barrel.”
“Right. The tape gets left behind. They probably did use it to
blackmail her, I’m not arguing with you over that. She would’ve known
they had it, they would’ve had to play it for her to make her know the
threat was real. You think she would’ve left something like that
behind? That’s slam-dunk evidence of enough felonies to keep her in
prison until she’s a hundred. I’m telling you, she or anyone else in
that situation would’ve lifted that damn limo clear up in the air to get
to that tape. No, they let her go for one reason only.”
“To set her up for the killings.” Jackson slowly put his coffee cup
down.
“And maybe to make sure our focus doesn’t wander again.”
“That’s why you wanted the GSR test done.”
Sawyer nodded. “I needed to be sure that one of the dead guys wasn’t
the shooter. You know, there could have been a struggle. From the
looks of it, the wounds were all instantly fatal, but who the hell
really can be sure? Or one of them could have done it and then
committed suicide, for all we know. Freaked out over what he’d done and
decided to blow his own brains out. Then Sidney, in a panic, grabs the
gun and throws it down a sewer drain. But that didn’t happen.
None of the stiffs fired that weapon.”
They sat in prolonged silence before Sawyer stirred. “I’ll let you in
on another secret, Ray. I’m gonna figure this sucker out, even it if
takes me another twenty-five years walking that thin line. And when
that day comes, you’re going to find out something really enlightening.”
“Such as?”
“That Sidney Archer has no more of a clue to what the hell is going on
than you or I do right now. She’s lost her husband, she’s lost her
career, she stands a better than even chance of standing trial for
murder and about a dozen other felonies and spending the rest of her
life in prison. Right now she’s scared out of her wits and running for
her life, not knowing who to trust or believe. Sidney Archer is in fact
something that, if you just looked at the evidence in a superficial
manner, you would conclude she couldn’t possibly be.”
“What’s that?”
“Innocent.”
“You really think that?”
“No. I know it. I wish I knew something else.”
“What’s that?”
Sawyer stabbed out his cigarette at the same time he let out a final
mouthful of smoke. “Who really killed those three guys.” Sawyer’s mind
drifted away as he said the words. Sidney Archer might know. But where
the hell is she?
As the two rose to leave, Jackson put a hand on Sawyer’s shoulder.
“Hey, Lee, for what it’s worth, I don’t care how long the good guy/bad
guy odds ever get to be. As long as you’re willing to walk the line, I
will too.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Looking through her binoculars, Sidney surveyed the street in front of
her parents’ house and then checked her watch. Dusk was rapidly
gathering. She shook her head in disbelief. Could the FedEx shipment
have been delayed because of weather? Snowfall in coastal Maine was
usually heavy, and because of its proximity to the ocean, it was usually
very slushy. That often made for hazardous driving conditions when the
slush froze. And where were her parents? The problem was she had no
way to communicate with them while they were traveling. Sidney hurried
to the Land Rover, dialed information on the cellular phone and got the
800 number for Federal Express.
She gave the operator the names and addresses of the sender and
recipient of the package. After Sidney listened to computer keys
clicking, the operating delivered her astonishing answer.
“You mean you have no record of the package?”
“No, ma’am, I mean, according to our records, we didn’t receive the
package.”
“But that’s impossible. You had to get it. There must be some mistake.
Please check again.” Sidney listened with growing impatience to the
sounds, once again, of the keyboard. The response was the same.
“Ma’am, perhaps you should check with the sender to make sure the
package was actually sent out.”