Dying for Mercy

by Mary Jane Clark

  Tuxedo Park residents weren’t going to stand for the threat and disruption to their sheltered world. They would find somebody else who could keep them safe if Clay didn’t.

  While his immediate reaction was to stonewall the press, that wasn’t going to work any longer. Once it got out that Eliza Blake had been attacked, every imaginable news outlet would be demanding facts and details—demands that complicated an already escalating and tangled situation.

  He simply had to release some information. Otherwise it would look like he had something to hide.

  CHAPTER 99

  The surgeon finally emerged.

  “Mr. McBride has made it through surgery. He’s in intensive care now,” he announced.

  “He’s all right, then?” Eliza asked hopefully.

  The doctor’s face was devoid of expression. “When we got in there, the liver was more damaged than we thought. He’s sustained some very serious injuries. He’ll be carefully monitored, and we’ll know better in a day or two.”

  “Can I see him?” asked Eliza.

  The doctor hesitated. “He’ll be out of it for a while.”

  “I still want to see him,” said Eliza.

  “All right,” said the doctor, aware of who she was and hearing the determination in Eliza’s voice. “But brace yourself. It’s not going to be pretty.”

  After Annabelle, Margo, and B.J. watched Eliza leave the waiting room, Annabelle spoke first.

  “What kind of answer is that?” she asked.

  “An honest one,” said Margo. “We will know better in a day or two. Mack is in for a rough ride.”

  “Mr. Personality,” B.J. said under his breath. “That guy has no bedside manner at all.”

  “Don’t be so hard on him,” said Margo. “You don’t want a doctor who can win a personality contest. You want one who knows what he’s doing.”

  Eliza swayed as if struck when she saw him.

  His face, so tanned and healthy-looking as they’d sat at dinner just hours before, was gray, almost white. A breathing tube protruded from his mouth. His hands lay limp and motionless against the cotton blanket beneath which his chest barely moved.

  She steadied herself, grabbing hold of the bed railing.

  A nurse was studying a beeping monitor. When she noticed Eliza, she smiled feebly. “Try not to worry,” she said. “Sometimes it looks worse than it really is.”

  “Is this one of those times?” asked Eliza as she reached over to take Mack’s hand.

  The nurse either didn’t hear or pretended she didn’t, because she didn’t answer Eliza’s question.

  CHAPTER 100

  She’d been so excited she hadn’t been able to sleep all night. Still, Susannah wasn’t the least bit tired when she arrived at the tennis house. She was exhilarated and hopeful.

  There really was no reason for her to be there so early. The caterers weren’t scheduled to arrive for at least another hour, and the volunteers Valentina had recruited wouldn’t get there until another hour after that. But Susannah relished the time alone and the chance to walk around the deserted outdoor tennis courts. If things went the way she wanted them to go, soon she’d be able to play on the courts herself as a member of the Black Tie Club.

  Susannah was roused from her daydream by the sound of a car pulling into the parking area adjacent to the courts. She looked over and saw a woman she recognized get out of her dark green Jaguar. The woman walked toward Susannah, a worried expression on her face.

  “Hello, Marjorie.”

  “Hi, Susannah.”

  Susannah was thrilled that the woman knew her name. Marjorie was one of the park residents who usually ignored her, acting as if she didn’t exist.

  “Have you heard?” asked Marjorie.

  “Heard what?”

  “Eliza Blake and her boyfriend were run off the road near the boathouse last night.”

  Susannah winced. “How horrible. Are they all right?”

  “I heard she’s okay, but he was really hurt.” Marjorie shook her head as she unzipped her jacket. “I don’t know what’s going on around here, but it scares me to death. First the Wheelock suicide, then his architect murdered, and then that poor woman who lives in the little ranch.”

  ”What woman? What little ranch?” asked Susannah.

  “I didn’t know her, but apparently she was hammered to death when she went out to walk her dog. Can you imagine? They found her body in the bushes down the road from her house. Didn’t you know? Everyone is taking about it.”

  Susannah averted her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve been so focused on this Special Olympics thing that I haven’t really talked to anyone. What are the police saying?”

  “They don’t seem to be saying or doing a thing,” said Marjorie. “I tell you, I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin. That’s why I figured I’d come down here and get some time in the exercise room. It helps me hold on to my sanity.”

  Susannah watched as the woman started toward the tennis house. Marjorie turned around and called back, “You know, Susannah, organizing this event was very good of you. I’ll be back later to help out.”

  Marjorie smiled, and Susannah thought, Good. My plan is working.

  CHAPTER 101

  They think he’s going to be out for quite a while,” said Eliza as she rejoined the group in the waiting room.

  “Why don’t you go home and take a hot shower and try to get a little sleep?” suggested Margo. “I’ll stay here and wait.”

  Eliza looked at her uncertainly. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I want to be here when he wakes up.”

  “Listen to me, Eliza,” said Margo, taking her friend’s arm. “It doesn’t make sense for you to sit here. Don’t forget, you were in an accident, too. Go, get cleaned up, get something to eat, and take a rest. I truly doubt that Mack is going to wake up anytime soon.”

  Reluctantly, Eliza agreed. “All right,” she said. “But I want to call Mack’s parents in Florida first and let them know what’s happened.”

  “We’ll take you,” said Annabelle, indicating B.J. “I spoke to Linus while you were in with Mack. We’ve got some work to do.”

  Eliza looked at them quizzically.

  “Chief Vitalli is finally going to hold a news conference, and B.J. and I are going to cover it.” Annabelle’s facial expression was strained.

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?” said Eliza.

  “Yes,” Annabelle answered in a somber tone. “It just crossed the wires a little while ago. There’s been another murder. Aurelia Patterson is dead.”

  Within the next half hour, Eliza made the difficult phone call to the senior McBrides, assuring them that everything possible was being done and promising that she would keep them posted, calling as soon as Mack woke up.

  While Eliza talked, Annabelle drew her a hot bath.

  “Oh, that feels good.” Eliza sighed as she sank into the deep tub.

  “You’ve got to realize that you took a pretty serious tumble in that car, Eliza. Your body is going to be sore,” said Annabelle. “Beej is downstairs making some tea. Then we’ve got to get going if we expect to make the presser. Will you be all right?”

  Eliza nodded. “Yes. I feel like I should be going to the press conference with you guys. I asked Vitalli for the police report on that accident twenty years ago on West Lake Road when I spoke with him on the phone on Friday, but he put me off.”

  “I’ll see if I can get it from him,” promised Annabelle. “And don’t worry about not being there yourself. We’ll fill you in on whatever we find out.”

  Annabelle left Eliza, went downstairs, and came back up again with a tray.

  “Tea and toast,” she said. “Just what the doctor ordered.”

  “Thanks, Annabelle. Now you’d better get going.”

  Annabelle hesitated. “I hate to leave you, but I’m feeling a little better about it since the security guard has arrived. He’s stationed outside.”

  “
I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” said Eliza. “But will you lock the doors downstairs? The residents of Tuxedo Park may feel all right about leaving their houses open, but I don’t—even with a guard in front.”

  “All right,” said Annabelle. “And I’m leaving my cell phone for you in case you need it.”

  CHAPTER 102

  News that someone had tried to kill Eliza Blake and Mack McBride sent media coverage into high gear. The Tuxedo Park police station was being deluged with calls from national and international newspapers and television and radio stations demanding information, requesting that a police press conference be held, and pleading that they be permitted to enter Tuxedo Park.

  Chief Vitalli had tightened security at the main gate. He had chosen to hold his press conference at the public library in town. The parking lot was filled with print and broadcast journalists and camera crews eager for information about the attack on two of their own. Satellite trucks and other news vehicles choked traffic on the main roadway, requiring police to move things along.

  “Good news travels fast,” said Annabelle, seeing the media. “Even Tokyo Broadcasting is here.”

  B.J. plugged his audio line into the mult box, joining the other network and local television and radio stations that also planned to record Chief Vitalli’s statement and the answers to their questions. The din of voices and shouts of the newspeople quieted down as the tall, uniformed man with the buzz cut and craggy face stepped up to the microphone.

  “Good morning. I am Clay Vitalli, chief of the Tuxedo Park Police Department. I have a statement which I will read to you, and then I’ll take a few of your questions.”

  Vitalli cleared his throat and looked down at his notes.

  “Over the last week, Tuxedo Park has been the scene of a series of violent and deadly incidents that have left our community reeling and fearful. Last Sunday the suicide of one of our most respected citizens, Innis Wheelock; on Wednesday the murder of Zachary Underwood, a talented architect who has worked on many renovations in the park; and yesterday the body of Aurelia Patterson, a park resident, was found hidden in a wooded area close to her home. And as most of you also know, last night Eliza Blake and Mack McBride of KEY News were run off the road inside the park as they drove home from dinner. Fortunately, both of them survived.”

  Vitalli looked out at the assemblage.

  “We consider all these to be heinous and horrific acts, and we take them, and the investigation of them, very seriously. The Tuxedo Park Police Department is devoting itself to following any and all information that could possibly lead to solving the murders of Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Patterson and the attack on Ms. Blake and Mr. McBride.”

  “What condition are Eliza and Mack in now?” asked a reporter.

  “As I understand it, Mr. McBride is in Good Samaritan Hospital. Ms. Blake was uninjured. But for the particulars on that, you’ll have to consult the press information department at KEY News.”

  A reporter in the back shouted out, “Are you calling in outside help? You have a small department.”

  “We are working with the Tuxedo police on the Underwood murder, since it happened outside the park itself. But any crime committed on park grounds will remain exclusively under Tuxedo Park police jurisdiction.”

  “What details can you give us about Aurelia Patterson?” asked a CNN producer.

  “Mrs. Patterson worked as a secretary for Mr. Underwood. She lived alone. We think she was murdered while walking her dog on Friday night. Her body was discovered by a couple who were taking a stroll on Saturday afternoon.”

  “How was she killed?”

  “Blunt-force trauma to the head,” said Chief Vitalli.

  “Do you know what kind of instrument was used?”

  “We suspect it was a hammer.”

  There was a momentary pause in the questioning as the journalists digested the information.

  “Was there anything outstanding or interesting about the way the body was positioned?” Annabelle called out.

  Chief Vitalli looked up sharply. He didn’t answer right away.

  “Beyond the fact that her head had been bashed in?” he asked sarcastically. “I’d say that was pretty outstanding.”

  Annabelle was undeterred. “Let me be more specific, Chief. Had the killer staged the murder scene? Had he moved the body so as to suggest that he was trying to send a message? Had he left any sort of calling card?”

  “No comment,” said Vitalli.

  Annabelle broke away from the crowd, following Vitalli as he left the microphone.

  “Chief!” she called. “Wait.”

  Vitalli turned and looked at her with irritation.

  “I’m Annabelle Murphy, with KEY News. Eliza Blake asked you for an old police report, the one on the West Lake Road accident. I’d like to get it from you and bring it to her.”

  “And I’d like to be a millionaire, but that ain’t gonna happen,” snapped Chief Vitalli. “Are you kidding me? My department has much more important things to work on than pulling old police reports and worrying about something that happened two decades ago. We’ve got life-and-death situations right now.”

  CHAPTER 103

  Easing herself out of the bathtub, Eliza dried herself carefully. Her body ached all over. Her neck was stiff, her legs and arms felt heavy, and the palms of her hands hurt from the cuts she’d suffered climbing up the hill.

  She put on a robe and lay down on the bed, noticing that Annabelle had left her cell phone on the table. Eliza picked it up and called Margo, who told her that Mack was still asleep but assured her that everything was going as well as could be expected. A security guard was posted outside Mack’s room.

  “You should close your eyes and try to sleep, too,” said Margo.

  Eliza knew she had some Advil in her purse, but she’d left that in the car. For the first time, she thought about her wallet and the credit cards and driver’s license that she needed to get back. The keys to her house in Ho-Ho-Kus were also in the bag.

  Worried and vulnerable, Eliza got up and went back into the bathroom, where she found a bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet. She took three. But deep and satisfying sleep wouldn’t come as she lay down again on the bed. She kept drifting in and out of wakefulness.

  Images of the accident ran through her mind. The terror of being pushed over the hillside, the fear of losing Mack, her flight to get help, hiding from the person who had attacked them so viciously, crouching in the darkness unsure of what to do, the sound of metal raining down against metal. What was that noise?

  Then the visions switched. Innis with the stigmata wounds and Zack, strangled and sitting in a chair, holding a reed scepter like royalty. There was something that connected them. But what?

  A sharp knocking on the door downstairs startled Eliza. She got up and slowly descended the staircase. Before opening the front door, she looked out the window. Valentina Wheelock was standing outside with the security guard.

  “I heard about what happened, and I’ve been trying to reach you, but there’s been no answer,” said Valentina, frowning.

  “That’s because I left my phone at the scene of the accident. It wasn’t getting any reception there.”

  Valentina shook her head in disgust. “We have to have something done about that. Cell service is so spotty up here. Maybe now that there’s been an accident where people’s lives were at stake, we can demand better service.” Valentina’s voice softened as she asked, “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” said Eliza, opening the door wide for her to enter. “It’s Mack we have to worry about.”

  Eliza gave Valentina details. “Valentina, all of this is connected with Innis’s death. I’m sure of it,” she said. “When we left your house after lunch yesterday, Mack and I went to Nine Chimneys. We found five carved wooden blocks inside the only standing chimney.” She nodded toward the table where the cubes still sat. “The blocks are just like the ones on your fireplace.”

  “The on
es that spell ‘ROMA’?”

  “Yes,” said Eliza, “and look at this.”

  Valentina followed her over to the table. Eliza arranged the wooden cubes and cutout paper squares to spell “crematory.”

  Valentina held her hand to her chest. “My God. Was Innis telling us that Nine Chimneys was used as a crematorium? That someone was…cremated there?”

  “I don’t know,” said Eliza. “Try to think back, Valentina. Can you remember when Nine Chimneys burned down? Was it before or after Marty O’Shaughnessy’s car was deserted on West Lake Road?”

  The older woman’s face had turned ashen. “It was several years before,” she said slowly. “Let me see,” she said, her brows furrowing as she searched her memory. “Yes, I remember that I was pregnant with Rusty when the car was found, and Fitzroy and Unity had already been living in the apartment over the clubhouse for several years by then.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” said Eliza.

  Valentina glanced at her watch. “I’m sorry, dear, but I have to get going to that Special Olympics thing.”

  Eliza closed her yes. “Oh, I completely forgot about it.”

  “And understandably so,” said Valentina.

  “If you can wait for a few minutes, I’ll go upstairs and throw something on,” said Eliza, starting for the stairs.

  Valentina took hold of her arm. “No one expects you to come, dear,” she said. “We couldn’t have known all that would happen when you committed to it. Everyone will understand.”

  “I’ll just go for a little while,” said Eliza. “People are expecting me, and I don’t want to disappoint them. I had said I would go, and I will, if only for a little while.”

  CHAPTER 104