An Officer and a Gentle Woman Page 7

  “This is why we have our work cut out for us, Mrs. Walker,” Kirby said gravely. “Your husband treated you badly, and enough people knew it to believe that you had a strong motive to kill him. And several witnesses think they saw you do it.”

  Alicia put down her glass and raised her hand to her forehead. “How could this be any worse?” she whispered.

  Kirby surprised her by patting her free hand, which rested on the table between them.

  “Do not despair. I’m on your side now. And I’m a formidable opponent.”

  Alicia sighed shakily and said, “Thank you.”

  He smiled. “Now shall we begin?”

  Alicia focused on his questions, wondering if Oswald Kirby would be the only person to look beyond the obvious and see that she was innocent.

  Chapter 4

  “I still say you shouldn’t be going to this thing,” Maizie grumbled, her tone heavy with disapproval.

  Alicia turned and surveyed the back of her gown in the full-length mirror. “I’m not hiding out here like the criminal the district attorney wants everyone to think I am,” she said firmly, tugging at the base of her zipper.

  “I don’t understand you at all. You’ve got crazy people calling here saying they’re going to kill you, and you want to parade into Manhattan and do a public appearance to give all the loonies a better target.”

  “I’m not a doing a public appearance. I chaired the committee to sell tickets to a benefit performance of La Boheme, and all the people who paid inflated prices for those tickets expect to see me, dressed appropriately, smiling and shaking hands. I will not disappoint them”

  “And what about your children? Can they afford to lose both parents if somebody shoots you, too?”

  “A police detective has been assigned to protect me for the whole night.”

  Maizie made a sound of disgust. “Policemen are assigned to protect a lot of people. Some of them still die.”

  “Maizie, please. This isn’t easy for me, but I am determined to get through it.” Alicia adjusted the halter top of her dress and patted her upswept hair.

  “Why can’t Helen handle it?”

  “Helen is not the chairperson of this event.” Helen Fisher had assisted with the benefit performance and would be attending with a date.

  “I still say it’s a bad idea. We got another one of those calls just today.”

  “I can’t control every idiot out there who has access to a telephone,” Alicia said with a bravado she didn’t feel. She found the harassing calls a lot more unnerving than she cared to admit, to Maizie or anyone else.

  “There. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Alicia said.

  A seamstress had taken in the dress she was wearing; she had lost weight since her arrest. It was still a stunning gown, with a criss-cross bodice that draped into a halter fastening at the back of her neck. It had a billowing sweep of chiffon skirt, and the pale apricot color flattered her skin and hair. Her grandmother’s diamond earrings and a pair of ankle-strap pumps completed the picture.

  Someone knocked on the bedroom door, and Maizie answered the summons.

  “Your car is ready,” Maizie said.

  Alicia nodded and picked up her wrap.

  Maizie followed her down the stairs, and they stopped in the foyer as a man turned to face them.

  “Detective,” Alicia said lightly to Lafferty, who nodded at her solemnly.

  He was wearing a slim black tuxedo with a boiled white shirt and a black satin tie matching the satin stripes on his pants. Studs gleamed in his cuffs and his shoes where polished to a high ebony sheen. The well-fitting clothes made the most of his broad shoulders and slim hips, and his wavy hair had been tamed somewhat by a recent trim.

  He looked wonderful.

  His gaze traveled swiftly over Alicia, then moved away from her.

  “You didn’t tell me the policeman was him!” Maizie hissed in Alicia’s ear.

  Alicia ignored her as she retrieved her bag from the hall stand.

  “Please come into the kitchen for a second, Mrs. Walker, I need to talk to you,” Maizie said firmly.

  Alicia shot Maizie a look, but followed the older woman reluctantly down the hall.

  “How did he get this job?” Maizie demanded.

  Alicia shrugged. “The police department assigned him to escort me.”

  “Why?”

  Alicia was silent.

  “Did you ask for him?”

  Alicia sighed. “Yes.”

  Maizie waited until Alicia met her eyes.

  “So I’m right,” Maizie said softly.

  “Don’t look at me that way, Maizie. He makes me feel safe and I need that tonight. It will be difficult enough to get through this event without worrying every minute of every hour. Detective Lafferty is capable and professional, and that’s all.”

  “Are you sure that’s all? That is one fine-looking man in there—and I have a feeling I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

  “Maizie, I have to go. We can continue this discussion later,” Alicia said briskly, and fled.

  Lafferty was waiting and fell into step with Alicia as the chauffeur opened the front door for both of them. Lafferty didn’t look at her as she said, “Thank you for coming along with me, Detective.”

  “I was assigned the duty,” he replied flatly.

  “You had no choice about it, then?”

  “None.”

  Something about the way he said the word made Alicia examine his profile closely.

  “You don’t want to be here?”

  Lafferty paused as the chauffeur opened the door of the car and offered his hand to assist Alicia into the back seat. She waved the driver away and remained standing, facing Lafferty. Once the chauffeur was in the driver’s seat, his car door closed, she added, “I take it I have inconvenienced you?”

  “I do my job,” Lafferty replied shortly, standing beside the open door.

  Inexplicably, Alicia felt stung.

  “But you didn’t want to do it tonight?” she inquired.

  “The captain said that you had asked for me,” he answered flatly.

  It took a few seconds for the import of his statement to register with Alicia.

  “I see,” she said softly. “So that’s it. My request embarrassed you.”

  Lafferty didn’t answer.

  “I’m so sorry,” Alicia said. “It was not my intention to put you in an awkward position with your superiors. After tonight I can assure you that you will not be involved in any extraneous duties concerning me or my case.”

  He still said nothing.

  “Come on, Detective,” Alicia said, annoyance creeping into her tone. “I am aware enough to realize that NYPD is providing an ‘escort’ for me with an ulterior motive in mind. I think your captain is less worried about protecting me from crazies with handmade signs than he is about my vanishing through the stage-door exit during the third act of the opera.”

  Lafferty looked down, his fingers closing on the handle of the door.

  “How distressing for him if I disappeared from the jurisdiction on his watch,” Alicia continued bitingly. “But you need not worry on that score. It was very difficult for me to get bail, I have already surrendered my passport, the court has frozen my assets and I came very close to being put under house arrest with one of those little beeping bracelets on my arm. So I am not going anywhere.”

  Lafferty met her eyes, and Alicia was surprised by his expression. He didn’t look angry, but rather as if he were taken aback by her caustic speech.

  “I’m surprised that your superior actually sent you and agreed to my request,” she added. “They must suspect me of bribing you to spirit me away to some foreign country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Or would that be too obvious? I certainly wouldn’t be stupid enough to draw you into my intrigues and at the same time advertise my predilection for your company, would I? Or maybe your captain thinks I am brazen enough to do that very thing? Are you being wat
ched tonight, too, Detective Lafferty?”

  Lafferty stared at her until her eyes filled with tears and she turned her head to hide them.

  “Yes, Detective, I do have feelings, and what I have just described is peculiar treatment for an innocent person, in my book,” she whispered as she gracefully slid into the massive back seat. “But I guess you don’t believe that I am innocent. So why am I even talking to you about it?”

  The chauffeur turned, and Lafferty shut the door abruptly. Tears slipped from beneath Alicia’s closed lids and ran down her face as she searched through her purse for a handkerchief.

  She was making a fool of herself and she had to stop. This policeman didn’t know or care about anything except that he was doing his work. She had been silly to ask for him to be assigned this duty, and she had made the situation worse with her outburst. How was she going to get through the rest of the evening now? Her eyes stinging and her face burning with humiliation, Alicia watched through a watery blur as Lafferty slid into the front seat next to the driver and signaled for him to go.

  Alicia pressed the square of linen to her lips and resolved not to lose control again.

  The fountain at Lincoln Center sprayed jets of water into the air as the limousine pulled up to the curb. Crowds of people pressed against the car, camera flashes went off like fireworks, and Lafferty sat forward, alert, as the driver put the car in park.

  Alicia took one look at the chaotic scene and closed her eyes in despair. Maizie had been right—why hadn’t she listened? No matter how much she wanted to follow through on her work for the charity, she should have stayed at home. She was an accused murderer, charged with killing her public-figure husband, and the media harpies were not going to let her forget it.

  She turned to look at Lafferty, and he said quietly, “Do you want to turn around and go back?”

  Something about the “I told you so” tone of his question stiffened Alicia’s spine.

  “No,” she said firmly. “I can handle it.”

  Lafferty nodded. “Wait until I open your door, then stay close to me,” he said, and got out of the car.

  The driver stood idly by as Lafferty handed Alicia out of the limousine. She was assaulted by a wall of noise and realized that the crowd had been screaming all along but the luxurious car had prevented her from hearing the sound.

  Alicia was no stranger to crowds, her husband’s career had forced her to deal with many of them. But those gatherings had been receptive and welcoming, since most were associated with his political ascent and filled with well-wishers. This was a mob: hostile, jeering, insulting. Lafferty took her arm firmly and steered her toward the center path of carpeting which led to the door. Whistles and catcalls split the crisp spring evening air, and people carrying signs held them high to be captured by the cameras. Alicia saw a sign with “Murderess” written in red with blood dripping from the letters and then looked away, resolved not to read anymore. As they stepped up from the curb, reporters converged on them and jammed their microphones into Alicia’s face as a pair of uniformed policemen brought up the rear behind Alicia and her escort.

  “No comment,” Lafferty repeated to them, his expression grim, his strong body acting as a battering ram moving Alicia inexorably forward. The crowd followed them, the reporters yammering questions incessantly, her detractors yelling epithets and thrusting their signs into the air, the cameras whirring and flashing. Video cams wobbled as newsmen dodged through the melee to get a continous feed for their tapes. The Metropolitan Opera House seemed a hundred miles away as Alicia finally bent her head and shielded her eyes, unable to take the glare of the spotlight any longer.

  The trip to the entrance was endless. Even with Lafferty looming next to her their progress was maddeningly slow, and the jostling came close to knocking Alicia down several times. Lafferty was almost carrying her by the time they stepped onto the red carpet which led to the reception room. Just as they entered the building Alicia felt a sudden wetness on her face and she realized with shock that someone had spit on her.

  She stopped short, then saw the group assembled in the room to greet her, all the staring faces turned in her direction. She closed her eyes, unsure what to do. Lafferty noticed her hesitation and looked around desperately, spotting a ladies’ room just a few feet across the marble-floored hall.

  “Mrs. Walker will be with you shortly,” he announced, steering Alicia in the direction of the rest room and bumping the padded door open with his shoulder.

  The uniformed attendant inside glanced up at their entrance and then stared at Lafferty, who looked at her and said, “Out.”

  The sixtyish woman’s mouth opened as she folded her hands over her net apron. “I’m sorry, sir,” she began officiously, but Lafferty cut her off by removing his wallet and showing her his badge.

  “Police business,” he said. “Just step outside and wait, I won’t need this room long.”

  The woman examined the badge, then his face, and decided to obey. Once she had left, Lafferty picked up an ornate stool in front of the vanity and jammed it against the closed door, preventing anyone from coming into the room until it was removed.

  Then he took out his handkerchief and gently wiped the spittle from Alicia’s face.

  She stared at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.

  Unsure what to do next, Lafferty touched Alicia’s shoulder comfortingly, and she fell into his arms.

  “Take it easy,” he said soothingly, his mouth against her hair and his voice rumbling in his chest under her ear.

  “The bad part’s over, it will get better now.”

  Alicia should have been ashamed of herself for clinging to this near stranger. She should have been self-possessed enough to care. But she wasn’t. The mob’s reception had been so ugly, and Lafferty’s strength was so protective and reassuring by comparison that she let go and did what her body wanted her to do. Her arms slipped up around his neck and she felt his lips move against her brow.

  “I’ll take you home now if you want to go,” he added quietly, his voice next to her ear. “I’ll make your excuses and get you the hell out of here.”

  The prospect was so inviting her mouth almost watered at the thought. Just as appetizing was the idea of staying in this man’s arms for the foreseeable future. She sighed and dug her fingers into his shoulders. She felt his grip tighten in response.

  Alicia would never know what might have happened next, since a raised voice in the corridor outside caused Lafferty to pull away from her and listen at the door.

  Alicia was leaning against the silk-covered wall, her eyes closed, when he turned back to her.

  “Better now?” he asked.

  Alicia’s eyes opened. “Yes. Thank you,” she whispered.

  Lafferty said nothing, merely stood looking at her, waiting for her to make the next move.

  “I guess you knew I wasn’t prepared for this,” she finally murmured grudgingly.

  He turned to run some water into a paper cup provided by a dispenser and handed it to her. Alicia swallowed gratefully and said, “Why do they hate me so?”

  “Well, probably a lot of them do think you killed your husband, and even the ones who aren’t sure resent the fact that your money allows you to be out on bail when most others accused of a similar crime would be locked up in a cell. Your coming to this event, all dressed up, stepping out of a limo, is just flaunting in their faces the fact that you bought your way out of the jailhouse.”

  “You seem to understand mob mentality very well,” Alicia replied sadly.

  “It comes with the job.”

  Alicia shook her head. “These are probably the same people who were cheering me a month ago at one of Joe’s rallies.”

  “They were cheering your husband. Now that they think you killed him, they have turned against you.”

  “And what if I didn’t kill him?” Alicia demanded, crushing the cup and tossing it into the gilt wastebasket under the vanity. “Does anybody think about that? Whate
ver happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’?”

  “It’s more interesting to think you shot your husband. It’s a much more sensational story.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake! If I were going to kill Joe, why would I do it in front of witnesses? Do they all think I’m an idiot?”

  “People believe what they want to believe,” Lafferty replied flatly.

  Alicia searched his face. “You think it’s hopeless, don’t you? Why am I even bothering with a defense? Nothing I can do or say will ever convince anyone I didn’t pull that trigger.”

  Somebody began pounding on the door.

  “Open up,” a voice called. “Security.”

  Lafferty studied Alicia’s face. “Are you okay to go back out there?”

  Alicia sighed and nodded.

  Lafferty removed the stool and pulled open the gilded door. They saw a blue-suited guard standing in the hall with the rest room attendant.

  Neither one of them looked happy.

  “May I see your badge, Officer?” the guard demanded.

  “Detective,” Lafferty corrected him. “And there’s no need for ID. We’re done here.” He took Alicia’s arm and whisked her past the two staring people before they could object.

  “Okay,” he said as they paused at the entrance to the reception room for a second time that night. Inside the crowd was milling around, sampling the refreshments, glasses in hand.

  “Showtime,” he added, looking down at Alicia.

  Alicia glanced up at him and then fixed a welcoming smile on her face.

  “That’s better,” he said.

  “Thanks for the save,” she whispered.

  “Part of the service,” he replied briefly, and before Alicia could consider what he meant by that, Helen emerged from the crowd and came forward to take both her hands.