Clear and Convincing Proof by Kate Wilhelm

Author:Kate Wilhelm [Wilhelm, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781460305751
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2003-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

At three o’clock Barbara rang the bell at a duplex on South Seventeenth Avenue. Alex and Shelley were with her on the small porch. Dorothy Johnson promptly opened the door.

“Come in, come in,” she said moving aside.

“Barbara Holloway, my associate Shelley McGinnis and our computer artist Alex Feldman,” Barbara said entering. “Thanks for letting us invade you like this.”

“Not at all, my pleasure,” Mrs. Johnson said, then she stopped moving as she looked at Alex. With what appeared to be an involuntary motion, she reached out and put her hand on his arm. He held perfectly still. “You poor boy!” She closed her eyes, but continued to rest her hand on his arm for a moment. “You have a very powerful guardian angel, thank God. And are bathed in God’s gift of love,” she said softly, then opened her eyes and examined Shelley for a moment. She smiled and nodded. “We’ll go to the dining room. I thought we might use the table there.”

She was fifty-two years old, Barbara had learned, a widow for seven years. She worked in the financial affairs office at the university, and was now on sick leave. Her hair was dark brown streaked with gray, and she was a few pounds overweight. She leaned heavily on a crutch as she led the way through an L-shaped living room to a dining area.

The living room was bright and colorful: a blue sofa, yellow-and-red cushions, a flowered rug, bookshelves with a pair of matching frog bookends, their legs dangling over the edge. In the dining area a collapsible wheelchair was set against the wall, and a china cabinet was overfilled with figurines: fairies, elves, a giant or two, china angels, witches on brooms, porcelain birds, a cloisonné giraffe, a parade of frogs in diminishing sizes.

“Darren said I should use the chair when I get tired,” Dorothy said. “I shouldn’t punish myself and deny myself the relief of wheels. He said that you do more harm than good if you drive yourself to exhaustion, but every day I stay on my feet a little longer. Or at least I try to.” She sank down into one of the dining chairs with a sigh of relief. “Will the table do for your computer?” she asked Alex.

“Perfect,” he said, and proceeded to get the laptop set up. He had brought a surge protector with four outlets and a heavy extension cord, prepared for whatever was needed. It took him only a minute or two to get ready.

He and Dorothy sat side by side at the table. Barbara sat opposite them.

“Before you start, would you mind telling us what you did that morning, what you saw? Various people have reported different versions. I’d like to hear it from you.”

“Of course,” she said. “I know how that goes. I woke up a little after seven and debated if I should get up or wait for one of the nurses to come and help me, and decided to do it myself. I was

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