Murder List

Chapter Forty-four

Sunday turned out to be a miserable day for a race. The weather had gone from chilly and damp to beastly hot and damp. The air was as thick and humid as a rain forest.

Sophie, Cordie, and Regan had been in the park for well over an hour, but had spent most of that time huddled together in a shelter, squeezed in like sardines with at least fifty other people while the rain poured down. There wasn’t any privacy, and it was too crowded to talk anyway.

As soon as the rain let up, they got into line to sign in and pick up their numbers.

Sophie had already told them her good news, but Cordie and Regan wanted to hear all the details again. Besides, they knew Sophie was dying to rehash her victory.

“Come on, Sophie. Start at the beginning,” Regan said.

She didn’t have to be coaxed. “Okay. So after my article-my exceptionally well-written article-was in the paper, women started coming out of the woodwork. All of them are begging for a chance to testify against Shields. Unfortunately, we’ll never know if he had anything to do with Mary Coolidge’s death. There’s no hard evidence, but the prosecutor told me she has enough to put him in prison for a long time. She’s going after the bodyguards too and thinks she can convince a jury that they were coconspirators in extortion and fraud.”

“What about the money?” Cordie asked.

“After Shields is found guilty, and he will be,” she said, “Mary’s daughter will be getting what’s left of her mother’s money.”

“I’ll bet she’d rather have her mother back,” Cordie said.

Regan patted Sophie on the shoulder. “Sophie, we’re so proud of you.”

“And we’re proud of you too, Regan,” Cordie said. “Sophie and I haven’t slept for weeks worrying about you. You kept it together, though.”

“Not always,” Regan said.

“Now that the police have arrested the man who killed the detective and Haley Cross, are you able to get back to normal and breathe again?”

“How can things ever be normal? Because of me, two people are dead.”

“You can’t blame yourself for Morris’s actions. He’s obviously very disturbed. There was no way for anyone to predict that he would become violent.”

“Cordie’s right,” Sophie said.

“We’ve heard all about the man they arrested, and we’ve heard all about the evidence and how they found it, but you haven’t said a word about Alec. Do you miss having him around?”

Regan didn’t answer. She didn’t really need to. Tears were already gathering in her eyes.

Cordie handed her a tissue. “What happened?”

She finally told them about the last time she’d seen Alec and how he’d said good-bye to her. When she finished, her friends were speechless for a good ten seconds or more. Then both of them exploded.

“He said what!” Sophie all but shouted the question.

“ ‘If you’re ever in Boston,’ ” Regan repeated.

Cordie was furious. “And that’s it? He didn’t say anything else?”

“Like what? Thanks for a good time?” She was crying now and strangers were noticing. One woman actually moved closer, no doubt so she could listen in on the conversation. She was staring too. Regan turned her back on the nosy woman. She was embarrassed she couldn’t control her emotions. “My allergies are acting up today.”

Neither Cordie nor Sophie believed that nonsense-she was crying because her heart was broken.

Cordie handed her another tissue. “It’s going to be okay.”

The lie only made things worse. “I did the most horrible thing.”

Cordie and Sophie stepped closer. “What’d you do?” Cordie whispered.

“I fell in love with him.”

“We sort of thought you had,” Cordie said sympathetically.

“Did you tell him?” Sophie asked.

“No.”

“It’s just as well.”

The woman standing behind Regan was nodding in obvious agreement. Sophie decided to ignore her. “Since he’s leaving…”

“Come on, it’s our turn,” Cordie said.

The line had been moving at a quick pace, and they had finally reached the sign-in table. A couple of minutes later they were helping one another pin their numbers on the back of their T-shirts.

Dark clouds were hanging over them as they made their way to the starting area. The streets surrounding the route were blocked off, and policemen were directing traffic.

The park was green and lush, the shrubs and bushes all overgrown, much like a wilderness, but paths had been cut out of the woods for biking and jogging. Several men and women were sitting on top of a stone wall alongside the trail while they waited for the race to start.

Cordie was still fuming. “I can’t believe he said that. Are you sure, Regan? ‘If you’re ever in Boston’? That’s how he said goodbye? Those were his exact words?” Too late, she realized she’d inadvertently opened the floodgates again.

“Yes,” Regan said through her tears.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell him to stick it-”

“Cordie, for heaven’s sake,” Sophie said.

“I really don’t want to talk about Alec anymore.” Regan sniffed.

“Okay,” Sophie said.

“Not another word about him,” Cordie promised.

“He isn’t my type anyway. He’s all wrong for me.”

“All wrong,” Sophie agreed.

“Why is he all wrong?” Cordie asked.

“He’s a slob. That’s why. The man’s never quite put together.”

“He sure looked put together in that tuxedo at the country club,” Sophie commented.

“Not helping,” Cordie whispered.

“Yes, he can pull it together when he wants to, but he prefers being a slob. He’s always forgetting to shave, and he never combs his hair.”

Tears were streaming down her face as she complained about him. She impatiently wiped them away and said, “How sad am I that I can only come up with superficial, unimportant criticisms that are really kind of sexy and endearing anyway? The truth is, I like that he doesn’t have everything tucked in all the time.”

Cordie handed her yet another tissue. Regan thanked her and then said, “Alec has all the qualities that matter, like honor and integrity. He’s strong and brave…” She paused to dab at her eyes and then added, “He’s just about perfect.”

“No, he’s not,” Cordie said. “If he were so perfect, why would he walk away from the best thing that will ever happen to him?”

“I don’t want to talk about him. I mean it. Not another word.”

“Okay,” Sophie said. “We’ll talk about something else.”

“If he can move forward, I certainly can,” Regan said. “In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Move forward.”

“That’s great,” Cordie said.

“Could we please change the subject?”

“We better,” Cordie said. “I’m out of tissues.”

“And I’m finished crying over him.”

“That’s good to hear,” Sophie said.

“I think we should celebrate your promotion,” Regan told Sophie.

“Let’s do dinner next week,” Cordie suggested. “But before Thursday. I’m starting a new diet then.”

“Why Thursday?”

“It’s the day I chose, and I’ve circled it on my calendar. I’m psyching myself up. I start Thursday, no matter what.”

“Maybe we could do it Wednesday night,” Regan said.

“The flag’s going up,” Sophie said. “That’s the five-minute signal. I’m going to push my way up front. Are you going to run?” she asked Regan.

“No, I’m walking. One mile up and one mile back, and then I’m done.”

“What about you, Cordie?”

“I’m doing a one-mile combo. Walk and crawl.”

“I’ve decided I’m going to run, not walk,” Sophie said. “And I’m going the distance too. All six miles.”

Regan smiled and Cordie began to laugh. Their reaction didn’t sit well with Sophie.

“You don’t think I can do it, do you?”

“No, I don’t think you can,” Cordie said.

“I know you can’t,” Regan said. “Sophie, you’re not a runner.”

“I am now. Let’s meet at the finish line. See you there.”

They watched her squeeze her way through the throng oblivious of the glares as she pushed ahead.

“I’ll bet you ten dollars she doesn’t make it farther than a mile.”

“Half a mile and she’s finished,” Regan said.

“Hey, look. That new frozen custard shop is open. See? Across the street. Maybe after, we could stop in.” And then she, too, blended into the crowd.

Regan had looked across the street when Cordie pointed out the custard shop, but her attention turned to a couple walking out the door. Both of them had ice-cream cones. They were holding hands as they strolled along. The woman was around nineteen or twenty, and the man she was with was at least fifty.

“Another sleazebag,” Regan muttered.

Her reaction was instantaneous. She felt disgust. Then she shook her head. Aiden was right. She really did need to get over this ridiculous obsession. Until she walked in their shoes, she couldn’t possibly know what their situation was or what was in their hearts.

Yes, it was definitely time for a change of attitude. She would start working on that right away. And yet, despite the best intentions, she couldn’t make herself stop watching the couple as they made their way across the street.

And that’s why she noticed him. He was a big, muscular man, and he was coming up fast behind the couple. He knocked the older man off his feet as he ran past. The young woman shouted something, but the runner never looked back. He was dressed for the race in a black running suit, but with the heat and the humidity, she thought it was odd that he was wearing a jacket. She also noticed he was carrying a pair of binoculars. The man quickly disappeared into the crowd.

She jumped when the starting gun fired, then turned and joined the people moving onto the trail. She stayed at the back of the crowd and tried to avoid elbows as she walked along.

The rude man with the binoculars was nowhere in sight. She didn’t give him another thought. She wouldn’t let herself think about Alec either, but that was easier said than done.