Organized for Murder (31 page)

There was still more to do. Once her voice strengthened again, she dialed Charles Webster Walker's office number and got his voice mail. Irrationally, she wondered whether her parents would be proud right then or disappointed in their only child. Despite her mom's and dad's brushes with the law, they had always been on the side they'd figured as right, and Kate decided in this case their views would mesh with her own.

"This is Kate McKenzie for Charles Webster Walker. Yesterday, I left a box of private papers at your office that relate to the Nethercutt estate, but I just found a journal belonging to Amelia which had accidentally fallen under my backseat. I wanted to let you know, on the off chance someone was looking for it."

And to tame my curiosity
.

The sooner she returned the journal, the better. She picked up the book and a scrap of paper slipped from the cover. "Oh, I have what appears to be a number to what looks like an account of some sort. It's labeled with the abbreviation 'G.Cay'. I'll try to get everything to you by mid-morning tomorrow. Goodbye."

She put the scrap back inside and stroked the satin cover once more. The draw to read was great, but it was too late. The day had been long, and she really was too tired for the temptation to last. She tossed her jacket back across the kitchen desk, deciding she'd spent too much energy on setting things straight lately and needed to play a little organizational hooky.

A rebel for just the moment.

As she climbed the stairs, she squeezed the wheel that would soon be in its rightful place under her bed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Words to Live by

"Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm."

— Abraham Lincoln —

"Or, in other words, don't let the bad guys scare you, Batgirl!"

— Kate McKenzie —

*

Kate woke to the phone ringing, seconds before the alarm.

"Hi, honey, did I wake you?" Keith asked, as the buzzer sounded.

Too many things at one time. She hit the snooze to keep from having to find the switch right away. "I miss you when I have to sleep alone," she told Keith, stretching with her free arm before pushing into a sitting position.

"I'm sorry. I miss you, too." His voice even sounded like he did, the words coming out a bit huskier than normal. She smiled, picturing him in a motel room bed with tousled hair and the phone wedged between his ear and the pillow. Then she heard chewing and road noise.

"Where are you?"

"McDonald's just south of Burlington," he replied.

Kate's stomach gurgled in hunger. "You're already on the road?"

"Yep," he spoke around a mouthful of what she knew was Egg McMuffin. "Proud of me?"
She hugged blanketed knees with her arms and cradled the phone in the crook of her neck and shoulder. "I sure am." Keith hated driving through anything that resembled morning traffic, always nervous in bumper-to-bumper snarls. It was something his former hockey teammates had ribbed him about mercilessly. "You drive carefully, and I'll be thinking about you."

"I was thinking about you last night."

"I know." Kate felt her smile broaden. "I heard you on the radio."

"When the game went into extra innings?"

"Uh-huh. We got home from Saree's a few minutes before."

"How'd the talk go?" He'd taken another bite, and the words came out muffled.

"Really well." Glancing at the clock, she rose and pulled on her robe. "Saree wants me to do another in a few months, and a lot of people went away with my card. Oh!" Kate suddenly remembered what she and Meg discovered. "We figured out who the thief is." She quickly filled in the details about the antique store trek.

Keith cleared his throat. "That's great, honey. Looks like everything's working out." She heard him take a quick sip of coffee, then clear his throat again. "Well, you need to get the girls up and going. I should be back in Hazelton by noon. Want to have lunch with a guy who loves you?"

"You mean you?" Kate asked, then laughed at his sharp intake of breath in surprise. "Of course, I do, handsome husband of mine. Where do you want to meet?"

"How about Giovanni's?" he suggested, a romantic Italian bistro Kate had fallen in love with soon after they moved to Hazelton.

"Mmm, sounds wonderful. Play your cards right, sailor, and I might even bring you back to my place for dessert."

"I was counting on it." Keith chuckled. "I love you. Give Sam and Suze a kiss from me."

She felt a sudden pang of loneliness. "I love you, too. And do be careful."

"Always. Bye."

"Goodbye." But he'd already hung up. She realized she'd forgotten to tell him about her frightening drive home and the damage to the van.

She smiled.
Guess I am getting braver.
Anyway, there was nothing he could do except worry all the way home.

The twins never got ready well when the morning routine was broken, and Keith's absence made everyone run late. Even bribed with a Sweetie Eaties breakfast and Kate following behind like a track coach, coaxing, challenging, and eventually warning dire consequences, they ran later than ever for a school day. Worse, a safety assembly was scheduled for the morning, the kids heading for the gymnasium first thing to meet one of Vermont's drug dogs, Rosie.

"Grab jackets, girls," Kate said. "Remember, the DARE officer is coming today with Rosie."

As she scooped up her own blazer from last night, Amelia's journal appeared beneath the coat. Kate almost picked up the book but stopped at the last second. The attorney's office wouldn't open until at least nine. No point in testing her resolve against peeking.

Still packing lunches into their backpacks, the girls remained coatless in the entry hall.

"Hurry," Kate warned, snatching up her keys. "Come on, get your jackets or we'll be late."

"Ah, Mom," Sam whined. "It's spring already."

Not in Vermont.
Aloud she said, "But the mornings are chilly."

"We'll just have to carry them this afternoon," Suze contributed. "No one wears jackets now after school, except for the babies."

"Wow. You have to lug your coats all the way to the parent pick-up circle. What a job."

"Our friends laugh at us," Suze said, eyes downcast to perfect the sympathy appeal. "They say we're not true Vermonters."

Kate nearly gave in before she realized the eye shift covered a lie. Or at least an elaboration. Instead, she looked at her watch. "If you two aren't jacketed and loaded into the van in thirty seconds, you'll have to go to the office for tardy slips."

They streaked out of the door like a couple of pint-sized missiles.

*

It was an hour later before Kate returned home, after being waylaid in the school parking lot by a mother who had been at Saree's the previous evening and couldn't wait to tell how the tips had already changed her life.

The phone rang as Kate inserted the house key into the lock. She raced to the kitchen, and saw Hazelton Elementary on Caller ID.

"Mrs. McKenzie?" a hoarse voice said, and the man coughed as if to clear congestion. "We have a woman here saying she's your mother and wants to take your children, but she isn't on the list of authorized—"

"What woman?" she cried. Her late mother's appearance was an impossibility, which only left Jane. Kate knew her motherin-law would never remove the twins from school except in an emergency, and never without first contacting Kate.

Another cough came through the line. "A Mrs. Baxter—"

"No!" She headed for the door, carrying the cordless phone as she ran. "Don't release my children to her! I'm on my way. Please call 9-1-1 and report an attempted kidnapping!"

"Will do," the voice replied, and the line went dead.

She yanked keys from her jacket pocket and slammed the front door, not even stopping long enough to lock up the house.

At the school, she swung into the front circle and parked in a fire zone. As she ran for the building, she wondered how she'd beat the police cars and hoped they arrived soon. There was no way to know what Mrs. Baxter might do in a school filled with innocent children. She'd already killed twice. Would a child be any harder than adults?

Kate reached the front door, just grabbing the handle as a tall shadow rose and separated from the side bushes. An icy hand clamped around her wrist.

"Come with me, please, Mrs. McKenzie," said Charles Webster Walker.

Relief swept through her. "Thank goodness you're here, Mr. Walker. Please come with me and speak with Mrs. Baxter. She's trying to kidnap my children!"

"No, Mrs. Baxter isn't here." Walker pulled Kate toward the front sidewalk.

"Let me go." She struggled but could not break his grip. "I have to get inside. The woman has lost her mind. She killed Amelia and Sophia to cover her thefts, and now she's—"

"In Montana," Walker interrupted, shooting her the coldest look Kate ever remembered seeing.

"But the school called…" she faltered. "A man said…"

He coughed. "You mean the one who said Mrs. Baxter wasn't on the list of authorized people to take your children?" he asked, speaking in the same raspy voice she'd heard over the phone.

"You?"

"Of course."

She was too shocked to fight him, and he took advantage, easily dragging her several yards.

"And you talked with that antique lady, too," he said. "I called yesterday to make sure she'd received my shipment."

"You're the lady with the cultured voice?" Kate tried again to pull free.

"Did a lot of thespian work in college." He gave her arm a solid yank. "Came in handy all these years later."

Thoughts raced through her brain, but she forced herself to focus all energy on a fight for her freedom. They were on the side of the building, moving toward the cafeteria wing. Kate knew she was dead if he got her inside his car, and she could see it looming closer, parked slightly hidden beside the Dumpster. A black Lincoln with tinted windows. The front was hidden from view, but she suspected the grill and fenders were badly dented from bashing her van.

She fought hard, but despite his age Walker was stronger.
Why doesn't someone see me, come help me?
Her eyes lighted on the DARE van. Of course, everyone was in the gym. What irony. Police on the scene, and she was still on her own.

Kate tried to scream, but it came out as a series of aborted yelps. Yet, Walker took no chances. He grabbed both her wrists and held them in one of his large hands, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket with his free one and shoved it into her mouth. His hand quickly covered it, and she couldn't expel the cloth. Another jerk and he'd pulled her body next to his. They made their way clumsily the last few feet, with her unsuccessfully trying to trip him.

At the car, his body pinned hers against the metal, and he opened the back door. While one hand fumbled with the car keys, he wrapped the other arm around Kate's head, crushing her mouth against his shoulder. Her hands were free, but practically immobilized by his body. She tried her only chance. She reached for his groin.

"What the hell?" he roared, as her fingertips grazed the target area. Before she could follow through, he reared back and clipped her jaw with his right fist. She nearly lost consciousness. She fought to stay on her feet. He grabbed her jacket collar and hauled her up, twisting the car key at the same time.

Her mind screamed,
Not the car! No! Not in the car!
She tried to stick her fingers in his eyes. He pulled back suddenly, but not before her nails left four bloody slashes down the right side of his face. He hit her again, harder this time, on the side of her head. He smiled. Blood dripped onto his white collar.

Kate felt blood ooze from a cut at her temple. She spit the cloth from her mouth and screamed. He smacked her with the back of his hand, and the skin on her cheek exploded."Teach you to try any more foolishness." He laughed and held up his hand. Kate flinched. "I'm not going to hit you again, unless you try something equally stupid. Just wanted to show you this ring. It was Daniel's."

The large ebony and diamond signet ring matched the image of the heirloom Daniel wore in the portrait in his study. She watched the diamond flash in the sun, but her mind grew increasingly hazy. "Why?"

"Why kill them?" Walker asked, then laughed again. "Why not? Amelia took half of what I had in our divorce. Never mind we weren't married long enough for the marriage to hardly count. She didn't love me anyway. Loved that wimp boy. She comes back to town, pretty as you please, married again, and wants to hire me as her family attorney. Says Daniel agreed. I acted pleased at the compliment but began planning from that first moment."

"Planning what?"

"To steal everything they had, of course." He tried to pull the door handle, but Kate slipped her body over it, using every means to stall his progress. His face darkened. "Damn it, move. You've messed up everything all along, just like Amelia."

"How did—"

"She wanted to change the will. Take out the inventorying time." He roared, shoving her back toward the trunk and wrenching the door wide. "I had everything already started, but I needed those last sixty days to cover my tracks. Couldn't start divesting until they finally let me handle all the financials this year. Once they were both dead, that transitory period you were supposed to use for inventorying offered the escape time I needed. But you started investigating instead. I got to the office this morning and heard my messages, learned you'd found the journal and the offshore account number Amelia discovered with her snooping. I knew you read the damned journal and understood what was changing and why."

"So the account number was the reason why—"

As she spoke he grabbed the discarded handkerchief, nearly pulling her to the ground as he held her arm. Kate thought it was to shut her up again, but instead he gave her a mighty shove and sent her flying into the rear seat, onto her back. A roll of duct tape lay in the floorboard.