Secret Prey

McDonald going down, and shot Kresge specifically to pull McDonald down, so that Audrey would get his money? And then, when you get on top of Audrey, she decides to sacrifice Audrey? I mean, what if she’s three layers back, waiting for Audrey to die in prison? Or even planning to poison her if she’s acquitted?’’
    ‘‘No fuckin’ way,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘You gotta know the people.’’
    They found a booth, ordered beer and fries: ‘‘She scared the shit out of me, man. And I’ll tell you what, Glass was looking at that tape machine like it was solid gold,’’ Sloan said. ‘‘Anybody who listens to that tape is gonna believe her too. Like a jury.’’
    Lucas shook his head again: ‘‘Not if they listen to Helen at the same time. Helen is just . . . an innocent. She picked up on McDonald because the pattern became so clear to her over the years. She talked to them often enough that she knew when a promotion was up, and then she’d read about some guy from the bank being killed, and then it’d turn out to be a guy in McDonald’s department. Nope. She even waited longer than she should have. And why in God’s name would she offer her mother’s hair? If she knew her mother had been poisoned . . .’’
    They ran over it for another hour, building the case against Audrey. In the end, Sloan said, ‘‘You’ll have to admit, most of it could be built the other way.’’
    ‘‘Naw: jury’d never go for it. And remember, she killed her old man.’’
    Sloan shook his head. ‘‘Just wish there was some way to pry the sisters apart. Put one of them in Kansas while somebody’s getting killed in Minnesota.’’
    As Lucas put the beer bottle to his mouth, the light went off in his head: ‘‘Oh, shit,’’ he said, the bottle frozen in front of his face.
    ‘‘What?’’
    ‘‘In the Arris killing. We never looked at that tape for women.’’
    ‘‘Huh. Where’s the tape?’’
    ‘‘My place. St. Paul gave me a copy of it, and I left it at my place.’’
    ‘‘Can I come along?’’
    THEY STUCK THE TAPE IN LUCAS’S VCR, AND THE BAD picture came up on the screen. They watched Arris go by, followed by several women, and then, a minute later, another woman, walking rigidly down the hill. ‘‘There she is,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘That’s fuckin’ Helen,’’ Sloan said.
    ‘‘No, no, that’s fuckin’ Audrey,’’ said Lucas. He ran the tape back. ‘‘Look at the way she walks.’’
    ‘‘Looks like fuckin’ Helen to me.’’
    ‘‘Remember, this is eight years ago. Audrey’d be thirty. Helen would only be in her mid-twenties . . . They look alike, but that woman is not twenty-six.’’
    Sloan was on his hands and knees, peering at the screen. ‘‘Goddamn. Could be Audrey.’’
    ‘‘Is Audrey,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘Selling it to a jury’ll be hard,’’ Sloan said. ‘‘You’ll get one dumb shit on there who’ll believe nothing but his own eyes, and his eyes’ll say it’s Helen.’’
    ‘‘I wonder if we can get this enhanced somehow,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘Maybe the Feebs?’’
    ‘‘I don’t know . . . Tell you the truth, if there was a way to ditch the tape, I’d do it. It confuses things. But now that I keep looking at it, I think you’re right. She moves like Audrey does. She scuttles .’’
    THE PHONE RANG AS THEY RAN THROUGH THE TAPE one last time. Sherrill. ‘‘Did you get her?’’
    ‘‘Yeah, I think—but it’s gonna be a close call,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘You want me to come over and comfort you?’’
    He didn’t, especially, but he said, ‘‘Come on over.’’
    ‘‘Nah. You don’t sound like you mean it,’’ she said. ‘‘Tomorrow night, though.’’
    And she was gone.
    ‘‘Fuckin’ cop-women,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘That’s what you’re doing,’’ Sloan agreed.
    ‘‘Fuckin’ was an adjective, not a verb,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘Could’ve been a verb,’’ Sloan said.
    SLOAN LEFT, AND LUCAS SAT IN HIS STUDY FOR A while, doodling, running through the case in his mind, looking for loose ends. He didn’t find many, except to note that they’d have to reinterview half the people who worked at the bank. They’d have to find witnesses who saw Audrey McDonald firing the Contender pistol; they’d have to find witnesses who would testify about promotions, and who was competitive for them . . .
    He finally trundled off to bed, lay restlessly for a while, finally fell asleep.
    IN THE MORNING, HE MOVED