Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [102]
Reeney Sling and her husband are coming in tomorrow morn?ing, Mike thought. They can back up this story. All the pieces fit. As the welcome information kept sinking in, Mike had the incongru?ous thought that now Gregg and he could play handball again at the Athletic Club.
Sal gulped the entire glass of water and sighed. “I guess that's it, Mike. Now you know as much as I do about that delivery, except I dug out some receipts for other jobs I did for that antique repair place, to show you that this one isn't a phony.”
Mike examined the delivery receipt with the housekeeper's sig?nature, and the pocket phone book with Jimmy Easton's name scrawled in it. Then he glanced at the dozen other receipts Sal had brought him.
It's all here, he thought. It's all here. Barely able to maintain his professional reserve, he told them that he wanted them to appear on Courtside tonight.
“That would be fine,” Belle agreed. “Sal, it's a good thing I made you wear your good suit and tie, and Mama told me to wear this out?fit!”
Sal shook his head vehemently. “No. Absolutely not. Belle, you convinced me to come here and I did but I don't want to go on that show and have everybody hating me. Forget it. I'm not going!”
“Yes, you are, Sal,” Belle said firmly. “You're no different than lots of other people who would have been afraid of getting into trou?ble by telling the truth. In fact, you're a good example to them. You made a big mistake and now you are correcting it. I made a big mis?take, too. I've been sure for over a week that Jimmy Easton worked for you and I should have gone through those boxes sooner. That trial would have ended before Gregg Aldrich had to listen to that guilt)' verdict if both you and I had done the right thing. Most people will at least try to understand. And I'm going on the show whether you do or not.”
“Mr. Garcia,” Mike said, "I hope you will reconsider. You were in the Aldrich living room with Easton on exactly the same date that he testified under oath that he met there with Gregg Aldrich to plan the murder of his wife. It is vital that people hear that directly from you.
Sal looked at Belle's worried but determined expression and the tears she was trying to blink back. She was scared to death. They were sitting side by side on the couch in Mike's office. He put his arm around her. “If you can stand the heat you'll get, I can, too,” he said, tenderly. “I'm not going to let you go on alone.”
“That's great,” Mike exclaimed, jumping up to shake their hands. “I'm sure you haven't had dinner yet. I'll have my secretary bring you to the conference room and she'll order some food in for you.”
After they left his office, he called Richard Moore. “Come on in as fast as you can get here,” he said, enthusiastically. “Richard, these people are telling the truth. The delivery receipt is signed by Gregg's housekeeper, the one who died. I don't mind telling you I'm about to cry.”
“Me, too, Mike, me, too.” Richard Moore's voice also had a catch in it. “You know something? I just started believing in miracles again. I'll leave in a couple of minutes. It shouldn't take more than an hour to get into the city. I'll be there well before nine.” Then his voice broke. “First, I'll send Cole to the jail to tell Gregg what's going on. And I'll call Alice and Katie.”
“I only wish I could be there with them when they hear this,” Mike said, thinking back to that awful moment in court when the word “guilty” had been repeated twelve times.
“I'm going to make one other important call,” Richard said, his tone now quietly firm. “Emily Wallace. And you know what, Mike? I don't think that she's going to be surprised.”
Just Take My Heart
70
Zach turned off the television after the segment about him was finished. Seeing the composite again that was so similar to the way he looked now terrified him. He knew it was too dangerous to stay here another minute. He'd noticed that the clerk had a little TV in his office, and it was obvious that he was not all that busy. If he was still there at six o'clock, he could easily have been