Nancy Grace - Murder in the Courthouse

“Ms. Mabry…”

The woman looked at her expectantly. This was the woman, according to one of the sheriffs anyway, that absolutely loathed Eleanor, eaten up by jealousy. Over what, though? The judge was a married man… had there ever been a relationship between any of them? Or was it all just courthouse gossip?

Courthouse gossip that ended in murder?

“I… uh… I see the judge is running for governor. I’m a lawyer by trade and I think a judge of his standing would be a real asset in the governor’s mansion.”

Hailey didn’t know where that icebreaker came from… but if what the sheriff said was true, then this woman, Eunah Mabry, may go with Regard to the governor’s mansion.

Or if not to the governor’s mansion full time… at least to an office within the governor’s mansion from nine to five weekdays. Or did she want more?

“You’re interested in the judge’s campaign?”

Surprise crossed Mabry’s face briefly and she opened the door a little wider, maybe just an inch or two. But even one inch emboldened Hailey, who immediately picked up on the slight, nonverbal cue.

“Yes… yes I am. And I must say… you have a gorgeous home. Didn’t I see a shot of your home in a movie? Let me think… what was it? Um…”

“ Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil , probably. But then there was Forrest Gump , you know with Tom Hanks… that park bench was right here, you know. And Dolly Parton was even here for Something to Talk About . Or was it Julia Roberts? Yes, I got to meet them all. Let’s see, there have been so many…”

“I thought I recognized it! Wasn’t Cape Fear shot here? And let’s see…” Hailey racked her brain to keep the conversation going. “… now that one was with… oh what’s his name?”

“Well, of course the first Cape Fear had Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. I never liked Mitchum much, but Gregory Peck… now that’s a different thing. I wasn’t born yet for that one… but then the remake was made here too and there were scenes of the house in it too. Now, that one I remember. That one had De Niro and Nick Nolte.”

“Oh, what’s he like?” The door widened another fraction of an inch.

“Which one? Nolte or De Niro?”

“You met them both ?” Hailey inched closer to the door.

“Yes, I did. I remember it like it was yesterday. And oh, it wasn’t me they were interested in… no… I didn’t fool myself. It was this house they wanted. But I got to meet them, you know, by hook or by crook as the saying goes.” Eunah Mabry glanced down at the Styrofoam cup Hailey still had in her hand. “Would you like some coffee?”

Hailey didn’t dare mention she only drank tea. “I’d love some, frankly. Thank you!”

She was in .

Eunah shut the door firmly behind Hailey, jiggered two locks into place, and headed past the parlors and toward, Hailey presumed, the kitchen. Hailey followed along behind Eunah but paused passing the double parlors. “Wow. Your home is just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Did you do the decorating?”

The interior of the old home was nothing Hailey would have ever picked out, much too stuffy, but it was a perfect fit in keeping with the traditional antebellum design. While the double parlors were symmetrically designed, their interiors were different yet compatible. Both were painted Confederate blue with wide, deeper blue crown moldings edged in white. The window treatments were darker blue velvet curtains trimmed in gold pulled away from the panes. Deep blue valances swagged down to form a semicircular top and white sheers hung across the panes, drawn against the morning sun. White Florentine columns stood at strategic points, the floors were highly polished hardwood, and the furniture matched the hardwood floors.

Very impressive.

Passing through a white wainscoted hallway, Hailey saw the walls were covered almost completely by framed family photos starting at about waist high up. They were photos from many varied years, but in nearly all of them, Eunah was pictured with her father. He looked familiar to Hailey.

In several shots the two were on a boat together. Was that the Savannah River? At Eunah’s graduation, family portraits, Christmases. Hailey saw just one including a woman who was clearly Eunah’s mother. It was a picture of the three of them, Eunah with her mother and father. In this shot, her father was wearing a black robe.

“Your dad was a judge?” Hailey paused to look at the photo. If Hailey was correct, they were standing in front of a portrait of Eunah’s father in the lobby of the Chatham County Courthouse.

Eunah paused briefly, then kept walking. “Oh, yes. Daddy was one of the best judges to ever take the bench. Very famous, actually, if you run in those circles.”

Hailey looked again at the picture. Now she understood why she seemed to recognize him. His portrait was hanging in the lobby of the courthouse. She’d been passing his face practically every morning since she got to Savannah.

“That was when his courthouse portrait was unveiled. It’s absolutely stunning. Absolutely stunning,” Eunah Mabry tossed over her shoulder.

Emerging from the hall, they made their way into a large kitchen. It was perfectly in order except the sink was full of soapy water and filled with dishes. Other than that, not a fork out of place or a crumb on a surface could be seen. African violets, notorious for demanding lots of attention, flowered in and around the kitchen window in several ceramic pots.

“Your home is lovely. Did you design it?”

“Me do this designing? Oh, no. I wish I could take credit, but my father built the home and designed the interior as well. He was amazing, my dad. The Honorable Willard Fulton Eugene Mabry. I’m named after him, you know. The Eugene part. They say he wanted a boy, but he got a girl, so it was Eunah instead of Eugene. He’s been gone years now, and I still miss him… every day.” Her voice cracked a little there at the end of her sentence, but given Hailey was following behind her, she couldn’t judge Eunah’s facial expression.

Intuitively sensing it was not the right moment to shift the conversation to Eleanor Odom, Hailey replied, “He must have been an incredible person, to design all of this.”

Eunah gave a shadow of a smile and threw Hailey a bone. “Please, sit down at the table.” Hailey pulled back a chair and sat.

To her shock, sitting on the table, face up, of course, was the brand-new copy of Snoop straight off the press. The Savannah Morning News was bad enough, but now this? And there on the cover page, of all places, was a shot of her, Hailey. It was salaciously morbid, suggesting to the casual eye that Hailey was sprawled dead on the sidewalk. To Hailey’s shock, the banner said, “Avenging Angel Risks Death on Hunt for Brutal Killer!” It was an awful picture of Hailey… she actually did look dead.

Inside, Hailey did a slow burn. She’d had dealings with Mike Walker before and she knew he was behind this. The man would do anything to sell his magazine.

Hailey was convinced he’d trade his own mother with “Snoop” stamped on her forehead if it increased circulation. What a twist of fate that Walker’s in town covering the Julie Love Adams murder trial, lands smack in the middle of a courthouse crime wave, and manages to get a photo of Hailey after a brush with the front grill of a speeding bus. Another lucrative coincidence for Mike Walker.

“You said my father must have been incredible. He was. He was, indeed.” Eunah Mabry’s voice snapped Hailey out of her mental tirade on Mike Walker and back to the here and now. She did, however, turn the cover of Snoop facedown and shove it under the stack of mail and magazines sitting on the kitchen table.