Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [116]
And Gregg Aldrich? How many times did I battle myself because I just didn't face the truth? Maybe it's just as Alice said—that in my heart I knew he was innocent from the start.
Even this borrowed heart knew it, she thought.
She looked at Tim's number. He may very well be in bed and angry if I wake him up. But I can't wait. Taking a deep breath she pushed the numbers.
Tim Moynihan answered on the first ring. Emily could hear voices in the background and assumed that the television was on. At least he hadn't been asleep. When she identified herself, he was ob?viously surprised to hear her voice.
She got right to the point. “Tim, I know it is terribly late to call but it is very important. I just learned that you had gone to Natalie's dressing room the final night she was in Streetcar. How come you didn't mention it at dinner that night? We did talk about the trial.”
“Emily, to tell you the truth, Ted had specifically asked us not to talk about the trial and particularly not to talk about having gone to her show or stopping at her dressing room to say hello. He knew you were tired and under a lot of stress. He wanted you to have a night off from all the work you've been doing. If you remember, Natalie's name came up but in a very general way.”
Emily could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Are you tell?ing me that Ted Wesley was at that last performance and stopped in at Natalie's dressing room?”
“Yes. He and Nancy came with Barbara and me and a couple of other friends.” Tim Moynihan's voice changed. “Emily, is something wrong?”
Something is very wrong, she thought. “Tim, do you know Ted's cousin Billy Tryon?”
“Sure I do. Everyone knows Billy.”
“Was he with you that night in Natalie's dressing room?”
“No. He's never been one of Nancy's favorites. You know how high-and-mighty she can be.”
“Tim, maybe you know this. Was Billy ever known by the nick?name 'Jess'?”
Tim's voice had a smile in it when he answered. “Not Billy. That was Ted's nickname. He's Edward Scott Jessup Wesley. He never uses 'Jessup' professionally but way back about twenty years ago he'd occasionally have a small part on the series I was doing at that time. He used the stage name 'Jess Wilson.' ”
Emily took a guess. “That was about the time that he was having trouble with Nancy, wasn't it?”
“Yes, they actually separated for a few months. He was pretty upset about it.”
Sure he was, Emily thought. He was running around with Jamie. He had promised her he would get a divorce and then when he dragged his feet, she probably threatened to go to his wife.
I bet he didn't kill her himself. I bet that Billy did the dirty work for him. And I bet that Natalie had recognized him that last night and he knew it. And she realized that he knew it. That's why she was so scared.
And of course he looks a lot like the guy in the sketch, too, Emily thought. The original sketch, not the substitute. He and Billy have a family resemblance. Their mothers are sisters. It just never occurred to me to think about him when I saw it.
She put the phone down and stood, not moving, trying to com?prehend the awful reality of what she now knew. The man about to become the attorney general of the United States, the chief law en?forcement officer in this country, was responsible for the brutal mur?ders of two women, nearly two decades apart.
Emily heard a nearby house alarm go off. Then someone pounded on her door. It must be the police officer, she thought. He's going to tell me that he will quickly check that alarm and then come right back. She rushed to open it. Billy Tryon burst in, pushed her down, and slammed the door shut.
“Emily,” he said as she cowered in terror on the floor, “you're re?ally not as smart as you think.”
Just Take My Heart
83
Sure that Emily must be ready to let Bess out, and too impatient to wait any longer, Zach was standing outside the door of the back porch when he heard the nearby alarm go off and then smelled smoke. He could see that the house at the corner was on fire. The neighborhood would soon be swarming with cops