Hide & Seek - James Patterson [92]
“We find the defendant, Maggie Bradford, not guilty.”
Not guilty.
Not guilty.
I had to close my eyes. I felt so tired and weak, and strangely, not completely relieved for some reason. I was only vaguely aware of cheers in the courtroom. People were congratulating me—Jason Wade and Norma, Jennie and Barry. Faces loomed before me like enormous balloons. The sound was as blurred as the images. Everything seemed incredibly odd and queer.
“Oh, Maggie, you did it! You won!”
How could this simple moment be so confusing to me? I was rushed from the tumultuous courtroom, enfolded in a safe cocoon of lawyers and friends and my precious family. Surrounding us were the press and fans. Faces were pushing microphones at me, screaming questions, begging for an autograph, even now.
Jason Wade would have to deal with them. My lawyer could answer their questions. Sign their autographs too.
I was actually pushed, like someone on wheels, through the cavernous foyer, then much too fast down the steps of the courthouse, and into a waiting car. Not a limo, just a regular car. I had insisted on that.
I jumped at what sounded like a gunshot. Pain pierced my heart. The automobile door had slammed shut!
Then the “regular” car started to slowly move through the press of people who had been waiting outside for a glimpse of me, win or lose. The car floated behind an escort of police cruisers, sirens crying, revolving red roof lights casting shadows on the faces of the onlookers.
I remembered the MP car in West Point. Its light was revolving too, only there were no onlookers, and it was so cold. I remembered so many scenes leading up to this moment.
I watched out the car window. People forming the tremendous crowd clogging Broadway and Clarke Street seemed to be clapping and cheering, shouting out my name. I couldn’t relate to any of it.
I held Jennie and Allie tightly, never wanting to let go of them. They held me back. We were JAM again: Jennie, Allie, Maggie.
“I love you so much, Mom,” Jennie whispered and kissed me on the cheek. “You’re my heroine in shining armor.”
“And you’re mine,” I told her.
“Mommy,” Allie said, and hugged my side. “My mommy.”
“Allie.” I kissed the top of his head. “My Allie and my Jennie.”
CHAPTER 113
“MAGGIE! MAGGIE BRADFORD!” the crowd of idiots shouted at her car.
The murderer clapped and cheered too, pretending delight at the scene. He was concealed in the crowd choking the Bedford Village crossroads. Well concealed.
The murderer watched as Maggie’s car passed by, then finally disappeared around a street corner.
Then the murderer disappeared as well.
BOOK SIX
Hide & Seek—Again
CHAPTER 114
FIFTH AVENUE. EASTERTIME. New York City. Delightful! Absolutely the place to be, no?
The world’s most beautiful women were on parade. Primping, prancing, shopping their little hearts out.
And every one of them eminently fuckable, Will thought. Every one could be mine for the wooing. Some things never change. They just get better and better.
He strolled among them, in no particular hurry, early for his appointment. He was dressed in khaki slacks and blue blazer. His dyed-black hair was cut short and meticulously combed.
The Black Arrow, he thought and smiled thinly.
Some of the women definitely looked at him—as well they might, he thought. He hadn’t lost much as far as appearances went. If anything, he looked even better nowadays. Dark and mysterious, right? Just the way so many women liked their fantasy lovers.
At Fifty-ninth Street, he turned east toward Park, then north to Sixty-second Street, where he disappeared into a yellowish-brown Deco building on the corner. He bought mints at the lobby’s newspaper store, and checked his appearance in the mirror.
Carefully cut dyed-black beard, blue eyes (the contact lenses were a good touch; an excellent touch), perfect tie from Liberty of London, the natty blazer. Just the right look for today’s important meeting.
Then Will took the elevator to the twelfth floor and found the office