Karen Woods

by The Devlin Diaries (Triskelion) [lit]

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  Mary Kate looked at her for the longest moment. “You think this has something to do with your uncle’s death?”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it.”

  “That’s stretching it,” Mary Kate dismissed.

  “I wish I could be certain of that,” Alice said . “I feel responsible for this. If I hadn’t started you looking into Uncle Peter’s death, maybe none of this would have happened.”

  “This was an attack on Jaime. I just got in the way.”

  “There’s a saying, ‘Once is an accident, twice is co-incidence, but the third time is enemy action,’” Alice offered. “This is way more than the third instance directed against your family. My uncle’s murder, John Hardin’s murder, the potshots someone took at Jase six months ago, your mother’s murder, and Jaime’s attempted kidnapping. There’s a pattern developing here, and I don’t like it. Be very careful.”

  Mary Kate looked at her friend. “Missy’s husband was murdered? Someone shot at Jase?”

  “John’s car was sabotaged. The brake fluid had been replaced by xylene. Ate through the brake shoes and left him with no brakes. They lived in the mountains out in Colorado. It was winter. I don’t know what else you’d call it except murder. Normally, they all left the house together. If Jaime hadn’t broken out with Chicken Pox and Missy hadn’t stayed home with him, they all would have been dead. Originally, the ruling had been accidental. But Harry pushed for a further investigation, and the ruling came back as sabotage. There were no suspects identified.”

  Mary Kate closed her eyes and sighed. “Tell me about the shooting?” Mary Kate demanded. “All of this is news to me.”

  “Jase was doing a field inspection on a dam project in Columbia. A small plane came overhead and fired three shots, all at Jase. If he hadn’t been wearing body armor he’d be dead, because all three shots hit his back. He ended up with three broken ribs out of it. They said it was the action of a political faction who didn’t want the dam built. But I don’t believe that for a moment.”

  “Merciful Heavens!”

  Alice looked at her watch. “Well, Jase told me that I shouldn’t overtire you. He told me that I could stay three minutes.”

  “You aren’t an egg. You can stay and talk to me as long as you want to. I’m not going to rush you off. Not a word of this is to appear in the paper, Alice. This was not an interview.”

  Alice smiled. “I know that. Can I stop by to see you again?”

  “I’d be glad for the company. But I hope they’re going to send me home soon.”

  “I can stop by Harry’s just as easily as I can come here to visit you.”

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  “What about Jase and you, Alice?” Mary Kate asked hesitantly. “I’ve heard rumors. Everyone expected you and he to marry.”

  Alice nodded tightly. “I figured you would have heard. There hasn’t been anything but friendship between Jase and me since college, Mary Kate. He’s a good man and a good friend. He used to be a good lover, if memory serves. But that part of our relationship has been over for years.”

  Mary Kate nodded slightly as she fought a blush. “Yes. He’s a good man.”

  “I’m glad he’s found someone like you. All you have to do is to look at him while he’s looking at you, to see he’s in love with you.”

  Mary Kate wished that was true.

  “I’ve got some news of my own along the engagement line,” Alice told her.

  “Oh?”

  “Steve’s asked me to marry him. We’ve set a date for October. Halloween. Appropriate, since this will be the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I wondered if you and Jase would stand up with us. It will be a very small wedding.”

  “Let me ask Jase.”

  “I don’t want to overtire you, so I’ll be going. Get well.”

  “I’m trying.”

  “I know that. Very trying,” Alice teased.

  “Miss Devlin,” someone said from the doorway sometime later. Mary Kate had dozed off after Alice had left.

  “Come on in, Father Greer,” she invited as she looked at the Rector of the local Episcopal church. He was a tall, thin, man, graying slightly at the temples. She had found him to be thoughtful, kind, and eloquent.

  Frank Greer’s lips twisted slightly as he suppressed a grin. “I’m never going to break you of calling me that, am I?”

  “Probably not,” she admitted. “I was raised AngloCatholic. And I see no reason to change.”

  “I wondered if you would like to talk?” Frank asked her.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “But strictly under the seal of the confessional.”

  “Of course,” he told her.

  “I’m scared, Father Greer. Very scared. And I don’t know who to trust anymore. This all feels like a nightmare. But it’s real. All I have to do is move too quickly to know just how real.”

  Frank Greer nodded from his chair near her bed. “I understand that. What can I do to help you?”

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  Mary Kate sighed. “I’m not sure there’s anything any of us can do, aside from being alert, and praying no one else gets hurt. I’m so worried about Jaime. If I’m scared, he’s got to be petrified.”

  “I’ve already started counseling with Jaime. He’s doing as well as he can be expected to do,” Frank assured her.

  “Praise God for small miracles.”

  “And you did all you could be expected to do,” Frank said.

  “But it wasn’t enough,” she told him.

  “You’re one woman, not an army.”

  “Jaime was my responsibility. I let him down.”

  Frank patted her hand. “Forgive yourself, Mary Kate, and move on. Accept the fact you did all you could have done.”

  “Sounds so easy.”

  “It isn’t easy at all. But you have to do it.”

  Mary Kate sat in her hospital bed waiting for the doctor to make his morning rounds the next day. She wasn’t getting any better care here than she would be at home. Hospitals weren’t her favorite places to begin with. Three days in this room was about three days too long.

  About the only thing she had accomplished in the past two days was that she had made an appointment with the hospital hairdresser. The hacked up mess of her hair now swung freely into a short, stylish bob.

  Jack Hunter, Chief of Police, stuck his head in the door. “May I come in, Mary Katherine?”

  Mary Kate sighed. “Do I have a choice?”

  “Not really,” the officer replied easily.

  “Then come in, by all means...”

  Jack pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. “We need you to make an identification.”

  “You caught him?”

  Jack sighed. “Not exactly. We found him would be more accurate.”

  She looked at the lawman. “He’s dead?”

  “Murdered,” Jack corrected.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Shot between the eyes. We found him in his car. The weapon wasn’t recovered from the scene. Yes, it was murder.”

  “Then they weren’t alone. There’s someone else involved.”

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  “That’s my theory.” “I had hoped I was wrong.” “Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Me, too.” “So how do you want to work this identification business?” Mary Kate asked tiredly. Jack removed some photographs from his shirt pocket. “There are several photos of tattoos here. Can

  you pick out the one you saw on the man?” Mary Kate took the photos and spread them out on the tray table before her. She looked at them

  carefully. She nodded. “This could be it,” she said handing him back one of the photographs. “But you aren’t sure?” “I’d have to see it in person to be absolutely sure. But it looks like the same tattoo. With photographs,

  you can never be sure the colors are absolutely accurate.” “Do you feel up to taking a wheelchair ride?” Jack asked her. “I guess. I was waiting for the doctor.” “I talked with Clay. He won’t be around for awhile.” “Okay. Wh
ere are we going?” “The morgue. It’s not pretty.” “Life frequently isn’t.” The room was cold. The man’s naked body lay on a steel table in the middle of the room. A white sheet

  was draped over him. The floor drain and the equipment around the room stated this was where autopsies were regularly performed. Mary Kate found her stomach churning, not only from the thought of what went on in this room, but also from the smell. Whoever he was, he had been dead for enough time to begin to decompose.

  “Are you okay?” Jack asked. “Let’s just get this over with.” “Are you sure?” Jack asked. “That’s the tattoo,” Mary Kate replied as Jack replaced the sheet over the man’s arm. “But other men

  could have had the same tattoo.” Jack nodded. “Could have. His name was Calvin Smith,” Jack stated as he pushed Mary Kate’s chair away from the table. “There were some items among his possessions you should see.” A bag sat on the counter on the other side of the room. Jack emptied the bag out onto a tray and placed it in her lap. “Do you recognize any of these things?” Mary Kate looked over the collection of artifacts. There were the cufflinks, and the knife, along with several other personal items. “Those are the cufflinks the man was wearing. And the knife looks like the same

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  one,” she said, handing the tray back to Jack. The lawman took the tray and placed the contents back into the bag. “Thank you, Mary Katherine.” “Can we get out of here?” “You know,” Jack told her conversationally, as he was taking her back to her room, “you surprise me

  constantly, Mary Katherine.” “Funny, I thought you had me pegged as a troublemaker from day one,” Mary Kate replied wearily. “I did. I didn’t expect to like you. But I find myself admiring you greatly.” Mary Kate smiled. “I suspect you’re just overcome by my beauty and charm,” she quipped. “Don’t

  worry about it. It’s a temporary aberration. You’ll get over it.” Jack laughed. “Some people might say you use that razor sharp tongue of yours to keep people at a

  distance.” “Some people might be right,” Mary Kate replied as Jack rolled her into her room. “And there are some people who aren’t going to let you get by with it,” Jack replied. “Shall I ring for a

  nurse to help you back into bed?” “I’ll sit up for a while, I think. Thank you.” “I’ve got something for you,” Jack said as he removed a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to

  her. Mary Kate looked at the document. “Thank you for getting it to me so quickly.” “You know, just because you have a permit doesn’t mean you can fire at will,” Jack informed her. “Believe me, I have no intention of firing a weapon unless deadly force is necessary. I hope to heaven I

  never have to even draw the pistol.” “I hope not either. But if you do, do it right,” Jack advised her. Mary Kate sighed. “I intend to.” “Mary Kate, be very careful. Harry’s had the security system redone. It should be a lot harder to defeat

  now. And there will be armed persons patrolling the grounds. But that doesn’t mean that either Jaime or you

  are completely safe.” “I know that. I wish I didn’t.” “When can I go home?” Were the first words with which Mary Kate greeted the doctor when he came

  into the room. Jack had left almost ten minutes before. “Soon.” “Couldn’t be too soon for me,” she told him honestly. “I don’t do inactivity very well.” “No, but you’re going to have to learn. Even if I send you home, you won’t be able to do much but

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  rest,” Clay told her. “There will be no running, no tennis, no horses. No strenuous activities, not even walking at above a sedate pace. And you shouldn’t get that incision wet, so you’ll have to stay out of the pool. I want the arm kept immobilized until I see you again in ten days. A home health care nurse will come out to change the dressings, and help you with your personal care, morning and evening. And I want you to continue to take the antibiotics. The last thing you need is a post operative infection.”

  “You’re the doctor,” Mary Kate agreed. “Okay. We’ll release you this afternoon, if you promise to take it easy.” “I’ll take it as easy as I can,” she promised. “Now, there’s a Devlin promise,” Clay remarked. “Completely open to interpretation.”

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  Chapter Nineteen

  Simply coming home was more tiring than she had thought it would be. By the time she had been released from the hospital, had dressed, and had ridden home in Jase’s car, she was exhausted. Instead of climbing the stairs to her room, she had stretched out on the sofa in Harry’s home office and had fallen asleep. Jase had taken a seat at Harry’s computer terminal and had started to do some work. While she slept, he finished his work. Then he went upstairs to see to the changes in her rooms.

  When she awoke, Mary Kate saw a slender, middle-aged, woman across the room, whom she didn’t know, with Jaime on her lap. The woman was reading to him.

  “Jaime?” she asked as she sat up.

  The boy’s face lit up as he rushed over to her. “Mary Kate!”

  Jaime stopped suddenly a few inches from her. His face was a mask of concern. “Mommy says you were hurt by the bad men. Is that why your arm is like that?”

  “So it can heal.”

  “Can I sit on your lap?”

  “Just don’t touch my neck or right shoulder, okay?”

  Mary Kate looked at the woman as Jaime climbed unto her lap and cuddled.

  “I was so scared,” Jaime said.

  “Me too, Jaime.”

  “Beth says you are very brave,” Jaime told her.

  “Beth?”

  “Elizabeth Clary, Miss Devlin,” the woman said. “Jaime insisted on waiting for you to wake up. I hope we didn’t disturb you?”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Good,” Beth Clary replied easily. “But I do think it’s time for Jaime to go down to the stables for his riding lesson now.”

  Mary Kate looked at the clock. “So it is. Enjoy your time with Donny pony.”

  Harry came into his office a little while later to see her sitting at the computer, pecking away at the keyboard with one hand. “Somehow, I don’t think this is what Clay meant when he told you to take it easy.”

  “This is about as easy as I can take it, Dad.”

  Harry nodded. “That’s one of the things I’ve found it hardest to learn,” he told her.

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  “I can understand that.”

  “Where’s your nurse?”

  “I told her to make herself scarce before I took a nap. She’s in the kitchen with Billie. Apparently, they bowl together, or something.”

  “Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell any of us that you had accepted Jase’s proposal?” Harry asked, a pained undertone in his voice.

  “Because I hadn’t, and I haven’t. He asked, I suppose. I didn’t tell him no. But I didn’t accept either. I don’t know why he announced we were engaged.”

  Harry laughed. “That boy has never let anything stop him from going after what he wanted. He always was a go-getter.”

  “I can believe that.”

  “Why didn’t you correct him?” Harry stated.

  “It will be easier on him, if things don’t work between us, for me to break the engagement. Engagements get broken all the time. And I have a history of doing just that,” Mary Kate said. “In fact, engagements are made to be broken.”

  “If things don’t work out between you?” Harry echoed.

  “I’m not going to rush into anything. Jase makes me laugh. He also makes me profoundly angry,” Mary Kate responded. “In fact, he touches more in me than I knew could be touched. But I want to, need to, give this more time.”

  “Do you love him?” Harry asked.

  “More than I thought I could love anyone,” Mary Kate replied without hesitation. “But, I don’t know if that’s enough.”

  “If you do decide to marry him, I don’t want you eloping, or anything stupid like that. Give me the honor of walking you down the aisle.”

&nb
sp; “Daddy, if I ever get married, you’ll be there,” Mary Kate told him gently. “I promise you.”

  He cleared his throat. “I remembered some time ago that some of your mother’s paintings are stored in the attics. If you want them, they’re yours.”

  Mary Kate smiled broadly. “Are you sure?”

  “I want you to have them.”

  “When I’m feeling better, I’ll go up to the attics and retrieve them.”

  “I can have them brought down for you.”

  “Let’s wait. I’d rather have a look at them myself, sometime when I’m alone,” Mary Kate replied. “I

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  don’t think I could stand having other people around when I was looking at them for the first time. I really

  don’t.”

  “Nancy did a fine job raising you, Mary Kate. A fine job.”

  “Hearing you say that would have meant a lot to her.”

  Harry nodded. “Well, my dear, dinner will be served shortly. Do you want to change?”

  Mary Kate smiled. “Would everyone be upset if I went into dinner as I am? I know this isn’t formal, but I would really rather not have to have help unbinding the arm, changing clothes, then rebinding it. And then repeating the process before bed. My shoulder hurts so badly when I move my arm.”

  “Audie will understand.”

  “I hope so. She loves you.”

  Harry smiled. “Can you keep a secret?”

  “You know I can.”

  “Audie prefers the formality of dressing for dinner. I would just as soon come home, unwind, slip into comfortable clothes and have a simple supper in the kitchen.”

  “And you put up with the formal dinners to make her happy. That’s so sweet.”

  “Compromise is what marriage is made of. I give her the formal dinners she loves. She lets me go deep sea fishing with my buddies a couple of weeks a year without her,” Harry stated. “Audie gets seasick,” he confided. “And the beach isn’t something she enjoys at all. So, I go fishing, and she stays home and makes a new quilt for one of her charities to raffle off.”

  “Whatever works for you two,” Mary Kate answered with a smile. “I’m just happy you have someone who loves you like she does.”