“What about ballistics? The police have the bullet that killed O’Sullivan. I couldn’t tamper with the insides of the damned barrel, could I?”

“No.” She draws the word out as if sifting possibilities through her head before framing her next response. “Okay, Anna,” she says. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll tell Harris about the gun. He’ll ask how I know about it. I’ll say confidential informant. We’ll do a dance over that, but I think he’ll get that search warrant. Once he has the gun, he’ll have ballistics and fingerprints run. If we’re lucky, and it’s the murder weapon and it’s registered to Mrs. O’Sullivan, he’ll drop the charges against Gloria.”

She gathers up her briefcase and takes one sip of coffee. “First, though, we go talk to Gloria. Let’s hope O’Sullivan didn’t take her target shooting or try to impress her by picking squirrels out of a tree. If she says she handled a gun in his house, even once, it may not matter what the evidence shows, the gun won’t do us a damned bit of good.”

CHAPTER 47

WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE ROOM, THERE’S SO much tension between David and Gloria it’s like walking into a Deepfreeze. David is seated at the end of the bed, chair flat against the wall, as if trying to put as much distance as possible between the two of them and still be in the same room. Gloria is looking out the window, mouth pursed in a tight frown, avoiding David’s eyes like a rat in a cobra’s cage.

At least she looks better physically than the last time I saw her at the hotel. She’s clean, her hair slicked back in a ponytail, but she’s still pale. The lines of her face are drawn with anxiety and fatigue.

They both brighten when Jamie and I walk in.

Gloria scoots herself up in the bed so she’s sitting up straighter. She looks at me. “Did you speak with Jason?”

I never had a chance to tell her that I was meeting with the kid. Only one way she could have known. “Yes. Obviously, so have you. What did he tell you?”

The corners of her eyes tighten a fraction as if she’s suddenly aware she may have said something she shouldn’t have. She recovers quickly, though, and moves her shoulders in an offhanded shrug. “Jason said that he was meeting with you this morning. He and I are friends. He knows I couldn’t have killed his father.”

Her voice drops off, waiting for me to pick up the thread, to share with David and her lawyer Jason’s belief that it was his stepmother, not Gloria, who killed his father.

After all, it would sound so much more convincing coming from me.

“Anna told me what Jason believes,” Jamie interjects. “He believes his stepmother is involved because he overheard them discussing a legal problem that could bankrupt the family. He thinks her motive was greed.”

That’s all she says. Nothing about my searching the O’Sullivan house or finding a gun.

Gloria’s expression wavers. She’s expecting more. It’s clear she’s talked to Jason. When? Before I met with him or after?

In either case, finding that gun feels more and more like a setup.

It must feel the same way to Gloria’s lawyer. She asks Gloria a few questions about how many times she was in the O’Sullivan house and if she ever saw or handled a gun there. The questions are couched in general terms and when Gloria responds that no, she never saw or handled a gun, Jamie lets the matter drop.

To Gloria’s obvious surprise and consternation. “That’s it?” Color floods her face. “You’re not going to tell Detective Harris about Laura O’Sullivan? About what Jason said to Anna? Shouldn’t the police search the house for a gun? She obviously set me up. She even tried to have me killed. Someone has to make the police see that I’m being set up.”

Jamie pulls a chair up to Gloria’s bedside and leans her face close. “Isn’t that what you and Jason are doing as well?” she asks quietly. “Gloria, I don’t believe you killed Rory O’Sullivan, but what you and that boy are doing to prove your innocence is only going to get you both in trouble.”

CHAPTER 48

GLORIA DOESN’T REACT TO JAMIE’S WORDS. HER face reflects neither anger at, nor denial of, the accusation. It reflects nothing at all.

Gloria is an actress. Her life is played out in drama. This lack of animation is scary—the deadly calm at the center of a hurricane.

It also gives her away.

David, as always, is oblivious. He’s looking at Jamie, indignation tightening the corners of his mouth. “You don’t really believe Gloria staged a suicide attempt, do you? With the help of a teenager, yet?”

Good old David. Even now he comes to her defense. For me, though, each puzzle piece is falling into place. “Let’s look at it objectively, David. The amateurish choice of drugs, stealing the bellman’s uniform, Gloria could easily have set that up. Jason didn’t need a passkey to get into the suite. Gloria let him in.”

Gloria stares down at her hands, twisting the sheet into knots, lips compressed in a hard line.

“When David and I were talking about what happened,” I continue. “We thought trying to kill Gloria and then calling for help made no sense. It wasn’t a murder attempt; it was a diversionary tactic. Jason didn’t do it because he wanted to hurt her; he did it because he thought he was helping.” I shake my head. “Gloria, you took a chance, like flipping a coin. Heads, being the victim of a murder attempt makes you look innocent to a jury. Tails, if it’s determined you did this to yourself, you come off looking guilty as hell.”

Gloria stirs, opens her mouth, but Jamie shakes her head and puts a finger to her lips in a signal to stay quiet. She releases a long breath and gets to her feet.

“I’m going to leave now. Anything I heard here this evening is protected under the client/attorney privilege. I have to ask Anna and David to respect that. If the police determine Gloria played a part in a staged suicide attempt, they will bring charges. Gloria, I advise you to remain silent.” She picks up her briefcase and turns to David. “Did the doctor tell you when she can go home?”

David hasn’t taken his eyes off Gloria. He drags them away now to look at Jamie. “Tomorrow morning.”

“Will you pick her up?”

He hesitates and for a minute, I’m afraid he’s going to refuse. “Yes,” he says finally. “I’ll be here.”

Jamie closes the door quietly behind her. When I look at David, he’s staring again at Gloria, his face clouded with anger. He sees it now. All of it.

Gloria feels the shift, too. She looks up. “I didn’t kill O’Sullivan,” she says quietly. “You have to believe that.”

David shakes his head slowly and pushes up from the chair. “I don’t have to believe anything,” he says.

He has a hand on the door. “Anna, I’ll take you to your car. I’ll wait for you outside.”

Gloria watches him go. “He must know I couldn’t have killed anyone. You believe me, don’t you, Anna?” She’s crying, making no attempt to wipe away the tears.

“I do. I think, deep down, David does, too. But Gloria, I don’t think it matters to him anymore.”

I let a heartbeat go by.

“You and Jason. You two have been in contact since the beginning. You wanted us to meet. What would you have done if I hadn’t been able to track him down?”

Gloria is still looking at the door. Her voice is soft, wistful. “I knew you’d find him. I’ve watched you and David in the office. Tracking people down. It’s what you do, isn’t it?”

“And if I hadn’t?”

She shrugs. “He would have called you.”

Of course he would have. I can’t believe I fell into Gloria’s trap.

I feel like a fool. I watch Gloria, still staring at the door, still waiting for David, her David, to rush back in and make everything all right.

I let myself out.

Not happening, Gloria.

DAVID IS WAITING FOR ME AT THE END OF THE HALL, slumped on a bench, his head in his hands.