The Third Victim Page 23

  “So you never worked with Ms. Cooper?”

  “I mean, I could have. I was a clerk in a large supermarket for a while. I didn’t know all of the employees.”

  Benfield smiled at Fenner and nodded. “Yes, I can understand not knowing the employees at the supermarket. But I was thinking about the Miami Airport Marriott, say about five years ago. Did you ever work with Miss Cooper there?”

  Fenner frowned. “I never worked at that hotel, so no.”

  Benfield pushed the mug shot of Allison Mason, aka Alexis Cooper, across the table.

  “Maybe this will help.”

  Fenner studied the mug shot. When she looked at Benfield, she seemed puzzled.

  “That’s Allison Mason.”

  “Where is this going, Cyrus?” asked Benjamin Whitworth, Fenner’s lawyer.

  “We have some information that your client knew Allison Mason in Miami when Mason was using the name Alexis Cooper. I just wanted to find out what your client thought.”

  “I’d like to talk to my client before we proceed,” Whitworth said.

  Benfield looked at his watch. “We’ve been at this for a while,” he said. “Why don’t we take a break.”

  “Sure,” Whitworth replied.

  Everyone stood up. Benfield stretched, then headed to a credenza where there were pastries and a coffeepot. Meredith spoke to her attorney in the hall for a few minutes. Then she headed to the ladies’ room. To get there, she had to walk through the firm’s waiting room. She was almost there when she noticed a man sitting on a sofa. He was watching her. When she got close enough to see him clearly, she stopped and stared. Then she turned around and walked the other way.

  * * *

  “Well?” Robin asked Daniel Prescott as soon as he got out of the elevator in the office building’s lobby.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Best guess?” Jeff asked.

  “It was five years ago and I only got a quick look at her just now. She did look spooked when our eyes met and she turned around and walked away. But I can’t say one way or the other.”

  “Okay. I appreciate the honesty,” Robin told him. “We don’t want you to say Fenner and Candi are the same person to please us.”

  “I get that,” Prescott said. “So, what do you want me to do now?”

  “The deposition will end sometime soon. I’d like you to wait here and try to get a better look. Mason’s lawyer is going to signal us when Fenner leaves. Wait in front of the elevator bank. When she comes out, walk up to her and address her as Candi. See how she reacts.”

  * * *

  The deposition ended a little after three and Benfield and Whitworth talked shop while Meredith waited outside the conference room. As soon as Whitworth and Meredith walked away, Benfield pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed Robin.

  “Okay, let’s head out,” Whitworth told his client.

  “What happens now?” Fenner asked.

  “We negotiate a settlement that will make you a very wealthy young woman.”

  Whitworth started toward the waiting area, but Fenner seemed reluctant to follow him.

  “Is something wrong?” Whitworth asked.

  “No. I … This brought back bad memories and I’m a little upset.”

  “That’s understandable. But you can head back to your apartment now and let me work for you.”

  “Thanks,” Fenner said as she walked down the hall. When they got to the waiting room, the man wasn’t sitting on the sofa.

  Fenner and her lawyer talked as they went down in the elevator. The doors opened and Fenner found Daniel Prescott standing in front of her.

  “Candi?” Prescott said.

  Fenner was startled. Then she forced a smile. “You’re mistaking me for someone else. My name is Meredith.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. You look like someone I know.”

  Fenner turned away and forced herself to walk out of the building at a normal pace.

  Robin and Jeff walked up to Prescott as soon as Fenner was out of sight.

  “I’m still not sure,” Prescott said.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Robin tried to sleep, but she was too frustrated. She had been counting on Daniel Prescott to make a positive identification, but Prescott couldn’t swear that Meredith and Candi were the same person, which made her wonder if her theory of the crime was completely wrong.

  Robin tossed and turned until her eyes grew heavy. She had almost drifted off when a knock on her hotel door woke her. Robin swore and walked down the short hall as the knocking continued.

  “Yes, what is it,” she said.

  “Mr. Prescott?”

  Prescott had been given this room but the TV wasn’t working, so Robin and Prescott had switched. Robin opened the door to explain that, when she saw a person in a hoodie and dark glasses holding a gun. The world slowed to a crawl and a voice in her head told her to move. Robin twisted away just as the gun fired. She felt a blast of hot air at the same time she threw her weight into the door. It smashed against a hand and the gun flew into the room.

  Robin slammed the door shut and sagged against it. It dawned on her that she’d just been literally inches from being dead.

  * * *

  Jeff joined Robin in her hotel room shortly before someone knocked on her door. Robin left Jeff in the sitting area and opened the door for a heavyset white man and a muscular black woman. The white man flipped open his ID and the woman followed suit.

  “You the person who called nine one one and asked for a homicide detective?” the man asked Robin.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, you got two of us. I’m Dennis Parks and this is Alicia Prince.”

  “My name is Robin Lockwood and someone just tried to kill me.”

  “Why would they do that?” Parks asked.

  “Come in and I’ll explain. It’s complicated. And look out for the gun,” Robin said as she pointed toward the floor. “I left it where it fell and I haven’t touched it.”

  The detectives studied the gun for a moment. “You’d better start at the beginning,” Prince said.

  * * *

  Robin told the Atlanta detectives about the Oregon case and her decision to switch rooms so Daniel Prescott could watch TV.

  “So you think the shooter was after Prescott?”

  “I’m sure of it. Meredith Fenner is the person who took the shot at me, but she was really after Prescott because he’s the only person who can prove that she and Allison Mason knew each other before they moved to Portland.”

  “Why are you so certain that Fenner tried to shoot you?” Detective Parks asked.

  “I got a pretty good look at her just before she fired. And I’ll bet you her prints are on that gun.”

  After the detectives talked to Prescott, they made a few calls to Oregon to verify Robin’s story. Before they left, they asked her to go to police headquarters in the morning to give a detailed statement.

  “You’re pretty amazing,” Jeff said when they were alone. “I don’t know how you’ve stayed so calm after almost getting killed.”

  “I may look calm, but I was scared shitless.”

  “Well, you certainly handle stress well.”

  It suddenly dawned on Robin that she was alone in a hotel room with Jeff. She looked at him. He met her eyes for a moment. Then he looked away.

  “I guess we should get some sleep,” Jeff said.

  They were inches apart.

  “I’m still wound up,” she said. “I don’t know if I can get to sleep.” Robin’s throat was dry and her heart was beating rapidly. “Do you want to stay with me tonight?”

  Jeff hesitated. For a moment, it looked like he might kiss her. Then the moment passed.

  “I think your adrenaline is asking me to stay and I think we’d both regret anything we did. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Jeff walked out of the hotel room. Robin sat down on the couch and wondered if she should be relieved or disappointed that Jeff had been a gentle
man. Then another thought occurred to her. She’d seen the scars on Jeff’s face, but she had no idea about the damage to the rest of his body. Was he afraid of the way she would react when she saw him naked? Robin wanted to believe that it wouldn’t matter to her, but she couldn’t know how Jeff thought about himself and how he imagined she would react.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Regina had a Town Car waiting for Jeff and Robin at Portland International Airport and had given instructions for the chauffeur to take them directly to her office. As soon as they were in Regina’s office, Robin told her boss what had happened in Atlanta.

  “Have they found Fenner?” Regina asked.

  “No, but they found her prints on the gun, and there’s an APB out for her,” Robin said.

  “Have you told Les Kreuger what’s going on?” Regina asked, referring to Alex Mason’s appellate lawyer.

  Robin nodded. “I called him from Atlanta. He’s going to set up a meeting with Kyle Bergland and the assistant attorney general who has Alex’s case. He’s hoping he can get Alex off death row. Les wants you and me at the meeting.”

  “Maybe only you should go,” Regina said.

  “Hey, boss, don’t get gun-shy,” Robin said. “Your brain is still working just fine, and we can use all the brainpower we can harness.”

  “How strong is the case against Fenner?” Regina asked.

  “The attempted murder at the hotel is solid.”

  “What about Alex’s case?”

  “We don’t have much.” Robin said. “The police sketch artist used a computer to put a blond wig on Meredith, and Prescott said she and Candi could be the same person, but he also said it’s been five years since he saw Candi and he saw her for only a short time.”

  “So his ID is weak.”

  “Yes. If Meredith denies that she’s Candi and Allison says she took someone else along, we don’t have any way to prove Allison knew Meredith before they moved to Portland.”

  Regina’s features went blank and she stared into space. Then she shook her head.

  “What is it?” Jeff asked.

  “There’s something. I know there is, but I can’t remember what.” Regina’s chin dropped to her chest. “I hate this. I hate it. I used to be so quick, and now … I hate it.”

  Jeff walked around Regina’s desk and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s okay. You’ll remember. And if you don’t, we’ll figure it out. We’re a team. If there’s something there, we’ll find it. Why don’t you reread everything we’ve got on this case and try to figure out what’s bugging you. And take notes so we’ll know what you’re thinking even if you can’t remember.”

  “Do you think she really knows something?” Jeff asked Robin as soon as they left Regina’s office.

  “I don’t know. She might have stumbled across something she can’t remember or it could be a fantasy. I’m going to work on the theory that she knows something of substance but can’t recall what it is. So I’m going over everything again.”

  * * *

  Rereading the Mason file brought no new revelations and Robin was ready to believe that there was no gem buried in the reports. A little after seven, her vision started to blur and her brain turned to mush. When she could read no more, she changed into the workout gear she kept in her office and ran home. The weather had changed from the mild, sunny days of summer to the gloomy days of Oregon’s rainy season. Robin plowed through heavy, sloppy drops that splattered on her face and made the run very unpleasant. She was huffing and puffing during the last mile and a half and she vowed to get back on a regular schedule.

  Robin staggered into her apartment, took off her wet clothes, showered, and microwaved some leftovers. Then she found an action movie on TV and fell asleep during a high-speed car chase. Her sleep was deep and was not invaded by revelatory dreams, and she was no closer to figuring out how to expose Allison Mason when she woke up in the morning.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  Kyle Bergland met Regina, Robin, and Jeff in the waiting area of the Multnomah County district attorney’s office and led them to a conference room where Les Krueger, Assistant Attorney General Diana Montgomery, and Carrie Anders were waiting.

  “Did Fenner really try to shoot you?” Anders asked Robin.

  “Most definitely.”

  Anders shook her head. “She played me for a fool.”

  “She played everybody,” Robin said.

  Montgomery, a slender woman with a pale complexion, short black hair, and lively blue eyes, was dressed in a gray jacket and skirt and a blue silk blouse. She had been invited to the meeting because she was representing the State in Alex Mason’s appeal of his conviction and sentence of death. As soon as everyone was seated, the assistant AG looked at Regina.

  “Spell it out for me.”

  “Robin has the best handle on the evidence,” Regina said.

  The offices of the Oregon attorney general and the Oregon Supreme Court were in the same block, and Montgomery had met Justice Cloud’s former clerk several times.

  “Tell me why I should let a convicted serial killer off of death row,” Montgomery said to Robin.

  “He was framed, Di. Allison Mason and Meredith Fenner set up Alex Mason so they could steal the bulk of his fortune through Fenner’s lawsuit and Allison’s divorce.”

  “And you’re convinced of this because…”

  Robin told Montgomery their theory about the women’s plan to frame Alex Mason.

  “But their plan hinged on no one finding out that Meredith and Allison had known each other before they moved to Portland. We think we can prove they did. Five years ago, Allison Mason was arrested for prostitution in Miami. She was working for an escort service and using the alias Alexis Cooper. Daniel Prescott, a salesman from Minneapolis, hired Allison through the service. Allison brought another woman for a threesome. This woman, who was not employed by the escort service, called herself Candi and had long blond hair, which Prescott thought was a wig.

  “Recent events in Atlanta have convinced us that Fenner was the other woman in the threesome. Fenner is suing Alex Mason for torturing and kidnapping her. If she wins, she’ll be a multimillionaire. She was deposed in Atlanta, where she’s living. We asked Daniel Prescott to come to the office where the deposition was being taken to see if he could identify Fenner as the woman who went with Allison to his Miami hotel. He couldn’t, even though he stood face-to-face with her, but Fenner didn’t know that.

  “Luckily for Prescott, the TV in his hotel room didn’t work. He and I switched hotel rooms. Around midnight, Meredith came to Prescott’s old room and asked for him. When I opened the door, she took a shot at me, but it went wide. I knocked the gun out of her hand and the Atlanta police found Fenner’s prints on it. She got away, but I can’t believe she won’t be picked up soon.”

  “There still might be a problem with making a case against Allison,” Montgomery said. “Even if Meredith implicates Allison, the confession of a codefendant isn’t enough to get an indictment if it’s not corroborated by other evidence, and we don’t have any. If Allison denies she’s involved, a smart lawyer will argue that Meredith acted alone and is falsely accusing Allison to escape from death row.”

  “Regardless of whether Allison can be prosecuted, it seems to me that there is enough evidence to send Alex Mason’s case back to court,” Les Krueger said.

  “It certainly looks that way,” Montgomery said, “but I’m going to have to talk this over with the big boss.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  At 5,157 acres, Portland’s Forest Park is the largest urban forest in the United States. With more than eighty miles of trails, fire lanes, and forest roads, the park lets visitors experience a true northwest forest without leaving the city limits of Portland. It also provides many isolated places where people who do not wish to be seen can meet.

  The canopy constructed by the thick trees that grew over the narrow forest trail provided some cover, but heavy drops still spattered
off of Allison’s poncho. She hated the rain, but she’d considered the weather in Oregon to be a minor annoyance with which she had to cope while she put her plan into action. As Allison trudged toward the place where she’d told Meredith to wait, she thought about how rich she would be when her divorce was final. She would be able to live anywhere, and places where the sun always shone were at the very top of Allison’s list.

  One place she was seriously considering was the island where she and Meredith had stayed just before Allison moved to New York. Allison smiled as she flashed back on those sun-drenched afternoons and warm tropical nights where palm trees and crystal clear blue-green waters were always close at hand. The sultry weather had encouraged slow, steamy sex and the imbibing of exotic tropical drinks on the white-sand beach.

  Of course, Meredith wouldn’t be with her on that beach. Not after the stunt she’d pulled in Atlanta. And that thought brought Allison back to reality. The stupid bitch had almost ruined everything. At a minimum, she’d cost Allison the money Meredith would have gotten when her suit against Alex was settled. But those millions were the least of Allison’s worries. Fenner was great in bed and had been perfect for the part of a pathetic, sympathy-inducing victim of torture, but she was not bright. Allison had weighed this drawback when she’d chosen her to play the part of Alex’s third victim. Meredith’s submissive nature and lack of a conscience had outweighed Allison’s concerns about her IQ. Now Allison knew she’d made a mistake.

  Meredith was waiting for her, huddled next to a towering fir. When she saw Allison, she rushed over to her and embraced her lover. Allison tolerated the embrace for a few moments, then pushed Meredith away.

  “What happened in Atlanta?” Allison demanded.

  “I’m sorry, Allison. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s too late for that now. Tell me what happened.”

  “They questioned me about my lawsuit in an office building. When I rode down in the elevator, that guy we fucked in Miami was waiting in the lobby. He called me Candi.”