David Handler: The Cold Blue Blood

“Agreed,” Bud acknowledged miserably. “But only with the benefit of hindsight. At the time, we had no reason to believe that anyone would ever find Niles’s body.”

“And Tuck seemed to know what he was doing,” Jamie added defensively. “He ran the early stages, really. All the rest of us did was loan him our cars for his assignations with that girl.”

“Torry,” said Mitch. “Her name was Torry.”

“Tuck didn’t want to leave a recognizable trail behind,” Bud explained.

“And why did you shoot him?”

“Tuck’s conscience started gnawing at him,” spoke up Red, who’d finally decided there was no point in staying silent. Mitch couldn’t decide whether this was a good sign or a bad sign. He suspected it wasn’t good. “Something to do with him becoming a father for the first time at age fifty. Poor guy thought he’d seen God or something.” Red puffed out his cheeks in disgust. “Suddenly, he wanted to set things right-marry Darleen, become a decent family man.”

“He threatened to go to the police,” Bud said. “And take the rest of us down with him.”

Red nodded. “Not an acceptable option. So Tal Bliss took care of him. Which upset Tal greatly.”

“Plotting to kill Niles Seymour didn’t?”

“Niles was a cancer,” Bud said with savage certainty. “Taking care of him was necessary.”

“Just as keeping Dolly’s thirty-year-old secret was necessary?”

Bud took a sip of his scotch, eyeing Mitch over the rim of his glass. “So you know about that, do you? Lieutenant Mitry was getting very close to the truth. That’s what Tal told me over the phone right before he shot himself. He was afraid that after all of these years poor Dolly would be branded a murderer.”

“Well, she did kill them,” Mitch pointed out.

“That man raped her,” Bud argued, his voice choking with emotion. “She was a virgin and he took that from her! No court of law would have convicted her. But the trial-my God, it would have destroyed her. And she didn’t deserve that. She deserved better. She still does. There are very few truly special people on this earth, Mitch. Dolly is one of them.”

“And so is Evan,” Jamie added fondly. “Like mother, like son. They’re too gentle, too good for this world, Mitch. People like Dolly and Evan can’t make it in life on their own. They need protecting.”

“On this particular issue Jamie and I have always been in agreement,” Bud said. “They must be protected.”

“And so must Big Sister,” Red said. “This island has belonged to my family for three hundred and fifty years, Mitch. It’s our legacy. Each generation is beholden to it. We have a duty to make sure it stays ours. Niles didn’t see family tradition. All he saw were big, fat dollar signs. Lord knows what might have happened to this place ten or twenty years down the road if he were allowed to remain here. Niles was a problem that needed solving. We solved it.”

“Even though you had to kill an innocent girl to do it? You guys don’t seem too concerned about sacrificing the life of Torry Mordarski. Or about leaving her son an orphan.”

“We needed the girl,” Red explained simply. “It wouldn’t have worked otherwise.”

“I did suggest using Darleen,” Bud spoke up. “Checking her into Saybrook Point Inn. But Tuck wouldn’t implicate her-he actually loved the little cow.”

“Did he have any feelings for Torry?”

“Torry was a whore,” snapped Red.

“And you three are gutless wusses,” Mitch said, shaking his head at them. “You should have killed me when you had the chance. Not that you didn’t try, of course. On the subway tracks-am I right, Bud?”

“That was… a different matter,” Bud responded quietly.

“You didn’t drive into the city that day, did you? You rode in on the same train we did.”

“Yes,” Bud confirmed, reddening. “I sat ten rows behind you the whole way in. You two never noticed me. But I saw you. I saw how she cozied up to you. I saw how she k-kissed you in the middle of Grand Central with all of those people watching. Her body pressed against yours. Her lips… I-I lost my head on that subway platform. Utterly and completely. Loving Mandy-it’s a disease. A vile, incurable disease.”

“And yet you told Tal Bliss that Mandy was the one who pushed me. Why?”

“That was her idea,” Bud explained. “She said no one would prosecute her. They never have, never will. But with me it might be different. We had my career to think of. And my reputation.”

“You should have killed me,” Mitch repeated, glancing around at the three of them. “But the fact remains that you didn’t kill anyone. You had the Dudleys Do-Right and Do-Wrong do it for you. This time it’s different. You actually have to pull the trigger yourselves. And I don’t think you can do it. In fact, I’m prepared to bet my life you can’t.”

They all stood there in charged silence now.

“What is it you want, Mitch?” Bud asked him finally.

“What is it I want?” Mitch thought he heard a door slam somewhere in the distance. But it may just have been the wind. He couldn’t tell for certain. “I want Hollywood to make some decent, well-acted movies that are not totally devoid of intellectual ambition. I want to lose thirty pounds. I want to spend some quality time with a certain long, tall brunette. I want-”

“He means,” Red broke in impatiently, “what would it take for you to remain silent?”

“None of us are millionaires,” Bud cautioned. “And Mandy’s money is bound up in a trust. But I could arrange to transfer the deed to this house to you.”

“It belongs to Dolly,” Mitch pointed out.

“Not a problem, I assure you.”

“If it’s money you want,” added Jamie, “I could get my hands on a hundred thousand in cash by ten o’clock tomorrow. Another hundred thou by the end of the week. How does that sound?”

“Like a pay-off,” Mitch replied. “Look, guys, it’s no use. Maybe you honestly and truly think you did the right thing. And for all of the right reasons. But you didn’t. And I know it. And I’ll be damned if I’ll keep quiet about it. Because no one has the right to do what you did. No one. So I guess you’ll just have to shoot me, Red. It’s a little different than shooting a deer-you aren’t planning to eat me afterward. At least I hope you’re not. But it’s not completely different. After all, I’m just some clueless stranger who got caught in your headlights. So pull the trigger, Red. Go ahead and be done with it.”

Now the three of them exchanged a long, hard look.

“I think you’d better come with us, Mitch,” Red finally said hoarsely.

“Where to?”

“The dock.”

Mitch cocked his head at him curiously. “Why the dock?”

Bud finished his scotch and stared down into his empty glass. “You made a crucial mistake yourself, Mitch. You told us you couldn’t swim.”

“You’re about to fall in, my boy,” Jamie explained. “You’re about to hit your head on a piling and drown.”

“Hell, that’ll never play. The police won’t buy that I was that reckless or stupid-storm or no storm.”

“But they will buy that you were suicidal over the death of your dear wife,” Bud said. “You told all three of us about it at great length. You’ve been despondent. Inconsolable, even. And now you shall be joining her.”

Red raised his shotgun and nudged Mitch in the chest with it. “Let’s go.”

Only they weren’t going anywhere. The doorway was blocked.

Standing there in the pouring rain was Dolly, drenched to the skin in her flimsy nightgown. Her gaze was eerily unfocused, her hair soaked and stringy, her pale bare feet covered with grass clippings and mud.