Night Hunter (35 page)

“
Then what? What is it?”

He turned and started to walk in the opposite direction.

“
John,” she called out.

He stopped, but didn’t turn.

She came around to stand in front of him. “Damnit, you dragged me into this and I can’t do it alone.”

He stared at her a long moment before looking away.

“
Okay,” she said. “We’ll do it your way--for now. But I’m going to want some answers soon.”

“
Deal.”

She sighed, thrust the car keys at him, and said, “I’ll meet you at the car in an hour.” Then she walked away, her strides long and smooth.

Regina told Detective Lillard everything she and John had told Wilma, only she didn’t mention John. She showed the detective the fingernail and produced the cassette, explaining that she assumed it was a threat.

He sat at his desk facing her, his legs parted, the cassette in one hand and the plastic bag with the fingernail in the other. He looked curiously at first one and then the other.

“
Are you going to listen to it?” she asked, nodding at the cassette.

He swiveled around to a small tape recorder on the desk and fitted the tape into the machine. He pressed a button. There was a beep, a dial tone, and then a recorded voice intoned, “We’re sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again.”

She sat straight up. “Rewind it.”

He rewound the tape, pressed play again. The same message repeated.

Stunned, Regina could only slump back in the chair. “How?” she whispered. “It was erased. But how? It was there, damnit.”

“
What did it say?” the detective asked.

She struggled to think clearly. “The prettiest shall be last. Who’—no—’which one is the prettiest?’”

“
You say it was somehow erased?”

She nodded. It was coming back to her now. The two calls in the middle of the night.

“
Who’s the prettiest?”

“
What?” She brought her attention back. “Oh, I think what he —or she —was referring to would be the finalists, there are only two of us left. Amelia Corde and me.”

“
So who’s the prettiest?”

“
Excuse me?”

His brow furrowed. “Isn’t Amelia Corde the raven-haired siren with the blood-red lips and steely eyes?”

Regina wanted to laugh, his description was so clichéd, yet so apt. “That’s the one.”

He popped the cassette out of the recorder, handed it to her. “You’re prettier.”

Regina said nothing. There was no comfort in knowing she would be last on this maniac’s list.

“
How’d you know the Kowalski’s dog was poisoned?” he asked.

“
I called the animal hospital and was told by the doctor on duty.”

She watched him scribble on a pad.

“
She was a friend of yours, this Kowalski?”

“
Yes.”

“
What would you say was her state of mind prior to her death?”

“
Confused. Scared. Terrified, actually.”

“
Depressed?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Suicidal?”

She shrugged. “She didn’t say. But I don’t think so.”

“
What do you think happened that day at The Fitness Center?” His tone was soft, patient, patronizing.

“
We —I ...
I think she was attacked by whoever attacked Donna Lake.”

“
There was no corrosive material.”

“
Maybe there was. I think she had chlorine thrown in her face. It momentarily blinded her. She fell in the pool and for some reason couldn’t get back out.”

“
What reason?”

“
I don’t know that. Someone held her under? She panicked?”

“
Why would this someone use an acid-like substance on—what was the first one’s name? Oh, yes, Corinne Odett—Odett and Lake, and then use plain ol’ chlorine on Kowalski?”

Regina bit her lower lip. This was going nowhere, she told herself. She was wasting her time.

“
Mrs. Van Raven, our investigation in the Kowalski death was quite thorough. The Center was gone over with a fine tooth comb. We missed the fingernail. But even if it was hers--”

“
It was.”

“ —
it has little relevance to the case.”

“
The dog?”

“
A nuisance to the neighborhood. Barking dogs make enemies and are silenced in cruel ways.”

Regina thought she knew better. But what did she have? A cassette tape without a threat. A psychic’s vision. The gut feeling of a man whose own evasiveness was somewhat suspect.

“
I hear you took over the ‘City Gallery’ show.”

“
Temporarily.”

“
I bet the publicity hasn’t hurt the ratings none. Saturday’s program with the psychic claiming to be tuned in to the drowning of Miss Kowalski went over pretty big, huh? And this on the heels of Miss Lake’s well-publicized attack.”

With his implication utterly clear, she stood, took the bag from his hand, and stuffed both bag and cassette back into her purse.

“
This doesn’t mean we won’t continue to investigate the Lake case,” he said.

“
What about Tammy’s case?” she asked flatly.

“
You bring me something solid indicating foul play and I’ll be happy to hear you out.”

He said something else, but his words were lost to her as she marched through the door and out of the detective division.

“
It was erased,” Regina told John as they climbed into the car.

“
The tape?”

“
Yes.” She started the engine and pulled away from the curb.

“
How?”

“
I’m so dumb,” she said, hitting the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. “I should’ve taken the tape out of the machine last night. It never occurred to me that another call would come in the middle of the night and erase the message.”

“
What happened?”

She told him about the two calls.

“
Don’t blame yourself, Regina. You were upset. I should have thought to remove the tape.” John turned to her. “You say you heard the warning message repeated before it was erased?”

“
I think so.” Then it dawned on her what he was asking. “My God, the only way I could have heard his message first was if he used my code number to retrieve it from the tape. How would he know my code?”

“
He’d make it his business to know everything he could about you and the others.”

Regina felt a heaviness bearing down on her.

“
Forget it for now. What did Lillard say?”

As they drove through the midmorning traffic, she related the conversation with the detective. “He practically accused me of fabricating the whole thing for the damned publicity.”

John’s only response was a slow shake of the head.

When she pulled to the curb at the TV station, John looked at her quizzically.

“
You wanted the list of the pageant contestants. It’s in a file in my desk.”

John nodded.

In the rearview mirror Regina saw a dark blue Mercedes pull up behind her. She recognized the driver.

Amelia. She hadn’t wasted any time, Regina thought. To John she said, “Amelia Corde just pulled in behind us.”

“
Would she be coming to see you?”

“
I doubt it, I’d say she’s come to see Nolan about a job.”

“
She has the look of a predator,” he said. “A look I remember well. She’s coming now.”

Regina heard a car door close and then heels clicking off into the distance.

“
I’ll check Nolan’s office. Maybe I can catch some of what they’re saying.”

She went into the building, picked up her messages at the main desk, and hurried back to the production department.

Nolan’s office was the cubicle he shared with Donna. There was no one inside.

Regina went through the files in her desk, looking around as she pulled out the Miss Classic file. With the folder under her arm, she strolled through the department, peeking in other offices.

The door to Max’s office was closed, which was odd because it was rarely closed, even when he was out.

She lifted the phone and buzzed the receptionist.

“
Suzie, is Max in?” Regina asked.

“
Sorry, Regina, he left for lunch about ten minutes ago.”

“
Is Nolan here?”

“
Yes, someone just came in to see him.”

Ten to one, she told herself, Nolan and Amelia were behind that closed door. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

“
I could kill him easily,” a voice behind her said, making her stiffen. Regina turned to see Tom Gansing standing at her desk, his hands made into tight fists. “It’s only been a couple of weeks and already the bastard is scouting for a replacement.”

She could think of nothing to say. Tom rarely showed impatience and never anger. This was so unlike him.

“
He doesn’t deserve her. Donna was always too good for him. But he does deserve that one.” His chin jerked up in the direction of Max’s office.

Regina laid a consoling hand on Tom’s arm.

With a look of chagrin, he said, “I’m sorry, Regina. I didn’t mean to unload on you like that. Forget I said anything.” And with that he turned and walked away.

“
I’m for you all the way, Amelia,” Nolan said. “Regina has her special skills, but hostess, and
live
for crissakes, is not one of them.”

They sat on the leather sofa in Max’s office.

“
Who, aside from Regina, would oppose my filling in for your wife?”

“
Well my wife for one. But don’t concern yourself, I have control in that department. Max is the other. Regina is sleeping with him so that could be a problem.”

The corners of Amelia’s lips curled up. She saw no problem there. Only when someone was beyond sexual manipulation was there a problem.

“
I’ll take care of Max,” she said in a deep, self-assured tone. She saw something flash into Nolan’s eyes. Caution. Wariness. She had to be careful. He was looking for another stooge to lead around. The reason he wanted Regina out was because she couldn’t be led. There was plenty of time after she got the job to rebel and pull the rug out from under him if he became difficult.

Her voice softened, became submissive. She placed a caressing hand on his thigh. “If you could just endorse me, then set up a meeting for the two of us, I think I can help persuade your boss.”