Deadly Cross (Alex Cross #28)(64)

Dr. Tolliver had a tremor in his voice when he said, “Yes, well, I remember documents being signed, but I also recall Kay being exceptionally lucid at those times. She asked sharp questions that showed she understood what she was doing.”

“Very sharp,” Dr. Hicks said.

“Questions to who?” Mahoney said. “The notary who had no law degree? Or the shrinks with no law degrees?”

The psychiatrists said nothing. Carson stared at the table.

I said, “You, Mr. Carson, took advantage of your cousin’s frequently fragile mental state to alter her will so the plantation would become not a park, but land for sale, and then you altered it again to make yourself the sole beneficiary. But although Kay had mental problems, she was physically fit. It could have been years before she died of natural causes.”

Carson, already seeing his future land deal slipping through his fingers, looked up at me. “What are you trying to say?”

Mahoney said, “That you hired professionals to kill Kay Willingham the same way you hired professionals to kill Althea Lincoln. Randall Christopher just happened to be with Kay when the shooting started. And we just happened to be with Althea.”

“So the counts are mounting, Bobby,” I said. “Two counts murder for hire. Two counts attempted murder of a federal officer. One count conspiracy to commit fraud, and multiple counts of outright fraud.”

“No, no, no!” Carson shouted. “That’s absolutely not true. I … I admit to getting Kay to sign those letters and the permission to log the timber. I … I was going to get nothing in the original will! Nothing, and we shared great-grandfathers! My father and I slaved for the Sutter family. Kay could give away the cash and the stocks, but I deserved that land. Who do you think cared for it all these years?”

“You were going to develop it,” Mahoney said.

“Damn straight I was going to develop it. State park? Are you kidding? It would have been a gold mine.”

“If it weren’t for Althea Lincoln and Kay Willingham,” I said.

“No!” Carson said. “I am not a violent person. I did not have Kay killed. I did not hire anyone to shoot at Althea, and why would I hire someone to try to kill federal agents? They’d swarm the state!”





CHAPTER 72





JUST AS WE’D PLANNED IF the discussion had Bobby Carson admitting to fraud but denying murder, Mahoney waited a few moments and then said, “So who else would have reason to want Kay Willingham and Althea Lincoln dead?”

Carson stared at the table and shook his head. “I have no idea. Other than brief visits to her mother when she was alive and her stays at West Briar, Kay rarely came to Montgomery and it was even rarer that we saw each other. Kay was a socialite. It has to be someone in Washington.”

When he looked up at me, I said, “You have a good idea who it is, Bobby.”

“I really don’t.”

Mahoney said wearily, “You know we are going to dismantle your practice, don’t you? Take every file, every computer, search every safe-deposit box affiliated with this firm, and go through all your personal property. We are going to find it.”

“Find what?” Dr. Tolliver asked.

I looked at my watch, said, “Oh, you and Dr. Hicks can leave now. There are FBI agents in the lobby waiting for you.”

“Are we under arrest?” Dr. Hicks said in a whiny voice.

“You will be leaving in handcuffs,” Mahoney said. “Yes.”

Hicks started to cry, then got up and slapped Tolliver across the face. “You said no one would know. You said we’d just pick up some extra cash to make our lives easier in the middle of East Jesus, Alabama. Now we’re probably going to jail and we’re definitely losing our medical licenses. You stupid ass.”

“You want to see an equally stupid ass?” Tolliver said. “Look in a mirror, Jeanne.”

“Leave,” Mahoney said. “Now.”

Dr. Hicks turned and left, sobbing. Dr. Tolliver followed her, head up as if he were about to go onstage to deliver a research paper. He slammed the door behind him.

Mahoney turned to Carson. “As I said, we will find it, so you might as well give it to us.”

Carson held up his hands. “I don’t know what more I can — ”

“We know about Althea’s half brother Napoleon Howard,” I said. “We know Kay was down here digging into what happened to him, how he was railroaded onto death row. And we know Kay believed the proof was in the old files of this law firm, your father’s old files. Didn’t she?”

Carson shifted in his chair. “Yes. She did. But I told Kay what I’m telling you. I had no clue what she was talking about. When Napoleon Howard stabbed his friend to death, I was in the U.S. Army, working as a JAG in South Korea. During Howard’s trial? I was stationed in Berlin. But you know, second cousin and all, I went through all my father’s files for her. Evidence to free an innocent man? I would have seen something like that, and I did not.”

Mahoney sighed and picked up his phone. “Suit yourself, Bobby.”

Nina Larch cleared her throat and I noticed her fingers trembling. “He’s not lying to you, Special Agent Mahoney. There is nothing to do with Napoleon Howard in his father’s files. I know because I also went through Robert Carson Sr.’s personal and legal files for Kay earlier this year. At Bobby’s request, I might add.”