F Paul Wilson - Secret History 02 (5 page)

           
"There was evidence of semen in
both the vaginal vault and oral cavity," Rob said. His voice was
robot-like, as if he had gone on autopilot and was reading from a report.
"DNA analysis indicated two different men as sources. There was no sign of
forced penetration. Kelly appeared to be a willing participant."

           
Kara's anger suddenly turned to ice.
She could barely speak.

           
"I don't believe it. A couple
of guys drag her up to their room, rape and sodomize her, then throw her out a
window and you have the nerve to say that she enjoyed it? I should have known!
Is this what being a cop in this city has done to you?"

           
Rob stared into his coffee in
silence. When she was through, he spoke in a low voice.

           
"It was Kelly's room."

           
"What?"

           
"Kelly rented it."

           
"Rob, what are you
saying?"

           
He continued to stare into his
coffee.

           
"I'm saying that Kelly Wade,
your sister, took that room herself. She signed in as 'Ingrid' Wade."

           
"No. There has to be a
mistake."

           
"No mistake. She's been a
regular at the Plaza for the past few months. Paid cash every time. She was
known to quite a few of the staff as a good tipper, and, um, a real swinger.
She'd rent a room, pick up a guy in the bar—sometimes two guys—and take them
upstairs."

           
"No!"

           
"And we found a vial of coke in
her purse."

           
Suddenly numb, Kara slumped back in
the chair.

           
Over Christmas she had sensed that
something was bothering Kelly when she was out at the farm. She'd thought her
sister was still in a funk over her break-up with that Tom creep the previous
year. Kara had never dreamed it was anything like this. One night stands.
Cocaine. She hadn't noticed any signs of drug abuse. But out in the heart of
Amish country, who knew those signs?

           
An awful thought struck her. Was her
habit bad enough to…

           
"She… she was a
prostitute?"

           
"I don't think so. The M.E.
said there was no sign of a heavy coke habit. And as far as we can tell, she
didn't charge for her favors. One of the bartenders at the Plaza had spoken to
a few of her, um, dates after they'd been up in her room. They said they
couldn't believe they'd gotten what they'd, um, gotten for free."

           
Kara stared at him.

           
"This is true, Rob? Really
true?" She fought to keep a growing sob from choking off her voice.
"It can't be! You're not talking about my sister, Rob! We're twins. We
spent every day of our lives together. I
knew
her!
You
knew her! This can't be
Kelly you're talking about! There's got to be a mistake!"

           
Sadly, he shook his head.

           
"I wish there were. Midtown
North is just a block from the Plaza. When I came in the next morning and saw
the name Wade on the report, I took the case. On a whim. I never dreamed it
would be Kelly. When I saw the body I… I thought it was you. And the more
digging I did, the more bizarre it became. I mean, I haven't seen Kelly since
you and I—since you left town. That's ten years, but you're right, this kind of
lifestyle doesn't fit with my memory of her. Not one bit."

           
"She was a
nurse
, for God's sake!" Kara said. "She worked at
St. Vincent
's! Whenever she'd visit the farm she'd tell
me horror stories about all the drug addicts and the VD and AIDS. She saw all
that stuff first hand! I can't believe she'd become a… a swinger!" The
very word left such a foul taste in her mouth that she wanted to spit.
"Tell me there's a chance you're wrong, Rob."

           
His expression was pained.

           
"I wish I could, Kara, I really
do. But there's too much corroboration. The Plaza people knew her. According to
them, she was fast becoming a legend in the Oak Bar."

           
"A
legend
," she said acidly. "My sister the legend. That's
just great."

           
Gradually, her shock and disbelief ebbed
away, and Kara became aware of a growing anger at her twin. Kelly hadn't been a
completely innocent victim of one of
New York
's myriad acts of violence. She had been an
enabler. She had put herself in a situation that simply begged for trouble.

           
Kara was furious. It was this city,
this rotten lousy city that had done it to Kelly. She hadn't come here a
swinger and a coke head, but she'd ended up one.

           
This damn city… Kara had to get out
of it all over again. And right now. If she had to spend much longer here,
she'd start to scream.

           
She glanced at her watch.

           
"I've got to be going. Thanks
for the coffee and for your help and your time."

           
"No trouble. Where's your
car?"

           
"I took the train. I didn't
trust myself to drive."

           
"Good thinking. But even so,
maybe you should stay over a night."

           
She gave him a sidelong stare. Was
he thinking…?

           
"I don't mean anything like
that," he said. "I just mean you don't look so hot. You're welcome to
my place."

           
"You still rooming with Tony?"

           
"No. He's married. The rent got
too high so I'm over on the
East Side
now. But seriously, I'll sleep on the couch. No problem."

           
"Thanks, but I don't know when
my mother's coming in and I left Jill with a neighbor so—"

           
"Who's Jill?"

           
Good God, why had she mentioned
Jill? She'd never intended to. But somehow it had slipped out.
Damn
. Well, she couldn't take it back
now. She had to tell him something.

           
"My daughter."

           
Rob hoped he didn't look as shocked
as he felt. "A daughter? You have a
child
?"

           
Automatically, he reached for a
cigarette, then remembered she'd asked him not to smoke. He really needed one
now.

           
"Yes. Jill Marie. A real little
beauty."

           
Kara's mood had lightened visibly
with the change in subject. Her eyes were alight with love.

           
Why should he be so stunned? He and
Kara had had no contact in ten years. He had never married. Was that why some
part of him assumed that Kara too had remained single?

           
"Wait a sec. You signed in at
the morgue as Kara Wade. That's your maiden name."

           
"It's my married name,
too."

           
"You married a guy with the
same last name?"

           
"No, Rob," she said with
exaggerated patience. "I simply kept my name when I got married. There's
no law that says I've got to take my husband's name."

           
"Oh." He remembered how
Kara had been into women's lib. Apparently that hadn't changed. "How old's
your little girl?"

           
"Hmmm?" Kara seemed to
come back from faraway. "Jill? Oh, she's eight."

           
Eight?

           
"You didn't waste much time,
did you!" he blurted, then wanted to kick himself. "Sorry."

           
"That's okay." Kara
smiled. "No, I guess I didn't. He was an old high school beau who'd been
carrying the torch for me all the time I was away."

           
"Imagine that."

           
Rob remembered carrying the torch
for Kara a long while himself, hoping she'd come back, or at least call. Hoping…

           
"It's true," she said.
"We just sort of picked up where we left off."

           
Rob tried but couldn't keep the edge
off his voice. "He's not a cop, I take it."

           
"No. He was a safe, sane, staid
insurance salesman."

           
"Was?"

           
"He was killed a year after we
were married. His car got caught between a granite cliff and a jack-knifing
tractor trailer on a snowy night on the Penn Turnpike out near
Pittsburgh
."

           
"Jeez, I'm sorry."

           
She was looking at him, a hint of
wonder seeping into her expression.

           
"You really are, aren't
you?"

           
"Of course. I mean, that's
awful. How could I be anything else?"

           
Her mouth worked. For a moment he
thought she was going to cry, but she blinked her glistening eyes, swallowed,
and seemed to get herself under control again.

           
She said, "That was a perfect
opening for a cheap shot. And you owe me one of those."

           
Rob understood. One of her reasons
for leaving him had been her fear of being a young widow.

           
"Maybe," he said,
"but a dead husband and father should be off limits, don't you
think?"

           
Kara nodded, swallowed again, and
looked out the window, saying nothing.

           
In the silence, Rob's thoughts
tripped back to the time they had spent together here in the city a decade ago.
Had it been that long since he was a rookie and Kara was a Kelly Girl? After a
two-year drift through CCNY, he'd finally settled on a field that really
interested him. Despite all his mother's pleas to find something else, he'd
decided to go into the family business—police work. And when the Wade twins
came to town, he found a woman he could really care for—Kara.