“What happened next?” Clare asked.
“I asked him about our future,” Kimberley whispered in a choked voice. “The bastard laughed. He actually had the gall to laugh. Said I was very good in bed but that if he ever wanted to get married again he would look a lot higher than a massage therapist.”
“So you shot him,” Clare said.
“On the night he planned to kill you,” Kimberley agreed. “I knew that when you found the body everyone would think you were the murderer. That’s the way it works, isn’t it?”
“Shipley guessed right away that you were the killer, though, didn’t he?” Jake asked.
Kimberley used her sleeve to dry her eyes. “He promised me he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Valerie, if I agreed to help him. He said he would make me his business partner. He got me a new identity and then recommended me to the management here at the spa. I was hired immediately.”
“Of course,” Clare said. “No one in Stone Canyon would say no to Owen Shipley. What did Owen tell you he wanted you to do for him?”
“He said he wanted me to make friends with Valerie. I was supposed to keep her focused on her obsession with you until the time came to get rid of her. But tonight I finally realized he was just keeping me handy so that I could take the fall when he finally needed someone to give to the cops.”
“You called Valerie the day I was here at the spa, didn’t you?” Clare said. “You told her I was scheduled for a couple of treatments. Did you invite her to come on over and take a whack at me with that dumbbell?”
Kimberley made a disgusted sound. “That was all her idea. I called her, yes, but only because I had told her I would let her know if you showed up here. I wasn’t aware of what she had done until you came into my office complaining that someone had tried to kill you. I realized right away it must have been Valerie who attacked you. After you left that day I called Shipley and let him know that Valerie was out of control. He was at the country club. He said he’d take care of the problem.”
“He went out, played a round of golf and murdered her,” Jake said.
Clare studied Kimberley. “Why didn’t Owen ever tell Valerie that you were the one who killed Brad?”
It was Jake who answered. “He couldn’t. With Brad gone, Shipley needed help to further his plans. Valerie was useless to him. She was too obsessed with her grief. Kimberley was all he had to work with. He had to protect her until he needed her.”
“I loved Brad,” Kimberley said. “I thought the bastard loved me. He lied right from the start.”
“Yes,” Clare said. “He did.”
Chapter Forty-seven
Five-fifteen A.M., Scargill Cove…
Fallon sat at his desk, gazing into the glowing screen of the computer. He had been working steadily on Owen Shipley’s journal since Jake awakened him three hours before and informed him that he was sending an encrypted file via e-mail attachment. It had been easy to break the password code. Shipley had not been what anyone would call a techno whiz.
Unfortunately there wasn’t nearly as much material as Fallon had hoped to find. Shipley had been only a low-level member of the cabal. But there were some hints and clues at last. The kaleidoscope in Fallon’s head was starting to produce more than tantalizing glimpses. He could see pictures forming. Disturbing pictures.
He got to his feet and walked to the window. The first light of dawn was waking the cove. Physically he was exhausted but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep for a long time.
Chapter Forty-eight
Eight-ten A.M., Portland, Oregon…
It was raining when John Stilwell Nash left his private club. The monthly breakfast meeting and the guest speaker who had followed had been incredibly boring as usual. He disliked wasting his time on such trivial matters. But it was important to maintain his image in the Portland business community.
A number of city and state VIPs belonged to the club. It was the only reason he had joined. It gave him a sense of predatory satisfaction to rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of the region. He felt like a shark swimming among a school of oblivious prey fish whenever he dined at the club. He savored the secret knowledge that he already owned some of the politicians and business executives in the room. Eventually, he would have governors, senators and presidents in his grasp.
The rain was steady, relentless. He did not like the city. He didn’t like anything about the Northwest. But his instincts had told him that this would be a good place in which to establish the organization. No one would think to look for the man who intended to take over the Arcane Society here in Portland.
His phone chimed as he waited for his car to be brought around. He checked the number and took the call.
“Yes?” he said.
“The Stone Canyon operation has been terminated. Shipley was picked up by the authorities late last night.”
A searing flash of rage snapped through Nash; the raw anger of the hunter when the prey manages to wriggle free and escape. He worked frantically to control the intense sensation. He had been half expecting the news for some time now, he reminded himself. He had known things were going badly in Arizona. Nevertheless, he wanted Glazebrook. The company would have made an ideal acquisition, perfectly suited to the cabal’s purposes.
He took a couple deep breaths and waited until he was sure he had himself in hand.
“Any loose ends?” he asked, pleased that his voice was calm and cold. It was vital not to show strong emotion in front of the members of his staff. A display of temper was a display of weakness. Self-control was everything.
“No. Shipley is still unconscious. They must have given him something. A heavy tranq, maybe.”
Deprived of the drug, Shipley would soon sink into a bottomless well of insanity, John thought. Jones & Jones would no doubt pick up a few glimmerings of the Plan, but that could not be helped. He would deal with those problems if and when they occurred.
“What about the Todd woman?” he asked.
“She doesn’t know enough to do any damage.”
Neither did Shipley, John assured himself.
“Shipley would have had a small supply of the drug left,” he said. “The local authorities don’t have any reason to be interested in it but I’d rather it didn’t fall into the hands of J&J.”
“Any idea where Shipley kept the drug?”
“No. But given its value to him, it is probably in a secure location. Try the wine cellar. The white wine chiller.”