Intent to Harm

  INTENT TO HARM

  A Kali O’Brien Novel of Legal Suspense

  Jonnie Jacobs

  Chapter 1

  The blue Toyota turned off Highway 89 along the western shore of Lake Tahoe and into Ponderosa Pines Park. The driver, a round-shouldered woman in her late fifties, clenched the steering wheel tightly with both hands. She drove slowly down the narrow entrance road to the small, wooded parking lot, then turned and just as slowly retraced her path to the highway.

  She hadn’t been to the area in several years and she’d worried the spot where she’d set the meeting might no longer be functional. She was relieved to find that despite minor changes in the layout of rest rooms and picnic tables, the camping area was basically unchanged. The parking lot was exactly where it had been and easily accessible by the route she’d described.

  The meeting wasn’t for another hour yet. Time enough to tweak her story if she wanted to. She’d intentionally left the photo at home, but now she wondered if it might not have been better to start there. It wasn’t that she was tempted to alter the facts, such as they were. It was really more a question of just how much to divulge.

  No matter what, she didn’t want to make things worse.

  For any of them.

  She eased the car across the highway and into a pullout near the lake. She could wait out the hour there surrounded by the beauty of the Sierra. Not that the majestic mountains and glistening lake would quiet the churning inside her. She took a deep breath, then another, fighting the nervousness. But she’d been nervous for weeks now. The fingernails bitten to the quick were proof of that.

  She’d taken precautions. She could only hope they were enough. For today, she was simply Betty. No ID, a borrowed car. She’d even considered wearing a wig before deciding that was going a bit far. Even if the lawyer didn’t want to help, or couldn’t, it stretched the imagination to think she’d make an effort to track Betty down.

  Still, there was a lot at stake. And a lot she didn’t understand. She worried that once she started asking questions, there’d be no turning back. She’d lose everything.

  She thought again of the photo. The way her heart had raced and her skin had gone clammy when she’d stumbled across it while looking through a magazine at Gail’s several weeks ago.

  Why hadn’t she simply left well enough alone?

  It wasn’t too late, she reminded herself. She could head home and forget she’d ever made the appointment.

  Except, it really was too late. You couldn’t forget what you knew.

 

  Across the highway in the forest behind the park’s central lot, a burly man in a heavy denim jacket was also waiting. Turning back never crossed his mind. This was a job like any other. Only it paid better.

  The man pulled the hat low over his forehead and slipped the binoculars back into his pack. He took out his gun and checked the clip, then slipped it into his waistband. He hoped they’d be out in the open where he could pick up the conversation easily. But he was prepared in case they weren’t.

  The air was cool, especially in the shade where he’d positioned himself behind a cluster of pines. He’d been there an hour already and his muscles were getting stiff. He rolled his shoulders, stretched his legs, flexed his fingers. It felt good to move. He needed to be quick and limber when the time came.

  He checked his watch. An hour to go.

  Chapter 2

  Seated in her cousin’s kitchen overlooking the lake, Kali sipped her coffee and offered silent thanks for the phone call that had prompted her trip to Tahoe on such a glorious day.

  The May sky was clear, the water smooth as glass. Although the surrounding mountains were still marbled with snow, here at lake level only sparse patches remained. Aspen shimmered with newly minted green, flowers lifted their heads hopefully toward the sun, and the Truckee River swelled with spring melt. Perhaps best of all, the area was blessedly uncongested. With the hordes of winter skiers long gone (although a handful of diehards continued to hit the one open lift at Squaw Valley) and the bustle of summer vacationers holding off until school was out in June, the timing couldn’t have been better.

  If only she knew what the meeting was about. But the woman who’d called had been amazingly tight-lipped. She’d fill Kali in when they met, she explained.

  “More coffee?” Helen asked. She was older than Kali by five years, with dark hair and fair skin. She’d been a beauty when they were younger and was still a striking woman.

  “Just a touch.” Kali held out her mug while Helen poured. “Thanks.”

  “I’m so glad you told me you were coming. It’s been over a year since you were last here.”

  “Two years ago this Fourth of July, I think. Tyler had just gotten braces.” Despite the exchange of cards at Christmas and the more frequent, if sporadic, communication by E-mail, neither of them had managed a visit since then. But when her mysterious new client had requested they meet at a location not far from Helen’s Tahoe City home, Kali had seized the opportunity to spend some time catching up.

  “So what time is this appointment of yours?” Helen asked. “You’ll be back for dinner, won’t you?”

  “Absolutely. We’ll eat out. My treat.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m looking forward to cooking for an appreciative audience for a change.”

  “Your son doesn’t like your cooking?”

  Helen laughed. “He likes it fine as long as it’s meat, and the only vegetable I serve is potato. When do you think you’ll be back?”

  “I’m meeting her at four. I can’t imagine I’ll be more than an hour.”

  “Who is it? Or can’t you say?”

  “I don’t know,” Kali said truthfully.

  Client confidentiality would have prevented Kali from saying even if she’d known, but she didn’t. The woman had given only her first name, Betty.

  Helen frowned. “How can you represent someone if you don’t know who she is?”

  “It’s complicated.” And highly unusual. “She wouldn’t even say what it was about.”

  “Yet you came all the way up here to meet her?”

  “I know it doesn’t make much sense. But there was something in her manner, an urgency I had trouble ignoring. Besides, she’s paying for my time and I can’t afford to say no to a potential client right now.”

  Kali had recently returned to private practice following a special assignment with the District Attorney’s office. She’d been planning on sharing an office and a single employee with an old law school classmate, Nina Barrett. But between chronic illness and a new baby, Nina had decided that the demands of a career were too great. Kali had taken over Nina’s office lease, a few of her clients, and sole responsibility for their associate, Jared Takahashi-Jackson. Kali wasn’t in any position to be picky about the work she took on.

  “Still, it seems strange she’d call someone from out of the area,” Helen said.

  “I think she did that intentionally. She seemed nervous about contacting an attorney. Nervous that she might be found out, I mean.”

  “What do you mean, ‘found out?’ Like an ugly divorce?”

  “Maybe.” Although Kali’s sense was that it was something different. The woman had questioned Kali intensely about confidentiality and attorney-client privilege, then insisted on sending a retainer before their meeting so privilege would attach. She’d sent five thousand dollars, twice the amount Kali had asked for, and she’d sent it in the form of a non-traceable money order.

  “Well, you’ll know soon enough,” Helen said.

  Just then, a short, Hispanic-looking woman appeared at the kitchen doorway. “So sorry to bother you, Mrs. Helen. But the vacuum, she is making a funny noise.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me,
” Helen replied. “Tyler has decided it’s easier to vacuum the hamster’s cage than empty it.” She turned to Kali. “Maria is Ramon’s mother. You remember Ramon, don’t you? He’s the one who rescued Tyler when he hit his head jumping into the lake.”

  Kali nodded. An afternoon of summer fun five years ago that had spun to near tragedy. She had no trouble remembering the blood, the seemingly lifeless form of a boy too long under water, the confusion of the emergency room. Her memory of Ramon was vaguer. Thin and quiet, as she recalled, and quite a bit older than Tyler.

  “Pleased to meet you,” she said to Maria.

  “Kali is my cousin,” Helen explained to her housekeeper. “A famous attorney from the Bay Area.”

  Kali rolled her eyes. Notorious in some circles, perhaps. But hardly famous.

  Maria smiled. “Like on TV, no? I watch about lawyers.”

  Helen pushed back her chair and addressed Kali. “Sorry about this. I’ll only be a minute.”

  “I need to get going anyway. But count me in for dinner. I’ll call if I’m going to be later than six.”

 

  In her eleven years as an attorney, Kali had met with clients in some unusual spots. Jail, of course, and everything from hospitals to hot tubs, but she couldn’t recall a time she’d done an initial client interview in a park. Ponderosa Pines, popular for camping in summer and cross-country skiing in winter, was largely deserted during the off seasons. Kali could only assume that was why the mysterious Betty had chosen it as the place for their meeting.

  Kali allowed herself extra time for the drive in case the directions hadn’t been as clear as they seemed, but she found the spot easily. Though there was plenty of traffic on the highway, she’d passed no one since turning into the park. And hers was the only car in the lot. A shiver of trepidation ran down Kali’s spine. Should she have insisted on a meeting place that was less isolated?

  Well, there was nothing she could do about that now. She checked her purse for pepper spray. The can was still there, right next to her cell phone. And if Betty looked at all threatening, Kali would drive off without getting out of the car. The woman certainly hadn’t sounded threatening.

  Fifteen minutes to kill. Kali turned the radio on to a soft rock station out of Reno, one of the few stations she was able to pick up in the mountains. Then she leaned back and let her mind dwell on the possible reasons for Betty’s secrecy.

  Divorce, as Helen had suggested. Especially if there were tricky child custody issues involved. But Kali thought it was more likely a criminal matter. She couldn’t decide, however, if it was her client who was in trouble, or if the woman was worried about someone else. When Kali had tried pressing her, Betty had mumbled something about having faith, then hung up abruptly.

  Well, she’d know what it was about soon enough now. The prospect of a new case, especially one that had potential of being intricate and challenging, pleased her.

  Kali watched as two squirrels chased each other around the base of a pine tree then scampered off into the woods. Kali liked the out-of-doors, far better, in truth, than she liked cities and crowds. On any other occasion, she’d be basking in the tranquility of the setting. Today, she was acutely aware of the tension in her shoulders and chest. And inside her head, which felt as though it might burst for all the whirling.

  As the radio switched from music to news at the top of the hour, Kali heard the crunch of tires on gravel. She turned to see a blue Toyota with a bent rear bumper pull into the lot and park in the row of spaces behind her. A woman got out of the driver’s side, then leaned in again to retrieve a sweater, which she slipped on. She appeared to be in her early sixties, stocky, and heavily grayed. More grandmotherly than guilty. Although Kali knew criminal behavior defied stereotypes, she felt the tension ease.

  The woman looked toward Kali, shielding her eyes with her hands. Kali stepped out of her car and started across the parking lot.

  “You must be Betty.”

  The woman nodded.

  Kali put out her hand. “I’m Kali O’Brien.”

  “Thank you for meeting me here. I know it must have seemed like a strange request.” She was soft-spoken and her voice quavered slightly.

  “Somewhat unusual, I admit. But I’m always happy for a reason to come to Tahoe. I’m curious, though, why you called me rather than a local attorney.”

  The woman fingered the top button of her sweater. “I wanted to be . . . discreet, I guess. I mean, after I explain everything, and depending on what you tell me, well. . . Our conversation today may be the end of it.”

  It wasn’t really an answer, but Kali understood. The woman didn’t want whatever story she was going to tell getting back to the wrong people. Nor did she want Kali connecting it with her true identity, which was why she’d given Kali only a first name and no contact information. And that was how things would remain unless today’s conversation presented options the woman was comfortable with.

  “I saw your name in the paper,” Betty added. “It was that horrible thing a couple of months ago with the Bayside Strangler.”

  Whatever Betty wanted to see her about, Kali hoped it was nothing like the Strangler case. “Why don’t we sit over there, at one of the picnic tables in the sun,” she suggested, trying to sound reassuring. “You can tell me what’s on your mind and we’ll take it from there.”

  “I feel better already, just meeting you.” Betty offered a fleeting smile but avoided making eye contact. “1 hope you can help.”

  “I hope I can, too.”

  Hands in her sweater pockets, Betty moved toward the picnic area. “I’m not sure where to begin.”

  “Wherever you’d like.”

  In the woods behind them, Kali heard the snap of a branch followed by two soft cracks. As she turned toward the sound, she felt a rush of air, as if a bird had brushed against her skin.

  She heard Betty suck in her breath sharply and then groan. Kali spun around in time to see the woman slump to the ground. Betty’s mouth was open, as if literally caught speechless, and her eyes were wide with fright. A red stain was already spreading across her chest.

  Kali froze in numbed horror.

  For a moment, there was no sound anywhere. Even nature seemed to be holding her breath. The birds were quiet, the air still. She dropped to her knees to check on her companion.

  Another crack broke the silence.

  She felt a stab of heat at her left shoulder and gripped the spot with her hand. It felt warm and sticky. When she pulled her hand free, she saw blood.

  When her brain engaged again, Kali found herself huddled behind the blue Toyota, gripping her cell phone tightly in her bloodied hand. Let there be a signal, she prayed. Please let there be a signal.

  Fingers trembling, she punched in 9-1-1. With one ear she listened for the approach of footsteps; with the other she waited for the call to connect. Her shoulder burned with fiery heat but the rest of her was ice-cold.

  Wind whistled through the trees. A crow squawked overhead. From her spot behind the car, all Kali could see of Betty was her feet. One of her black loafers had come loose at the heel and Kali was overcome with the irrational urge to set it right. For a while, she half thought she’d crawled to Betty and straightened the shoe.

  The phone gave off a spurt of static. “Hello,” Kali said. “Can you hear me?”

  More static.

  She felt as though the ground beneath her were spinning. She closed her eyes. It only made things worse.

  “Please. Please. We need help.”

  Her whole body throbbed. The pain started in her shoulder and radiated down her arm, across her back and chest. She could feel it all the way down to her toes. So hot, so gripping it threatened to consume her.

  “Is anyone therel” In her head, her words rang desperate and shrill. But to her ear, the volume was so soft she couldn’t be sure she’d spoken out loud.

  Another shot rang out.

  Kali tried squeezing herself beneath the car, but found
it impossible. Every movement sent another piercing stab of pain through her body.

  She heard the crunch of boots on pavement. Caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye.

  “You might as well come out, bitch. You can’t hide.”

  The sun slipped behind a cloud and the day darkened. Kali squinted, looked up. The sky was clear and cloudless.

  Why was everything suddenly so pale?

  When she glanced again at Betty’s feet, it was like looking through the wrong end of binoculars. They were small, and very, very far away. Growing smaller and farther all the time.

  The boots again. Closer.

  Crunch. Pause. Crunch.

  Somewhere in the distance, the hum of an engine.

  The ground beneath her began to spin. Kali closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the metal of the car door, focusing all of her attention on the spot where her flesh connected with solid reality.

  “Ponderosa Pines,” she whispered into the phone. “He has a gun. He’s going to kill me.”

  The phone slid from her hand. Kali couldn’t remember whether she’d spoken her final plea aloud, or only imagined it.

  Chapter 3

  It was one hell of a hangover, Kali thought. Until she opened her eyes a crack and looked up into a sea of faces and flashing red lights. Consciousness rolled through her.

  The park. Betty. The man with the gun.

  She tried to sit up but there was a strap across her chest holding her down.

  “Where’s Betty?” The words slurred.

  She was surrounded by people in blue. The one hovering closest, to whom she’d addressed her comment, was a paramedic, she decided. Either that or a Boy Scout. He looked about thirteen. He ignored her and slipped an IV needle smoothly into her inner arm.

  “I’m o-k-kay,” Kali insisted. Her throat was so dry it hurt to talk. “I just need to rest.”

  “You’ve been shot, lady.”

  A young woman, also in blue, was poking at Kali’s shoulder. It felt like she was scrubbing it with gravel.