‘Hi. I’m at the vet’s. Is something wrong?’ she asked.
After a moment, Eve said in a tense voice, ‘We have a problem at the Sanderson house.’
‘The Sanderson house? What are you doing there, Eve?’
‘I thought I’d come by and take a look.’
‘Today? In the rain?’
‘Yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but … I’ve assisted on this house and it means a lot to me and it’s raining buckets. I was uneasy about the skylights so I came by and … well, there’s a problem.’
‘What kind of problem? Leaking?’
‘Yes. And more. I can’t really explain it.’ She paused. ‘You need to look at it. Maybe you can get the contractor to come back.’
Kelsey would have pressed harder for details but Eve’s day had been awful and she sounded upset. Besides, the Sanderson house was an important project and Kelsey knew Eve wouldn’t be calling her about something minor even if she couldn’t explain what was wrong.
‘OK, Eve. I just picked up Gatsby from the vet. I’ll come straight to the house instead of dropping him off at home first.’
‘I am sorry, Kelsey. It’s raining and I know you’ve had a long day but I don’t know what else to do …’
‘It’s all right. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.’
‘OK. I’ve left the back door unlocked for you.’
The phone went dead. Eve hadn’t said goodbye, which was odd, but she was clearly distressed, probably more about her brother than the house. Still, Eve wasn’t an alarmist. If she said there was a problem with the house, then there was. But why had Eve been so cryptic?
Kelsey drove to the Sandersons’ three-story square brick building, which stood on two acres of land. White shutters had been added to all the windows, and the front of the structure softened by the addition of a small portico porch with white pillars. She turned down the side street bordering the Sanderson property until she came to the area behind the house that was being used as a parking lot for trucks. It was empty now except for Eve’s car parked near the door.
‘I’m going to leave you in the car while I go inside,’ Kelsey told Gatsby as she turned off the ignition. She’d fallen into the habit of talking to him as if he was a child who needed to be reassured. ‘You’ll be fine here. I won’t be gone for long.’
Gatsby let loose one of his loud, plaintive meows as she stepped from the car. The rain had slackened to a dreary drizzle falling from a leaden sky, so she hurried through the back door and as she crossed the concrete floor that would later be covered with hardwood she called, ‘Eve? I’m here! Where are you?’
Kelsey had half-expected Eve to be standing or sitting near the door waiting for her, but she didn’t answer. Kelsey called again. Nothing. Suddenly she had the feeling she was alone in the big house – the house she had designed with every ounce of her talent, mixed with care for the new inhabitants who had declared the design perfect and far beyond their expectations. Now it seemed cold and lonely and somehow sinister.
‘Oh, for God’s sake, Kelsey!’ she said aloud. ‘Why don’t you let your imagination run completely wild?’ Exasperated with herself, she reached for a wall switch and flipped it. Glorious light bloomed all around her, completely transforming gloom into what would be a dazzling white and navy blue kitchen. ‘At least the electric is on,’ she muttered. The way her luck was going today, she’d fully expected it to be shut off because of the rain.
‘Eve?’ she called again. ‘Eve, where are you?’
Still no answer. Eve wouldn’t be outside in the rain. So where was she? Kelsey walked through the kitchen and the large dining room area. She glanced at the rectangular skylight located three stories above on the flat roof. She tried to imagine sunlight streaming through it on to the exposed-brick wall and pale wood floor when the room was finished. It would be beautiful. And best of all, it wasn’t leaking, which was often a problem with skylights – particularly those on a flat roof, if the box frame wasn’t secure. So far, the contractors that MG Interiors used had had a perfect success record with skylight installations.
Across from the kitchen was the large space designated as a family room. ‘In other words, it will have a gigantic television and a hundred video games,’ Josie had told Kelsey and Eve. ‘Aaron and the boys will live in that room. Angela is twelve and I want her to have her own space where she can practice her piano and her ballet and listen to music.’ Josie had grinned. ‘It should be the kind of place I wanted when I was her age.’
The family room was empty. Kelsey glanced into what would be Aaron’s office and next to it, Josie’s office. Then she walked into Angela’s special room – the one that had been Eve’s project since she and Angela had met and immediately seemed simpatico. No Eve, and none of the rooms had as much trash as usually found on building sites. So far, Kelsey hadn’t the slightest idea what Eve had found wrong with the Sanderson house.
‘Eve!’ Kelsey was tired and getting frustrated. She wanted to go home, let Gatsby out of his carrier, fix something simple for dinner and watch television. Even reality television would be OK.
Then a frightening thought seared through her brain. What if Eve was hurt? What if something had fallen on her or, more likely, she’d tumbled down the three-story floating staircase? Kelsey ran to the location of the staircase then felt like a fool. There was no staircase. It wouldn’t be built until all the skylights had been installed and the roof finished. She stood where the staircase would end its gentle, magical curve and, looking upward, imagined the beautiful octagonal pyramid skylight that would grace the roof above the stairs. Only there was no skylight just yet. Instead, she saw a large hole and hazy translucent plastic sheeting. Apparently the hole for the skylight had already been cut when the rain began earlier than expected. The workers had covered the hole with polythene and secured it in order to keep out the water. So far it was working. Kelsey heard water beating on the plastic but didn’t see one drop fall to the floor at her feet. Was this what had concerned Eve? Had she been afraid the plastic cover wouldn’t hold firm?
No. On the phone Eve hadn’t sounded worried about something that might happen. In fact, she hadn’t sounded worried at all – she’d sounded scared. Dammit, Kelsey thought abruptly, she’d been so sure Eve was wretched over her brother she hadn’t realized Eve sounded on the edge of terrified.
‘Eve, I can’t find anything wrong with the house,’ Kelsey yelled at the top of her voice, trying to keep her own sudden fear in check. ‘I don’t know where you are, but I’m tired and I’m leaving. Do you hear me, Eve? I’m leaving!’
Kelsey felt rather than heard movement overhead. She went motionless, barely breathing, as she stared at the plastic-covered hole three stories above her. Almost immediately, the plastic ripped away. Kelsey briefly saw the gray sky before something black flashed across the hole. Bare legs in high-heeled pumps dangled above, then a shrill scream ripped through the quiet rain. In what seemed merely a heartbeat, a body burst through the hole and crashed downward in a broken, bleeding huddle at Kelsey’s feet.
FIFTEEN
Kelsey was too shocked to scream. She stood rigid, listening to the small, constant, pathetic mewling coming from the body on the floor. She looked at the tan and dark brown dress, the silver and turquoise bangle on an out-flung arm, the ash brown hair. The head was turned face-down and blood pooled around it, the circle growing larger and larger. When it almost touched her shoes, Kelsey stepped back and gasped in horror. This was Eve! She’d been slinking away from Eve who was so terribly, unspeakably injured. Kelsey moved closer, kneeled, and pushed Eve’s hair away from the bloody ruin that was her face. Her stomach clutching in pain, her body almost frigid, Kelsey let the wet hair fall back into place and gently stroked it, remembering how Eve had brushed her dry, tangled hair after Grandfather died in the fire.
‘Eve, I’m here.’ She managed to keep her voice steady. ‘I’m here, honey. Don’t be afraid.’ Kelsey jumped when Eve whimpered. Had she heard
her? Kelsey longed to turn Eve’s head so she could look into her eyes, but didn’t dare move her. ‘I’m going to call for help. Just hang on.’ Eve whimpered again and again. Kelsey leaned away, reached for her handbag, and dug out her cell phone. ‘The ambulance will be here in a jiffy. Do you hear me, sweetie?’ She tapped the numbers 911. ‘Everything’s going to be all right. Everything will be all right now.’
But the whimpering slowed, then stopped even before the 911 operator answered. Kelsey put her hand on Eve’s back. She was so quiet and still that Kelsey knew she was gone. As she managed to give the information to the operator, Kelsey lovingly stroked her friend’s back, even though she knew Eve was beyond the help of anyone on earth.
After a couple of minutes, Kelsey looked up at the circular hole in the roof. All she saw was gray sky. No evil face grinned back at her. She didn’t see a flash of black like she had before Eve was pushed through the skylight hole. And she was pushed, Kelsey thought. If she’d merely tripped, her body wouldn’t have attained the immediate momentum Kelsey had witnessed. Someone had deliberately sent Eve plummeting to her death. That person could still be on the roof, Kelsey thought with a shudder. Why? To watch the gruesome aftermath of the destruction of a life? Or to kill her, too?
Rain sprinkled down on to Eve’s body. Kelsey thought of running out to her car to see if she had anything in the trunk she could use as a cover for Eve, but she didn’t trust herself not to let fear force her to lock herself in the car. People would say that was the safest thing she could do in case the murderer still lurked around the building, but Kelsey knew she would never forgive herself for leaving Eve, even though she was dead. Besides, that might be exactly what the killer was waiting for her to do – run into the open where she would be even more vulnerable than in the house.
Instead, Kelsey hovered over Eve, touching her limp hand while listening for any whisper of motion, any stirring of air, or exhalation of breath from someone who still lived. Finally she heard sirens, and dashed to the front door, flung it open, and ran on to the front walk, waving her arms although the ambulance driver would know the address. People rushed past her, one asking if she was all right, the others heading into the house and toward Eve’s twisted body. She heard more sirens – the police. After that, she slipped into a nightmare similar to that she’d lived through the night of Lorelei’s murder. The world filled with flashing lights, shrieking sirens, people shouting, and she sank to her knees on the sidewalk.
Kelsey refused to ride in the ambulance with Eve so the paramedics could check her out. She brushed them aside. ‘I’m all right!’ she shouted. ‘I’m always all right! It’s Lori … and Eve.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘My car’s here. I’ll drive myself to the hospital!’
They insisted she was not in a fit state to drive, but Kelsey gave them no choice short of dragging her to the ambulance or picking her up, kicking and screaming, and carrying her. When the paramedics gave up, Kelsey talked briefly to the police officers who had come in response to her 911 call. She went back into the house and showed them the circular hole in the ceiling. ‘It was cut for a skylight,’ she said. ‘The contractors probably had to stop installation because of the rain. The hole was covered with plastic. The killer pulled it back and shoved Eve through.’
Kelsey felt as if something heavy lay on her chest and she fought for breath. ‘You’ll have to talk to the contractors and ask what time they left. I don’t know why Eve came here. She called me a little after five o’clock and said there was a problem. She sounded odd but she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. That’s all I know.’ She grabbed her handbag, still lying on the floor next to the shockingly large bloodstain. ‘I’m not answering any more questions now. I can’t. I’m going to the hospital.’
Kelsey almost ran around the house to the parking space in back. Eve’s car still sat next to Kelsey’s BMW. It seemed like a silent witness. What was Eve thinking when she pulled up to the Sanderson house? Had she come to check on the progress of the skylights? If so, who had been waiting for her? Someone she expected to see? Someone she knew? Someone who turned out to be a murderer.
Kelsey opened her car door and slid on to the seat. She was fishing in her bag for the keys when she suddenly thought of Gatsby. All this time he’d been in the car …
Except that he wasn’t. She’d left the carrier on the front seat. When she didn’t see it, she looked in frightened disbelief at the back seat. No carrier. ‘Gatsby? Gatsby!’ Kelsey knew calling for him was useless. He hadn’t escaped from his carrier.
The carrier was gone. Gatsby was gone.
Kelsey wasn’t certain how much time had passed before Detective Pike approached her in the hospital. Bloodstained and shaking, she’d refused to sit in the Emergency Room waiting area. Instead, she sat on the floor opposite the room where Eve’s body lay. She leaned against the wall. A nurse had taken pity on her and wrapped a thin white blanket around Kelsey’s trembling body. ‘You really should scrub the bloodstains off your hands, have a cup of coffee, and get a chair in the waiting room instead of sitting on this cold floor, dear.’ Kelsey had shaken her head vigorously. ‘Well, OK. Is there anyone you can call?’
‘Yes,’ Kelsey said, although her mind was blank. ‘I’ll call … someone.’
‘Good.’ The woman’s voice grew tender. ‘I’m really so sorry about your friend.’
Kelsey nodded. The woman left and Kelsey huddled into the blanket, although it seemed to offer little warmth. Maybe nothing could warm her, she thought. Not coffee, not a down comforter, nothing.
The nurse was right – she should call someone. Normally she would have called a husband or parents but Eve had only Stuart, who wasn’t answering his cell phone, and Kelsey had no idea how to get hold of Eve’s parents. Would they want to know their daughter was dead, though? After all, they wouldn’t even let her come home.
‘Are you all right, Kelsey?’
She looked up at Enzo Pike’s pale, slender face and depthless dark eyes. ‘Oh, you’re here!’ A mixture of relief and hopelessness rushed through her – relief because Pike knew what to do, hopelessness because his knowledge related to what to do when someone had been murdered.
‘A nurse told me I should go to the waiting room, but I’m all right.’ Her throat tightened. ‘I’m all right, but Eve is …’
‘I know.’ Dressed in one of his usual loose dark suits, Pike sat down on the floor beside her. ‘You can move in a few minutes but I understand you wanting to stay here, needing to be near someone you loved. When my wife and daughter—’ He broke off sharply. ‘I understand.’
‘I was right there. I saw her die just like I saw Lori die. I didn’t help either one of them.’
‘You couldn’t help either one of them.’
‘You don’t even know what happened to Eve.’
‘I know the basics. There was nothing you could do, Kelsey. Nothing.’
‘I should have known something was wrong. Eve had gotten the most awful news that morning. Her brother died months ago but her mother only just got around to telling her. She stayed in her office all afternoon before leaving without a word. Then came her phone call. She said there was a problem at the Sanderson house. She wanted me to come. She was so vague. I don’t know why she didn’t tell me she was in trouble!’
‘Probably because whoever killed her already had her. She was forced to make the call to you, to say just enough to get you to the house.’
‘Why?’ Kelsey demanded. ‘Why did someone want me to see Eve die? Why did someone want her to die?’
‘I don’t know. But I’ll find out. I promise you that I’ll find out who did this.’
Kelsey squeezed her eyes tight. Almost as if Eve stood beside her, Kelsey could hear her saying, ‘Someone keeps calling Stuart … I picked up the living-room extension … He came into the room furious and demanding to know how much I’d heard.’ And an image flashed in front of her – red roses and a threatening note.
She turned to Pike and said fier
cely, ‘I want you to make me a promise, all right? I want you to promise to find out where Stuart Girard and Bradley Fairbourne were at the time of Eve’s death.’ Her voice rose. ‘Do you promise?’
Pike put his hands on her shoulders. ‘I promise, Kelsey. As God is my witness, I promise.’
Two hours later, after Pike had driven her home, assured her he was posting an officer outside for the night, and made an appointment to take her statement tomorrow, Kelsey swept the cool, damp cloth off her closed eyes and raised up from the sofa. Although the only light in the room came from the floor lamp with the opal shade, it might as well have been a spotlight. Her eyes felt full of sand. Tears refused to come. Her head pounded. She hadn’t fallen asleep and was glad. A nap might have kept her from sleeping when night came. The thought of sitting up all night filled her with dread.
Before lying down, she’d called her father to tell him about Eve. His voice had gone completely flat, almost robotic. He’d asked only a few questions, then told her he would call Stuart and deliver the news. ‘I can call him,’ Kelsey had said. ‘No, darling, you sound slutkörd.’ Truman used the Swedish word for exhausted that Grandfather had always used, but her father’s Swedish accent was even worse than hers. ‘I hear the pain in your voice, Kelsey. You can’t talk about this anymore tonight.’ And he was right, Kelsey thought. ‘In fact, I forbid you to talk about it anymore. Is that clear?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ she’d answered with love. ‘Whatever you say, Daddy.’ So for the first time she could remember, she unplugged her landline phone and turned off her cell phone. Unless someone came banging on her door, she would be incommunicado.
But she had to do something, she told herself. She felt too dazed to watch television or read, yet she wouldn’t let herself simply sit feeling stony and remote as if the events at the Sanderson house hadn’t touched her. Deep inside her something ached and niggled, begging for release, but her body was stiff and resistant.
Just a Breath Away Page 23