Hour Game Part 39

She suddenly looked frightened. "That's what I can't understand. I . . . I have to tell you that when Savannah started banging on our door, I woke up in a total fog. I still don't feel quite all together."

Bailey looked at her suspiciously and said, "You didn't mention anything like that when we came by this morning."

Dorothea spoke quickly. "Everything was happening so fast. Savannah was a mess, Sally was dead and I couldn't wake Eddie. G.o.d, it was all like a nightmare."

"What time did Savannah come to your door?" asked Bailey.

"A little past eight. I remember looking at the clock in the foyer."

"What did Eddie have to eat or drink last night?"

"We had dinner, nothing unusual. Some wine after dinner, and then he went to his studio to paint and I did some paperwork in my home office."

"Can we see the leftovers from the meal and the bottle of wine?" asked Bailey.

"There weren't any leftovers. I think the bottle of wine is around here somewhere."

"I'd appreciate if you could show me where it is before I leave," said Bailey.

Her features became defiant. "What exactly are you trying to prove?"

He eyed her coolly. "Somehow Eddie was slipped something last night that knocked him out so completely he's still not fully recovered. It had to be administered somehow."

"Well, I have no idea how it was done," she said hotly.

"That's okay, it's my job to figure that out," said Bailey. "The drugs you bought from Kyle: do you have any of them here?"

"I . . . I'm not sure. I can look."

"No. I tell you what I'm going to do: I'm going to have your home searched. Do you have a problem with that?"

Dorothea rose on unsteady legs. "I think I should speak to my attorney first."

Bailey stood too. "Fine, you do that. Meantime I'll get a search warrant issued. I'm posting one of my agents outside the house just in case something important decides to walk out. And we can check drains, and you're on septic here, so any evidence that happens to get flushed we can find."

"Your insinuations are ridiculous," she cried. "I didn't kill Sally or drug my husband."

"Too bad for you we don't have a final cause of death on Kyle Montgomery. If we did, you might be in jail right now. That would've been a nice alibi for you."

Bailey walked out while Dorothea looked at King pitifully. "Sean, what is going on?" He dashed forward and caught her before she hit the floor. He eased her onto the couch.

He turned to Mich.e.l.le. "Get me some water."

Mich.e.l.le rushed off and King looked back at Dorothea. She gripped his arm.

"G.o.d, I feel so bad. My head is splitting and my stomach's doing flip-flops."

"I'm going to have Mason come and look after you."

She clenched his arm even more tightly. "I didn't do anything, Sean. You have to believe that."

Mich.e.l.le came back in with the water, and Dorothea drank it down.

"You do believe me, don't you?" she said pleadingly.

"Let me put it this way: I believe you as much as I believe anyone right now."

As King, Mich.e.l.le and Williams left, they spotted Bailey talking to one of his men and pointing at the house. They walked over to him.

"You sure didn't cut Dorothea any slack, Chip," said Williams.

"I wasn't aware she deserved any," shot back the FBI agent.

"It's been a pretty traumatic morning for her, actually the last few days."

"If all of it's her own doing, why should I feel sorry for the woman?"

"You think she drugged her husband, then slipped out and killed Sally?" asked King.

"I think it's entirely possible she drugged Eddie and that someone else killed Sally while Eddie was unconscious. The stables are close enough to the carriage house that if there was a fight or Sally was able to scream, Eddie might have heard and come to her rescue. With him drugged that couldn't happen."

"And whom do you think Dorothea was partnered with in all this?"

"If I knew that, we could probably all go home."

"And the motive for killing Sally?"

"She knew more than she told anyone, including you. She said she was Junior's alibi. Well, we only have her word for that, because she only came forward after Junior was dead. He can't corroborate it. Now, suppose shewasn't with him the night of the burglary? Suppose she was helping someone break in the mansion or doing it herself?" with him the night of the burglary? Suppose she was helping someone break in the mansion or doing it herself?"

"If so, why would she come forward with the story about being with Junior?" asked Williams.

King answered, "Because that givesher an alibi for the burglary." an alibi for the burglary."

"Exactly," said Bailey, glaring triumphantly at Williams.

"That's actually not a bad theory, Chip," said King.

"Thanks. I have my moments." He climbed in his car and drove off.

CHAPTER 73.

EDDIE FINALLY STARTED TO COMEto around three o'clock that afternoon.

Williams, Bailey, King and Mich.e.l.le had gathered in his hospital room. He looked up at them from his bed, all pale, twitchy and disheveled. Remmy sat next to her son, holding his hand in a firm grip and rubbing his forehead with a wet cloth. "G.o.d, Eddie, don't you scare me like that again."

"It wasn't exactly my idea," he said in a very tired voice.

"What do you remember about last night?" asked King.

"Dorothea and I had dinner, where we talked about, you know, recent events. I'd been at the lawyer's for a while before that."

"Why didn't she go with you to see the attorney?" asked Mich.e.l.le sharply.

"I wanted her to but she didn't want to go. As crazy as it sounds, I think she believes if she ignores all of this, it'll go away. Anyway, after dinner I went to my studio, to clear my head of all this stuff." He glanced sideways at Mich.e.l.le before continuing. "Around midnight or so I came in and went upstairs to bed. Dorothea was still awake. She was actuallyvery awake, if you know what I mean," he added, obviously embarra.s.sed. awake, if you know what I mean," he added, obviously embarra.s.sed.

Remmy snorted. "Unbelievable to me under the circ.u.mstances, but I gave up trying to understand your wife years ago."

"It was as much me as her, okay?" he said harshly to his mother. His gaze, however, remained on Mich.e.l.le. "I guess it was sort of a circle-the-wagon mentality. But I admit the timing was strange."

"What happened after that?" prompted King.

"I went to sleep. I mean, I guess I really went to sleep. The next thing I know I wake up and I'm in the hospital. What the h.e.l.l was it?"

"The docs said morphine sulfate, also known as MS Contin," answered Williams. "Guaranteed to knock you out for eight, nine hours or longer."

"But why?" asked Eddie. "What was accomplished by that?"

King looked at Williams. "You haven't told him?"

"Told me what?" demanded Eddie.

Williams looked down at him. "Sally Wainwright was murdered around five-thirty this morning."

Eddie sat up so fast he almost pulled out his IV line. "What!" he yelled. "Sally?"

"Eddie!" cried out his mother as she pushed him back down. "You're going to hurt yourself."

Eddie suddenly got a wild look and shot up again. "My G.o.d! Dorothea! Is she okay?"

"She's fine," said Williams quickly. "Absolutely fine."

"For now," muttered Bailey.

Eddie sank back down but clutched his mother's arm. "Somebody killed Sally in her sleep?"

King said, "No, she was killed in the stable."

"But why Sally?" Eddie demanded.

Williams looked at King, who said, "She'd come forward with important information that ruled out Junior's having committed the burglary at your mother's home."

Now Remmy looked surprised. "I'd already figured he hadn't done it, but how could Sally possibly have proof of that?"

"She did, and we're going to leave it at that for now," said Williams.

"Did what she tell you implicate someone else?" asked Eddie.

"No," admitted King.

"Then why kill her?"

"I don't have the answer to that. I don't have the answer to a lot of things."

Bailey spoke up. "But what we do know, Eddie, is that you were drugged last night, and while you were out, someone killed Sally. Someone who knew her routine and that she'd be in the stables at that hour of the morning."

Everyone remained silent for an uncomfortably long moment until Eddie exclaimed, "Are you suggesting that my wife-"

Bailey broke in. "I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just stating a plain fact. But Dorotheahas come under suspicion." come under suspicion."

Eddie shook his head. "She's a respected businesswoman."

"With a drug problem, and possibly a murder suspect," pointed out Remmy in a sharp tone.

"Shut up, Mother!" yelled Eddie.

This caught all of them off guard. Remmy slowly let go of her son's hand.

Eddie pointed his finger accusingly at Bailey. "If you think for one minute that Dorothea drugged me and then killed Sally, you're wasting everyone's time while the real killer is getting away."

"It's our duty to investigate all possible leads," said Bailey calmly.

"Including ludicrous ones?"

"You better get some rest, Eddie," said King gently. "You've had a hard night."

"Fine, I'd really like to be alone right now anyway."

Eddie looked away from them all, his forearm over his face.

Remmy rose and headed to the door. "I'll come and check on you later, son."

"Whatever," he answered curtly.

Remmy went to the door, then turned to Williams. "You know, it seems to me that we're no further along than we were on day one. A lot of people killed and no progress." She shot Bailey a vicious look. "And that includes the ill.u.s.trious FBI. Makes me wonder what the h.e.l.l I pay taxes for." She left the room.

The men followed her out.

Mich.e.l.le paused at the door and glanced back at Eddie. He still lay there, his face covered. She quietly left.