Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hannah grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. Then she punched in Andrea’s number on her cell phone. “Andrea?” she said when her sister answered. “Don’t come back to the penthouse. Roger killed Doctor Bev and he just tried to kill Barbara again. Call Mike and tell him to hurry. Roger could be here any minute.”
“Roger’s there, Hannah. I’m just driving past the garage and his car’s parked in the penthouse section.”
“Is he still in his car?”
“No. Get out of there, Hannah! Hurry! I’ll call Mike!”
There was a click and Andrea was gone. As she slipped her cell phone back into her pocket, Hannah had the feeling of being abandoned, of losing her sole connection to normal life. Somehow she managed to shake off the feeling. It could stop her from thinking clearly and she needed to keep her wits about her.
Leave now, every instinct told her. You can get down to the second floor before he can get up here. Leave your purse here so he thinks you’re hiding here. Make him take the time to look for you up here. That’ll give you time to go the rest of the way down to street level. And once you’re there, you can run for your life.
Acting almost instantaneously, Hannah tossed her purse on a chair and made a beeline for the stairwell door. She was halfway down to the landing when she realized that she didn’t have the key to open the door to the second floor. There was nowhere to go but back up.
She turned, grabbed the rail and hurried up. She was on the second step from the top when she heard the door at the bottom of the stairwell bang open.
Heavy footfalls began to ascend the stairs, but Hannah didn’t stick around to see if it was Roger. She took the final two steps at a leap and went through the door to the penthouse, slamming the deadbolt home behind her. It wouldn’t stop him for long, but it could buy her time enough to find a good hiding place.
A second later, she’d retrieved her purse from the chair and was hurrying to a second staircase, this one leading to the penthouse garden. With energy born of fear, she climbed those stairs faster than she’d ever climbed stairs before, and she emerged under the see-through dome at a run.
Where should she hide? Hannah hesitated for a split second before her mind provided the answer. She’d hide where he’d never expect her to hide, outside the dome in the rain.
The moment she thought of it, Hannah raced across the expanse of the rooftop garden and picked up the remote that controlled the window-washing safety cage. She aimed the remote at the area Andrea had shown her and pressed the button. Slowly, much too slowly to suit Hannah, the cage came out of its sheltered dock and began to move toward the hinged window.
For someone who didn’t enjoy heights, thinking about swaying out there in the wind and the rain wasn’t pleasant. As a matter of fact, it was downright terrifying. She reminded herself that getting killed by the man who’d murdered Doctor Bev and had tried to kill Barbara twice was even more terrifying. Given the choice, she would much prefer braving the elements at a dizzying height, even in a thunderstorm.
At last, after seeming to take forever, the cage reached the entrance point. Hannah shut off the remote, opened the hinged window panel and sent up a quick prayer for Mike to hurry as she stepped into the cage. As she closed the hinged panel behind her, a bolt of lightning so bright it almost blinded her zigzagged down from the sky to the earth. It was followed by a clap of thunder so loud it shook the cage.
Hannah blinked several times and shielded her eyes from the pouring rain so that she could see the internal controls. They were clearly marked with arrows that she could see, even in the rain. All she had to do was push the control left to go left, return it to the center to stop, and right to go right. As she set the cage into motion, she noticed that there was a large red button marked Emergency Stop. She didn’t really want to consider what type of situation would necessitate an emergency stop, at least not right now. Roger could come through the stairwell door any moment and the cage seemed to take forever to reach its docking point.
The wind whipped her hair against her eyes and Hannah used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe them again. Another bolt of lightning sliced across the sky and again, it was almost immediately followed by a deafening clap of thunder. If the lightning kept flashing and Roger reached the rooftop garden before the cage docked, he’d see her!
Hannah dropped to the floor of the cage and huddled in a corner, trying to shield herself from the elements. Of course that didn’t do much good. The cage was formed of heavy metal mesh and the rain came through from what seemed to be every direction. She shielded the top of her head from the rain with a rag that someone had left on the cage floor. It smelled vaguely of some acidic substance, probably ammonia, and as the lightning flashed again, Hannah noticed a squirt bottle of eco-friendly window washing fluid in a pouch attached to the side of the cage.
Time seemed to slow and almost stop as the cage journeyed slowly toward its enclosure. She huddled there, wet and shivering, hoping that the cage would dock before Roger realized that she must be up here. She was only inches from safety when the door to the stairwell burst open and Roger ran through. She caught one glimpse of his enraged and desperate face as the cage disappeared behind the wall and slid into its dock.
“Hurry, Mike!” Hannah whispered as she reached down to retrieve her purse to search the contents for any type of weapon. Unless several ballpoint pens and an old stick of soothing balm for chapped lips could somehow aid in her defense, she was out of luck. There was something else on the floor and Hannah picked it up. It was the remote. She’d taken it with her. Would Roger notice that it was missing from the pocket on the wall? Should she have returned it to the pocket before she’d climbed into the safety cage? Hannah thought about that for a moment and decided that it was six of one, half-dozen of the other. If she’d returned the remote to the pocket, it wouldn’t be missing, but Roger could use the electronic device to activate the mechanism and bring her place of hiding back to him as smoothly as a metal duck gliding by in a shooting gallery.
Hannah wasn’t sure which was worse, hiding out of sight and not being able to watch what was happening, or being able to see Roger search for her. The tension of waiting in the dark in the small enclosure was so high it was physically painful. Her breath caught in her throat and she thought she’d never be able to breathe again. And then, right when she was beginning to panic, her body forced her to take the next shuddering, gasping breath to start the cycle all over again. Every muscle in her body cramped, leaving her in agony and unable to do more than shake from the cold and her fear. And then she heard it. The access pane, the one she’d shut so carefully after she’d stepped into the cage, crashed open and Roger’s voice boomed over the noise of the thunder, and the wind, and the rain.
“I know where you are, Hannah. Come back!”
Not on a bet! Hannah’s mind answered, but she said nothing. Instead she waited, her finger poised over the emergency stop button. If Roger had another remote and he tried to bring the cage back to him, she’d hit the button and hope that it would override any other commands.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happened. Long moments passed as Hannah waited in fear and in dread. Roger was completely insane if he thought she might move the cage to the entrance point simply because he’d asked her to do it. Or was this some type of trick? Was he lulling her into a false sense of security so that he could get to her another way?
“Come to me, Hannah!” Roger called out again. “Come to me, or I’ll come to get you. And it’ll be much worse for you if I have to do that!”
Hannah ignored the implication. If she moved the cage to him, he’d kill her. That was a foregone conclusion. He wanted her to think that he could come to the docking station to get her, but he couldn’t. There was no way he could come to get her unless he stepped out onto the track outside of the dome and inched his way around to the docking station. Surely he wouldn’t do that . . . would he? Was he crazy and desperate enough to do that?
Delay, her mind said and she agreed. She was almost positive that Barbara would call Mike. And she knew that Andrea would. Help could be here any moment and all she had to do was keep Roger talking until they came to arrest him.
It was counterintuitive to get closer to the man who wanted to kill her, but Hannah did it anyway. She was almost certain he didn’t have a gun or he would have leaned out the window to shoot her by now. It was hand-to-hand and Roger was strong. He would win, but she wouldn’t let him get that close. She had no intention of bringing the cage close enough to the opening so that he could grab her. Or stab her. Or bludgeon her. Or whatever. She would stay at more than arm’s length away at all times. And she would keep him talking until help came through the door.
“Okay,” she called out in a voice so steady that it surprised her. “I’m coming. Just tell me why you tried to kill Barbara.”
There was a loud rumble of thunder and then he answered. “The first time? Or the time I actually killed her?” he asked.
And then he gave a laugh that chilled Hannah to the bone. It was clear that Roger had slipped over the edge. He was crazed, insane, homicidal, dangerous, maniacal, psychotic . . . but she didn’t have time to think of all the words that applied to Roger now. She had to keep him talking until Mike arrived.
“I want to know about the first time,” Hannah yelled out between claps of thunder. “How did you get her up here alone?”
“That was easy. She was already here. I just moved a barricade and told her that since she was with me, she was perfectly safe and I’d show her the view.”
Hannah waited until the rumble of thunder had faded away. “The view of her house?”
“Of course.”
“But why did you try to kill her?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out by now, Hannah. Everyone says you’re smart. It’s because she’s my half-sister and she was going to get part of my inheritance. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“So you attacked her?”
“Yes, with a hammer. Move closer, Hannah,” Roger said, noticing that she’d stopped the forward motion of the cage. “You’re delaying.”
“It’s just because I want the whole story. Did your father actually write a will that gave Barbara half?”
“Of course not. He gave her a fourth. He knew how hard I’d been working for him and he knew I deserved the lion’s share.”
“Of course you did,” Hannah appeased him. “But why kill Barbara when you got so much more than she did?”
“Because she didn’t deserve anything!” Roger howled above the sound of the wind and the rain. “She’d done nothing! I gave my life for Dalworth Enterprises!”
“Really?” Hannah asked, knowing full-well she had nothing to lose. “I thought you made a good living from your father’s corporation.”
“Oh, I did, but not good enough. I’m worth much more. I’m worth more than a hundred percent and Barbara was cutting into my share.”
“I see,” Hannah said, hoping that the door would crash open and Mike would arrive.
“Come closer, Hannah. And then I’ll tell you more. I know you want to know everything.”
“I do want to know,” Hannah said, sliding the control knob to forward. The cage moved slowly a few feet toward Roger and then she stopped it. “Why did you need so much money?”
“Because I had debts! It’s not easy running Dalworth Enterprises. You have to pay off everybody to get the permits you need. My father never understood that, so I had to play some games with the books. Everybody does it. And then there were expenses. You have to look like you have money when you’re playing with the big boys.”
He cooked the books, Hannah’s mind said, and I’ll bet most of those mythical payoffs were for him. But Hannah didn’t say that. Instead, she tried to sound very sympathetic. “I understand,” she said.
“Good.” Roger sounded pleased that she understood. “Come here, Hannah. I don’t think there’s anything more you need to know.”
“Oh, but there is!” Hannah said, moving another foot or two closer. “I have to know why you killed Doctor Bev.”
“She was a leech! And she was a cheat! She was blackmailing me once she found out I tried to kill Barbara. She came up in the elevator and she saw me hit Barbara. And then she saw Barbara jump off the roof.”
Suddenly the fact that Lisa had heard the penthouse elevator squeal shortly before Barbara jumped made sense. Doctor Bev had gone up there. She’d sent Barbara’s button to Hannah as insurance, intending to explain it if Roger failed to give her what she wanted. But Roger had killed her before she could explain and Hannah had been left with a mystery.
“She was smarter than you are,” Roger said. “She figured it all out and she demanded millions from me.”
“And of course you didn’t want to give her those millions.”
“Why would I? I could have anyone I wanted, not a run-down forty-year-old broad who thought she was hot stuff.”
Hannah felt a moment’s pity for Doctor Bev. She’d picked the wrong guy. “But you lost your Maserati when you killed her.”
“It was insured and there’s plenty more where that came from. And now I’m tired of talking. You’ve got time for one more question before I come out there and haul you in.”
“Where did you get the tranquilizers you used to kill Doctor Bev?”
Roger laughed so loud that it boomed in her ears almost louder than the thunder that was rumbling overhead. “I know where to go and I’ve got connections. I can get anything for a price. Are you going to come closer, Hannah? Or do I have to come out there and kill you?”
“You have to come out here,” Hannah said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. Where was Mike? Where was Bill? Where were Lonnie and Rick? Had she been left to deal with a homicidal maniac all by herself?!
And then Roger smiled the most terrible smile she’d ever seen. It was a smile born of monsters, just the way Barbara had described him. He stepped out of the hinged pane and onto the track that led to her cage, and he moved like an acrobat toward her.
Hannah acted by pure instinct. She grabbed the bottle of window washing fluid and when he was close enough, she sprayed it directly into his eyes.
Roger bellowed and Hannah watched in disbelief as he reached up to rub his eyes. He staggered on the track and lost his balance, reaching out to brace himself against the dome, but the panes were slick with rain and he lost his balance. He screamed as he toppled from the track and his voice faded into the distance as he fell three stories into the parking lot.
Hannah didn’t look. She couldn’t. She just huddled in the bottom of the cage and trembled as Mike and three deputies came through the door and rushed to the open window.
“Hannah!” Mike yelled. “Bring the cage here.”
“I . . . I . . . okay,” Hannah managed to say, pushing the lever.
“Shut it off,” Mike instructed, and Hannah wondered how he knew that she might very well have kept going. “Give me your hand.”
Hannah reached out and Mike grabbed her hands to help her out of the cage. She might have lost her balance and collapsed to the floor in shock if he hadn’t gathered her into his arms and held her.
“Good job, Hannah,” he said. “We got his confession on tape.”
“You mean . . . you were here all along?” Hannah managed to ask, beginning to gather her wits about her.
“Yes, but we had you covered. The minute he tried to get in the cage with you, we would have grabbed him.”
Hannah drew back and slapped him hard. “I was terrified that you wouldn’t make it here in time. Don’t ever do anything like that to me again!”
“What are you talking about? You were perfectly safe.”
“But I didn’t know that!” Hannah began to tremble with anger and then she started to cry. “You’re awful! And I hate you!”
Mike gathered her back into his arms and held her. “No, you don’t. You were just scared. And if there were some way we could have let you know we were there, we would have.”
“Is he . . . dead?” Hannah asked, feeling slightly appeased.
“The boys are down there now, but it looks bad from up here. He landed in the parking lot with nothing to break his fall.”
“Then I . . . I killed him?”
“Not you. Circumstances killed him and it’s what he deserves. He almost murdered the best secretary we ever had at the sheriff’s station. We all love Barbara. And even worse, he was about to kill the woman I love. I do love you, Hannah. You know that, don’t you? I know I don’t always act like it, but I do.”
Just then the stairwell door burst open and Lonnie ran in. “He’s dead,” he announced. “His head hit the parking lot like a ripe . . .” He glanced at Hannah and stopped speaking. “Never mind.”
“Good,” Mike said. “That’ll save the taxpayers the expense of a trial.”
“Andrea and Norman are down in the penthouse. Is it okay if they come up?”
“Sure. They can take Hannah home. We’ve got work to do here.” Mike gave Hannah another hug and then released her. And when Lonnie left he said very quietly, “I’m glad we talked this afternoon, Hannah. I went to see Warren and I was already on my way back to you when Barbara and Andrea called.”
“You were?” Hannah was confused. “What took you so long?”
“It wasn’t very long. I got the call from Barbara and I’d just hung up when Andrea called. It took me another ten minutes to get here, but that’s all.”
Hannah stared at him in shock. “Really? It seemed like much longer than that!”
Mike hugged her again. “Have you heard that time flies when you’re having fun?”
“Yes,” Hannah said.
“Well, I guess it must be just the opposite when you’re not having fun.”