Всего за 382.05 руб. Купить полную версию
It did cross my mind. Consider the circumstances. You cancelled the wedding without warning. And then you skipped town. Of course we wondered about your motives. Whether youd received some kind of threat and decided to run.
No, thats not at all what happened. I called it off because I didnt want to get married.
Mind telling me why?
Roberts face tightened. Yes, as a matter of fact, he answered. Abruptly he rose from the chair and strode over to the liquor cabinet. There he poured himself a shot of Scotch and stood gulping it, not looking at Sam.
Ive met your fiancée, stated Sam. She seems like a nice woman. Bright, attractive. Im sure as hell attracted to her, he couldnt help adding to himself.
Youre asking why I left her at the altar, arent you? said Robert.
Why did you?
Robert finished off his drink and poured himself another.
Did you two have an argument?
No.
What was it, Dr. Bledsoe? Cold feet? Boredom? Sam paused. Another woman?
Robert turned and glared at him. This is none of your damn business. Get out of my house.
If you insist. But Ill be talking to you again. Sam crossed to the front door, then stopped and turned back. Do you know anyone whod want to hurt your fiancée?
No.
Anyone whod want her dead?
What a ridiculous question.
Someone tried to run her car off the road this afternoon.
Robert jerked around and stared at him. He looked genuinely startled. Nina? Who did?
Thats what Im trying to find out. It may or may not be connected to the bombing. Do you have any idea at all whats going on? Who might try to hurt her?
There was a split seconds hesitation before Robert answered. No. No one I can think of. Where is she?
Shes in a safe place for tonight. But she cant stay in hiding forever. So if you think of anything, give me a call. If you still care about her.
Robert didnt say anything.
Sam turned and left the house.
Driving home, he used his car phone to dial Gillis. His partner, predictably, was still at his desk. The bridegrooms back in town, Sam told him. He claims he has no idea why the church was bombed.
Why am I not surprised? Gillis drawled.
Anything new turn up?
Yeah. Were missing a janitor.
What?
The church janitor. The one who unlocked the building this morning. Weve been trying to track him down all evening. He never got home tonight.
Sam felt his pulse give a little gallop of excitement. Interesting.
Weve already got an APB out. The mans name is Jimmy Brogan. And he has a record. Petty theft four years ago and two OUIs, that kind of stuff. Nothing major. I sent Cooley out to talk to the wife and check the house.
Does Brogan have any explosives experience?
Not that we can determine. The wife swears up and down that hes clean. And hes always home for dinner.
Give me more, Gillis. Give me more.
Thats all I have to give, unless you want me to slit open a vein. Right now Im bushed and Im going home.
Okay, call it a day. Ill see you in the morning.
All the way home, Sams mind was churning with facts. A cancelled wedding. A missing church janitor. An assassin in a black Ford.
And a bomb.
Where did Nina Cormier fit in this crazy thicket of events?
It was eleven-thirty when he finally arrived home. He let himself in the front door, stepped into the house, and turned on the lights. The familiar clutter greeted him. What a god-awful mess. One of these days hed have to clean up the place. Or maybe he should just move; thatd be easier.
He walked through the living room, picking up dirty laundry and dishes as he went. He left the dishes in the kitchen sink, threw the laundry in the washing machine, and started the wash cycle. A Saturday night, and the swinging bachelor does his laundry. Wow. He stood in his kitchen, listening to the machine rumble, thinking about all the things he could do to make this house more of a home. Furniture, maybe? It was a good, sound little house, but he kept comparing it to Robert Bledsoes house with its Steinway piano, the sort of house any woman would be delighted to call home.
Hell, Sam wouldnt know what to do with a woman even if one was crazy enough to move in with him. Hed been a bachelor too long, alone too long. Thered been the occasional woman, of course, but none of them had ever lasted. Too often, he had to admit, the fault lay with him. Or with his work. They couldnt understand why any man in his right mind would actually choose to stay with this insane job of bombs and bombers. They took it as a personal affront that he wouldnt quit the job and chose them instead.
Maybe hed just never found a woman who made him want to quit.
And this is the result, he thought, gazing wearily at the basket of unfolded clothes. The swinging bachelor life.
He left the washing machine to finish its cycle and headed off to bed.
As usual, alone.
THE LIGHTS WERE ON at 318 Ocean View Drive. Someone was home. The Cormier woman? Robert Bledsoe? Or both of them?
Driving slowly past the house in his green Jeep Cherokee, he took a good long look at the house. He noted the dense shrubbery near the windows, the shadow of pine and birch trees ringing both edges of the property. Plenty of cover. Plenty of concealment.