Are You Afraid of the Dark?

by Sidney Sheldon

Chapter Twenty

  IN THE COFFEE shop across the street from KIG headquarters, Diane Stevens and Kelly Harris were seated at a corner booth. Kelly was waiting for Diane to speak.

  Diane was not sure how to begin. What was the dreadful thing that happened to your husband, Mrs. Harris? Had he been murdered, like Richard?

  Kelly said impatiently, "Well? You said you wanted to talk to me about my husband. How well did you know Mark?" "I didn't know him, but-" Kelly was furious. "You said you-" "I said I wanted to talk about him. " Kelly rose. "I don't have time for this, lady. " She started to walk away.

  "Wait! I think we might both have the same problem, and we may be able to help each other. " Kelly stopped. "What are you talking about?" "Please sit down. " Reluctantly, Kelly returned to her seat in the booth. "Go ahead. " "I wanted to ask you if-" A waiter approached the table with a menu. "What would you ladies like?" To be out of here, Kelly thought. "Nothing. " Diane said, "Two coffees. " Kelly looked at Diane and said defiantly, "Make mine tea. " "Yes, ma'am. " The waiter left.

  Diane said, "I think that you and I-" A young girl came up to the table and said to Kelly, "Can I have your autograph?" Kelly looked at her. "Do you know who I am?" "No, but my mother says you're important. " Kelly said, "I'm not. " "Oh. " They watched the little girl leave.

  Diane looked at Kelly, puzzled. "Should I know who you are?" "No. " Kelly added pointedly, "And I don't like busybodies prying into my life.

  What is this all about,

  Mrs. Stevens?" "Diane, please. I heard that something terrible had happened to your husband and-" "Yes, he was killed. " Did you and Mark ever discuss Olga?

  "My husband was killed, too. And they both worked for KIG. " Kelly said impatiently, "Is that it? Well, so do thousands of other people. If two of them caught colds, would you call it an epidemic?" Diane leaned forward. "Look, this is important. First of all-" Kelly said, "Sorry. I'm not in the mood to listen to this. " She picked up her purse.

  "I'm not in the mood to talk about it," Diane snapped, "but it could be very-" Diane's voice suddenly echoed through the coffee shop.

  "There were four men in the room. " Startled, Diane and Kelly turned toward the sound. Diane's voice was coming from a TV set above the counter. She was in the courtroom, on the witness stand.

  "One of them was in a chair, tied up. Mr. Altieri seemed to be questioning him while the two other men stood next to him. Mr. Altieri pulled out a gun, yelled something, and shot the man in the head. " The anchorman appeared on the screen.

  "That was Diane Stevens, testifying in the murder trial of accused Mafia head Anthony Altieri. The jury has just brought in a verdict of not guilty. " Diane sat there, stunned. "Not guilty?" "The murder that took place almost two years ago charged Anthony Altieri with killing one of his employees. In spite of Diane Stevens's testimony, the jury believed other witnesses who contradicted her. " Kelly was staring at the set, wide-eyed. A new witness appeared on the stand.

  Jake Rubenstein, Altieri's lawyer, was asking:

  "Dr. Russell, do you have a practice in New York?" "No. I'm located only in Boston. " "On the day in question, did you treat Mr. Altieri for a heart problem?" "Yes. About nine A. M. I kept him under observation for the whole day. " "So he could not have been in New York on October fourteenth?" "No. " Another witness appeared on the screen:

  "Would you tell us your occupation, sir?" "I'm the manager of the Boston Park Hotel. " "Were you on duty last October fourteenth?" "Yes, I was. " "Did anything unusual happen that day?" "Yes. I received an urgent phone call from the penthouse suite to send a doctor up there immediately. " "What happened next?" "I called Dr. Joseph Russell and he came right over. We went to the penthouse suite to check on the guest, Anthony Altieri. " "What did you see when you got there?" "Mr. Altieri, lying on the floor. I thought he was going to die in our hotel. " Diane had turned pale. "They're lying," she said hoarsely. "Both of them. " Anthony Altieri was being interviewed. He looked frail and sickly.

  "Do you have any plans for the immediate future, Mr. Altieri?" "Now that justice has been done, I'm just going to take it easy for a while.

  "Altieri smiled thinly.

  "Maybe clean up a few old debts. " Kelly was dumbstruck. She turned to Diane. "You testified against him?" "Yes. I saw him kill-" Kelly's trembling hands spilled some tea and knocked over a salt-shaker. "I'm getting out of here. " "What are you so nervous about?" "What am I nervous about? You tried to have the head of the Mafia sent to prison and he's free, and he's going to clean up a few old debts, and you want to know what I'm nervous about? You should be nervous. " Kelly rose and threw some money on the table. "I'll pick up the check. You'd better save your money for traveling expenses, Mrs. Stevens. " "Wait! We haven't talked about our husbands or-" "Forget it. " Kelly headed for the door and Diane reluctantly pursued her.

  "I think you're overreacting," Diane argued. Do you?

  As they reached the exit, Kelly said, "I don't understand how you could be so stupid as to-" An elderly man, entering on crutches, slipped and started to fall. For an instant, Kelly was in Paris and it was Mark who was falling, and she reached down to save him, and at the same time, Diane moved to catch him. At that moment, from across the street two loud shots rang out, the bullets smashing into the wall where the women had been standing. The explosion brought Kelly back to instant reality. She was in Manhattan and had just had tea with a crazy woman.

  "My God!" Diane exclaimed. "We-" "This is no time to pray. Let's get the hell out of here!" Kelly propelled Diane to the curb where Colin was standing, next to the limousine. He pulled the car door open, and Kelly and Diane tumbled into the backseat.

  "What was that noise?" Colin asked.

  The two women sat there, huddled in the seat, too unnerved to speak.

  Finally, Kelly said, "It-er, must have been a backfire. " She turned to Diane, who was fighting to regain her composure. "I hope I'm not overreacting," she said sarcastically.

  "I'll drop you off. Where do you live?" Diane took a deep breath and gave Colin the address of her apartment building.

  The two women rode there in stony silence, shaken by what had just happened.

  When the car pulled up in front of her building, Diane turned to Kelly. "Will you come in? I'm a little jittery. I have a feeling something more might happen. " Kelly said curtly, "I have the same feeling-but it's not going to happen to me.

  Good-bye, Mrs. Stevens. " Diane looked at Kelly a moment, started to say something, then shook her head and got out of the car.

  Kelly watched as Diane walked into the foyer and entered her apartment on the first floor. Kelly gave a sigh of relief.

  Colin said, "Where would you like to go, Mrs. Harris?" "Back to the hotel, Colin, and-" There was a loud scream from the apartment. Kelly hesitated an instant, then opened the car door and raced inside the building. Diane had left the door to her apartment wide open. She was standing in the middle of the room, trembling.

  "What happened?" "Someone-someone's broken in here. Richard's briefcase was on this table and it's gone. It was filled with his papers. They left his wedding ring in its place. " Kelly looked around nervously. "You'd better call the police. " "Yes. " Diane remembered the card that Detective Greenburg had left on the hall table. She walked over to it and picked it up. A minute later, she was on the phone, saying, "Detective Earl Greenburg, please.

  There was a brief delay.

  "Greenburg. " "Detective Greenburg, this is Diane Stevens. Something has happened here. I wonder if you could come by the apartment and?thank you. " Diane took a deep breath and turned to Kelly. "He's coming. If you don't mind waiting until he-" "I do mind. This is your problem. I don't want any part of it. And you might mention that someone just tried to kill you. I'm leaving for Paris. Good-bye, Mrs. Stevens. " Diane watched as Kelly walked outside and headed for the limousine.

  "Where to?" Colin asked.

  "Back to the hotel, please. "

&
nbsp; Where she would be safe.