Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [96]
He might come back and check it out, Zach worried.
But he got out of the lot without any problem. He got back on the Turnpike and began the drive to Camelback. At 7:45 he pulled into a rest area and made calls to his job and to the rental agent tell?ing them that he wasn't coming back.
There was a lot of traffic on the highway and it was nearly eleven when he arrived at the lodge and went to the reception desk to check in.
As he waited for the clerk to finish a call, he looked around and felt himself calming down. This was just the kind of place he had wanted. Somewhat run down, in an area far removed from the main roads, it was bound to be quiet. The ski season had not yet started. Anybody here now is just looking for peace and quiet and to take autumn nature walks, he assured himself.
The clerk, a slow-moving guy pushing seventy, had the cabin key in his hand. “I gave you one of our best cabins,” he said, amiably. “It's preseason and we're not too busy. In another six weeks, this place is gonna be jumping. We get a lot of skiers, especially on the weekends.”
“That's nice,” Zach replied as he took the key and started to turn away. The last thing he needed was any more conversation where the man could focus on him.
The clerk squinted his eyes. “You've been here before, haven't you? You look familiar. I know,” he said chuckling, “you kind of look like that guy who killed all his wives. They had stuff on him on Fugitive Hunt last week. I was just kidding my brother-in-law. He looks even more like him than you do.”
The clerk started laughing heartily.
Zach attempted to laugh with him. “I've only had one wife and she's still around. And if her alimony check is a day late, I get a call from her lawyer.”
“You, too?” the clerk said loudly. “I pay alimony, too. It really stinks. The guy on Fugitive Hunt killed his last wife because she got his house in the divorce. He went overboard, but I still kind of feel sorry for him.”
“So do I,” Zach mumbled, anxious to get away. “Thank you.”
“Just so you know,” the clerk called after him, “they start serving lunch in the bar at noon. The food's pretty good.”
Zach's cabin was the one nearest to the lodge. It consisted of one large room with two double beds, a dresser, a couch, an armchair, and a night table. A flat-screen television was mounted on the wall above the mantel of a wood-burning fireplace. There was a small bathroom with a plug-in coffeepot on the counter.
Zach knew it was not safe to be here for long. He wondered if anyone had noticed that Madeline Kirk was missing yet. And what about Henry Link? He bought into the story that I was going to file all the paperwork at Motor Vehicles and would send it to him in a few days. But suppose he watched that program Saturday night, too? Suppose he thinks I look like Charley Muir?
Zach closed his eyes. The minute they find Kirk's body there'll be a whole new round of publicity and I'll be the lead story on Fugitive Hunt again, he warned himself.
He was suddenly weary. He decided to lay down and try to take a nap. He was astonished when he woke up and realized it was nearly six o'clock. Suddenly panicked, he grabbed the remote from the night table next to the bed and turned on the television so he could watch the news.
He wondered if there would be anything about him or Kirk on a Pennsylvania news station. It's possible, he thought. Camelback is only a couple of hours away from Bergen County.
The news was coming on. The anchor began, “We have a grim story about the murder of an elderly woman in Glen Rock, New Jer?sey. Police believe that the killer was a neighbor who lived right across the street. They also strongly suspect that this man is the very same person who has allegedly committed at least seven prior mur?ders and who was profiled only last