Deception (28 page)

“He may have been home when Wally called him, but that doesn’t change the fact that Joshua saw him at the house two hours earlier.”

Jill bit her lip, suppressing the need to scream. Had everyone gone stark raving mad? “Joshua is mistaken,” she said, trying to keep her voice on an even keel. “He saw someone else.”

“No, he didn’t. He stood just outside the living-room window. He saw the two men argue. He saw them exchange blows.”

“They fought?”

“Your father threw the first punch and Cyrus retaliated with one of his own. Apparently, the blow was powerful enough to knock your father against the fireplace.”

Jill’s face lost all color. Jumping to her feet, she started pacing the room. “What are you saying, Dan? That my uncle is a murderer? Are you out of your mind?”

“Until we hear Cyrus’s side of the story, I’m afraid that’s the only possible scenario.”

She stopped in front of him. “I can’t believe you. I knew you didn’t like my uncle, but I never thought you’d turn on him by making up something so monstrous.”

Dan ignored the outburst. “Maybe you should ask your uncle where he was that night”

“I know where he was that night! At home.” She sank into a chair, waiting for the shock and anger to recede. When they had, she bowed her head. “I’m sorry.

Dan sat beside her and gathered her in his arms “It’s okay, baby. I could hardly believe it myself.

As a feeling of total exhaustion engulfed her, she leaned against him. “There has to be an explanation for this, Dan. He couldn’t have…” She fought to keep her voice from shaking and couldn’t quite manage it. “Because, you see, if he killed my father, then…” She raised stricken eyes toward him. “Then he’s the one who tried to kill me.”

“We need to talk to him, Jill. Do you know where he is?”

“Home. He left work early to get ready for a Christmas function at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.” Unable to stand still, she pulled away from him and stood up again. “You didn’t tell Wally, did you?”

“No. I wanted to talk to you first.”

“Good. It’ll give me a chance to speak to my uncle and clear up this-”

The phone rang, cutting off the rest of her sentence. Filled with a sense of impending doom, she picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Jill!” her aunt Stephanie cried. “Thank God I found you.”

A chill settled in the pit of Jill’s stomach. “Aunt Stephanie, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Cyrus. He…” She was overcome by sobs. “He’s just been arrested.”

Twenty-Eight

Jill threw Dan a horrified look. “Aunt Stephanie, calm down. Who arrested him?”

“Two deputies from Livingston Manor. They said Wally needed to ask him a few questions in regard to Simon’s death. They wouldn’t tell me any more than that. They wouldn’t even let me go with him.” She started crying again.

“Are you sure he was arrested? They showed you a warrant?”

“They didn’t say anything about a warrant. They asked Cyrus if he’d go willingly and he said yes.”

“All right, listen to me. Call Philip Van Horn right away. Tell him what happened and ask him to recommend a criminal defense attorney. I’ll call Wally and try to find out what’s going on.”

“Why is Wally doing this?” Stephanie asked in an anguished voice. “He’s acting as if Cyrus is a criminal, as if he actually had something to do with Simon’s death.”

“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding, Aunt Stephanie. We’ll get it straightened out. Let me get off the phone, okay? I’ll call you back as soon as I know something. In the meantime, call Philip.”

Jill hung up and turned to Dan. “I thought you didn’t say anything to Wally.”

“I didn’t. After I left Joshua’s cabin, I came straight here.”

“Well, he knows. Two deputies just took my uncle to Livingston Manor for questioning.”

Dan was already dialing the phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“The only person with answers—Wally.”

This time there were no pleasantries exchanged between the two men. Wally’s tone was brisk. “You should have told me right away, Dan.”

“Wally, come on. How could I do that without talking to Jill first?”

Wally grumbled something unintelligible that Dan took for an agreement. “How did you find out, anyway?”

“Joshua came to see me,” Wally said. “Apparently right after you left him. He was terrified Cyrus would go to jail because of him. I couldn’t make sense of what he was saying at first. Then, when he mentioned your name, and your visit, I started to put two and two together.”

“Are you planning on arresting Cyrus?”

“Not until I hear his side of the story. Depending on what he says, I may have to turn him over to the sheriff’s department in Monticello.” He paused. “You’d better tell Jill to get him an attorney.”

“She already has.”

“Good. He’s going to need one.”

Dan glanced at Jill, whose color still hadn’t returned. “Jill wants to see her uncle, Wally.”

“Not until I’ve had a chance to talk to him. And that could be quite late.”

“I don’t care how late it is, please call me.”

“Where will you be?”

“Right here, at Jill’s loft.”

There was a slight pause. “All night?”

The surprise in the policeman’s voice didn’t go unnoticed. “Yes,” Dan said simply, offering no other explanation. Now was not the time to discuss his renewed relationship with Jill.

After he hung up, Dan repeated what Wally had told him.

Like a struck match, Jill’s anger flared anew, as hot as before. “I can’t believe Wally is talking about turning my uncle over to the sheriff. What does he think Cyrus is going to do? Confess to a murder he didn’t commit?”

“Wally is just doing his job, Jill.”

“His job is to protect the public, not to harass innocent people.”

“He’s also a fair man, and one of Cyrus’s best friends. He’ll do what’s right.”

“He didn’t do what was right when he brought my uncle in. The whole thing could have been handled with one phone call.”

“That’s not how the police operate, Jill, even in a hamlet like Livingston Manor.”

Jill let out a long breath and went to look out the dark living-room window. of course, it wasn’t. She knew that. She was just letting off some steam. If she could take a moment to calmly analyze the situation, she’d understand why Wally had little choice but to do exactly as he had.

“Feel better?” Dan had sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

“A little.” She leaned the back of her head against his broad chest. “Sorry. I’m being a bitch, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re being human.”

She covered his arms with hers and held him tight. “I guess I’d better call Aunt Stephanie,” she said after a while. “I told her I would.”

Reluctantly, she moved out of his arms and walked over to pick up the phone.

Wally eased a hip over his desk and watched his deputy bring Cyrus in. His eyes on his old friend, he waited until Brad had left and closed the door before speaking. “Thanks for coming in, Cyrus.”

“Did I have a choice?” Looking pale but composed, Cyrus removed his overcoat and tossed it on a chair. Underneath, he wore an impeccably cut tuxedo, no bow tie. His heavily starched shirt collar was open.

Wally ignored the question but observed him in silence for a few seconds. Though subdued, Cyrus showed no sign of nervousness and returned Wally’s gaze without flinching. “You don’t know how I hate doing this.”

“I have a pretty good idea.” Cyrus looked around the room. “I don’t see a tape recorder. Is this an informal interrogation then?”

“It’s not an interrogation at all. I just want to ask you a few questions. If you give me the answers I want to hear, I’ll let you go.”

Cyrus leaned back in the chair. “Fair enough. What do you want to know?”

“The same thing I wanted to know the day Simon died. Where were you that night?”

Cyrus’s face remained impassive. “And I already told you. I was home.”

“We have an eyewitness who puts you in Simon’s house at about 11:00 pm.”

Cyrus gave Wally a long level look and said nothing.

Wally wanted to shake him. “So I’ll ask you again,” he said, keeping his eyes on Cyrus. “Where were you the night Simon died?”

“Who told you I was here?”

“Never mind that. Just answer the damn question.”

For a moment, Cyrus seemed lost in the contemplation of his shoes, which were polished to a high gloss. “I was in Livingston Manor,” he said at last. “At Simon’s house.”

Wally inhaled deeply. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Despite his faith in Joshua, he had hung on to the slim chance that the caretaker had been mistaken. “Do you realize what you’re saying?”

“You wanted the truth. Now you have it.”

“Dammit, Cyrus, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why did you lie?”

“Because you would have come to the same conclusion you’re coming to now-that I killed Simon.”

“Are you saying you didn’t?”

“You’re damn right I didn’t.”

“And I suppose you weren’t arguing with him, either? You were just having a cozy little chat by the fire.”

Cyrus’s eyes registered instant surprise. Surprise and something more. Fear. The look hit Wally in the gut. He had known Cyrus as long as he’d known Simon, and liked him equally, maybe more. Unlike Simon, who had thrived on attention and adulation, Cyrus was a simple, compassionate man with no ego and a deep sense of ethics. The thought that he may have killed his own brother was too ludicrous to imagine. And yet… The next question had his stomach in knots, but he had to ask it. “Where were you on Tuesday morning, Cyrus?”

For a moment, Wally thought his old friend was going to rush him. Then the fury receded from Cyrus’s eyes as if he understood why the question had to be asked. “I was at the office.”

“Can you prove it?”

“If I have to.”

“Then why won’t you-”

“That’s all I’m going to say until you tell me what I want to know. Who told you I was in Livingston Manor the night my brother died?”

There was no point in keeping Joshua’s name a secret any longer. Cyrus was bound to find out, anyway. “Joshua saw you there. He came to the house thinking he had left the lights on. He saw you throw a punch. And he saw Simon hit his head on the fireplace.”

Cyrus briefly closed his eyes. “Damn.”

The single expletive, an admission in itself, drained Wally of any hope he had of clearing his friend. He waited for an explanation, but Cyrus didn’t offer any. He kept studying his shoes.

“Want to tell me what happened?” Wally finally asked.

When Cyrus looked up, his eyes were flat. “Joshua told you the truth. Simon and I did have an argument that night. He hit me, I hit him back and, yes, I knocked him against the fireplace. But I didn’t kill him.” His gaze remained steady. “He was very much alive and back on his feet when I left the house.”

“What were you two fighting about?”

Cyrus shook his head. “I’ve told you all I’m going to say.”

Wally jumped down from his desk. “What do you mean you’ve told me all you’re going to say? Are you crazy? Don’t you realize the mess you’re in?”

“I think I do.”

“Then defend yourself, man. Give me something I can work with, so I won’t have to slap a murder charge on you.”

“I can’t.”

“Why? Are you protecting someone?”

“No.”

“Like hell you’re not. Who is it?”

“I told you, no one.”

In a frustrated gesture, Wally ran his hand through his thick gray hair and tried another approach. “What time did you arrive at the house?”

Cyrus’s mouth pursed for a second or two. “Between eleven and eleven-fifteen.”

“How long did you stay?”

“No more than fifteen minutes. I was back in New York by 2:00 am.”

“But you can’t prove it.”

“You know I can’t. Stephanie was in Massachusetts visiting her sister that weekend. She didn’t get back home until Monday morning, after I called her to tell her about Simon.”

It was all true. Wally hadn’t made anything of it at the time. He had gone through the routine questioning for Jill’s sake, not really suspecting anyone, or even believing there was a killer on the loose.

“Did you see a car on your way down? Someone going in the opposite direction, perhaps, toward Simon’s house?”

“Think carefully, Cyrus. It could be important.””

“Don’t you think I know that?” Cyrus snapped. “Don’t you think if I’d seen someone, I’d tell you?”

“So why don’t you tell me what you do know instead of playing games?”

“I’m not playing games. You want to arrest me, go ahead. You want to turn me over to County, do it. It won’t change a damn thing. I won’t tell them any more than I’ve already told you.”

Wally leaned back against his desk and folded his arms. Cyrus had never been much on idle threats. “You realize I’m going to have to book you on suspicion of murder. Especially if we find evidence at the house.”

Cyrus gave a curt nod. “In your shoes, I’d probably do the same thing.”

“You’re an infuriating jerk, you know that?”

The two men’s eyes met and held. A sad smile pulled at the corner of Cyrus’s mouth. “I’ve heard that before.”

His nerves taut with frustration, Wally continued to look at his friend. He desperately wanted to help him but, without Cyrus’s cooperation, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do.

After a while, he gave a curt nod. “All right then,

if that’s the way you want to play it, I have no choice but to hold you on suspicion of murder.”

“Are you going to transfer me tonight?”

“No. I’ll do that in the morning. Your jail cell is no better than the one in Monticello, but at least you’ll have it all to yourself. Unless they bring Marcus in for disturbing the peace.”

“Thanks, Wally.”

“I warn you, though. Sheriff Cutter is a consummate son of a hitch. And he wants to be reelected in the worst way. A high-profile case like this is just what he needs to kick off his campaign. Believe me when I say he’s going to milk this for all it’s worth.”

Cyrus made no comment.

“Stephanie and Jill have asked to see you,” Wally continued. “I can call-”

“Don’t bother,” Cyrus said sharply. “I don’t want to see either one of them.”