The Alibi Man

Chapter 52

Bennett Walker drove around, thinking, his head spinning with questions of what he should do, questions about what had happened, what must have happened; imagining scenarios of what might happen, of where it all might fall apart. He had to stay calm. From experience, he knew he couldn’t panic. As long as he kept his wits about him, winning was always possible.

That was how he had to look at it-as winning, not as surviving. That was what Edward had told him years ago.

Easier said than done.

The pressure was on. The press was on the story. Their focus was on him. Never mind that he hadn’t been the only man seen with Irina Markova that night. He was the only man named Walker, married to a Whitaker, who had been on trial for rape and assault in the past.

His voice mailbox had been full for hours with calls from the many people in his life who were angry with and/or disappointed in him. And all of them would be asking him the same question he had been asking himself: How the hell had this happened?

He didn’t have an answer.

If Irina Markova hadn’t challenged him. If she hadn’t been the whore she was. If they hadn’t done so much X. If he hadn’t been drunk…

If Elena hadn’t found the body.

He still couldn’t believe that had happened. Of all the people in the world… No one should have been on that road. No one should have found that body. That the person who had was the one woman on the face of the earth who hated him most was inedible to him.

If Elena hadn’t found the body, none of this would be happening, everyone would have just gone on with their lives. He wouldn’t lave done what he had done to that stupid cunt Lisbeth. He wouldn’t have to do what he was about to do.

He wasn’t a criminal. None of this ever should have happened.

“Damage control, ” Edward had said. “Contain and minimize the damage. ” It would all depend on what the detectives had, on what hey found at the house.

The idea made him sick. It never should have come to this. They didn’t have anything on him. How had they gotten a warrant?

Stick to the plan. Damage control. Contain and minimize.

That was why Edward had gone to the house. That was why Bennett had not. Edward had drawn the attention away with him, blustering about the search warrant. Bennett had stayed, finished is dinner, had a drink, chatted with acquaintances, then left. He had driven out to Brody’s, to the stables where his own string of ponies resided, and changed out of his dinner clothes into jeans and a T-shirt, and his old Blundstone boots. He had a job to do.

He had to concentrate on the things he could do something about.

He turned right off Wellington Trace onto Forest Hill. His stomach was churning.

His memory of Saturday night was fragmented-the early evening images were vibrant, bright, electric; the hours after leaving Players were cloudy, dark. He could remember the sex-the smell of it, the taste of it. He could remember the heat, the rage.

He remembered his hands around her throat, the defiance in her eyes.

He remembered the feeling of dread in his gut when he saw her body floating in the pool.

He must have killed her. She was dead. He didn’t remember.

He turned off Forest Hill into the parking lot and spotted the car.

Stick to the plan. Damage control. Contain and minimize.