In Like Flynn (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #4)

“What?”


“You heard me.”

“You're crazy, Joe,” Bamey shot him a look of alarm. “We're not killing anybody. We'll pay her off. That works.”

“Like the last one, you mean? Money didn't keep her away, did it? She kept coming back, didn't she? And she threatened to let out the secret too. If I hadn't—-”

Barney turned on him abruptly. “What are you talking about, Joe? When did she threaten to tell?”

“When she was here last week. She wanted to see you. I warded her off with promises that you'd meet her later.”

Barney was staring at him. “And then, Joe? What happened then?”

“She had to go. She was a constant danger to you. She didn't leam her lesson.”

“So you followed her and pushed her off the cliff?”

“You couldn't afford another scandal, Barney. Any breath of scandal now and theyll not reelect you. And nobody can prove that herfallwasn't an accident.”

They stood staring at each other and I could see Bamey trying to digest the weight and implications of what he had just learned. Joe Rimes’s grip was still firm on my upper arm. I considered breaking free and making a run for it.

“I can't believe you'd do a thing like that, Joe,” Bamey said at last. “How many years have I known you, and I still can't believe it of you.”

Joe Rimes glanced across at me. “Oh, it’s easy enough after the first time,” he said. “I won't have any trouble with this one.”

I realized instantly that my one hope was to get Bamey onto my side as an ally against Joe Rimes. “And what about Theresa?” I demanded. “Did you kill her too?”

Rimes smiled then. “Like I said, it’s easy after the first time. The first time the guilt bums at your very soul, but when you realize that you're damned already, what does it matter? You can't bum in hellfire more than once.”

Barney let out a roar of rage and grabbed him by the lapels. “You killed my wife?”

Joe dropped his hold on my arm and put his hands up to defend himself against Barney’s onslaught. “Oh come on, Barney. Don't try to pretend that you wanted to be married to her any longer. What kind of marriage was it? If she'd satisfied you, you wouldn't have had to keep grabbing anything in skirts that walked past you. I did you a good turn. You should be thanking me.”

Thanking you?” He started shaking Joe Rimes as if he were a rag doll. I began to back away.

“You're crazy,” I heard Bamey spit out the words.

“I'm not the crazy one,” Rimes shouted. “Your wife was. You were tied to a madwoman. And if you'd let her be hypnotized by that quack, she'd have told him everything—about the child, about Margie McAlister—everything!”

“You killed my wife.” Barney’s voice dropped to a whisper and he let go of Joe Rimes.

“She didn't suffer, Bamey,” Rimes said quietly, putting his hand on Barney’s shoulder. “She went the best way possible. She fell asleep and didn't wake up. Isn't that what you wanted for her? And there will be an added bonus. You'll get the sympathy vote again. Poor Bamey Flynn whom tragedy keeps striking but who soldiers on bravely, in spite of everything.”

“Wait a minute.” Bamey looked up suddenly. There was total silence apart from the sound of two men breathing and the gurgle of the river passing the rocks. “My son . . . my boy. . . . Was that the first time,Joe? Tell me that wasn't the first time.”

Joe Rimes’s red face flushed the color of beetroot. His eyes darted around wildly. “For you, Bamey I did it for you. You were behind in the polls, weren't you?”

Bamey went for him again like a madman. “You killed my child because I was behind in the polls? What kind of depraved monster are you?” He struck Joe a great blow to the head, sending him sprawling.

“I didn't want to hurt him, Bamey.” Joe Rimes started to blubber as he staggered back to his feet. “I swear I didn't want any harm to come to the child. I arranged the whole thing with Morell. I'd put a sedative in the child’s milk and I'd bring him to Morell. After that it was up to him. He'd hide the child where he couldn't be found. He'd collect the money and be well on his way out of the country when the child’s hiding place was revealed. He was a good man. The boy liked him. I knew he'd take good care of the boy.”

“But he didn't, did he? He buried my son alive and left him to die.” Barney’s voice broke and he turned his face away to hide his emotion.

“How was I to know the stupid policeman would shoot him before he could tell us where the child was? You should never have brought in the police. The note told you not to. You were warned.”