Hour Game

"Drop it," said Todd Williams, his gun leveled right at the circle in crosshairs etched on the black hood.

Michelle had picked up her gun and was aiming at the exact same spot. Black hood seemed to be thinking of whether to go for it. His body seemed to tense.

"Drop it!" roared Williams, who obviously sensed what the man was doing.

"It would really be better if you did," said King in a level voice. "At least that way you may be able to clear up a few remaining pieces. I think you owe us that."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Despite the sarcasm, the man let the pistol fall to the floor. He was immediately tackled by the police and handcuffed.

"The house has been surrounded all day," said King as they pulled the man back up. "We knew exactly where you were at all times. When I went over to admire that piece of furniture, I was actually given the signal you were in the house and I could start my little act." He paused. "We had Harry and Remmy in safe places so you wouldn't get a chance to jump the gun on us. We did it on our terms. It was actually refreshing." King walked over to the prisoner. "Do you mind?" He glanced at the prisoner's manacled hands. "Since you're in no position to remove it yourself."

"Doesn't matter now, does it?"

King glanced over at Remmy. "I realize you already know from his voice, Remmy, but, Harry, you better hold her anyway."

Harry placed a protective arm around Remmy's shaking shoulders. She put a hand to her mouth, stifling back a sob.

King lifted off the hood. The man flinched slightly as the fabric slid across his strong features.

"It's all over, Eddie," proclaimed King.

Surrounded by armed men, manacled and caught in the act, Eddie Battle actually had the temerity to smile. "You really think so, Sean?"

"Yes, I do."

"Hell, I'll take that bet, old buddy."

CHAPTER 87

"I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW you figured it out, Sean," said Williams.

The police chief, Sylvia and Chip Bailey were gathered at King and Maxwell's office.

King bent a paper clip into a triangle before answering. "Seven hours," he said. "Seven hours, that's what got me thinking in Eddie's direction."

"You mentioned that before," said Williams.

"But it wasn't a literal clue. It made me start thinking about the drug that Eddie was given, or rather self-administered."

"Morphine sulfate," said Michelle.

"Right. I spoke with a narcotics expert. He told me that an average dose of the drug will knock you out foreight tonine hours unless the person it's given to is prone to using heavy-duty narcotics. Then its effects would be diminished. Well, Dorothea was just such a heavy-narcotics user. I believe Eddie slipped her the drug around two o'clock that night after they'd had sex. Yet because she'd built up resistance through her own drug use, the morphine's effects were reduced. In fact, she'd almost fully recovered less than six hours later-before eight o'clock, in fact, the time Savannah came and told her about Sally's being killed."

"But she mentioned she was in a fog," said Bailey.

"And she was, but coming out of it. We just thought she was lying, trying to cover up. However, Eddie couldn't give himself the morphine sulfate until after he'd killed Sally, not before, say, six o'clock or so. He started to come out of the effects of it around three in the afternoon, aboutnine hours after he took it, or the normal length of time the drug would render someone unconscious. That could only be possible if he took itafter Sally was killed. The seven-hour reference that kept bugging me came from Sally's being killed less than seven hours after she told me about Junior. That made me start thinking about how long Eddie was knocked out, and it just didn't add up. Particularly if you believed Dorothea was drugged too, since they recovered at very different times. Even with her built-up tolerance it was far too much of a discrepancy."

Williams slapped his leg. "Damn, I never even thought of that." He pointed a big finger at Bailey. "Neither did you."

King continued. "Conceivably, if the killer wasn't Eddie, he might have drugged Eddie, but he would have done it well in advance of killing Sally so Eddie would've been safely unconscious. He wouldn't have waited until after he'd killed Sally. What would have been the point? And typically, a murderer wants to get away, not take time injecting a knockout drug into someone for no reason."

"That makes sense," admitted Bailey.

"And the seven hours also made me start thinking about something else. If Sally was killed because of what she told me barely seven hours earlier, then my houseboat had to be bugged. How else could Eddie have known about it so quickly? He might have followed Sally to my place and been listening from his car. Anyway, I had to do something about that, so I got this."