Flashpoint by Ed Gorman Page A

all of it. The police think that the senator killed a woman?’
    â€˜Well, since she was found in his so-called cabin, they’re certainly interested in talking to him.’
    She sat down with prim dignity on the edge of the couch, facing me. She lowered her voice respectfully. ‘Was he seeing her, Dev?’
    â€˜I’m afraid so. But he told me that they had never slept together.’
    â€˜Oh, Lord. Poor Elise. Her father and then her husband – and now her husband again. I feel so sorry for her.’
    â€˜I don’t think he had anything to do with her death – that’s what I have to focus on now. I like Elise very much but I can’t worry about his marriage. Within a few hours the press will be out here en masse and the way they’ll cover it will help to hand the other side the election.’
    â€˜Lord, I hadn’t even thought about the election.’
    â€˜Let me ask you something, Mrs Weiderman: how many people had keys to the cabin?’
    â€˜Everybody. The whole family. I have one. And old Mr Stokes, the handyman we use for lighter work.’
    â€˜Does James have one?’
    â€˜James …’ Then, ‘My Lord, you’re not thinking—?’
    â€˜No, I just want to be sure I know of everyone who has a key.’
    â€˜Oh.’ But I could see she still didn’t believe me. ‘Yes, James has one, too. He takes some of his women there. As Elise says, “That’s all right with us because it means he isn’t here bothering us.” I probably shouldn’t say this but right now I’m more worried about Elise than I am about the senator. Thank God Maddy’s strong. I think they would have divorced if it hadn’t been for her. She would sit with her mother for hours and listen to the same thing over and over and never complain. And she would question her father from time to time to make sure he wasn’t seeing that woman anymore. He resented it but he understood so he never got angry with her. And now—’
    I suppose I heard the gunshot first but in my memory it and the scream are simultaneous. There was that second or two delay – it was the same with Mrs Weiderman – when we sat letting our ears inform our brains of the real meaning of the sounds … and then we were lurching from our sitting positions and racing to the sound of more screams from upstairs.
    I recall staring up the flight of stairs in front of me; it might have been a mountain. I went up them two at a time with Mrs Weiderman, gasping, close behind me.

PART TWO

FIVE
    B ecause I’d slept in the guest room a number of times, I knew where I was going. I took the steps of the winding staircase two at a time and when I reached the landing on the second floor I saw Maddy already pounding on the door of the master bedroom. She’d just started shouting to be let in. ‘Mom! Please let me in!’
    As I ran toward her, her voice got even more urgent and her fist against the door louder. When I finally got a glimpse of her face, the shock and dismay she’d kept hidden downstairs – I’d admired how coolly she’d handled the news about her father; perhaps because she understood she’d needed to hold it together so she could help her mother – were clear on her pretty features now. She was frantic, fearing that her mother might be dead.
    When I reached her she said, ‘It’s locked, Dev! It’s
locked
!’ She stepped aside. She wanted me to be the magic man, to fix this. I wished I could.
    I tried the fancy filigreed doorknob knowing it would be no use. Then my voice joined Maddy’s in calling out for Elise to let us in.
    â€˜Kick the door in! Kick the door in! Hurry, Dev!’
    Thanks to the movies and television – not to mention at least a century of fiction – people have the impression that a kick or two will pop a door open in under a minute. And true, there are some old