With Deadly Intent (15 page)

A TV anchorwoman thrust a microphone at her. “Is your father badly injured, Miss
Prescott?”

As soon as she got that question answered, a dozen more were shouted at her from every
direction. “That's all I can say,” she said and backed away.

“Were you with your father?” the woman persisted. “Is that where you got the bruises on
your face?”

“No comment,” she said and kept repeating it, but still the woman kept prodding.

“Leave her alone.” Simon put his arm around Amy. “Can't you see she's worn out?” He tried
to guide her to the edge of the pack.

“What's your interest in the Prescotts, Kittredge?” somebody yelled.

“Yeah, Simon,” chimed in another. “A friend of the lady's give you that shiner?”

“Get behind me and hang on,” Simon said, and began to work his way through me crowd.

When they were clear, she directed him to her car and they piled inside. She started the
motor. “I'll take you home.”

“No, I'll call a taxi from the lobby of your apartment building.”

They didn't speak again until she pulled into her parking stall at the back of the
apartment.

“Could we talk for a minute?” Simon asked.

“Might just as well, I'm too jittery to sleep.” She stretched and rubbed her eyes.

He leaned toward her, his face tense. “What if the body that was found is Elise's?”

She drew in a shaky breath. “I'm trying not to think about that right now. First, I want
to talk to Oren.”

“Ask him about Elise's car and whether or not she still had a bunch of expensive
jewelry.”

“Right. Then, I'll get in touch with the sheriff and find out what's been going on.”

“Let me know what you learn.” He put his hand on the door latch, changed his mind, and
turned to face her. “Do you mind if I call you around ten just to make sure you're all
right?”

A smothering sensation came over her. “How would you feel if I checked up on you?”

A shocked expression spread over his face. “Don't be ridiculous, I can look after
myself.”

“That's no more true for you than it is for me. Things can happen over which we have no
control.” She sat silent for a moment, then went on. “When I chose my profession, I knew
what to expect. Neither Dad nor I are content to do routine forensic work. We like the
excitement of fitting pieces of a puzzle together. And when you unearth things people
want to keep buried, you put yourself in danger. As an investigative reporter, you
accept that—so do I.”

Simon glowered at her. “Well, be careful then, dammit.” He thrust out his chin. “Friends
are hard to find.”

After several hours sleep, Amy contacted the detective who'd promised to check Dr.
Tambor's account at Sibleys. “The pendant was solid gold with the inscription, ‘To my
blue-eyed darling,'” the detective said with a chuckle. “The coat mentioned on the slip
was cashmere.”

“What size?” she asked and crossed her fingers.

“Ten,” he said.

She let out a yell, thanked him, and dialed Oren. “Mom just called from the hospital,”
Oren said. “She says B.J. is already talking about coming home.”

“Wouldn't you know it. Doctors are the world's worst patients.” After discussing her
father's condition and her trip to White Bird, she asked him if he'd heard anything
about the body that had been found.

He inhaled sharply. “Who—whose body? Where? When?”

His labored breathing blurred the sound of her own voice as she repeated what her father
had said about the phone call he got.

“When Calder came by to tell Mom and I about B.J., he didn't mention anyone finding a ...
a ... he didn't say a damned thing about ... about...” He fell silent.

Minutes passed and she grew worried. “Are you okay?”

Oren cleared his throat. “Does B.J. think it's ... Elise?”

Images of submerged bodies she'd seen in the past rose before her eyes. “Identification
takes time,” she said quickly and changed the subject. “Did Elise have a car?”

“Sure. A red Mazda RX-7. License number OEK-199. I told the sheriff.”

“Has he located it?”

“Who knows? The man won't tell me anything.”

“Did she drive her car that day?”

“She must have, she was at the apartment when I got home.”

“She could have walked from the ferry dock.”

“Elise walk eight blocks in high heels—no way. Besides, there aren't any sidewalks and it
was pouring rain. She had to have driven. Only thing is, I can't remember whether her
car was parked in front of the apartment or not.”

Her stomach began to churn. “I should have stopped by when I got off the ferry.” She
grimaced. “I hoped your problems might seem less serious to you in the daylight.” She
cleared her throat. “Sorry I let you down.”

“Talking wouldn't have helped. I know that now.” He sighed. “The cracks in our
relationship had grown too wide.” He sighed again. “Elise acted strange that whole
damned week. She was home every evening, but during the day I couldn't reach her. She
wasn't at work, or at our town house in Seattle, or at our apartment here on the island.
Friday night, when I tried to pin her down, we really got into it.”

Amy took a breath and plunged in. “Simon and I have evidence that Dr. Tambor purchased an
expensive coat and pendant. We're almost certain they were for Elise.”

“I don't believe it. She couldn't have. I'd have known it if she ... if she ... Oh, God
... Why, Amy?” He let out a low moan. “I've gone over and over the months we were
together and I can't make any sense to her actions. Why did she do the things she did?”

“What kind of things?”

“They aren't important now.”

“You can't know that for certain. Whatever motivated her might provide a clue to her
disappearance.”

“Simon and I have agreed not to discuss Elise unless we find there's no other recourse.”

“Oh, that's great. Just great. Dad and I are trying to unravel a mystery and all the
while you and Simon may hold the key”

“It's my life I'm risking.”

“Like hell it is. What if the attempt on Dad is related?”

“Now you're being ridiculous. What does Simon think?”

“He's scared. Damned scared.”

“You're both off base. There's no way Elise's disappearance and B.J.'s accident could be
connected.”

Amy curbed the impulse to argue with him. “Simon says Elise used to own some expensive
jewelry. Does she still have it?”

“So far as I know. She ... she loved sparkly things. Some nights, she'd dress up and put
on a regular style show with all her diamonds and emeralds.”

“Dad and I didn't find any expensive jewelry at your Lomitas apartment. Has the sheriff
checked your town house?”

“I suppose so, he has the keys. But the stuff should have been here on the island. Elise
always carried her jewelry with her when she traveled.”

“All of it?”

“She was funny about her possessions. Wanted everything right where she could see it.
Wouldn't even consider a safety deposit box.”

Amy frowned. “Did she regard you as another of her possessions?”

“Butt out, Amy. You know all you need to know,” he said, and hung up.

She dreaded calling Tom Calder. His resentment of her father had probably doubled since
Simon's article was published. She planned her strategy carefully.

When she reached him, she asked whether someone had tampered with her father's car.

“Doubt it,” Tom said. “I found a coil wire hangin' loose, but that coulda happened by
itself.”

“You dusted for prints, didn't you?”

“Nah, waste of time considerin' the crowd millin' around your yard. Hell, half the
islanders had their fingers on B.J.'s Ford before the helicopter took off.”

“Dad says the person who ran him down was speeding and that he was driving without
lights. Sounds to me like he didn't want Dad to see him. Did you find any tire tracks?”

“Good God, no. How could I? Westridge Avenue turned into a parking lot as soon as word
got out about B.J.”

She clamped her jaw closed and counted to ten, then took a new tack. “A friend and I just
returned from White Bird, Montana—the town where Elise Dorset lived before she came to
Seattle.”

“What the hell you think you're pullin'? You and your big-town smarties better not mess
things up for me. Ya hear? I already know who the killer is.”

She made a line through an item on the pad in front of her. With his closed mind, Tom
would jeer at the meager bits they'd learned about Elise's background. “Oren says Elise
drove a red sports car. Have you located it?”

“That punk's really got you and Doc snowed, hasn't he? It so happens the woman sold her
car the week before he done her in.”

Elise sold her car
. Amy stared at the words she'd scrawled and apprehension
chilled her. Oren lied. Why? Why? Her mind clenched shut. “How'd Elise get to the island
that Friday night?”

“By bus, I suppose.”

“You
suppose?
Didn't any of the drivers remember seeing her?”

“No, but that doesn't mean she wasn't on it.”

Feeling as if she were slogging through knee-deep mud, Amy inhaled and began again.
“Elise owned some expensive jewelry. Dad and I didn't find any of it at their
apartment.”

He drew in air and blew it out. “One of you tight-lipped Prescotts coulda told me. Wasn't
a thing worth diddley damn at their place in Seattle.” She heard his fist smack the desk
top. “Hell's bells now I gotta check the pawn shops. More damned time and money down the
toilet. And for what?”

His voice lowered. “I know what goes on in them hotel rooms at political rallies. Your
cousin could have used that jewelry to buy sex-u-al favors.” He mouthed the word as if
it were a succulent piece of candy.

She glowered at the receiver. The horny old nincompoop would be drooling on his tie in a
minute. “Speaking of affairs,” she said. “Dad and I think Elise and her employer were
romantically involved.”

Calder made a sound of disgust. “You're off your trolley”

“Oh, yeah? He bought her...”

“Can it, Prescott. Smear tactics aren't gonna clear Oren. Now, I got work to...”

“Hold on, Tom,” she said before he could hang up on her. “The person who called Dad last
night claimed to be your deputy. He said someone at the marina had found a body. You
know anything about it?”

“Jee—sus! What you gonna come up with next? Musta been some joker tryin' to pull BJ.'s
leg. He shoulda known better'n to go off half-cocked.”

She knotted her fist. “Yeah. Sure. And I suppose the same joker put Dad's cellular phone
out of commission?”

“Ah, those stupid things are always goin' on the fritz. Besides it could have been out of
order for hours. I've noticed B.J.'s gettin' a tad senile lately.”

Senile! Dad's wits were sharper than that pea-brain's any day of the week.
She
slammed the receiver into the cradle. To hell with Calder. The attempt on her father's
life had been planned. She'd almost swear to it. She jumped up from her chair. If
someone wanted him dead, he'd try again.

Snatching a coat from the closet, she rushed to the Crime Lab. Her father's clothes
remained her only hope of finding a clue to his assailant. She met Gail Wong as she
walked in.

“Sorry about your father,” Gail said. “I've been assigned to go over his clothing. I'll
try to give them first priority.”

Amy gripped her hands together. “I can't wait, Gail. I have to find out who did it—and
fast.” She hung up her coat and reached for her white jacket. “Let's get started.”

Gail put her arm around Amy's shoulders. “Sorry, no can do. The chief knew you'd be in.
He says your father's stuff is off limits to you.”

“Damn, doesn't anything get by him?”

“Not in the time I've known him.” She studied Amy's face. “Geez peez girl, you're a
certified mess. What happened?”

Amy gave her a brief account of their frightening experiences in White Bird.

“Good grief,” Gail said when she finished. “That place sounds like something out of a
horror movie.” She grinned. “But traveling with a good-looking hunk like Simon probably
made it worthwhile.” She regarded Amy from under stubby lashes. “Right?”

Amy let out an exasperated breath. “You and Dad should start a matchmaking business.
Being alone isn't all that bad you know.”

Gail wrinkled her face. “No, just God-awful dull.”

“Better to be bored than married to the wrong man.” Amy slipped her arms into her coat.
“Call me if you find anything significant. If I'm not at the apartment, try the island.”
She hurried out.

When she reached her father's hospital room, she found Simon sprawled in one of the two
chairs. He had a new light weight cast and had evidently graduated from his crutches.
She greeted the two men, drew her chair close to the bed, and reported the results of
her phone calls.

“So there wasn't a body at all,” B.J. said. “I sure bobbled that one.”

Simon sat bolt upright. “Bobbled? Holy hell, B.J., someone's out to get you. You ought to
have a guard outside your door. Anybody in a white uniform could walk in here and...”

B.J. held up his hand. “Don't get all steamed up. I'm already working on a plan to get
out of here.”

Amy sprang to her feet. “You can't do that.”

“Why not? I'm in stable condition. You're a doctor, I'm a doctor. What more do I need?”

She raked her fingers through her hair. “Good God, Dad, you've got a short leg cast on
one leg and a long leg cast on the other. I can't get you in and out of bed, you're too
damned heavy.”