Part 17 (2/2)

”I have the results,” he said.

Tess felt as if someone was grabbing her throat. Squeezing it. ”And?” she managed to squeak.

”Looks like a match,” he said.

Tess's knees buckled and, for a moment, she actually saw spots in front of her eyes. She took a deep breath. ”A match?”

”It's not perfect, Tess,” said the chief. ”The sample from the original crime is so deteriorated. But they do these things by points. Apparently...”

Tess was hearing his voice, but not actually listening as he detailed the test results. She kept picturing Nelson Abbott's face, his cruel little eyes, as he confronted her at his house. Demanding to know what she was doing there. Menacing her. Gloating over his lawsuit and piously proclaiming his desire to have justice for Lazarus. And all the while, he was the one who had killed Phoebe. Defiled her. Tess's stomach twisted and she stifled the urge to gag.

”So...a pretty good hunch on your part,” said the chief.

Tess tried to speak calmly. ”What happens now?”

”I called Rusty and explained the results to him. He was steamed. Said it wouldn't stand up in court, but I threatened to take the results to Chan Morris and the rest of the news vultures if he didn't do something about it. So he did agree to send two of his men to pick up Nelson and bring him in for questioning down at the station.”

”Why do they have to question him? Doesn't this prove it?” Tess demanded.

”Well, it certainly implicates him.”

”What else do they need?” Tess cried.

”That depends,” said Aldous vaguely.

”Never mind,” said Tess. ”Thank you, Chief. Thank you so much.”

”You just sit tight, Tess. If there's any news you'll hear about it.”

Tess set the receiver back down in the cradle and turned around.

Julie, who was chatting amiably with Dawn, frowned at her. ”Tess, what's the matter? You're red as a beet.”

”That was Chief Fuller,” she said.

”What did he want?” Julie asked.

”They know who did it.”

”Who did what?” Julie asked.

Dawn was peering at her. ”What are you talking about, honey?”

”The police. They know who killed Phoebe,” said Tess. ”It was Nelson Abbott.”

Julie let out a cry. ”What? No. Why would they think that?”

Tess nodded. ”It was him. His DNA matched the old evidence.”

”Oh my G.o.d,” Julie cried. ”Oh Tess. Oh my G.o.d. Wait until Jake hears this. Nelson Abbott. That lying hypocrite. I just...I can't believe it. Oh my G.o.d. I have to catch Jake at lunch. I want to be the one to tell him. I don't want him to hear it on the TV or something. He will be wild when he hears this. Just out of his mind. I'd better go. I'll see you both later.” Julie hurried toward the front door.

Tess picked up the phone again. ”I have to call Ben,” she said. She called information for the number of Ben Ramsey's office and had it dialed automatically. As the phone rang, Tess looked at her mother. Dawn was dead white except for the gray smudges under her eyes. Even her lips looked livid. ”Mom, are you okay?”

Dawn shook her head and walked into the sitting room.

”Cottrell and Wayne,” said the receptionist.

”Mr. Ramsey,” said Tess. ”I need to speak to him. It's very important.”

”Mr. Ramsey is unavailable,” the receptionist said firmly. ”Can I take a message?”

Tess looked worriedly at the door through which her mother had disappeared. ”Tell him to call Tess please. As soon as he's free. Thank you,” she said. She hung up the phone and went into the sitting room.

Dawn sat on the sofa, blinking, as if she had been struck in the face and was still stunned by the blow. She was s.h.i.+vering from head to toe. Tess came and sat beside her mother, draping an arm protectively around her shoulders.

Dawn looked into Tess's eyes with a bewildered expression on her face. ”I don't understand any of this, Tess.” Dawn shook her head. ”Nelson Abbott? How could it be?” Then she looked at Tess. ”You don't seem...surprised.”

”I was the one who...first suspected him. I got a sample of Nelson's DNA and Chief Fuller sent it to the lab...” Tess admitted.

”You got it?” said Dawn. ”How? What made you think of Nelson?”

Tess started to explain her thinking that had led to the unmasking of Nelson Abbott but as she talked she could see the distracted suffering in her mother's eyes. All Dawn could think about was her daughter Phoebe, set upon by two depraved men, father and son. Tess cut short her explanation.

Dawn shook her head and looked away from her daughter. ”He always seemed...normal. A regular man. Not a monster. I mean, I should have known better. I remember the stories of how he used to treat Lazarus. I thought they were exaggerating how bad it was, to save Lazarus. But I never dreamed...to think that Nelson stood here, right in this very room, just days ago, and told us that he thought Lazarus was guilty...”

”I know...” said Tess. ”Mom, I want to be there when they arrest him. I have to go down to the police station. Will you be all right if I leave you alone here?”

”I'm all right, Tess,” Dawn said vaguely.

”If Mr. Ramsey calls, tell him...tell him I'm heading to the police station. Give him my cell phone number.”

”I will. You go on. Be my brave girl.”

Tess kissed her mother's dry cheek and hurried to get her jacket.

The word was already out. The a.s.semblage of reporters had vacated the parking area outside the inn and rea.s.sembled at the police station. There were officers coming and going through the front doors of the station house, refusing requests for comments from the reporters who waited in the cold, their clouds of breath visible against the blue sky.

Tess saw a pretty young woman being videotaped as she spoke to the camera with the station house as a backdrop. The nearby van had the call letters of a local TV station. Although she strained to listen, Tess could not hear what the reporter was saying. Tess jammed her hands in her pockets and hunched her shoulders, hoping no one would recognize her. She wasn't ready to make any public comment on Nelson's arrest. Even though it was her own purloining of the John Deere hat, her own suspicion of Nelson's guilt that had brought this moment about, Tess still felt too shaky to talk publicly about her feelings.

Tess jumped as someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind. She turned around. Channing Morris, wearing an olive green field coat, was standing beside her. ”Fancy meeting you here,” he said.

Tess shrank from his curious gaze.

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