“And gets you free suits,” Maggie added.
Walker ignored her. “Not you. You’re protected.”
“And certainly not you,” Maggie said, glaring.
Walker shook his head. “No, not me. I have bigger plans, Miss Quinn. My career has barely begun.”
“So you throw away one of your own men to save yourself.”
“John Tierney is old and tired and unwilling to make the tough decisions.”
“He’s the best chief you have.”
“He swallows half a bottle of pain pills a day,” Walker countered.
“Because of an injury he got on the job.”
“You don’t seem to understand, Miss Quinn. I will not wait for John Tierney to make another, more costly mistake. I will not wait for the media to reveal that one of my deputy chiefs has a serious addiction to prescription drugs. Not to mention close ties to the Mob.”
“Outfit,” Maggie corrected. “They like to be called the Outfit.”
“And unlike the mayor, I think the Outfit is dead, powerless,” Walker said casually.
“They’re not gone, they just got smarter,” Maggie said.
Walker paused. “John Tierney is a liability and nothing else.”
“You could throw a fucking stone and hit twenty cops dirtier than him and you know it.” Maggie stared at Walker, stared at the cold eyes, the taut lips. “You don’t like him.”
Walker barely paused before popping another roll in his mouth.
“That’s all it is, isn’t it?” Maggie said. “No big political move. No saving face. No protecting your department. You just don’t like him.”
Jerome Walker took a sip of his Diet Coke.
“John Tierney makes you feel inadequate and you don’t stand for that, do you? You don’t like people who know more than you. Makes you feel threatened. That’s why you let them get rid of Harley. And me. All you needed was a good excuse to get rid of the chief.”
“And you gave it to me.” Jerome Walker smiled, wiped his mouth and tossed the napkin down. “I have to get to my meeting.”
Maggie whispered, “You’ll pay for this.”
“Is that a threat?” Walker asked glibly as he checked his watch.
“Yes,” Maggie said.
Jerome Walker didn’t like what he saw when he looked at the women across from him.
Maggie didn’t eat lunch, couldn’t touch dinner. Carmen begged, but it did no good. She threatened to call Paddy Quinn, but Maggie simply sat and stared into the backyard as her brain clicked.
“Hey, baby. How you doing?”
She didn’t need to turn around. “I’m okay, Harley. How about you?”
“Out of work,” the ME said as he fidgeted in the doorway.
“I hope my dad’s paying you well for jumping off the cliff.” Of course he was. Paddy Quinn was the reason Ed Harley took the fall so willingly. The reason IA never came to her. The reason Walker wouldn’t touch her. “You didn’t have to cover for me, you know. I was the one who gave you the earring.”
“I could’ve said no. It was my choice. I gotta live with it.”
“I guess,” Maggie said softly.
“You heard Tierney’s taking early retirement?” Harley muttered.
“No, I didn’t.” But she guessed as much after her meeting with Walker.
“It’s better than a lot of things that could’ve happened. Thought for sure the old man was going to bite it big.”
Maggie nodded.
“Dublowski’s over in the Third now.”
Where there were as many homicides in a year as Area One had in two months. “He must be back with his wife.” Maggie smiled. “So is that why you’re here? Fill me in on all the gossip?”
“No. I just wanted to make sure… It’s not…” Harley couldn’t bring himself to look at Maggie. “Look, we all pretty much fucked this one up. Most of the shit just happened to land on me. That’s all.”
That was her father talking. The old man must’ve asked Harley to make the visit. Clear away any guilt his little girl might be feeling so she wouldn’t do anything stupid. Harley hadn’t fucked up. He chose to help a friend because he felt responsible. One bad move in his entire career and he got caught. And she forced it on him, manipulated him. Like Harley, Maggie would have to live with it.
“Well, I gotta go,” the ME said quietly.
Maggie didn’t ask if she’d see him again. Ed Harley wouldn’t be coming back. Not for a while, at least. His life was ruined. He would have money. Paddy Quinn would see to that. But people like Harley didn’t need money, they needed work. And trust. He would have neither.
The ME slumped back to the door. He stopped at the place where the blood-stained wood had been replaced. “You still think he was guilty?”
“Russo wasn’t left-handed,” Maggie said. “Galen wasn’t O positive.”
Harley nodded. “Wouldn’t hold up in court.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“You should lock your door, you know. Anyone could wander in.”
Maggie hadn’t locked any door since Galen walked out of the courtroom a free man. It was an experiment. See how much fate wanted to fuck her. It had done a pretty good job so far.
“I’ll try to remember,” she said as Ed Harley walked out of her life.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Maggie sat in the library for the next two days. She refused all calls from her father, refused the meals Carmen made, refused her medication. She sat with the door closed and the dark calling to her, whispering promises. Tapping on the windows, scratching at the door. Waiting to be let in. And Maggie sat, staring out the window into the backyard.
On the third day, Simon Katz showed up. A decision had been made. Arrangements finalized. Maggie was to move to the hospital in Elgin. Representatives would be there the next day to pick her up.
“He thinks it’s for the best,” the lawyer said as he sat on the couch. “He’s afraid. He doesn’t think you should be left alone.”
“I have Carmen,” Maggie said.
“Carmen gave her notice,” Katz said dryly. “She said she won’t watch you get worse.”
Maggie nodded, then went to the desk, scribbled something on a piece of notebook paper and handed it to Uncle Si. “Give this to him.”
The old man paused.
“It’s all right. Read it.”
Simon Katz unfolded the page. The note was brief and to the point. A written record of what her father already knew. Any attempt to put Maggie in any type of facility would sever her ties to Paddy Quinn forever. She would simply disappear and, Maggie guaranteed, no one would find her. Alive, at least.
“I’ll do it,” Maggie said. “Make sure he understands that.”
The lawyer nodded.
It was a coarse threat, but effective. Maggie’s father would call off the dogs and leave her alone. Completely alone, Maggie reminded herself. No family, no friends, no job, no life. Things would have to change again. That was her life. Things always changed and usually for the worse.
After Uncle Si left, Maggie went upstairs to dress. Things would change. A thought had grown in Maggie’s mind, through Rayney’s death, the encounter in Galen’s garage, and the failed preliminary trial. The thought whispered in her ear in the early hours of the morning before the sun dared show itself. The plan grew in her mind as she stared at the dark corner in the backyard. It was a risk, but that didn’t matter. She just needed the vehicle to present itself. If it didn’t, she would take matters into her own hands.
But the gods smiled earlier that week and an invitation was left in her mailbox. No postmark. No stamp. Hand-delivered. Probably while she slept. She imagined Galen’s face as he slipped it into the wrought iron box, fighting the urge to walk thro
ugh the unlocked door and finish what he started.
As Maggie prepared to meet her man, she cranked the music high, let it fill the house.
D for Defenseless.
For Disabled.
Defeated.
That’s how he wanted her. A walking example of his power. Not a problem. Maggie Quinn could do Defeated.
The dark seeped out of Maggie’s underwear drawer as she fished for what she needed. The shadows crawled up her arm, curled around her neck. Maggie didn’t bother with the lights. Not today. Her hand dug deeper. There it was. Right where she left it... taped to the top edge of the back of the drawer. Where it had always been for the last year and a half.
It was eight o’clock and very dark when Maggie pressed the doorbell. Daylight Savings Time was only a week away. The flashlight in her purse helped her get to the steps… that and the thought of her man inside. Now she waited at the carved wooden doors as the dark saturated every inch of her body, flowed down onto the steps of the house, and soaked into the walls and through the windows. The shadows curled around her neck like a fine fur, purring in her ear, saying all the things Maggie expected them to say. She reached up to wipe the moisture from her face, but there was none. She was beyond that now. Beyond nerves. Beyond care.
When the door finally opened, Maggie handed the invitation to the hired help. Disappearing into the crowd, she found the hors d’oeuvre table and pressed herself into the corner near it. She survived on protein drinks for the last five days. Her stomach growled as she picked up a canapé and popped it in her mouth.
“Hello, Maggie.” Marcus Galen was smiling at her side.
“Nice party.”
“I didn’t think I’d see you,” he replied. “You surprise me.”
“Well, that’s something.” A wicked smirk curled Maggie’s lips. She calmly pulled it back, stared at the man, then at the floor. “You know what? I need to go. It was a mistake to come here. A big mistake.”
“And why is that?”
She could smell the tension in his body. The surgeon couldn’t refuse one more encounter. “I thought I would be okay. That I could handle this,” Maggie said as turned her back on him. “I was wrong.”
Galen slid in closer to Maggie, touched her arm, let the smell of his cologne surround her. “You almost ruined me. The least you can do is stay a while. Celebrate the end of all this, the death of the real killer.” He paused. “Let’s have a drink and put it to rest.”
Maggie lifted her eyes, red from lack of sleep. Her cheeks were sunken from the liquid diet she imposed on herself. All for Marcus Galen. All to make him think he won. He wouldn’t allow himself to be alone with Maggie if he felt she was a threat. Not after their last encounter.
For the first time since Quinn arrived, the surgeon realized what kind of damage he inflicted. The woman was nothing more than a shell. Barely that. And he was responsible. He ruined her. It was sad and exhilarating at the same time.
“Look at yourself. This whole thing is killing you,” Marcus said gently, taking her hand. “And you’re so cold. There’s brandy in the library. It should help.”
Marcus Galen put his arm around Maggie and led her up the stairs. How many guests noticed, she wondered? How many praised the good doctor? That’s what he wanted after all. Admiration. Marcus Galen. What an incredible person. He can forgive the woman who tried to ruin his life. They would admire him because he did what they couldn’t. He forgave. Actually, Marcus had done what none of them could. It just had nothing to do with forgiveness.
The library was rich and warm. It smelled of books never opened, pages never turned. The doctor brought Maggie to a pair of leather chairs very much like the chairs in her own library. She paused. The chairs, like hers. The stereo system, hers. The angle the desk faced the window. Just like her desk and her window. The color of the couch, her couch. Maggie wondered if it pulled out into a hide-a-bed already made with sheets matching the ones she slept on that morning.
She sat near the raging fireplace and watched as the doctor poured brandy, warming it in his hand with flourish. A well-scripted scene, complete with props. Marcus Galen was the director and the star. Maggie, the defeated antagonist. He handed her the glass, then took a seat in the matching Morris leather chair. His eyes grabbed her, tried to pull her in. Fine, Maggie thought, let’s get this over with.
“Drink. It’ll warm you,” the doctor said, taking a generous gulp.
Maggie let the brandy wash into her mouth, swirl against her tonsils and disappear.
Galen leaned forward like a well-intentioned analyst. “Maggie, don’t you get tired of this whole facade? I know I do.”
“Yes.” Her eyes didn’t waver from their mark. “I get very tired.”
Something about her made Galen pause. “You’re playing with me,” he smiled, sitting back in his chair, shaking his head. “Amazing. After everything you’ve been through and you’re still obsessed. What do you expect to accomplish?”
“Not one thing, Marcus,” Maggie lied.
The doctor couldn’t contain his laughter. “Russo was right-handed. Everyone except Melinda Phillips was killed by someone who was left-handed. And I’m left-handed. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it.”
“Sounds like you’re a regular BS man. Prying into my mind. Seeing all my secret thoughts.” Maggie paused. “So what else am I thinking, Marcus?”
He smiled, enjoying their game. “You’ll always be looking over my shoulder? You’ll always be there, watching every move I make.”
“Nice try,” Maggie said, inhaling the aroma of the brandy. “But I won’t.”
The last several days Marcus watched Maggie in her library and knew she was defeated. Sitting for hours, staring out her window. Refusing to eat, barely sleeping. Even so, he still felt something strange from her. “I see what you’re doing. I see it.”
“Yeah, well, good for you.” She picked up a book and started paging through it.
“You know you’re still attracted to me.”
“What?” Maggie acted as though she hadn’t been listening.
“I intrigue you.”
“You were my job,” she said honestly. “Now the job’s over.”
“There is something between us. You can’t deny it.”
“And if I did, would you believe me?”
“You would be lying.”
“Well, then I won’t waste my time.” Maggie reached in her bag. “I did bring you something. A little parting gift.”
A clang of metal as an X-Acto knife slid across the table. Of course, it wasn’t the one Galen used on Rayney. It was just a knife anyone could pick up at any Walgreens or keep in a drawer. The surgeon’s eyes settled on the silver blade. There it was. Right behind his eyes. Maggie saw it and smiled.
“Go ahead. See how it feels. Just for fun.” Maggie knew the surgeon couldn’t resist the sheer irony of the offer.
Marcus smiled. “If that’s your trap, it’s a fairly poor one.” He should just let the knife lay, be insulted by the act or perhaps amused. She would appreciate his amusement more than his anger. Although in her current state, anger might bring out something new. Before he could decide, an odd energy took over. Familiar, but this time impossible to ignore.
“Go ahead,” Maggie said, watching him think. “Carries a lot of power, doesn’t it.”
Galen stared at the blade. Like an addict, he knew he should resist, but suddenly wasn’t sure he could.
“Like swinging a big dick, huh.”
“Do you really have to speak like that?” he said.
“Just words, Marcus. Nothing dangerous.” Maggie stared into the fire. “You’ve been thinking about it, haven’t you? I knew you wanted it. I guess I just didn’t realize how much.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking
about.”
“You didn’t really plan to kill Rayney. You were hoping for me.”
Maggie heard the doctor’s breath catch. She got up and stared at the titles on the shelves.
“I thought of it after that day in your garage. You came for me a lot quicker than I expected. A lot quicker than I think you expected.”
Maggie heard Marcus Galen shift in the leather chair. That was a hit, she told herself.
“I’ve run the times through my head over and over and I just don’t think you got what you wanted. It’s a safe bet you came over after you talked to Harley. You knew it was grocery day… because you watched.” Maggie smiled. “Just like you used to watch your neighbors when you were a kid. Like you watch your victims. You’re a voyeur. That’s something you’re never going to give up.
“Really, Maggie,” Galen chuckled.
“And because you watched, you knew Rayney never gets back before three-thirty. You wouldn’t risk taking on both of us. But then you already knew that I’d been staying home from shopping. Too much work trying to nail your ass.”
“This is completely ridiculous, Maggie,” Marcus said. “Are you sure you took your medication today?”
She ignored the jab. “And you didn’t think I’d go to Angela Murphy’s autopsy because it’d be too hard. Too hard to see the same surgery that killed my daughter. Honest mistake. You don’t really know me. But I went with Dublowski and Rayney went shopping early. And you found him,” Maggie paused. ”Instead of me.”
“Are you trying to formulate another plot?”
“I don’t have to. You did it for me.” She turned and caught his eye. “Was Angela Murphy difficult for you, Marcus? Three years. That’s a lot of time to fuck someone, then just split them open. But you had to cover, didn’t you?”
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