Hour Game (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 2)

“If so, why would she come forward with the story about being with Junior?” asked Williams.

King answered, “Because that gives her an alibi for the burglary.”

“Exactly,” said Bailey, glaring triumphantly at Williams.

“That’s actually not a bad theory, Chip,” said King.

“Thanks. I have my moments.” He climbed in his car and drove off.

CHAPTER

73

EDDIE FINALLY STARTED

to come to around three o’clock that afternoon.

Williams, Bailey, King and Michelle had gathered in his hospital room. He looked up at them from his bed, all pale, twitchy and disheveled. Remmy sat next to her son, holding his hand in a firm grip and rubbing his forehead with a wet cloth. “God, Eddie, don’t you scare me like that again.”

“It wasn’t exactly my idea,” he said in a very tired voice.

“What do you remember about last night?” asked King.

“Dorothea and I had dinner, where we talked about, you know, recent events. I’d been at the lawyer’s for a while before that.”

“Why didn’t she go with you to see the attorney?” asked Michelle sharply.

“I wanted her to but she didn’t want to go. As crazy as it sounds, I think she believes if she ignores all of this, it’ll go away. Anyway, after dinner I went to my studio, to clear my head of all this stuff.” He glanced sideways at Michelle before continuing. “Around midnight or so I came in and went upstairs to bed. Dorothea was still awake. She was actually very awake, if you know what I mean,” he added, obviously embarrassed.

Remmy snorted. “Unbelievable to me under the circumstances, but I gave up trying to understand your wife years ago.”

“It was as much me as her, okay?” he said harshly to his mother. His gaze, however, remained on Michelle. “I guess it was sort of a circle-the-wagon mentality. But I admit the timing was strange.”

“What happened after that?” prompted King.

“I went to sleep. I mean, I guess I really went to sleep. The next thing I know I wake up and I’m in the hospital. What the hell was it?”

“The docs said morphine sulfate, also known as MS Contin,” answered Williams. “Guaranteed to knock you out for eight, nine hours or longer.”

“But why?” asked Eddie. “What was accomplished by that?”

King looked at Williams. “You haven’t told him?”

“Told me what?” demanded Eddie.

Williams looked down at him. “Sally Wainwright was murdered around five-thirty this morning.”

Eddie sat up so fast he almost pulled out his IV line. “What!” he yelled. “Sally?”

“Eddie!” cried out his mother as she pushed him back down. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Eddie suddenly got a wild look and shot up again. “My God! Dorothea! Is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” said Williams quickly. “Absolutely fine.”

“For now,” muttered Bailey.

Eddie sank back down but clutched his mother’s arm. “Somebody killed Sally in her sleep?”