chapter 49

What I asked Mabel Miller was whether Richard Zaddicos was capable of murder, I couldn't tell her the reason, but it didn't matter. Mabel was a quick study, I saw the shock in her eyes. After she calmed, I watched her go through a thoughtful evaluation.

Finally, she looked at me and asked again, "have you ever read his book inspector?"

"One, fatal charm. Tough book.

He lives with those characters, inspector. Sometimes i think he forgets it's only what he does for a living.

I saw the sel-judging look in her eyes, I leaned in closer, I don't mean to hurt you. But I have to know, Could he kill? Is he capable of murder? I know he's capable of completely debasing another human being, That's murder isn't it? He's what they call a sexual sadist. His father used to beat his mother in their bedroom closet as an aphrodisiac. He preys on weakness. Yes, the famous Richard Zaddicos humiliated me. . . But let me tell you the worst thing, the very worst. He left me, inspector. I didn't leave him."

Mabel leaned back and gave me a sort of compassionate smile. I have seen Lilly around a few times, luncheons, benefits. We have even spoken a bit, he hasn't changed, she knows I know exactly what she's going through. But it's something we can't share, I see fear. I know how it is. When she looks in the mirror, she no longer recognizes the person she once was."

My blood was at the boiling point. Through the tough veneer, I saw a glimpse of the woman Mabel Miller had been-young, needing, confused.

I reached out and touched her hand. I had my answer, I closed my pad, ready to get up, when Mabel surprised me.

"I though it was him. Not really. But I thought of Richard when I heard about those terrible crimes. I thought about his book, and I said, it could be him.

I stoppedMabel. "What book?"

"That first thing he wrote. Always a Bridesmaid. I figured that's what brought you here, what connected him to the murders."

I stared at her confused. "Just what are you talking about?"

I barely remember it. He wrote it before we met. I was lucky enough to come in for the second unpublished one, which, I'm told, he recently sold for two million. But this book i have totally forgotten about until recently. It was about a student in law school who discovers his wife with his best friend. He kills them both. Ends up going on a rampage."

"What kind of rampage?" I asked. What she said next made me gasp.

"He goes around killing brides and grooms. A lot like what happened.

That was the piece of the puzzle I needed, If Zaddicos had premeditated these crimes, mapped them out in some early book, it would constitute unimpeachable knowledge. No longer circumstantial with everything else we had, I could definitely bring him in.

"Where can I find this book?" I asked.

"It wasn't very good, Mabel Miller replied. Never published."

Every nerve in my body was standing on end. "Do you have a copy?"

"Trust me, if I did I would have burned it years ago, Richard had this agent in town, Ali Mark. He dumped him when he got successful. If anyone would have it, it might be him.

I called Ali Mark from the car. I was really humming I loved this.

The operator connected me after four rings, an answer tape came on: you have reached Ali Marks Associate. . ." I cringed with disappointment, damn, damn, damn.

Reluctantly, I left him my pager number. "A matter of great urgency, I said. I was about to tell him why I was calling when a voice cut in on tape- this is Ali Mark."

I explained I needed to see him immediately. His office wasn't too far, I could be there in ten minutes, I have an engagement at one market at six-fifteen, the agent replied curtly. But if you can get here. . .

"You just stay right there, I told. This is police business and it's important out of his brownstone, a third floor loft in pacific Hights with a partial view of the bridge. He answered the door with a suspicious reserve. He was short, balding, smartly dressed, a jacquard shirt buttoned to the top.

I'm afraid you haven't you haven't picked a popular topic with me, inspector. Richard Zaddicos hasn't been a client for over six years. He left me the day crossed wire hit the chronicle's bestseller list."

"Are you still in touch? I wanted to make sure anything I asked him wouldn't get back to Zaddicos.

"Why? To remind him how I baby-sat him through the years when he could barely use a noun with an adjective, how I took his obsesses midnight calls, stroked that gigantic Wego?"

I'm here about something Zaddicos wrote early on, I interrupted. Before any big deals. I spoke to his ex wife." Mabel? Ali exclaimed with surprise, she said he had written a book that never got published. She thought it was called Always a bridesmaid, the agent nodded, it was an uneven first effort, No real narrative power. Truth is, I never even sent it out."

"Do you have a copy?"

"Packed it back to him as soon as I turned the final page. I would think Zaddicos must, though. He thought the book was a suspense masterpiece."

"I was hoping in wouldn't have to go through him, I said, without conveying the basis of my interest.

I leaned forward. How do I get my hands on a copy of that novel, without going to Zaddicos directly?"

"Mabel didn't save it? Ali rubbed a finger across his temple. Ali was always paranoid about people ripping him off. Maybe he had it copyrighted. Why don't you check into that?"

I needed to run this by someone.

I needed to run it by the girls.

"Do you want to hear something really scary about Zaddicos?" The agent said then.

"Please, go ahead."

"Here's the idea for a book he always wanted to write. It's about a novelist who is obsessed-the kind of thing Stephen king does so well in order to write a better book, a great book, he actually murders people to see what it's like. Welcome to the horrible mind of Richard Zaddicos."