That evening, while trying to concentrate on a book in bed, but wondering if Sheila had been brought to justice yet, the phone rang. It was Anne Niven. She had never called before.

I heard Phil coming up the stairs. "Hello, Anne."

Phil pointed to his watch when he entered the room.

"Kay, I need to see you. Can you come over?"

"Anne, what's wrong? You sound out of breath?"

I looked at my alarm clock. Almost ten o'clock. "Is Sarah okay?"

"Yes, she's fine. Nothing like that."

"How about you? Are you in danger?"

"No, no. It's about Martin."

"Can you tell me over the phone?"

"Well, it's something I just found out. But, I prefer to tell you in person."

I looked up at Phil. He shook his head and walked into the bathroom.

"Anne, it's late. If you and Sarah are okay, how about first thing tomorrow morning? I'll be there around nine. But, do me a favor, will you? Lock your door. You don't want any unwanted visitor in the middle of the night."

"Yes, yes. We'll talk tomorrow. Good night, Kay."

Chapter Twenty-One.

Thursday, January 8 At eight fifty, I walked into Hawthorne Hills' lobby. Viktor was taking down the Christmas tree that Les had most likely put up. When he saw me he came over.

"Hello, Viktor. I'm here to see-"

"Do you know if Nancy leaving and Sheila's disappearance has anything to do with Les?" Viktor asked in a hurry.

"Sheila's disappearance? Disappearance? What do you mean?"

Chelsey came into the lobby from the direction of the kitchen. "Kay, I saw your car. Sheila's gone."

I looked between the two of them.

"The police were here yesterday evening looking for Sheila. She vanished. No one could find her," Viktor said.

Kirk didn't inform me about Sheila's warrant like he said he would.

"Kay, you'd better watch out. Sheila looked crazy yesterday. And if she tried strangling you once-"

"Sheila tried to strangle you?" Viktor asked. "Is that why she disappeared?"

"Viktor, I think she was going to be arrested for Les' murder when the police came looking for her."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Viktor, I haven't been in touch with you this past week. I've been working on some things, clues, trying to get questions answered about Les' death."

I proceeded to tell him everything I had learned about Sheila including her being the sister of Bobby Harris.

His face reddened. "Probably why she took a job here?"

I could hear his teeth grinding. "I'm guessing it is. I think she had probably been planning her revenge for some time."

A vein pulsated in Viktor's forehead. "That murdering bitch."

"And Nancy was Bobby's aunt," Chelsey said.

He sat down on a chair, his head inches away from his legs. Then looked up, his hands in a tight fist. "They must both have been in on it. If I come across either of them..."

"I don't know. Nancy was arraigned for what Les overheard with the men, prostitution."

Viktor looked up. "Really? Consenting adults?"

"Doesn't matter. She was having sex for profit, asking to be put in the men's wills."

The elevator bell sounded. Anne walked out of the elevator and over to us. She had a grave expression.

I gave Anne a concerned smile. "Anne, how are you?"

She looked between Viktor and Chelsey and then back to me and only said, "Good morning. Shall we go up to my apartment?"

Chelsey grabbed on to my hand, and said, "Kay, be careful. Sheila's up to no good. Watch your back!"

"I will. And you too. Take care."

I followed Anne over to the elevator and stood there in silence, looking up, watching the numbers descend and worrying about Sheila out on the loose. What would happen next?

When we arrived at Anne's apartment, she took my coat and went into the kitchen to make tea. Perfunctory tea. I looked around her living room, squinting against the morning sun streaming through the window. In front of her window was a small desk that held a computer and a small leather chair.

Two of her walls consisted of floor-to-ceiling bookcases. She had a huge collection of Agatha Christie and Rex Stout mysteries. I continued reading the titles, some of which were from her books, when she came back into the room.

Putting down the tea service, she opened up her desk drawer and handed me an opened envelope which was addressed to her. Was this a duplicate letter of what Sarah had just shown me?

"Martin's son gave this letter to me yesterday evening. He found it in Martin's apartment while packing his things."

I sat down on her sofa, unfolded the pages, and started to read. After a few minutes, I looked up.

Silent tears flowed out of Anne's aged eyes. "I knew Martin wasn't ready to die yet." She blew her nose before continuing. "You can tell these things." Anne reached for another tissue. "This was why Martin was murdered. She must have been at the door."

I put my arm around her frail shoulder. "It's heart breaking, Anne."

Anne wiped her tears and poured the tea while I reread Martin's letter.

In the letter, describing his hiding in the kitchen and hearing Sheila's conversation, he wrote that he was writing everything down, before he forgot anything that had been said. He pointed out in the letter that Sheila had said, We had taken care of everything. He underlined the word, We. The last sentence he wrote was that someone was at the door and that he planned to go to the police the next morning.

"If only I hadn't been at the theatre that evening with Sarah. Martin might have come to my apartment."

I had a lump in my throat. I put my arm back around her quaking shoulder. "Oh, Anne, I'm so sorry."

Anne blew her nose again. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes sipping our tea.

"We need to take this letter to the police," I said.

"Would it be all right if you went alone? I'd rather not go."

"Yes. I think Sarah should come and sit with you for a bit. To keep you company."

After finishing my cup of tea, I called Sarah, then headed to the police department once again to see Chief Kirk. I handed him Martin's letter. "Here's additional proof for the murder charge."

Glancing at the letter and then at me, he said, "Let's go in my office."

Kirk read the letter twice before speaking. "Kay, we already issued a warrant for Sheila's arrest. She's disappeared. I obtained a warrant to search her apartment. You should have seen one of her bedroom walls. She's definitely looking like the prime suspect for the murder."

"Who do you think the 'we' is in Martin's letter. I can't think of anyone other than Nancy."

"We've been trying to get in touch with Nancy Reinhardt, to see if she knows of her niece's whereabouts."

"Nancy's probably hiding her."

"For now, stay away from the Home and definitely watch out for Sheila."

I spent the rest of the morning running errands, I didn't want to go home yet, and ended up having lunch at Gupta's New Delhi, visiting with Neelam. I had been so busy I hadn't seen her since Phil's and Dinesh's debut on New Year's Eve at Gatsby's. I told her about Les and warned her about Sheila and if she should see her in the downtown area to immediately call the police.

Finally late afternoon, when I turned the corner onto our block, I saw John's car pulling up into Elizabeth's driveway. I was surprised they were back so soon. As I entered my driveway, I saw another car swiftly pull into Elizabeth's driveway. I turned around to see who got out of the car. Sheila! I stopped the car halfway up my driveway and called 9-1-1 on my cell.

When I got out of my car, I could hear a confrontation. Crossing the street, I saw Sheila pull an object out of her pocket that glittered in the sunlight. God, it was a knife! I ran the rest of the way towards them. Sheila started waving the knife at Elizabeth.

"You stupid bitch!" Sheila screamed at Elizabeth. "You didn't think I'd find your cellphone under my bed! You and your friend over here," she motioned at me with her knife, "were the ones who called the cops!"

"Sheila, put the knife down," John shouted, coming towards her. He pulled Sheila's arms back. She went berserk twisting trying to get out of John's hold.

Robert came running from his home, across the street.

I ran over to John trying to help hold Sheila down. Thrashing like a crazed animal, she managed to kick John in the groin. He fell on his knees. Then made a wild slash at my forearm with the knife, cutting it. I let go of her. Sheila lunged at Elizabeth, with the purposefulness of a woman with nothing to lose, her bloody knife up in the air. Robert grabbed Sheila, twisting her around, and yelled for Elizabeth to get into the house.

I heard sirens. Robert looked in the direction of the sound. In that second, Sheila plunged the knife into Robert's chest. I stood, staring in frozen surrealness. It took a few moments for my brain to register what my eyes were seeing. John got to his feet, took a hold of Sheila, and wrestled her to the ground. Elizabeth rushed over to Robert, who lay on the ground. She lifted his head onto her lap. Blood gushed onto his navy sweater, the same sweater he wore the first night I saw him at Elizabeth's party.

I fell down on my knees at his side, still disbelieving, and stabilized the knife with my scarf, then applied direct pressure to his chest area to slow the bleeding. Robert didn't appear to have any signs of a collapsed lung. Blood escaped from the surface cut on my arm. I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder. I glanced up. In all the confusion I didn't see Deirdre come across the street.

"I called the police," she said.

The sirens came closer.

Elizabeth pushed Robert's hair out of his eyes. "Robert, I'm so sorry. Thank you."

Robert looked into Elizabeth's eyes for a few moments. "Elizabeth, did I ever tell you you're beautiful?" Robert said a little louder than a whisper.

Elizabeth nodded, tears flowing down her cheeks. "You did."

He looked in John's direction. "I'm happy you're marrying John. He's a good man for you."

"How did you know? He just proposed last night."

Robert glanced at me, then back to Elizabeth. "I'm proud of you. Your mother...." Robert began coughing.

Elizabeth started crying. "My mother? You knew my mother?"

"Forgive me, Elizabeth. I didn't even know about you...six months ago."

"Who's my mother?" Elizabeth asked sobbing.

"She put you up for adoption. I didn't know."

"Are you..." Elizabeth stopped talking.

"Your father."

Elizabeth cried harder. "My father?"

"I love you, Elizabeth," Robert said wheezing.

I started crying. My tears were dropping onto Robert's navy sweater. I could hear Deirdre also behind me.

"I love you too...Daddy."

"When I found out..." Robert coughed his lips turning bluish. "I spent every...every moment searching for you."

Robert gasped. The EMT was here. They ran out of the ambulance at the same time the police turned up and cuffed Sheila. John came over. Sheila was led away. I heard stressed breathing, then Robert's head dropped.