Forty-Nine

"Richard's in trouble," Bonnie told her sister. "Or, at least, he was while Billy Finster was still alive. Now, honestly, we don't know what to think."

"What kind of trouble?"

Bonnie told Marta about the blackmail scheme. How Billy must have seen Richard on the news following the LeDrew incident and decided to victimize him.

"And before you ask, it's not true," Bonnie said. "Richard never molested anyone. Not Billy, not anybody else."

"But he was prepared to pay him off anyway," Marta said evenly.

"I know. Let's say someone said you took money under the table to look the other way when some robbery or something was going down. There wouldn't have to be anything to it, but there'd still be an internal affairs investigation. They'd turn your whole life upside down, wouldn't they?"

Marta slowly nodded. "Maybe."

"You don't look convinced."

Marta took a long breath. "I know a teacher can be the victim of a bogus accusation just as easily as a police officer can, I'll grant you that. But, Bonnie, I've seen so many cases where the wife had no idea. I'm not saying I believe he did it. I'm saying that your certainty isn't enough for me."

Bonnie leaned back in her chair, putting some distance between herself and her sister, and hugged herself, putting up a shield. "The only way this is going to work, the only way I tell you any more of this, is if you believe what I'm saying about Richard." She paused. "I know. That's it. End of story."

Marta nodded slowly. After a few seconds, she said, "Okay. I believe."

Bonnie unwrapped her arms from around herself and told Marta as much as she could remember of what Richard had told her. About the initial approach, attempting to sell the boat to the neighbor, scoping out where Billy lived and getting hit in the head for his trouble. And how Richard must have thought, at least briefly, that Bonnie herself had had something to do with the man's death, which was why he'd covered for her, said he'd been in her car the night before, parked near the Finster house.

"But it was you," Marta said.

Then Bonnie told her what had happened when she'd confronted Billy, how he had pointed a gun at her and left her shaken.

"Jesus," Marta said. She looked stunned, and more than a little angry with her sister. "Just how stupid are you? The fuck were you thinking?"

"You want to hear the story or chew me out?"

Marta went quiet.

"Anyway, when I told him to back off, that Richard wasn't paying up, that we weren't going to be blackmailed, he acted like he didn't have any idea what I was talking about." Bonnie paused. "He was pretty convincing. If I hadn't known better, I'd have believed him."

Marta was looking into her cup of now-cold coffee, trying to make sense of it. She had eaten one biscotti and was thinking of reaching for another.

"Why deny it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Bonnie said. "There's something else."

Marta raised her head, a look on her face that said nothing would surprise her now.

"Richard did lie, saying it was him watching the house and not me. But the truth is, he was there earlier that evening, in addition to being there in the afternoon. And he thinks he saw who killed Billy Finster."

"This just gets better and better."

She told Marta about the man and woman showing up in the black car. The shouting in the garage. The searching of the house.

Marta perked up. "A man and a woman? In a black car?" Bonnie nodded. "What kind of car? An Audi, by any chance?"

"I don't know," Bonnie said. "I don't know if Richard noticed that or not."

"A couple in a black car have been looking for Billy's wife," Marta said. "The woman's the one who got the drop on me Saturday night." She thought for another moment and said, "It's time."

"Time?"

"I have to talk to him."

Bonnie nodded resignedly. "He didn't want me to tell you anything. But... but we can't handle this alone. It's out of control." She wiped a tear from her cheek and put a hand on Marta's and squeezed. "Promise me you won't do anything to Richard for not telling you all about this from the beginning. Promise me that."

"I'll do my best," Marta said. "From everything you've told me, if this all checks out, I think the only thing we can accuse Richard of is being an idiot."

Bonnie almost laughed. "Thank you."

"Get him on the phone. I don't care if he's still in some meeting. I have to talk to him right now. If he's on the way back, I'll wait for him here."

"Okay, okay," Bonnie said.

While she got up and went to the front hall to get her cell phone from her purse, Marta retrieved her badge from the counter and clipped it back onto her belt. She was taking the coffee cups to the sink when Bonnie returned.

"He's not answering," she said, holding up the phone, her face grim. "It went straight to message."

Before Marta could respond, her own cell phone started to squawk. She snatched it from her jacket pocket and put it to her ear.

"Harper," she said. Her face turned dark. "Jesus Christ. On my way."

She ended the call and looked at her sister. "Someone's been shot. At Richard's school."