From Potter's Field ks-6 Read online

  'What is your horse's name?' I inquired.

  'Snow White.' He looked as miserable as his pitiful mare as he started to cite his fares.

  'I'm not interested in your fares,' I said as he looked wearily down at me.

  He shrugged. 'So how long you want ride?'

  'I don't know,' I said curtly. 'How long do I need to ride before you start beating Snow White again? And do you beat the shit out of her more or less when it's Christmas?'

  'I am good to my horse,' he said stupidly.

  'You are cruel to this horse and probably to everything alive and breathing,' I said.

  'I have job to do,' he said as his eyes narrowed.

  'I am a doctor and I am reporting you,' I said as my voice got tighter.

  'What?' he chortled. 'You horse doctor?'

  I stepped closer to the driver's box until I was inches from his blanket-covered legs. 'You whip this mare one more time, and I will see it,' I said with the iron calm I reserved for people I hated. 'And this man behind me will see it. From that window right up there-' I pointed. 'And one day you will wake up and find I have bought your company and fired you.'

  'You do not buy company.' He glanced up curiously at the New York Athletic Club.

  'You do not understand reality,' I said.

  He tucked his chin into his collar and ignored me.

  I was silent as I returned to my room, and Wesley did not speak, either. I took a deep breath and my hands would not stop shaking. He went to the minibar and poured us each a whiskey, then sat me on the bed, propped several pillows behind me, and took off his coat and spread it over my legs.

  He turned lights off and sat next to me. For a while he rubbed my neck while I stared out the window. The snow-sky looked gray and wet, but not dreary as when it rained. I wondered about the difference, why snow seemed soft while rain felt hard and somehow colder.

  It had been bitterly cold and raining in Richmond the Christmas when police discovered Eddie Heath's frail, naked body. He was propped against a Dumpster behind an abandoned building with windows boarded up, and though he would never regain consciousness, he was not yet dead. Gault had abducted him from a convenience store where Eddie had been sent by his mother to pick up a can of soup.

  I would never forget the desolation of that filthy spot where the boy had been found or Gault's gratuitous cruelty of placing near the body the small bag containing the can of soup and candy bar Eddie had purchased before his death. The details made him so real that even the Henrico County officer wept. I envisioned Eddie's wounds and remembered the warm pressure of his hand when I examined him in pediatric intensive care before he was disconnected from life support.

  'Oh God,' I muttered in this dim room. 'Oh God, I'm so tired of all this.'

  Wesley did not reply. He had gotten up and was standing before the window, drink in hand.

  'I'm so tired of cruelty. I'm so tired of people beating horses and killing little boys and head-injured women.'

  Wesley did not turn around. He said, 'It's Christmas. You should call your family.'

  'You're right. That's just what I need to cheer me up.' I blew my nose and reached for the phone.

  At my sister's house in Miami, no one answered. I dug an address book out of my purse and called the hospital where my mother had been for weeks. A nurse in the intensive care unit said Dorothy was with my mother and she would get her.

  'Hello?'

  'Merry Christmas,' I said to my only sibling.

  'I guess that's an irony when you consider where I am. There's certainly nothing merry about this place, not that you would know since you aren't here.'

  'I'm quite familiar with intensive care,' I said. 'Where is Lucy and how is she?'

  'She's out running errands with her friend. They dropped me off and will be back in an hour or so. Then we're going to Mass. Well, I don't know if the friend will since she's not Catholic.'

  'Lucy's friend has a name. Her name is Janet, and she is very nice.'

  'I'm not going to get into that.'

  'How is Mother?'

  'The same.'

  'The same as what, Dorothy,' I said, and she was beginning to get to me.

  'They've had to suction her a lot today. I don't know what the problem is, but you can't imagine what it's like to watch her try to cough and not make a sound because of that awful tube in her throat. She only made it five minutes off the ventilator today.'

  'Does she know what day it is?'

  'Oh yes,' Dorothy said ominously. 'Oh yes indeed. I put a little tree on her table. She's been crying a lot.'

  A dull ache welled in my chest.

  'When are you getting here?' she went on.

  'I don't know. We can't leave New York right now.'

  'Does it ever strike you, Katie, that you've spent most of your life worrying about dead people?' Her voice was getting sharp. 'I think all your relationships are with dead-'

  'Dorothy, you tell Mother I love her and that I called. Please tell Lucy and Janet that I'll try again later tonight or tomorrow.'

  I hung up.

  Wesley was still standing before the window with his back to me. He was quite familiar with my family difficulties.

  'I'm sorry,' he said kindly.

  'She would be like that even if I were there.'

  'I know. But the point is, you should be there and I should be home.'

  When he talked about home I got uncomfortable, because his home and mine were different. I thought again about this case, and when I closed my eyes I saw the woman who looked like a manikin without clothing or wig. I envisioned her awful wounds.

  I said, 'Benton, who is he really killing when he kills these people?'

  'Himself,' he said. 'Gault is killing himself.'

  'That can't be all of it.'

  'No, but it is part of it.'

  'It's a sport to him,' I said.

  'That, too, is true.'

  'What about his family? Do we know anything more?'

  'No.' He did not turn around. 'Mother and father are healthy and in Beaufort, South Carolina.'

  'They moved from Albany?'

  'Remember the flood.'

  'Oh yes. The storm.'

  'South Georgia was almost washed away. Apparently the Gaults left and are in Beaufort now. I think they're also looking for privacy.'

  'I can only imagine.'

  'Right. Tour buses were rolling past their house in Georgia. Reporters were knocking on their door. They will not cooperate with the authorities. As you know, I have repeatedly requested interviews and have been denied.'

  'I wish we knew more about his childhood,' I said.

  'He grew up on the family plantation, which was basically a big white frame house set on hundreds of acres of pecan trees. Nearby was the factory that made nut logs and other candies you see in truck stops and restaurants, mostly in the South. As for what went on inside that house while Gault lived there, we don't know.'

  'And his sister?'

  'Still on the West Coast somewhere, I guess. We can't find her to talk to her. She probably wouldn't anyway.'

  'What is the likelihood that Gault would contact her?'

  'Hard to say. But we've not learned anything that would indicate the two of them have ever been close. It doesn't appear that Gault has been close - in the normal sense - to anyone his entire life.'

  'Where have you been today?' My voice was gentler and I felt more relaxed.

  'I talked to several detectives and did a lot of walking.'

  'Walking for exercise or work?'

  'Mostly the latter, but both. By the way, Snow White is gone. The driver just left with an empty carriage. And he didn't hit her.'

  I opened my eyes. 'Please tell me more about your walk.'

  'I walked through the area where Gault was seen in the subway station with the victim at Central Park West and Eighty-first. Depending on the weather and what route you take, that particular subway entrance is maybe a five-, ten-minute walk from the Ramble.'
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  'But we don't know that they went in there.'

  'We don't know a damn thing,' he said, letting out a long, weary breath. 'Certainly, we have recovered footwear impressions. But there are so many other footprints, hoof prints, dog prints and God knows what. Or at least there were.' He paused as snow streaked past the glass.

  'You're thinking he's been living around there.'

  'That subway station's not a transfer station. It's a destination station. People who get off there either live on the Upper West Side or are going to one of the restaurants, the museum or events in the park.'

  'Which is why I don't think Gault has been living in that neighborhood,' I said. 'In a station like the one at Eighty-first or others nearby, you probably see the same people over and over again. It seems that the transit officer who gave Gault a ticket would have recognized him if Gault was local and used the subway a lot.'

  'That's a good point,' Wesley said. 'It appears Gault was familiar with the area where he chose to commit the crime. Yet there's no indication he ever spent time in that area. So how could he be familiar with it?' He turned around to face me.

  The lights were off in the room, and he was in the shadows before a marbled background of gray sky and snow. Wesley looked thin, dark trousers hanging from his hips, a belt pulled to a new notch.

  'You've lost weight,' I said.

  'I'm flattered you would notice,' he wryly said.

  'I know your body well only when you have no clothes on,' I said matter-of-factly. 'And then you are beautiful.'

  'Then is the only time it matters, I guess.'

  'No it isn't. How much have you lost and why?'

  'I don't know how much. I never weigh myself. Sometimes I forget to eat.'

  'Have you eaten today?' I asked as if I were his primary care physician.

  'No.'

  'Get your coat on,' I said.

  We walked hand in hand along the wall of the park, and I could not recall if we had shown affection before in public. But the few people out could not see our faces clearly, not that they would have cared. For a moment my heart was light, and snow hitting snow sounded like snow hitting glass.

  We walked without talking for many blocks, and I thought about my family in Miami. I probably would call them again before the end of the day, and my reward would be more complaints. They were unhappy with me because I had not done what they wanted, and whenever that was the case, I furiously wanted to quit them as if they were a bad job or a vice. In truth, I worried most about Lucy, whom I had always loved as if she were my daughter. Mother I could not please, and Dorothy I did not like.

  I moved closer to Benton and took his arm. He reached over with his other hand to take mine as I pressed my body against him. Both of us wore caps, which made it difficult to kiss. So we stopped on the sidewalk in the gathering dark, turned our caps backward like hoodlums and resolved the problem. Then we laughed at each other because of how we looked.

  'Damn, I wish I had a camera.' Wesley laughed some more.

  'No, you don't.'

  I returned the cap to its proper position as I thought of anyone taking a picture of us together. I was reminded that we were outlaws, and the merry moment vanished. We walked on.

  'Benton, this can't go on forever,' I said.

  He did not speak.

  I went on, 'In your real world you are a committed husband and father, and then we go out of town.'

  'How do you feel about it?' he said, tension returning to his voice.

  'I suppose I feel the same way most people do when they're having an affair. Guilt, shame, fear, sadness. I get headaches and you lose weight.' I paused. 'Then we get around each other.'

  'What about jealousy?' he asked.

  I hesitated. 'I discipline myself not to feel that.'

  'You can't discipline yourself not to feel.'

  'Certainly you can. We both do it all the time when we're working cases like this one.'

  'Are you jealous of Connie?' he persisted as we walked.

  'I have always been fond of your wife and think she is a fine person.'

  'But are you jealous of her relationship with me? It would be very understandable-'

  I interrupted him. 'Why must you push this, Benton?'

  'Because I want us to face the facts and sort through them, somehow.'

  'All right, then you tell me something,' I said. 'When I was with Mark while he was your partner and best friend, were you ever jealous?'

  'Of whom?' He tried to be funny.

  'Were you ever jealous of my relationship with Mark?' I said.

  He did not answer right away.

  'I would be lying if I didn't admit that I've always been attracted to you. Strongly attracted,' he finally said.

  I thought back to times when Mark, Wesley and I had been together. I searched for the faintest hint of what he had just said. I could not remember. But when I had been with Mark, I was focused only on him.

  'I have been honest,' Wesley went on. 'Let's talk about you and Connie again. I need to know.'

  'Why?'

  'I need to know if all of us could ever be together,' he said. 'Like the old days when you had dinner with us, when you came to visit. My wife has begun to ask why you don't do that anymore.'

  'You're saying that you fear she is suspicious.' I felt paranoid.

  'I'm saying that the subject has come up. She likes you. Now that you and I work together, she wonders why that means she sees less of you rather than more.'

  'I can see why she might wonder,' I said.

  'What are we going to do?'

  I had been in Benton's home and watched him with his children and his wife. I remembered the touching, the smiles and allusions to matters beyond my ken as they briefly shared their world with friends. But in those days it was different because I had been in love with Mark, who now was dead.

  I let go of Wesley's hand. Yellow cabs rushed by in sprays of snow, and lights were warm in apartment building windows. The park glowed the whiteness of ghosts beneath tall iron lamps.

  'I can't do it,' I said to him.

  We turned onto Central Park West.

  'I'm sorry, but I just don't think I can be around you and Connie,' I added.

  'I thought you said you could discipline your emotions.'

  'That's easy for you to say because I don't have someone else in my life.'

  'You're going to have to do it at some point. Even if we break this off, you're going to have to deal with my family. If we are to continue working together, if we are to be friends.'

  'So now you're giving me ultimatums.'

  'You know I'm not.'

  I quickened my pace. The first time we had made love I had made my life a hundred times more complicated. Certainly, I had known better. I had seen more than one poor fool on my autopsy table who had decided to get involved with someone married. People annihilated themselves and others. They became mentally ill and got sued.

  I passed Tavern on the Green. I stared up at the Dakota on my left, where John Lennon was killed on a corner years ago. The subway station was very close to Cherry Hill, and I wondered if Gault might have left the park and come here. I stood and stared. That night, December 8, I was driving home from a court case when I heard on the radio that Lennon had been shot dead by a nobody carrying a copy of Catcher in the Rye.

  'Benton,' I said, 'Lennon used to live there.'

  'Yes,' he said. 'He was killed right over there by that entrance.'

  'Is there any possibility Gault cared about that?'

  He paused. 'I haven't thought about it.'

  'Should we think about it?'

  He was silent as he looked up at the Dakota with its sandblasted brick, wrought iron and copper trim.

  'We probably should think about everything,' he said.

  'Gault would have been a teenager when Lennon was murdered. As I recall from Gault's apartment in Richmond, he seemed to prefer classical music and jazz. I don't remember that he had any albums by Lennon or
the Beatles.'

  'If he's preoccupied with Lennon,' Wesley said, 'it's not for musical reasons. Gault would be fascinated by such a sensational crime.'

  We walked on. 'There just aren't enough people to ask the questions we need answered,' I said.

  'We would need an entire police department. Maybe the entire FBI.'

  'Can we check to see if anyone fitting his description has been seen around the Dakota?' I asked.

  'Hell, he could be staying there,' Wesley said bitterly. 'So far, money hasn't seemed to be his problem.'

  Around the corner of the Museum of Natural History was the snowcapped pink awning of a restaurant called Scaletta, which I was surprised to find lit up and noisy. A couple in fur coats turned in and went downstairs, and I wondered if we shouldn't do the same. I was actually getting hungry, and Wesley didn't need to lose any more weight.

  'Are you up for this?' I asked him.

  'Absolutely. Is Scaletta a relative of yours?' he teased.

  'I think not.'

  We got as far as the door, where the maitre d' informed us that the restaurant was closed.

  'You certainly don't look closed,' I said, suddenly exhausted and unwilling to walk any more.

  'But we are, signora.' He was short, balding and wearing a tuxedo with a bright red cummerbund. 'This is a private party.'

  'Who is Scaletta?' Wesley asked him.

  'Why you want to know?'

  'It is an interesting name, much like mine,' I said.

  'And what is yours?'

  'Scarpetta.'

  He looked carefully at Wesley and seemed puzzled. 'Yes, of course. But he is not with you this evening?'

  I stared blankly at him. 'Who is not with me?'

  'Signor Scarpetta. He was invited. I'm most sorry, I did not realize you were in his party…'

  'Invited to what?' I had no idea what he was talking about. My name was rare. I had never encountered another Scarpetta, not even in Italy.

  The maitre d' hesitated. 'You are not related to the Scarpetta who comes here often?'

  'What Scarpetta?' I said, getting uneasy.

  'A man. He has been here many times recently. A very good customer. He was invited to our Christmas party. So you are not his guests?'

  'Tell me more about him,' I said.