Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [109]
“Father Keller, would you please get the phone,” she asked politely, leaning against the doorjamb, careful not to enter. “It sounds as if it’s in one of those drawers.”
The priest still didn’t move, staring into the room. The ringing grated on Nick’s nerves. Then Nick realized that Maggie had called the number. He saw Christine’s cellular phone in Maggie’s hand, the buttons lit up and blinking with each ring of the hidden phone.
“Father Keller, please get the phone,” she instructed again.
“This is Ray’s room. I don’t believe it’s proper for me to go through his things.”
“Just get the phone, please. It’s a small, black flip-style.”
He stared at her, then finally went into the room, slowly and hesitantly. Within seconds the ringing stopped. He came back out and handed her the small black cellular phone. She tossed it to Nick.
“Where is Mr. Howard, Father Keller? He needs to come down to the sheriff’s department with us to answer some questions.”
“He’s probably cleaning the church. I’ll go get him.”
Nick waited until Father Keller was out of sight.
“What’s going on, Maggie? Why are you suddenly convinced we need to question Howard? And what’s with calling his cell phone? How the hell did you even know his number?”
“I didn’t dial his number, Nick. I dialed my cellular phone number. That’s not his phone. It’s mine. It’s the one I lost in the river.”
CHAPTER 65
Christine squirmed to get comfortable in the swivel chair, drawing groans from the redheaded woman with the palette of makeup. As if out of punishment, the woman swabbed even more blush on Christine’s cheeks.
“We’re on in ten minutes,” said the tall man with the headset strapped to his bald head.
Christine thought he was talking to her and nodded, then realized he was talking into the mouthpiece of the headset. He bent over her to snap a tiny microphone onto her collar, and she couldn’t help noticing the reflection on his shiny head. The bright lights blinded her, their heat stifling and adding to the cockroaches in her stomach. Her palms were sweaty. Certainly it was only a matter of time before her face began to melt into pools of plum-glow blush, soft-beige foundation and lush-black mascara.
A woman sat in the chair opposite her. She ignored Christine while she riffled through the papers just handed to her. She swatted away the bald man’s hand and grabbed the microphone to pin it on herself.
“I hope you got that fucking TelePrompTer fixed, because I’m not using these.” She threw the handful of papers across the stage, and a frantic stagehand scrambled around the floor, scooping them up.
“It’s fixed,” the man patiently reassured her.
“I need water. There’s no water on the side stand.”
The same stagehand scurried over with a disposable cup.
“A real glass.” She almost knocked it out of the girl’s hand. “I need a real glass and a pitcher. For Christ’s sake, how many times do I have to ask?”
Suddenly, Christine realized the woman was Darcy McManus, the evening anchor for the station. Perhaps she wasn’t used to doing the morning news show. Perhaps she wasn’t used to mornings. In the harsh lighting, McManus’s skin looked weathered with crinkled lines at the eyes and mouth. Her usual shiny, black hair looked stiff and unnatural. The startling shade of red lipstick looked brash against her white skin until the redheaded makeup artist swabbed on a thick layer of artificial tan.
“One minute, people,” the headset man called out.
McManus dismissed the makeup woman with a wave of her hand. She stood up, smoothed out her too-short skirt, straightened her jacket, checked her face in a pocket mirror, then sat back down. Just then, Christine realized she’d been staring at the woman the entire time. The countdown brought her back to reality, out of her trance. She wondered why in the world she had agreed to do this interview.
“Three, two, one…”
“Good morning,” McManus said into the camera, her entire face transformed into a friendly smile. “We have a special guest with us today on Good