Mirror Image

He reread the message, then remarked, “It doesn’t say he’s going to kill Tate Rutledge.”

Avery gave him a retiring look. “This has been a well-thought-out assassination attempt. The plans were long-range. He’d hardly risk spelling it out. Naturally, he made the note obscure, just in case it was intercepted. The seemingly innocent words would mean something entirely different to Carole.”

“Who has access to a typewriter?”

“Everybody. There’s one at a desk in the family den. That was the one used. I checked.”

“What does he—or she—mean by ‘Whatever you’re doing’?”

Avery looked away guiltily. “I’m not sure.”

“Avery?”

Her head snapped around. She had never been able to fudge the truth with Irish. He saw through it every time. “I’ve been trying to get along better with Tate than his wife did.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“It was obvious to me from the beginning that there was trouble between them.”

“How’d you figure that?”

“By the way he treats her. Me. He’s polite, but that’s all.”

“Hmm. Do you know why?”

“Carole either had, or was planning to have, an abortion. I only found out about that last week. I’d already discovered that she was a selfish, self-centered woman. She cheated on Tate and was a disaster of a parent to her daughter. Without raising too much suspicion, I’ve been trying to bridge the gap that had come between him and his wife.”

Again Irish asked, “Why?”

“So I’d know more about what is going on. I had to get to the source of their problem before I could begin to find a motive for a killer. Obviously, my attempts to improve their marriage have been noticed. The killer figures that it’s Carole’s new tactic to put Tate off guard.”

She chafed her arms as though suddenly chilled. “He’s real, Irish. I know it. There’s the proof,” she said, nodding down at the note.

Not yet committing himself one way or the other, Irish tossed the sheet of paper down on the coffee table. “Let’s assume there is a killer. Who’s gonna ice him?”

“I have no idea,” she replied with a defeated sigh. “They’re one big, happy family.”

“According to you, somebody out there at the Rocking R ain’t so happy.”

She provided him with a verbal run-down of names and each person’s relationship to Tate. “Each has his ax to grind, but none of those axes has anything to do with Tate. Both his parents dote on him. Nelson’s the undisputed head of the family. He rules, being stern and affectionate by turns.

“Zee isn’t so easy to pigeonhole. She’s a good wife and loving mother. She remains aloof from me. I think she resents Carole for not making Tate happier.”

“What about the others?”

“Carole might have had an affair with Eddy.”

“Eddy Paschal, Rutledge’s campaign manager?”

“And best friend since college. I don’t know for sure. I’m only going by Fancy’s word on that.”

“What a cliché. How does this Paschal character treat you?”

“He’s civil, nothing more. Of course, I haven’t put out the signals Carole did. If they were having an affair, maybe he just assumes it ended with the accident. In any event, he’s dedicated to Tate winning the election.”

“The girl?”

Avery shook her head. “Fancy is a spoiled brat with no more morals than an alley cat in heat. But she’s too flighty to be a killer. Not that she’s above it; she just wouldn’t expend the energy.”