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 and firemen.
From inside, he could hear Bess's frantic barking. There was no more time. The cop outside her house had run up toward the fire. He had to get into her house. He ran to the basement window that he knew was in the tool area and kicked it in. Then, frenetically pushing away as much of the broken glass as possible, he forced his body through the narrow opening and dropped to the floor.
He felt the blood on his face and hands but he didn't care. The fire had been a sign. It was the end of the road. Fumbling in the dark, he reached for the hammer that he had remembered was on the wall, grabbed it, and made his way up the stairs. His plan had been to strangle her slowly, to feel her twitching in his arms, to listen to her trying to pray.
But he wouldn't have time for that. The cop who was stationed outside would come racing back here.
Step by step, Zach ascended the stairs as blood dripped from him onto the floor. He opened the door from the basement into the kitchen. Bess was in the living room, barking and barking. By now, Zach had expected that Bess would be running into the kitchen to?ward him. But then he heard a man's voice.
Can this be? The insult to him of Emily being with another man as he visited her made him tremble. His feet noiseless in the sneak?ers, Zach covered the short distance and then stopped. The man in the room was holding a gun to Emily's head as he pushed her down roughly into a chair.
Then he heard Emily scream, “You won't get away with this, Billy. You know that, too. It's over for you, and it's over for Ted.”
“You're wrong, Emily. Too bad I had to set a fire to draw that cop away. Everybody will think that the nut Zach came back for you.”
“The nut did come back,” Zach said smiling as he raised the hammer and smashed it on Billy Tryon's head. The gun went off as the front door was battered open. As Emily slumped, blood spurting from her leg, Zach was tackled by two police officers. After a furious struggle, they wrested the hammer away from him and, as he lay moaning on the floor, they cuffed his hands behind his back.
Barely conscious, Emily heard a shocked voice yelling, “My God, it's Billy Tryon. He's dead.”
Then the darkness closed over her.
Just Take My Heart
84
The next day in Hackensack Hospital, Emily was visited by Gregg Aldrich and Alice Mills. She had known they were coming and was sitting in an armchair. Alice rushed across the room and put her arms around Emily. “They could have killed you. Oh, thank God you're all right, thank God.”
“Hey, come on, Alice. You're supposed to cheer up the person you visit in the hospital,” Gregg Aldrich said smiling. He was carry?ing a bouquet of long-stemmed roses. “Emily, thank you for giving me my life back,” he said. “Richard Moore told me that the prosecu?tor has been arrested and will be charged with the murders of both Natalie and Jamie Evans.”
“That's right,” Emily answered, “I only passed out for a few min?utes. When I told the cops what happened, they played it smart with Ted Wesley. They told him that Billy had been caught in my house and had admitted to killing Natalie and Jamie for him. He was petri?fied but that finished him. He broke down and confessed to every?thing. So I guess I still have my job. And I guess he won't be going to Washington.”
Gregg Aldrich shook his head. “I'll never understand why all of this happened. But it's over.” Gregg took Emily's hand and then bent down and kissed her on the cheek. “I have to tell you something. In some ways, you remind me of Natalie. I'm not sure why. I can't put my finger on it. But you do.”
“She must have been a wonderful person,” Emily said. “I'm glad if I do remind you of her.”
“Do you agree, Alice?” Gregg asked tenderly.
“I know what you mean,” Alice said softly, pretending to study Emily as she embraced her again. “We'll leave you and let you rest now. I'll call you tomorrow to see how you are feeling.”
Dear God, Alice thought. Of course she is like her! Natalie's heart is beating inside of her. She remembered how, sick with grief, she had given her doctor permission to give Natalie's heart to a young war widow who was his patient, and who wa
s probably not going to live if she did not get a heart very quickly.
I didn't need to read about her transplant at the same time and in the same New York hospital where Natalie's heart was taken. I didn't need to know that my doctor had performed Emily's surgery. The minute I sat across from Emily at her desk, I knew that Natalie was there with me.
Her eyes flooding with tears, she turned to say good-bye to Emily. She must never know. Gregg must never know. They must go on with their lives. Alice knew that she could only see Emily once in a while. She knew she had to let go. “Emily, I hope that you're going to take some time off and heal from this and enjoy yourself,” she said.
Emily smiled. “You sound like my father, who is flying in to see me as we speak.” And then, not quite sure why she was telling Alice, she said, “I get out of here tomorrow and Saturday night I have a date with an orthopedic surgeon. I'm looking forward to it.”
I really am, Emily thought when she was alone again.
I'm ready now.
Mary Higgins Clark, Just Take My Heart
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