F Paul Wilson - Secret History 02 (46 page)

           
Yesterday had not been the best of
days. Kara had swung between depression and anxious agitation. But he had
enjoyed being with Jill. The kid was a joy. Plus having her along had forced
Kara to keep it light most of the time.

           
Rob dragged them around on a tour of
his personal favorite sights in Manhattan, from the New York Yacht Club on 44th
Street with its second-story windows that looked like the stems of Spanish
galleons, then to the Dakota, then for a ride on the Roosevelt Island cable
tramway, and finally to the top of the Chrysler Building. Kara seemed to perk
up a little, but whenever Jill was out of earshot, Kara had rambled on about
strange dreams, and Gates being there. Rob was beginning to worry about her
mental stability.

           
Maybe today would be better.

           
"What's the beef?" Rob
said to Manetti.

           
"This Bannion case—it's turning
into a pretzel."

           
Manetti dropped into the chair next
to Rob's desk. He was a compact, well muscled man with jet black hair,
fashionably short on top and sides, and long in the back. He and Rob had come
up about the same time arid often worked together.

           
Rob said, "The unknown prints
from the Plaza and the electric bill match Bannion's, right?"

           
"Right. That was a damn good
guess."

           
"A deduction, my dear Augie. A
deduction."

           
"No shit, Sherlock. But I went
you one better. I had the M.E. take a bite impression from Bannion. And guess
where it found a perfect match?"

           
"Kelly Wade's shoulder!"

           
"Riiiiight!"

           
Manetti held out a hand, palm up.
Rob slapped it.

           
"That's better than
prints!" Rob said.

           
"You know it. The prints don't
say when he was there. But the bite match says he was with Kelly Wade at the
very end. And I expect the DNA match on the semen to show he was
in
her as well!"

           
Rob wondered how Kara would take
that. Not well, he figured.

           
"Nice work."

           
"Found the murder weapon, too.
One of the kitchen knives. Traces of Bannion's blood in the groove between the
handle and the blade. No prints on it, though."

           
"Still, it sounds like you had
yourself a pretty good Sunday, Augie."

           
"Up to a point. Then things get
screwy. I mean, Bannion writes the name of Kelly's psychiatrist in his own
blood on the floor. But nowhere in the place is there a single print that
belongs to this Dr. Gates."

           
"Damn. Probably wore
gloves."

           
"Maybe. Maybe not. Because you
know whose prints the place is lousy with?"

           
"I can hardly wait to
hear."

           
"The other Wade girl. Kelly's
twin. What's her name—Kara?"

           
Rob froze. He stared at Manetti. He
wasn't kidding. Why would he? He didn't know of Rob's past history with Kara—or
of his continuing interest.

           
"Christ!" Rob said.

           
"My sentiments exactly! See
what I mean about screwy? We got a dead guy named Bannion we can link to the
death of Kelly Wade, maybe not as her killer, if indeed she was killed, but
right there on top of the scene of her death—and right there on top of her, as
well, if you know what I mean and I think you do. And we can put Kelly Wade's
twin sister at the scene of this Bannion guy's death. But whose name does
Bannion write on the floor in his own blood? The psychiatrist who was treating
Kelly Wade!"

           
"You want another twist in your
pretzel?" Rob said, still 'numb from the news that Kara had been in
Bannion's apartment.

           
"Sure. Why not? Hit me."

           
"Dr. Gates is Kara Wade's
psychiatrist, too."

           
"No shit!" Manetti clapped
his hands and laughed. "I'm gonna have to write a book about this
one!"

           
A
book
, Rob thought. Kara was writing a book. He hoped she wouldn't have to
finish it in jail.

           
"So!" Manetti said.
"What do we do now? Pick up the twin?"

           
Rob stopped himself from shouting
No
! But it wasn't easy. He forced
himself to lean back in the chair and look as if he were seriously considering
the suggestion. He had to buy Kara some time. She hadn't killed Bannion. He was
sure of that.

           
At least he thought he was sure.

           
"Not yet. If her prints were on
the knife or if Bannion had written
her
name on the floor, we'd have her all but sentenced. But they're not and he
didn't. He wrote 'Gates.' So I'm going to look into Gates. In the meantime, why
don't you run a background check on Kara Wade."

           
That
ought to buy us a couple of days.

           
"Will do."

           
Manetti headed for his desk while
Rob sat and brooded at his own. He was faced with unanswerable questions.

           
But what would he do when the time
ran out? And how could he tell Kara she was at Bannion's place without sending
her off the deep end?

           
The only way he knew how: Come right
out and say it.

           
"Maybe I
was
there, Rob," Kara said.

           
She was surprised at how calm she
felt. But after all, she had been anticipating this moment all day. Memories of
the other night's dream had prepared her for it.

           
"You were there, Kara,"
Rob said. "Fingerprints don't lie."

           
She nodded, echoing him.
"Fingerprints don't lie."

           
"But another thing they don't
do is tell us
when
you were
there."

           
"It was probably Saturday
morning. But just my
body
was there.
I
wasn't."

           
"You mean… Janine."

           
She didn't answer him. They were
sitting twelve stories up in the front window of Ellen's co-op, overlooking
East 46th Street. They were alone in the living room for the moment. Ellen was
out at a luncheon. Jill was in the kitchen helping the cook with a batch of
tollhouse cookies. Kara looked down at the snarled traffic below as she debated
whether or not to tell Rob what she had come to believe. It was so incredible,
so outre, that she scarcely believed it herself. But it explained everything.

           
And it was the reason she had
skipped her session with Dr. Gates today.

           
"I don't know," Rob said
slowly. "I don't know if this multiple personality thing is going to carry
much weight with a jury if the evidence puts you in Bannion's apartment Friday
night or Saturday morning."

           
Kara took a deep breath.
Might as well go for it
.

           
"Maybe it's not a multiple
personality disorder. Maybe it's Dr. Gates."

           
Rob stared at her. "I don't get
it."

           
"That letter I got—on the back
of the electric bill? Maybe it's true. I think it's possible Dr. Gates can take
over bodies and use them."

           
She explained what she remembered of
her dream from Saturday morning—disjointed snatches of monologue as her own
voice told Ed Bannion Dr. Gate's story of how he used women's bodies for
"fun," of a knife, of blood, and Ed falling to the floor.

           
Rob's expression was stricken.
"Kara… Kara…"

           
"I know how crazy it sounds,
but doesn't it explain everything? It explains the note—it's from one of his
former 'toys'—and it explains this so-called Ingrid personality in Kelly and
this Janine in me. And most of all, it explains why Ed wrote Dr. Gates' name on
the floor instead of mine!"

           
"Kara, there isn't a jury in
the world that will buy that."

           
Kara fought the sinking, trapped
feeling that threatened to overwhelm her. The apartment walls seemed to be
closing in.

           
"I'm in big trouble,
right?"

           
Rob nodded. "Your prints are
all over the apartment, you can't account for your whereabouts at the time of
the murder, and you've got what might be construed as a motive."

           
"Motive? I didn't know he'd…
he'd been with Kelly until you told me yesterday!"

           
"You know that and I know that,
but—"

           
"But what will a jury say? Is
that it?"

           
Rob shrugged and remained silent.

           
"Do you think Ed might have
thrown Kelly out that window?"

           
"He was there."

           
Yes. Ed Bannion had been there, and
he'd
bitten
Kelly! He'd also been
alone with Kara in Kelly's apartment. She felt cold all over.

           
"Then what was he doing hanging
around me? Do you think he wanted to kill me?"

           
"Maybe. I doubt we'll ever
know."

           
"And what about the other man
they say was with Ed at the Plaza? Is he out there lurking about?"

           
Rob reached over and squeezed her
hand.