Death on the Cape & Other Stories by Mary Higgins Clark

Author:Mary Higgins Clark [Clark, Mary Higgins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780099280415
Amazon: 0099280418
Publisher: Arrow Books
Published: 1993-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

Ned Creighton's face hardened. 'You're bluffing. This is a cheap trick.'

The waiter arrived with two glasses of wine and placed them before Cynthia and Alvirah. 'Mr. Creighton?'

Creighton glared at him. 'Nothing.'

'This is really a lovely place, Ned,' Cynthia said quietly. 'An awful lot of money must have gone into it. Where did you get it? From Lillian? My share of Stuart Richards' estate was nearly ten million dollars. How much did she give you?' She did not wait for an answer. 'Ned, this woman is the witness I could never find. She remembers talking to me that night. Nobody believed me when I told them about someone slamming her car door against the side of your car. But she remembers doing it. And she remembers seeing you very well. All her life she's kept a daily dairy. That night she wrote about what happened in the parking lot.'

As she kept nodding her head in agreement, Alvirah studied Ned's face. He's getting rattled, she thought, but he's not convinced. It was time for her to take over. 'I left the Cape the very next day,' she said. 'I live in Arizona. My husband was sick, real sick. That's why we never did come back. I lost him last year.' Sorry, Willy, she thought, but this is important. 'Then last week I was watching television, and you know how boring television usually is in the summer. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw a rerun of that show about women in prison and then my own picture right there on the screen.'

Cynthia reached for the envelope she had placed beside her chair. 'This is the picture I drew of the woman I'd spoken to in the parking lot.'

Ned Creighton reached for it.

'I'll hold it,' Cynthia said.

The sketch showed a woman's face framed by an open car window. The features were shadowy and the background was dark, but the likeness to Alvirah was astonishing.

Cynthia pushed back her chair. Alvirah rose with

her. 'You can't give me back twelve years. I know what you're thinking. Even with this proof, a jury might not believe me. It didn't believe me twelve years ago. But it might, it just might. And I don't think you should take that chance. Ned, I think you'd better talk it over with whoever paid you to set me up that night and tell them that I want ten million dollars. That's my rightful share of Stuart's estate.'

'You're crazy.' Anger had driven the fear from Ned Creighton's face.

'Am I? I don't think so.' Cynthia reached into her pocket. 'Here's my address and phone number. Alvirah is staying with me. Call me by seven tonight. If I don't hear from you, I'm hiring a lawyer and getting my case reopened.' She threw a $10 bill on the table. 'That should pay for the wine. I'm still paying for that dinner you bought me.'

She walked rapidly from the restaurant, Alvirah a step behind her. Alvirah was aware of the buzz from diners at the other tables.

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