Vanished in the Dunes (22 page)

The roar is deafening despite the muffling effect of the cushion. There is also a recoil he doesn't expect, but the mechanism works. He spins the barrel and sees four bullets left. More than enough. He returns the revolver to his coat pocket. The motor is still running, and he eases the car back onto the road and begins to drive back toward Posner's neighborhood. He stays at the speed limit and exits a few blocks from the Posner turnoff, drives to a nearby beach access, and sits with the engine off. He must wait a bit more. He knows it. So he sits and watches the ocean, but after only ten minutes he needs to get going again.

He leaves the beach and swings the car around an extra few blocks to avoid being seen from Posner's home and approaches the house he's stayed in from the other direction. Just as he cuts into the driveway, the flashing lights from down the block at Posner's house catch his eye. It's only for a moment through, as the garage door is already in motion and daylight disappears in seconds.

The same bedroom window he's used before still offers an unobstructed view of the Posner house. Rotating ambulance and police lights fill that end of the street. There's only one ambulance and he watches two medics wheel a gurney and stretcher up the driveway. The medics lift the stretcher and carry it inside. Four police cars line the street and a fifth arrives as he watches.

There's a large crowd of people milling around. Most are in police uniforms. He also sees Wisdom in pants and jacket and a few men in suits. People enter and leave the house in a steady flow. He sees a pink-and-white dress appear from behind a parked car.

It's her, the bitch. She's alive. The bitch. He curses as he watches her move towards a police car. Wisdom walks over to her, speaks for a moment, and then calls a policeman over. She and Wisdom speak and the policeman listens and writes on a pad. They seem to finish and talk for only a few more seconds then shake hands. She moves her head sideways. She's turning him down.

“What for? Does he want some too? Didn't think you turned anyone down.”

She gets into a red Audi. There are two police cars behind her and she clearly must wait while they pull back. It gives him time. He races back to the garage and into the Chevy. The automatic door rolls opens. The street at his end of the block is still empty. He pulls to the edge of the driveway and watches as she pulls away and turns the corner. He rolls his car into the road and speeds up going down the adjacent block. He should catch up with her in a minute or two. It's hard to lose a red car.

Wisdom is officially out of the picture the moment the Suffolk County Police Department takes over. Still, Bennett is close to the County people and keeps him advised of the case's status. An all out search is on, but by evening there's no immediate sign of Stern.

“He's gone to ground somewhere,” Bennett notes, acknowledging the obvious. “We also found out something about his past that we never knew. Seems that when he was in his teens living upstate, he threatened to kill some girl who publicly humiliated him. A few hours later she was found dead in a car accident. The police investigated, but no charges were ever filed. The inquiry is public knowledge. The info came from the archives of a local paper, the
Berkshire Eagle.”

“That shows zilch, except that maybe he didn't like girls who gave him a hard time.”

“Exactly. It also covers every guy who ever lost out with someone they fancied.”

“Anything official yet from the County Medical Examiner's Office?”

“No surprises. The County ME says that the preliminary result is that Sara Posner died from a lethal injection of insulin. She went into shock and died within a few minutes. It must have been rough shit for Posner. Holding her there while she convulsed then dies and unable to do anything.”

“I should have known when I went inside. I should have spotted it. I've seen insulin shock before.”

“It was already too late when you got there. And why should you have assumed it was insulin shock? She could have been unconscious for a dozen reasons. And remember, no one even found the needle until after the EMTs picked her up because she fell on top of it at some point.

“We did find another needle upstairs. It was full to the brim with insulin, but unused. It was lying on the floor almost hidden amongst a pile of bottles, towels, and whatever. You name it. Stern must have dropped it when he and Posner fought. It's the only possibility, but we'll confirm it when we speak to Posner.”

“So Stern came prepared to kill at least once and maybe again.”

“How's Posner?”

“He's at Southampton Hospital. Doc says maybe County can speak to him this evening. You're welcome to join them. Unofficially, of course.”

“I'd like that. Thanks, but I'm just too busy.”

“Then I'll fill you in later. Okay if I call?”

“That'll work. I'll be here till at least eight.”

“What about the sister?”

“As far as I know she's okay, although she was pretty shook up. I haven't seen or spoken to her since this afternoon, but I think she'll probably be leaving to go back to Geneva in a few days. I did have a cruiser check in on her just to be safe, but she told the uniform not to bother her. Said she'd be all right on her own. I believe she can handle it, but I'll still have someone watch the house until we find this guy.”

“That's good. I shouldn't have confirmed Posner's location. It was stupid and unprofessional.”

The comment surprises Wisdom. It is rare for Bennett to second guess any of his actions.

“Not true. She just conned you good. Probably in the genes. Her sister, Heidi, must have been even better.”

“Yeah, and look where it got her.”

At eight fifteen that evening, Wisdom's cell phone rings. He's hoping it's Bennett and it is.

“Well, Posner's still in a bad way and likely to be that way for a while. They plan to ease up on his sedation, but looks like they'll keep him on it for at least another day or two.”

“Any family to help out?”

“Nothing here. She has relatives in Phoenix. We'll contact them through local channels. He's not yet up to anything like that. NYPD checked with her law firm in the city, but no one was that close. Or at least admitted to it.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Only that some staffers thought she might have strayed off the ranch. But it might only have been office gossip. After all, they did live apart some of the time.”

“This is getting too complicated. What did Posner say?”

“Okay. Just let me smooth out my notes. We did have a stenographer there, so this is the quick-and-dirty version.”

“Go ahead.”

“To start with, Stern knocks and Posner lets him in.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes. That's what he said. Told us he was expecting his wife, or even thought it might be you, since you'd called him earlier. Said Stern just walked in, went up the stairs, and began to threaten him. Accused Posner of having sex with Heidi, and then killing her. After Posner denies the whole thing, Stern pulls out this needle. Doesn't tell Posner what's in it, only that it could kill him. Posner tries to go down the hall to a closet where they keep a loaded gun. There's a valid permit. It's a relic from his wife's brief career as a judge in Queens. Anyway, he doesn't get there in time and they struggle. Stern drops the needle in the fight. That's when Posner hits his head and winds up with the bloody scalp you saw.”

“So when did the wife get involved?”

“After Posner falls down and hits his head, Stern pulls another needle out of his pocket. Posner thinks he's gonna come at him again when the wife walks in.”

“And?”

“And Stern decides to leave and runs down the steps. Posner sees all this from his spot on the floor near the top of the stairs. His wife has just come inside the front door when Stern tumbles into her with the needle. Then he's gone. Runs by your friend Brigid in the driveway and a few minutes later you show up.”

“Could it have been an accident? I mean, sticking the wife.”

“Could have been, but we both know that if you show up with a lethal weapon and it causes a death, you're still responsible. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if Posner revises this sometime later. He was pretty messed up when we spoke.”

There's a pause. Wisdom has an uncanny feeling that both he and Bennett are having the same thoughts about distraught survivors. They both have a history of speaking to people who've overcome big-time trauma. It's never easy. It's never what he thought about before going on the job. Sometimes there's very little to say. He remembers seeing Posner rockhis wife in his arms. He remembers how the poor son of a bitch struggled to keep the medics from taking her away. What could he have said to the man at that moment that would make a difference? But he did say something. He had to. Words of comfort that probably didn't register but were still necessary. It's important for people to know that they're not alone, that someone else cares, however lame it might sound.

Wisdom breaks into the silence. “Did he see what kind of car Stern came in?”

“No.”

“Okay then. We'll have to work with Brigid's visual description of a white car. Did he say anything else?”

“One thing. I wrote it down to get it straight even without waiting for the transcript.”

Wisdom hears the rustle of paper over his cell phone.

“Posner said that, ‘Stern has the gun. He took it with him.' They're his exact words. ‘Stern has the gun.'”

“Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful.”

He shouldn't be driving the Chevy. Someone might have seen it, but he isn't worried. In just a short bit of time he expects to have Heidi's shiny Audi to drive. She's up ahead about a hundred yards farther down the road. The highway is flat and empty. A red Audi makes an easy target to follow despite the fading afternoon light that sends a shadow creeping halfway across the road.

When the highway splits, she takes the right-hand fork onto Old Montauk Highway. In a moment he's riding amidst a network of short blind hills and curves. He needs to slow down, so he takes the risk and brakes, hoping he won't lose her even though he'll fall farther behind. He passes Gurney's Inn to his right on the side that faces the ocean just as he picks up her rear bumper gliding around another turn. When he comes to the top of yet another hill, he sees a flash of red as she pulls a sharp right off the road into a crushed-stone driveway.

He eases off the gas and coasts past the house just as he sees the car disappear around the side. He assumes she parks in back or in a hidden garage. He drives farther along the hilly road for another fifty yards until he finds what seems to be a deserted driveway. He parks behind a clump of trees and begins to walk back up the road.

He's no more than thirty feet from her driveway entrance when he sees a police car coming from the other direction. He slips behind a wall of privet and watches as the white cruiser boldly inscribed with
POLICE
in blue letters moves into her driveway. The police car stops
in front. A tall muscular cop exits and moves to the main entrance. The man's size is enough for Stern to unconsciously move a few feet farther back.

He sees Heidi open the door. She's still dressed in pink and white, but from his position behind a hedge, she somehow looks different. He's not sure why and moves closer, now more confident in his ability to remain unobserved. The cop speaks and she answers. The whole conversation takes no more than thirty seconds. It ends as she shakes her head sideways and closes the door. Stern monitors the policeman as the man reenters his car and drives off back in the direction ofAmagansett.

He waits another five minutes, and then goes back to the Chevy. He turns it around and follows the main road until it reaches Heidi's driveway. He turns in and continues around to the back where he sees the red Audi and parallel parks a few feet away. When he's sure he's not visible from the road, he cuts the engine. He pulls the revolver from his pocket as he walks around to the front door.

“Guess who's coming, Heidi?”

He speaks into the growing darkness, but a slight gust of wind rustles the pines and keeps any sound from the house. He becomes anxious. More than usual. Even more than at Posner's house. From the space in front of her entrance door, he checks the road. There are no sounds; even the birds have given up their chatter for the day. One last spear of light glimmers through a far cluster of trees before it too moves on and plunges the house into night. So quick, he wonders. Almost too quick. He knocks twice, waits a few seconds, and then raps again. A voice calls out from inside, thought the words are indistinct.

“It's the police again. Sorry, we forgot something. It'll only take a minute.” He smiles to himself at the calmness of his voice. I must even sound like a cop, he muses, but there's no time to dwell on his impersonation.