Daddy's Gone a Hunting by Mary Higgins Clark Read Free Book Online Page B

take a nap.
    But a half hour later, when he was sitting at the breakfast counter in the kitchen his ex-wife had so lovingly planned fifteen years ago, a beer and ham-and-cheese sandwich in front of him, his phone rang. It was Gus Schmidt’s daughter, Gretchen, calling from Minneapolis. “I’m at the airport,” she said, her voice trembling. “Jack, you have got to promise me that when the police start digging into my father’s past, you will stand up for him and say you never believed he meant it when he said he’d like to blow up the plant.”
    Jack reached for the beer as he promised with a fervent tone, “Gretchen, I will tell anyone who asks that Gus was a fine, good man who is the unfortunate victim of circumstances.”

16

    A fter questioning Jack Worth in the mobile unit, Marshals Frank Ramsey and Nathan Klein called the people who had dialed 911 when they heard the neighborhood explosion. They also called Lottie Schmidt and spoke to some of Kate’s coworkers.
    Then they went to the local police station to make their crime report that the fire was of an incendiary nature and involved the death of Gus Schmidt. They spent the rest of the afternoon at the scene of the fire, searching for any further evidence they might find.
    The next person they wanted to talk with was Hannah Connelly. They called her on her cell phone. She told them that she would be leaving the hospital shortly, and they could meet her at her apartment. They stopped to pick up Gus Schmidt’s clothing from the medical examiner for testing, then headed to Downing Street. That was when they caught Hannah at the elevator.
    They did not stay long in her apartment. “Ms. Connelly, I know how distraught you were this morning, and we didn’t want to burden you. But now we’d like to go over some facts with you,” Ramsey began. “You said that you did not know that your sister was meeting Mr. Schmidt in the museum early this morning?”
    “No, she didn’t mention it to me. I knew that she was meeting my father for dinner last night. Kate and I talk almost every day, but Iwas busy at work yesterday and I knew she was going out in the early evening.”
    “A few of your sister’s coworkers mentioned that she was concerned and quite vocal about the fact that the family business was going downhill and should be sold.”
    Jessie had made Hannah a cup of tea, then sat next to her on the couch, her manner protective. She had not intended to butt in, but now her instincts as a criminal lawyer were warning her that the way the investigators were zeroing in indicated they believed that Kate may have deliberately set the fire.
    Jessie addressed Nathan Klein. “Marshal Klein, it seems clear that Hannah did not know of her sister’s plan to go to the complex. Knowing Kate, I am very sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for her being there, but I do think you should defer any further questions until Ms. Connelly has a chance to rest.”
    Klein was clearly unimpressed. “I don’t think it will burden Ms. Connelly too much”—he nodded in Hannah’s direction—“to answer a few more questions while her memory is still fresh about the circumstances leading up to the explosion that took a person’s life.”
    Jessica looked at Hannah. “I don’t agree. I am an attorney and a close friend of both Hannah and Kate Connelly. I detect an air of both suspicion and accusation.” She looked at Hannah. “May I put myself forward as Kate’s legal representative at least for the present, Hannah?”
    Hannah looked at Jessie, her mind a kaleidoscope. When she had gone back to the hospital this afternoon, she had been thankful Jessie was there. The doctor had taken both of them in again to see Kate.
    “Is she totally unresponsive, or is there some level of consciousness?” Hannah had asked Dr. Patel.
    “We have her heavily sedated,” the doctor said.
    She and Jessie had stayed for a few more hours. When they were almost about to leave, Douglas