The Taxman Killeth by Mary Ann Mitchell Page A

life... or someone else’s.
    He stretched his body across the
uncomfortable couch. One leg rested atop the back of the couch, the other lay
on the armrest. He closed his eyes and fell into a disturbed sleep, reliving
the discovery of the dead body on the floor of his bathroom, except this time
it was Amy.
    The next morning Amy slipped out
of the apartment without waking Todd. Since her mind was fuzzy from the lack of
sleep, she stopped to pick up two cups of black coffee before entering the office.
    Trudy opened her mouth and
pointed at one of her teeth as soon as she saw Amy. After setting her coffees
on the reception desk, Amy ripped the lid off one cup while Trudy made
distorted noises. First Amy took a long drink of the coffee, then peered inside
Trudy’s mouth.
    “What am I looking for?”
    “Nathan did one of my fillings
last night.” Again Trudy’s mouth popped wide open, and she laid an index finger
on a back molar.
    “It’s beautiful.”
    Amy joined Mr. Pickens in the
conference room.
    “I won’t be needing any more of
Mr. Lester’s material. You can return all his papers to him.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “He’s been hassling me quite
enough. Even called me at home last night to question me about how long I would
be here.”
    “He’s never complained before,”
Amy said out loud to herself.
    “Well, he is now,” Mr. Pickens
responded. “Get his stuff out of here.”
    Amy returned the material to
Stuart Lester’s secretary then spent the rest of the day slipping around
hallways, trying to keep tabs on Stuart. She wanted desperately to collect more
evidence, so that they could pin more than illegal alien entry on the lawyer.
The only unusual occurrence was the fact that Stuart and Teddy secreted
themselves together in an office for several hours.
    “Teddy, I notice you’ve been
spending a lot of time with Stuart,” Amy blatantly asked at the end of the day.
    Teddy had been putting on a
light jacket.
    “I’m helping to get a case
together that should be going to trial soon. The court gave Stuart a beeper the
other day, so that they could call him in as soon as they had the case
scheduled.”
    “Oh.”
    “You sound disappointed. What
did you think we were up to?”
    “It wouldn’t be about some
illegal aliens, would it?” she brazenly inquired.
    “What? Oh, you mean the case. Naw,
you should know we don’t deal with immigration issues here.”
    After Teddy left, Amy wondered
whether she should stay late again. Todd wouldn’t like that and she certainly
was tired. But Todd didn’t have time on his side. Just then the telephone rang.
    “Leave,” she heard Todd say to
her salutation.
    “But...”
    “Leave, or I’ll come and get you
right now.”
    “You can’t do that. There are
still people here, and it isn’t dark enough for you to leave the apartment.”
    “Amy, I swear, if you don’t
leave now, I’ll either be marching into that office within a half hour, or I’ll
be sitting in jail.”
    “I’m leaving.” Amy slammed down
the receiver. Idiot, she thought, didn’t he realize that he needed her help? He
couldn’t rifle through the documents on file in the law office. She could
barely get access to most of them.
    By the time she got home, she
had built up a fury, and Todd didn’t lessen her rage by ignoring her when she
berated him for his unreasonable behavior. Finally, at dinner there was a
freezing silence between the two. Todd’s chin and jaw were covered with the
dark beginnings of a beard. His hair, which had been on the long side, was
falling low over his forehead. His eyes now seemed to gleam among his hooded
features.
    “You’re not leaving, are you?”
Amy’s voice was soft as she patted down the lumpy mashed potatoes. He wasn’t as
good a cook as he had promised.
    “In another few days I’ll be
taking the cowboy hat and riding into the sunset.”
    “That’s not wise.”
    “Amy, I appreciate all you’ve
done, but I have to get out there and find out what