Nancy Grace - Murder in the Courthouse

“Yes. How kind. And please visit again.”

Hailey was pretty sure, regardless of what she’d just said, another visit from Hailey Dean was the last thing this woman wanted. Rehashing the relationship between Eleanor Odom and Judge Regard along with Eleanor’s death obviously struck a nerve.

The headache seemed real. But whether it was from all the wine and sleeping on ornamental sofa pillows or from the sight of Bill Regard with his wife… Hailey wasn’t exactly sure.

Eunah Mabry closed the ornate front door gently. Hailey practically bounded down the front steps and back out into the sunlight. She paused before she got back into the driver’s seat of her rental car.

Looking up at the sky through the branches of the live oaks, she suddenly couldn’t wait to get away from the mansion, beautiful as it was. The stale smell of cigarettes, the sticky wine glasses, the loneliness of it all hung on her like a heavy, wet cloak. She turned the ignition and pulled out of the driveway and back onto the two-lane. The wind rushed through her hair.

The disappointment that lived in Eunah Mabry’s mansion faded in the sunlight.

The sun broke through the heavy oaks like strobe lights as Hailey sped down Victory Drive. Huge gnarled arms with Spanish moss draping down like choir robes made a canopy over her head the length of the avenue. Hailey kept inhaling the fresh air, instinctively almost, gulping it down like a dog hanging its head out the open window.

Only when she escaped the mansion Eunah Mabry’s daddy built did she realize she felt she could barely breathe inside. She knew, in her head, that she could in fact breathe perfectly normally in the beautiful old home. It was all in her mind, the constriction of the chest, the claustrophobic feeling… even though every room was huge and appointed to a tee. Yes, her head knew it… but her heart didn’t.

There was something sad and aching and… venomous lurking there. And it wasn’t the home itself.

Tooling down Victory Drive, Hailey glanced over when her iPhone buzzed and lit up. It was Billings. She put it on speaker.

“Good morning! How are you?” She had a smile on her face.

“Good morning, Miss Hailey Dean! What trouble are you stirring up today? And how do you feel?”

“I feel great. A little achy, but overall great! Thanks for asking. Oops, hold on. A cop’s on my tail and I don’t want him to see the phone in my hand!”

“Just tell him you know somebody…”

“But what if he asks who? He may not like you!” Hailey started laughing as a Savannah cop cruiser passed her and kept going.

“You’re in the car? Where are you?”

“Victory Drive heading back to downtown.”

“Really? What interests you on Victory Drive?” Hailey could hear the curiosity in his voice.

“You’ll never guess. Eunah Mabry. Name ring a bell?”

“It does, actually. Eunah Mabry… Eunah Mabry… who is she?”

“Judge Bill Regard’s secretary. None other.”

“Hailey! Are you out investigating a case in my jurisdiction?” She could actually see the twinkle in his eye and the smile playing the corners of his lips.

“I take the Fifth!” She just made it under a yellow light and kept going.

“Well, it just so happens that I’m at Victory and Abercorn. Let’s get coffee.”

“I don’t drink coffee. Unless I have to.”

“Then you watch me drink coffee and I’ll get you hot tea. How’s that?”

“One condition,” Hailey answered, checking her rearview.

“What’s that?”

“We get it to go. I’ll even let you drive.”

“Deal! Where are we going?” He was an unusually good sport.

“The Savannah Country Club. There’s a ladies’ tennis tournament I want to watch.”

“Uh-oh. I smell trouble.”

Hailey could tell he was still smiling, even though she couldn’t see him. He was smart, too. That was a dangerous combination, as far as Hailey was concerned. Good-looking, smart, and a good sport.

Within just minutes, Hailey spotted Billings in her rearview mirror. He put on the blue lights for effect and Hailey started laughing.

Her cell buzzed again. “You’re headed to the Savannah Country Club? Is that what you said?” Billings asked immediately, no hello.

“Yep. That’s where I’m headed!”

“OK. That’s what I thought you said, but I was a little afraid to ask why.” She caught his eyes in the rearview.

“I told you! There’s a tennis match I want to see! Come join me! Maybe it will help me get in. And I bet you can get a cup of coffee there, too.”

“I bet I can,” Billings answered. She could see in her rearview that he was still smiling. That was good.

“Hey, you’re a lawman. They may even give it to you for free. Now that’s incentive… right?”

“From what I know of the Savannah Country Club, the last thing they want to see is a sheriff showing up… that means trouble. Blue bloods don’t like even the suggestion of cops… or trouble. They’ll give me a gallon of hot coffee to leave!”

“I hear you. But they’ll be way too polite to actually come right out and ask you to leave! Agree?” Hailey had a point.

They certainly weren’t club members, but Billings’s uniform could get them in the door and to the tennis courts. Hailey had the idea she was on to something and she didn’t want to slow down now. She had to get a closer look at Bill Regard and his wife.

“Yep… they only want a cop uniform on the premises if he’s directing parking for a society event. You know the deal, Hailey. It’s all right. I get it. It’s not like I could afford the membership fees anyway.”

“I know the deal, Billings. I know the deal for sure.”

“So, Hailey. What’s with the tennis match?”

“How about I tell you over our free coffee? Or in my case, tea? I’d hate to get busted for driving while distracted by cell phone. Hee-hee.”

“OK. I guess I’ll have to trust you. But let me in front. You just took a wrong turn.”

“See? You distracted me!”

Billings pulled around in front, and in no time they were there. A guard in a security house waved them through as soon as he saw Billings’s patrol car. Hailey noticed the security guard began speaking into a walkie-talkie when they passed. Probably alerting the club a cop had showed up.

Hailey parked beside Billings and hopped out of her car, locking it instantly with her keychain remote. “This place is pretty swanky, huh? I looked it up at a red light. It says it’s the oldest golf club in the country. 1894. Could that even be true? It says the golf course was actually built along old Confederate war fortifications.”

“Thanks for the history lesson, Hailey. But I don’t think you came here for the historical value. So what’s up?”

“Well, you know Judge Bill Regard was having an affair with Eleanor Odom. You saw the autopsy report, right?”

“I saw it.” His smile faded.

“She died of a severe reaction to a pretty serious nut allergy, and I’ll bet your bottom dollar it came from that coffee cup, the one with her lipstick on it. She was fine when she walked in… she hadn’t eaten a bite, she got a cup of coffee, and then, boom… she’s dead.”

“Yes, I recall you gave me that scenario over the lost-and-found bin at the courthouse.”

“Well… in case she didn’t accidentally poison herself… then who did?” Hailey’s question dripped with sarcasm, and it wasn’t wasted.

“I know. I’ve already been working it. The state crime lab got me a rush on the cup… it was simple coffee… with a large helping of almond milk.”

“I knew it! So either Elle accidentally used almond milk versus regular milk at the coffee bar, or somebody switched the canisters or somehow doctored her coffee itself. Or they could have simply added almond milk to the milk sitting out at the coffee bar. But it’s too late to test those, right? They were probably cleaned out by the time we figured out the real cause of death wasn’t a heart attack or stroke.”