Formula for Murder (33 page)

Excessive progression from a thread, flattened to non-existent letter form, symbolizes flight from the Self into an indeterminate, external ideal. With discordant writing it suggests a predisposition to mental illness.

“Learn Graphology: A Practical Course in Fifteen Lessons” by Gabrielle Beauchataud

Nick tore away from Sloan the second the dance ended, barely gracious. “Sloan, it was delightful, but I’ve got to run.” He’d begun to realize how long it had been since he’d seen Kat. After the constant vigilance of the past days he felt bereft, and fear seeped in. He found G.
 
L. and Maddy as they finished their conversation about Carlos on the edge of the dance floor.

G.
 
L. shrugged sheepishly, admitting he didn’t know what had become of Kat. “The last I saw, it looked like she was heading to the rest room. But that was a while ago.”

Nick looked to Maddy expectantly.

“Sorry, Nick. I was trying to convince G.
 
L. that we should look more closely at Carlos. I don’t trust that man. I lost track of time too.”

Nick nodded, turning his mind to organizing a search without being obvious to the crowd. “G.
 
L. hunt around the room. Maddy, come with me and check the rest room. If she’s not there let me know.”

As quickly as the crowd of chatting women around the door allowed, Maddy checked inside and rushed out, shaking her head negatively. Nick waved her toward the west corridor and quietly spoke, “Find Burrows or Raub. Tell them we’ve lost her. I’ll look outside.”

Distracted by a faint sound
behind him, Carlos turned for an instant, allowing Kat to pick up a broken branch from the ground. It was short, but sturdy enough to return some of her confidence. When he just stared at her, not lunging as she expected, she wondered if he was as crazed as she feared. Using the branch as protection, she took a moment to step back and ask, “Why, Carlos?”

He seemed to understand what she was referring to, but shook his head, confusion radiating from him even in the dark. Was he refusing to answer? Or unable to? She tried again. “Carlos, what happened with Charlie?”

“Don’t you understand? This isn’t like me. I can’t stand violent men. It’s like they were saying in there tonight. Overbearing men are disgusting. I couldn’t be that way with Maria. But she wouldn’t stop. She kept pushing. Charlie was making her life so miserable. He wasn’t beating her but he might as well have.”

Still uncertain, Kat inched back further out of range. “You were trying to protect her?”

He circled, almost aimlessly, lost in thought. “They didn’t understand in there. They didn’t know what it was like to watch my father beat my mother and not be able to help.” He wrung his hands, remembering. Then freed them, bringing Kat back into focus as he did so. “I helped Maria. Now you’ve gotten in the way. I wanted you to leave it alone. Maria still needs me. I can’t leave her. You’ll have to go.” His eyes had held a bitterness no man should feel; his mouth set in a thin line, his face pale from fatigue or pain. Now they darkened with feverish intent.

Kat decided her questions had gained her nothing. Before she could race off he was upon her. She threatened him with the branch, causing him to briefly back off. He stalked more cautiously now, How could this be the same man who joked about the sacredness of church runners? His earlier uncertainty turned quickly to a sinister confidence.

Fear crawled up her spine. She lanced out at him with the branch, the blow knocking him down. She turned to run and hide.

Carlos rose and began searching methodically as the rain poured down around him. She hid behind a tree, holding her breath as he neared. The park, a tranquil image by day with its walks, shrubs, and trees, was forbidding at night, the shadows and shapes appearing ominous, lurking. As she hid, she tried to find a way out her situation. Should she look for a diversion? Run? Which way? She heard Nick calling. Thought about responding. She peered out and saw Carlos, skulking nearby. Her chance to scream had passed. He was too near. Why hadn’t she thought to walk right into the dance area. He wouldn’t have followed then. Easy to use hindsight. For now, she needed distance.

Kat moved stealthily deeper into the trees. She avoided the statuary in the far corner, fearing the lighting would work against her. The obelisks were enveloped in a murky shroud not quite penetrated by their lights; nonetheless, she kept to the darker side of the park. She froze into the shadows, glancing up briefly to the forbidding sky, grateful for the lack of moonlight, and the refreshing rain. She wondered if this would be the last time she’d feel the rain. Could Carlos really mean to kill her? She pictured Charlie on the floor of the lab, lifeless. She allowed herself only a second to contemplate her predicament, than attempted to calm her breathing to shallow, more quiet gasps.

She would not give up. Idly she pondered why there was no one in sight. Where were the 3,500 students who lived almost within shouting distance? Almost, but not quite. She wished she’d stayed nearer the dance. Maybe someone would have heard her cry. Second thoughts came so easy, with great clarity. Too late.

She began moving again, creeping through the underbrush slowly in an attempt to make no sound. All her senses were alert for danger, as long as she could quell the panic.

Kat picked up another tree branch, the other discarded in her haste to flee. She heard footsteps to the right, squishing in the rain. Was it Nick? Carlos? What should she do? Nick called out, further to her right than the footsteps. Carlos must have heard also. He paused, turned. She bashed him across the back; her legs sliding from under her on the wet leaves. Carlos attacked her before she could escape.

Nick rushed forward and pulled Carlos off. Carlos punched; Nick dodged, swung, knuckles connecting.

Kat crawled out of the way, inching her back up a nearby tree trunk till she was standing. She shivered, holding the branch, not able to get a good aim on Carlos. Nick knocked him out as G.
 
L., Raub, and Burrows converged on the scene, voices shouting, flashlights blazing. She slipped back to the ground, her shaky legs unstable.

As the men took charge of Carlos, Nick glanced quickly around, looking for her. The darkness couldn’t hide his relief at seeing her safe. He settled next to her, oblivious of the mud churned up from the fight and the driving rain. He’d thought he’d lost her. He rubbed an unsteady hand across his face to replace his calm mask and turned to pull her into his arms. His warmth dispelled her errant fears.

A half-hour later
they were huddled in Burrows’ office, listening to Carlos bare his soul. His confession was essential to closing the investigation. Burrows had no proof without it to charge him with Professor Abbott’s murder. Kat had asked that he be allowed to explain before she charged him with assault. When he began by confessing to the murder she knew she wouldn’t bother.

Hunched in defeat, his voice faltering, Carlos described the scene with Charlie where he lost his temper that fateful night. Everyone sat silently, barely breathing, as he vividly painted the scene.

“I entered the lab to talk to him. He was so engrossed in his project that he didn’t even hear me at first. Or he was just so arrogant that he didn’t bother to look up and acknowledge me. His attitude fueled my anger. I’d been seething all day at what he’d done to my Maria.

“I wanted him to explain why he wouldn’t support her program so I could understand, or maybe say something that I could report to Maria that would make her feel better. But he wouldn’t listen. All that glass, sparking in the fluorescent lights, the tubes, the bottles, the flasks. A glass rod nearby reminded me of a giant twizzle stick. I dropped my duffel bag and grabbed the rod. I broke the tip by rapping it on the counter, finally catching his attention. I shouted, ‘These test tubes and vials are everything to you but they hold no life. See they don’t bleed. But they cause it. My Maria’s life force is draining out of her, drip, drip, like the blood flowing. You did that to her!’

“But Charlie glanced at me vaguely like I wasn’t really there, talking about something so important. I saw red, I really did. Like he was coated in it. I slashed at him with the rod. Didn’t touch him, just slashed in front of him. That woke him up, yet he turned away as if I wasn’t important enough to listen to, and when I slashed again it went through his calf. This time, the red starting dripping. I’m not sure what happened after that. I remember he turned back to look at me and I held the bleeding rod up in surprise. Now he was paying attention but I didn’t recall what I wanted to say. I was finally seeing blood on the glass. Wondering if maybe it did bleed after all. Charlie’s crystal life. He lunged at me then and I just stood there with the rod in front of me and he went down on it. I pushed and he fell on his back, breaking the rod off in my hand.”

Carlos jerked, his eyes focusing back in the room and away from the lab. He shuffled his feet as he sat, and continued his story.

“I ran. I was coming to my senses and grabbed some paper towels near the sink and wiped off the rod, then broke it into the sink. I was panicking quickly, but I remember seeing the student. I know it’s Robin now, but at the time I just saw that he was a student. As I was breaking up the glass to make it look like vandalism, I saw him with a girl through the window, jumping into the antique Chevy and knew I’d be able to find him again if needed. I noticed Kat on the way out, but wasn’t sure she’d seen me. Right then I couldn’t think. I eventually went home to Maria. She didn’t recognize me that day. That hurt more than anything.”

His hollow-eyed look, his demeanor, tore at Kat. Burrows, who had stretched all the rules to allow her and Nick in to hear this confession, could see her concern and motioned her to keep quiet. She nodded. She knew Burrows had many questions yet to be answered.

Carlos continued, explaining how his childhood experiences fueled his rage against abusers like Charlie. Burrows nodded, not wanting to disturb the flow of his thoughts. Carlos was revealing more with his free association than the detective could have acquired with dozens of questions. Any missing details could be filled in later after some simple questions.

Carlos said he hadn’t thought about his childhood in years, not until Maria needed his protection from Charlie. “When she finally needed me, I didn’t do anything. So Charlie continued to hinder her efforts with his narrow mind and his power. I was as angry with myself as I was with him when I finally decided to question him.”

Burrows scratched his chin in the interlude and finally directed Carlos to finish. “So why were you threatening Kat; why did you confront her tonight?”

Carlos looked apologetically at Kat. “I was afraid at first that she knew and was taunting me for some reason. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t just tell you she’d seen me and get it over with.”

Kat sighed in frustration, knowing she had just made matters worse by her prying. One raised eyebrow from Nick and a nod from Burrows kept her quiet, however.

Carlos explained, “I feared dismissal from the only thing I loved other than Maria. I became afraid that someone would find out about my pitiable past. I was constantly on edge.” He fidgeted, looking around for sympathy. Finding little, he continued, “I kept getting signs from Kat, suggestive notes, visits to Maria that led me to believe Kat was toying with me, tormenting me and Maria. She became a threat to Maria’s and my existence.”

Kat shuddered at the memory of that evening and what could have happened with Carlos unhinged by recent and past events. “It wasn’t till I saw you on the portico in your raincoat that I realized I had seen you the night of the murder.”

Carlos nodded, “But tonight you did remember. I was already upset. Maria had a relapse today. I didn’t know if she’d ever get well. I shouldn’t have come tonight. But once there, seeing everyone having such a good time, and then, realizing Kat remembered me—I just wanted it all to end.”

Burrows questioned him further, trying to gain explanation for incidents that weren’t clear. “What was the car chase all about?”

“At first I just wanted to scare them. Then, after you all went to the police station, I followed. When you left and the police didn’t come after me I felt I might be clear. No one must have recognized me, in the woods, or earlier.”

Kat ventured a question that had tormented her since the incident. “Did you attack Suzanne? Why?”

“Again, it seemed like you were baiting me. That you knew that I’d killed Charlie, but wouldn’t tell the police, leaving me hanging. I wanted it over. I wanted you to stop. Suzanne looked like you in the dark, in the rain.”