Nancy Grace - Murder in the Courthouse

“Oh, no sir! We don’t think you took anything from it at all! We are just trying to find out where you found it. That’s all.”

Hailey rushed over to the old man, who had to be pushing eighty. Short to start with, he was stooped over with age and wearing a long-sleeved tan shirt buttoned nearly all the way up with matching tan work pants, brown belt, and shoes. His name was embroidered in half print and half cursive over his shirt pocket. It read “Albert Thomas.”

“Mr. Thomas, thank you so, so much for coming down,” Hailey went on as Billings and Finch approached the two.

“Up.”

“Up what?” Billings asked.

“Oh, the lady said I came down. I actually came up. My locker is down in the basement. So I come up to get here.” His big brown eyes rested again on Hailey. “You look familiar to me, Miss Lady. But you don’t work here in the courthouse, do you? I know I’d a remembered you for sure.”

“No, sir. I don’t work here. But I have been here the past few days on a trial. Come sit down.” Hailey led him over to the cubicle next to Cecil’s and sat him in one of the chairs.

“So, Mr. Thomas, where did you find it?”

“The purse?”

“Yes, sir. The little black beaded purse. You say you found it last night?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He addressed her with the title ma’am, although he was much older than Hailey, as was just polite manners in the South, just as she referred to him as “sir” due to his age.

“I was cleaning out the ladies’ room over by the cafeteria last night and that’s when I found it.” He nodded his head up and down gently, as if to emphasize his story, all the time looking between Billings and Hailey, then down to the floor as if nervous or simply timid.

“Interesting. I know where that bathroom is. It’s the ladies’ room on the right just as you come down the ramp to the food lines?”

“Yes, ma’am. That be the one. Right below Judge Regard’s courtoom.”

“Where was the pouch sitting? On the floor beside a commode? The window ledge? Left beside the sinks?” Hailey continued as Mr. Thomas seemed to be most comfortable with her. He was now looking up from the floor and directly into her eyes.

“Oh no, ma’am. It weren’t out like that. It weren’t at all. It were wrapped up in the paper towels and it were shoved down all the way at the bottom of the trash can. I only noticed it when it fell out of the towels when I was pouring it all into my big trash can. I don’t know why somebody would do that to such a nice little pocketbook. I guess they didn’t want it no more.”

The import of his words caught in the air and hung around them. Someone had intentionally hidden Elle’s purse-and lifesaving EpiPen-so she couldn’t possibly find it. So she would die.

“You called the ME, right? To do the additional toxicology screens?” Hailey’s mind had already leaped ahead.

“Yep. Done,” Billings answered.

“So, Miss Lady. What’s wrong with the pocketbook? Did I do wrong putting it in the bin?” Mr. Thomas looked doubtful and worried again… almost scared.

“No! Not at all. As a matter of fact… you did a wonderful thing, Mr. Thomas.” Impulsively, Hailey hugged him tight around his old shoulders. He paused briefly, then held his feeble arms up and hugged her back.

“Mr. Thomas, how long have you worked in the courthouse?” she asked.

“Well, believe it or not, it’s going on sixty years now. I joined the county straight out of the military when I was just a young man. Almost had to retire a few years back when they passed the mandatory retirement law, but me and one other was already so old, it wouldn’t affect us. I thought I would lose my job.”

“Well, thank Heaven you didn’t retire!” Hailey responded.

“So, Mr. Thomas, were you wearing cleaning gloves when you recovered the purse?” Billings asked him.

“Well, when I fished it out of the trash I had just finished cleaning the toilets, so yes I was.”

All three of them looked relieved. If there were fingerprints, they were safe.

“But then, I took off my gloves when I left the ladies room. I don’t believe I had them on when I laid it in the bin over there.”

Disappointment had to show on their faces. “Uh-oh. Was that bad?”

“Oh, no sir. It’s fine. We are just glad you came forward,” Billings reassured the old man, who now looked worried again.

“Was anybody else around when you came in here?” Billings asked.

“No. Nobody was in here, but some peoples was just leaving…” He looked at Hailey, his eyes wide.

“Miss Lady! That’s where I seen you. You and that man there had just come through the doors heading out when I was leaving.” He pointed at Fincher. “I knew I’d seen you somewheres. I never forget a face. I don’t.”

“So, Mr. Thomas, how long did you say you’ve worked here?” Finch chimed in.

“Over fifty years now,” he answered, smiling up at Finch’s face.

“And you said one other was too old to have to retire. Who was that? They gone now?”

“Oh, no sir. They not gone. It was the judge. Judge Luther Alverson. We good friends, the judge and me. We started at the courthouse on the very same day.”

It was a small world.

“Just curious, how far is the ladies’ room where you found the purse from Judge Regard’s chambers?”

“Oh, not too far at all. But Judge Regard and his staff, they have the private bathrooms. They don’t wander out to the public toilets too much.”

“So, you started out with Judge Alverson?”

“Yes ma’am, I did. He’s a pistol all right. Don’t get him mad, I always say.” The old man smiled up at Hailey again.

“Wow, that’s something. A pistol, you say. And you two have worked together all these years.”

It certainly was a small world. Very small , Hailey thought to herself.

Eleanor’s pouch, driver’s license, and EpiPen were now safely ensconced in a clear plastic bag. Carefully marked, sealed, and signed by the crime-scene tech who processed the scene, they were safely tucked under Billings’s arm. He stood beside Hailey as they helped Mr. Thomas from his seat and prepared to finally leave. Maybe they’d even have that fried fish platter Billings had promised them.

Suddenly, Fincher stopped in his tracks. They’d been walking side by side, but now he grabbed Hailey by her arm just above her left elbow.

“What is it?” Hailey turned. “What’s wrong?” She looked up into his face.

“ The reward . Mr. Thomas didn’t get his reward!”

Relieved, Hailey laughed. “That’s right, Mr. Thomas. You have a reward coming your way.”

“Did you say a reward? For what?”

“For coming forward about finding the purse! Lieutenant Billings has it right here. A hundred dollars.”

“Miss Lady, I don’t need that. I just did the right thing.”

“No. Please take it. We insist.” Billings took the cash money out of his wallet and handed it to the old man.

“Well, it will certainly come in handy. I believe I’ll take my wife out for a nice dinner with this.”

“Your wife?” Finch asked. “How long have you been married?”

“Sixty-five years, young man. Sixty-five years. Lynnette was the prettiest girl in Savannah.”

“That reminds me, I gotta call Vickie back home in Atlanta. She’ll kill me. I haven’t called her all day. I only texted her this morning.” Finch stepped away a few feet and punched numbers into the cell phone he pulled out of his jacket pocket.

“Yep. The prettiest girl in all of Chatham County. And oh what a dancer. Oh, my Lynnette could do the jitterbug. And she married me. I believe she deserves a fancy meal for putting up with me for all this long.”