David Kessler - Mercy

“David was attacked in the lab. Or just outside it.”

“Holy shit!”

She told him the details as Alex had described them to her.

“So now we’ve got nothing,” Nat said, sounding sorrowful.

“Not unless Jonathan gives us something. Oh … and the other platter.”

“What other platter?”

“Well whoever attacked David didn’t know that one of the platters from the hard disk was still inside the microscope.”

“I wanted to go back and retrieve the gun — or go there with gloves and wipe her prints off the shells,” Jonathan said. “It was a revolver so we’d have had to take each of them out and wipe them.”

“That would have been risky wouldn’t it? I mean they might have found the body already?”

“I know. I mean, Dorothy realized that at the time. That’s why she wouldn’t let me do it.”

“And that’s why she had to flee?”

“Exactly. She knew that they’d dust the shells for prints and it would only be a matter of time before they matched the dabs to hers.”

“Did she have a rap sheet?” asked Alex, surprised.

“No, but we figured they’d check with the CDMV.”

Alex nodded approvingly at Nat’s sharp logic — or possibly Dorothy’s. The California Department of Motor Vehicles kept thumbprint records of drivers licensed by the State.

“You think they’d check?”

“Sooner or later. And with murders, they always consider other members of the family and check their prints. They’d know it wasn’t a robbery, because nothing was taken.”

“But I don’t understand one thing. Edgar Olsen’s death was accepted as suicide. How could that have happened if neither of you went back to stage the crime scene and make it look like suicide?”

“I don’t know. That’s something that I’ve never been able to figure out. All I know is that, up until the time Dorothy left, the police and the coroner were staying tight-lipped. After she fled, I found out that they were treating it as suicide. But by then it was too late to tell her. I’d lost all contact with her.”

“And did they say why they accepted it as suicide?”

“Well the entry wound was in his right temple. I mean, that makes perfect sense ’cause he turned away just before I fired. But there was something else … something that didn’t make any sense at all.”

“What”

“They said the gun was in his right hand.”

“But you said you dropped the gun on the floor after wiping it?”

“I did!”

“Then someone else must have put the gun in his hand.”

Juanita had isolated the strips that she felt were most likely to form part of the fax from London and was now making the first strides in sticking them together. Because she had been so careful about skimming the strips off the top of the pile, she was actually finding it surprisingly easy. The hardest part was sticking the strips together.

So far she had managed to align fourteen strips. They appeared to be from the left of the page; they included the signature. The signature itself was illegible. But the name typed underneath it was unmistakable: Stuart Lloyd. And underneath that was the title “Chief Administrator.”

So that nurse was wrong. He hadn’t gone home early. He had sent them this letter.

“Look, Jonathan,” said Alex quietly. “I meant what I said before: I can’t condemn you for what you did. It it’s not my place to judge you. But what you did then was on the spur of the moment. And it was against a man who had wronged your sister. But I haven’t wronged Dorothy… or you.”

Jonathan looked at him, confused.

“I never said you did.”

“Then would you…?”

He raised his restrained hand as high as the handcuff could allow. There was a tinkling sound as the other cuff rattled against the radiator pipe.

“Oh! Yes… sorry!”

Jonathan crouched down with the key and unlocked the handcuff round Alex’s wrist. Alex rubbed it.

“Look, Jonathan. I can’t represent you myself. There would be a conflict of interest. But I have friends in the legal profession and I can get you a good lawyer.”

“Thanks,” said Jonathan absently. He seemed to be in a trance.

“I don’t suppose I could have my phone back?”

“Sure,” said Jonathan, handing the iPhone back to him. Alex switched it on and noticed that there were several messages. He called his voicemail to hear them. Several of the messages were from Juanita. She didn’t say what she wanted, just asked him to call her whenever he could. There was no particular urgency in her tone.

But then there was one from another familiar voice.

“Hi, Alex, listen it’s Lee — Lee Kelly. I’m at the police station again. Look … I’m sorry… I got caught. I mean, Nat caught me.”

Alex froze.

“I don’t know if he was suspicious of me. I mean, he called the police and held me until they came for me, but I don’t know how much he figured out. I just wanted to let you know, because he might be onto you. I mean, he might have realized that you’re onto him .

“But the point is, I found something and it’s something quite incredible. I don’t want to say over the phone, but I just want you to know that I’ve found something that’ll just about knock your socks off! So please get here ASAP!”

When Alex got into his car, a pair of eyes was watching him. Even if the man who watched him hadn’t seen Alex’s car outside the apartment building, he’d known that Alex was going to be there because Juanita had told him.

It didn’t take long. Within a few minutes of his arrival, he saw Alex leave the building, get in his car and drive off. Nat waited a few moments longer and then entered the building. He walked up to the third storey and rang the doorbell.

“Who is it?” asked Jonathan.

“It’s me,” Nat replied.

The door opened in a flash and they stood there face to face. There was a moment of tension when neither of them spoke, then Jonathan smiled.

“Come in.”

He stepped aside and Nat entered. Jonathan closed the door.

They looked at each other awkwardly, as if neither wanted to be the first to break the ice.

“So…” said Nat hesitantly. “We finally get to meet.”

“Yes,” said Jonathan with a smile. “Finally.”

Again the awkward silence. Again it was up to Nat to break it.

“So … er … What did Alex want?”

“He wanted to know about Edgar’s death.”

“Does he suspect something?”

“More than just suspect . He was sure it was murder even before he came here.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“I told him the truth.”

“What?”

“Why not?” There was no life in Jonathan’s voice. “I’m tired of lying. I’m tired of all the secrets.”

“But you’ve put yourself in jeopardy.”

“You don’t understand. I don’t care anymore. I just want all this to end.”

“It is going to end.” Nat looked at his watch. “In just over an hour.”

“Will it?”

“How do you mean?”

“Will it end ?”

“Of course it’ll end. No one’s going to campaign for a dead man. No one cares about the dead. That’s why you should have blamed Dorothy for your father’s death.”

“Why?”

“Because, Jonathan, it’s always a good idea to blame the dead. They can’t answer back.”

There was an impish smile on Nat’s face when he said this and, after looking at him for a moment in mild surprise, Jonathan’s face melted into a smile.