Hour Game

"Canney might have known about his wife's plan to blackmail Battle. Or it's still very possible he came up with the scheme and his wife helped him put the screws to Battle. Then his wife is conveniently killed? He's a smart guy. Even if he didn't have actual proof of the murder, he'd put two and two together."

"So he confronts Battle, tells him he knows he killed his wife and fathered Steve, and he wants money to keep it quiet."

King nodded. "In seeking to avoid blackmail over an illegitimate child by killing Mrs. Canney, Battle ironically might have set himself up to be blackmailed for murder."

"But wouldn't Battle have realized that Canney had to reveal his complicity in the blackmail scheme if he went to the police claiming Battle murdered his wife? I mean, he'd have to give them some plausible motive."

"He could simply use the fact of the illegitimate son. He could've claimed ignorance of any blackmail scheme or the source of any monies, blaming that on his dead wife."

"Nice guy."

"Yeah."

"Looks like we spooked him into running."

"Let's hope he hasn't run too far. We need him to fill in a lot of holes."

Just as King was about to call Williams, the police chief called him. King told him what Sally had disclosed to him the night before, as well as his suspicions of Roger Canney and the man's flight. Williams arranged for the APB and then asked them to meet him at the Battles'. He refused to say why or answer their questions about Sally.

King slumped back in his seat with a hopeless expression. She's dead.

CHAPTER 72

WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE Battles', Williams and Chip Bailey led King and Michelle to the stables. On the way Williams broke the news about Sally and what had happened to Eddie. King turned pale and put a hand against a section of fencing. Michelle wedged her good arm up under his.

"Just take it easy. We don't need you going down too."

"The knife used to kill Sally was taken right off the Peg-Board inside the stables and was dropped at the crime scene," Bailey told them. "Same thing with the rake. Sylvia just left, but she said death would have been pretty fast."

"Can we see the body?" asked King.

"It's not pretty, Sean. If I were you, I wouldn't," replied Williams.

"I need to," said King firmly.

Williams reluctantly led them inside and over to Sally's corpse.

"My God," said Michelle.

"It was like the killer was furious at her about something," said Williams. "Just kept on beating her in the head." He looked at King. "Maybe Sally knew more than she was telling."

"Maybe," said King slowly as he pulled his gaze away. He stood solemnly outside the stables and watched as Sally's body was carried out in a black pouch.

As the doors on the ambulance clunked shut, he turned to Williams. "This was my fault. I forced her to tell me the truth and never even thought she might be in danger because of it."

"You were fighting for your life, Sean," countered Williams. "You didn't really have an opportunity to think about anything else."

"How's Eddie doing?" asked Michelle.

Bailey answered, "I just called the hospital. They said he's still unconscious but out of danger."

"Do they know what it was yet?"

"No. I was going to drop by the hospital later, if you want to come along. Right now I intend to talk to Dorothea again. And after that, Savannah, although I hear she's a wreck."

As they walked along, Williams turned to King. "If this thing pans out on Canney, I'm going to owe you one. I never would have picked up on that."

"That's just one piece of the puzzle, Todd," replied King.

Dorothea met them at her house. She looked pale and drawn. While Williams, King and Michelle offered words of commiseration, Chip Bailey volunteered no such niceties. He looked at her with a mixture of anger and determination. They stepped around the muddied sections of the entryway and went to the living room.

"What time did you and Eddie go to bed?" asked Williams.

"About half past midnight. He'd been out in his studio working. But we didn't go to sleep then. Not until about an hour later." She smiled in an embarrassed fashion. "I didn't think that possibly being implicated in a murder could do so much for one's sex life. But Eddie's been wonderful throughout this ordeal."

"A good man is hard to find in times of trouble," said Michelle tightly.

"I'm starting to realize that," she answered with surprising sincerity.

Bailey broke in. "He was drugged, Dorothea. I've talked to the doctors at the hospital, and they said he's under the influence of some powerful narcotic."

She suddenly looked frightened. "That's what I can't understand. I… I have to tell you that when Savannah started banging on our door, I woke up in a total fog. I still don't feel quite all together."

Bailey looked at her suspiciously and said, "You didn't mention anything like that when we came by this morning."

Dorothea spoke quickly. "Everything was happening so fast. Savannah was a mess, Sally was dead and I couldn't wake Eddie. God, it was all like a nightmare."