Suspicion of Madness Read Online Free PDF

you are. Martin told a little fib tonight, isn't he sweet? I didn't tell him to phone Kyle. That was my job, and I didn't do it. I put it off. What a coward."
    "No, you're not, honeybunch. You're the best."
    "Kyle won't come tomorrow. You watch. He'll make some excuse."
    "Now, now, don't let him get to you." Martin gave her a squeeze. "You know what? Anthony and I had a nice talk. He's got some cards up his sleeve, and I think everything's going to be just fine."
    "You do?"
    "I'll tell you about it. Right now we ought to let him get to the hotel and have some dinner."
    "Oh, of course!" Teri's smile shone through. "Gail is going to be mad at us for keeping you here so long."
    "No, no. She's very understanding." This was sometimes true. It depended on the pressures of her job, the state of her stomach, the position of the moon.
    "Tell her we're sorry we weren't there to greet her. We'll see her tomorrow." Teri stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Gracias por todo. We owe you so much."
     
    Anthony found Detective Baylor in a waiting room down the hall pulling a knob on the snack machine. A pack of cheese crackers clunked into the tray at the bottom. Baylor retrieved them, then tore open the cellophane. "Buenas noches, counselor. I had a feeling you'd be showing up."
    Glancing at the other people in the room, Anthony said quietly, "Are you planning to spend the night? Billy isn't going to talk to you."
    "We'll see. If he wants to unburden his conscience, I'm here to listen." Baylor ate one of the cheese crackers and dusted the crumbs off his short mustache. He was a trimly built man with a gleam on his holster, the kind of cop who would have a police scanner in his off-duty vehicle.
    "What did he say in his phone call to your office?" Anthony asked.
    "I didn't speak to him myself, but we've got it on tape." Baylor chewed as he talked. "Let's see. Quote, 'This is William Fadden. I'm the one you're looking for. I'm the one who killed Sandra McCoy. It was me.' The sergeant told him to hold on. Mr. Fadden then said something to the effect of, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.' Then he hung up."
    Anthony waited as if Baylor would say more. "And? What other evidence do you have against him?"
    "I'm not going to share that information at this time."
    "You have nothing. A statement from a suicidally depressed teenager is worthless. It's obvious what he was doing: using the police as another way to hang himself."
    "Oh? How about, 'I'm a violent, murdering, sociopathic little dirtbag, and I can't live with the guilt anymore'? Soon as Mr. Fadden comes out of it, we're going to ask him some questions. He's over eighteen this time. I'm willing to bet he'll talk to us. I'd also lay odds he's going to tell you to take a hike."
    "Stay away from my client," Anthony said.
    Baylor thumbed another cracker out of the pack. "I knew Sandra McCoy. She used to wait tables at The Green Turtle. Nice little girl, hard worker. Her parents are dead, and she came down here to take care of her grandparents. A damn shame about Sandra. Somebody grabbed her right out of the parking lot. He pulled her into some bushes and strangled her with a rope. Twisted it hard enough to crush her larynx. Then he took her to the rock quarry on Windley Key. He laid her out with her head hanging over the edge and cut her throat, almost decapitated her. Looked like somebody had poured a couple of gallons of paint down the rocks. Then he shoved her over the side and left her for the land crabs to pick at. By morning her eyes were gone. The only bright spot being that this occurred postmortem. Oh, by the way, those little details haven't been released to the public. I thought you'd be interested."
    No one else in the waiting room appeared to be listening. Anthony said quietly, "Did Billy mention those little details in his phone call?"
    Jack Baylor came closer. "You know what makes me sick? This didn't have to happen. If Billy Fadden had paid for being a teenage arsonist, if he'd been put