they doing in that building?”
“Why is this suddenly so important?” She looked at him and saw his intensity, something had aged him. He wasn’t playing games. He was really worried.
“I spent most of last night trying to find you, and the rest of it trying to get in at the jail to talk with Magdalena, but I couldn’t. You’re the only one who can answer these questions for me.”
“Why should I?”
“Cal Vrenner is really a man I knew years ago called Arnold Evans. He tried to kill me, and he framed me for some pretty horrible experiments. I’ve been actively looking for him for the past three months, after his picture turned up in a pet care magazine.”
“I saw that! In your office!” Eleanor’s eyes grew luminous. “The man looked like someone I knew, but the name was wrong. It was Vrenner!”
“Let’s go to your office. I want you to tell me everything you remember.”
“And you’ll tell me about Vrenner—I mean Evans.”
“I’ll tell you everything,” Peter agreed. Eleanor was looking at him, doubt still lingering in her eyes. He bent and briefly kissed her lips. The relief at seeing her was tremendous. His arms went around her, and she didn’t resist. Her slender body pressed hesitantly against his, and he was suddenly aware of her vulnerability.
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