David Bishop - The Original Alibi

We could take it no farther. Axel went down to his condo and I decided to get ready for bed. First, I ate the last of Clara’s apple pie. The soft, cool texture felt nice in my mouth and also tasted good.

I had no shortage of suspects and theories and they were all moving around in my head like tumbling cats caught in a clothes dryer.

Then something Axel had said replayed in my mind. “You gotta get one of them to rat on themselves. A man’s tongue can work like a shovel to dig his own grave.”

Axel had set the coffee pot to come on in the morning before going downstairs to his condo. I had eased my way onto the couch to catch the late news before going to bed when the doorbell rang. I looked through the peephole to see Karen Whitaker.

I doubted Charles had told her about being her father. I couldn’t figure what else would bring her here unless it was one of those I-don’t-want-to-sleep-alone nights and she had flipped a coin with heads for me and tails for Cliff. I opened the door.

“Matt, I just learned about your having been beaten. Charles told me. Oh, golly, that looks really sore.” She came in and closed the door behind her.

“It looks worse than it is. It only hurts when I move or breathe.” We laughed together. I winced alone.

“Do you know who did it?”

I thought about asking her the same question. After all, she had already manipulated Cliff into attacking me. She could easily have arranged for a more serious effort by Podkin. If she had, she wouldn’t tell me the truth, so I gave her the vanilla answer.

“Some biker thug. I got free. He ran off before I found out who put him up to it.”

“You think it had something to do with what you’re into for the general?”

“Yes.”

She moved over to the couch and sat down. “Couldn’t he have just done it on his own?”

“I suppose he could have, but ask me if I believe that. He wasn’t demanding anything. He didn’t take my wallet or steal my car. No. Someone hired him to work me over.”

She crossed her legs, her pullover jersey drawing tight high across her upper thigh. “I see,” she said. “I find it amazing how you can figure those angles.” She then patted the cushion beside her. “Sit down with me, Matt. Maybe I can make it feel better.”

“Actually, right now I’m more comfortable standing. I’m in no condition for any physical activity. It’s difficult to even breathe without feeling it.”

Unusual as it might seem, being impatient with a beautiful woman who had come to my room in the middle of the night, I didn’t want to drag out her visit. She could have come out of concern for me, which was nice, but I’d had enough of that from enough people. Then again, the fact that the general would soon die could be accelerating the moves that might be coming from the various players in this family drama.

“Karen, is there some other reason you stopped by? I would love your company any other time, but I’m pretty whipped and I need to get started in the morning.”

“Can I talk to you, Matt. I mean, really talk. My deepest concerns, my hopes, it won’t take long.” She turned toward me, the fabric’s embrace of her legs more intense.

I needed to hear this, her reason for coming. “Go ahead,” I said, my eyes on her gams, as I might describe her legs in one of my novels. My condition eliminated me as a participant, but not as an enthusiastic observer.

“Well, you know the general won’t be with us much longer. I so wish I could change that, but the doctors say there is nothing further they can do.” I nodded. “Well, you are aware that his will provides for all of us, with Eddie receiving the overwhelming majority.”

Standing was now getting uncomfortable so I decided to try sitting with her on the couch. “You’re gonna end up with two point five million.” I slowly angled myself toward her the way we all do when talking to someone sitting beside us.

“Yes. But Eddie will receive close to fifteen million.”

“That’s the general’s decision. Have you talked to him about your feeling it’s not fair to you?”

“Not directly. Not in so many words. Still, you’re right. He has made it clear that’s how he wants it to be.”

“You told me a few days ago that you had no thoughts about deserving more. That, given the way you were raised, over two million seemed like all the money in the world. You’ve certainly changed your mind rather quickly.”

“I guess I deserve that, Matt. I’ve always tried to be bigger than, I don’t know, being selfish. Truth is I’ve had these thoughts for some time. I’ve just kept them to myself.”

I got up and went in the kitchen for a glass and two fingers of Irish. Karen said no to Irish, but asked if I had a Diet Coke. “No glass,” she said, “I like the feel of the can against my lips.” I brought our drinks in and sat down.

“So, as the general’s death gets closer, your selfish thoughts have started demanding more consideration. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Well, yes.” She put the cold soda can against her lips, keeping it there a little longer than necessary to take her first drink.

“His will is pretty clear. There doesn’t seem to be any way to change it without convincing the general to amend it.” I sat back slowly and took a small drink of my own. The burn on the inside of my mouth was less than earlier. I swished it around before medicinally swallowing.

“There is a provision in the will-” She stopped speaking and looked at me, then looked down.

There it was. The reason she came by. “You mean the part about if Eddie predeceases the general. That part?”

“Yes, Matt.” She moved closer and put her hand on my thigh, her face near enough for my battered lips to sense the warmth of her breath. “That part. We could be very rich together. Live a wonderful life of love and travel. Enjoy the best of everything.”

“I’ve got enough for the way I like to live. The answer is no.”

“You’ve killed before. For less than I’m offering.”

“I won’t do it. Even though everything inside me that beats and feels wants me to.”

“But we could be together always.”

“I won’t kill for you and spend the rest of my life wondering when my turn will come. You need me now, but afterwards you won’t.”

“But I love you, Matt. I know it’s sudden. It can happen that way. It’s happened to me.”

“No!” I slapped her in the face. Hard. I put my hand flat on the cushion beside me and squeezed, drawing it into a fist of fabric. I held my breath until the rat running around the pain wheel in my chest slowed to a canter.

She put her open hand on her cheek, then ran her index finger across her bottom lip, her mouth open slightly as her finger moved across it. “I guess I deserved that.”

“No guess about it.”

I looked at her hard. She looked down to the floor. Guilt made her do that. My bare feet weren’t that attractive.

“You’re an educated, beautiful woman who will soon inherit well over two million dollars. Get control of yourself.”

Karen got up and walked to the glass slider and looked out toward the ocean.

“Why don’t you get Cliff to do it? You’ve had him wrapped around your finger for years.”

“I don’t love Cliff. I’m in love with you. I want us to be together.”

What that probably meant is she knew that Cliff couldn’t figure out how to do it with a solid chance of getting away with it. And that Fidge would tie Cliff in knots during interrogation until he gave her up, whether or not he meant to.

“You’re right, Matt. But I’m afraid. Without more money I just don’t know. I put on a good front about being self-reliant, but at night I just get scared about being alone. The general has always been the strong man protecting me. I need you for that now. Aren’t you ever afraid of being alone, of the dark?”