Nancy Grace - Murder in the Courthouse

“Oh.” Billings was still staring, Finch still fussing.

“Then, the DA peeled off and went into the judge’s chambers and I went into the courtroom. That’s when I saw you guys; and before I could really even sit down, the judge came onto the bench and they wheeled Tish Adams in front of him.”

“I should have seen it coming. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out before the old bag could take a shot at you. You know, the more I think about it, all the signs were there…” Finch was in his own world, still muttering under his breath about Tish Adams.

“Hey, Finch! How are you, man? Long time no see!” All three looked at a tall man coming toward them in the crosswalk. It was none other than Cloud Sims, still in jeans and silver-studded cowboy boots, sauntering up.

“Sims! Hey, guy! How are you? What brings you to Savannah?” Finch grabbed Cloud Sims in a big bear hug. Hailey stared between the two of them.

“And Miss Hailey Dean, how are you? And what are you doing with a character like Garland Fincher? You’re going to get a bad reputation hanging out with this guy. And lo and behold, the famous Lieutenant Chase Billings! Last time I saw you, you’d just busted up that bank robbery!” The bear hug with Finch complete, Cloud began pumping Billings’s right hand enthusiastically.

“Good memory, Cloud. That’s right. I’ll never forget that one. So what brings you here?”

“Wait a minute, who are you?” Hailey asked with a quizzical look, glancing between the three.

“Just like I told you on the plane, I’m Cloud Sims, Cornhusker-turned-NYPD, now private eye! I’ve run into these two troublemakers more than once. And I’m still not giving up on having dinner with you sometime, Hailey Dean.”

Billings immediately jumped in, effectively cutting off discussion of Cloud’s dinner plans. “Sims, you never did say what case you’re working down here.”

“Ah. Right. I had to lie to Hailey about being here, you know, to protect my client. Some judge’s wife convinced he’s seeing some other lady in the courthouse. You know, same old same old! But it pays the bills and then some! Right?”

“Oh no!” all three groaned in unison.

“Not Judge Regard and Eleanor Odom? You’re hired by Vickie Regard, right?” Finch asked first.

“Well, normally I wouldn’t divulge, but since we’re old crime-fighting buddies, I’ll spill the beans.” Cloud Sims looked around, then lowered his voice a smidge.

“It’s Regard all right, but not Eleanor Odom. She knows all about Eleanor. That’s old news. Now it’s some young public defender straight out of law school. That Judge Regard. He sure gets around. When does that guy have time to sit on the bench?” Cloud burst into laughter.

“Hey, I have to run, guys. I got some recon to do. I’ll see you around the courthouse. You, Hailey Dean, I intend to see you one night for dinner! And no, I don’t have your number but hey, I’m a PI! I’ll find it! Bye, folks!”

With that, Cloud Sims hustled toward the steps. He bounded up them two at a time.

“You’re having a date with that guy?” Billings asked as soon as Sims was out of sight.

Hailey started laughing. “I’ve been trying not to have a date with him since I got on the plane from LaGuardia!” The light turned green and the three headed into the crosswalk.

“Hailey, back to Tish Adams, you think it will be a DP?” Billings asked.

Weaving between pedestrians, Hailey gave a brief glance toward where she’d been pushed in front of the CAT bus. “You know what? I should call the DA. I just realized, there should be two counts of attempted murder and agg assault… he didn’t include the bus!”

“That’s right, Hailey. And we just managed to narrow down the exact time yesterday. That camera on the top right corner of the courthouse may just be the ticket. And the parking garage exit camera may help too.”

“Really? That’s great! I can’t wait to see this… myself pushed in front of a bus with a not-so-graceful landing.”

“We’ve already sent a subpoena to the parking garage owners for it. That could prove it. You don’t need to call him; I’ll bring the video over to him myself and he can re-indict. Just those counts. They can play for the grand jury; you probably won’t even need to testify again.”

“Great!” Hailey responded as they stepped up on the other sidewalk. Both Finch and Billings lifted her under her elbows. She felt she could walk just fine but knew they were dead set on helping her, so she stayed quiet. They both blamed themselves for not being there the night before.

“I mean… why couldn’t we see she’s pure evil? I can’t believe we all missed it…” Finch kept fighting with himself, although he did occasionally glance over at Hailey and Billings as if he half-expected them to answer all his hypotheticals… his shoulda coulda wouldas.

“So, Hailey, death penalty or no death penalty?” Billings asked again, totally ignoring Finch’s questions.

“I don’t think he has a choice. Mass murder’s defined in the criminal code as more than one body. Second, you have the murders of not one but two law enforcement officers, Turner and Snodgrass. Third, as if you need a third, you’ve got the murder of an officer of the court, Elle. And there’s a fourth trigger for the DP: They were tortured. Alton was severed nearly completely at the waist, Elle died a painful death from, essentially, poison, and Snodgrass was fed to the gators. I only hope he was fully sedated when it happened. That’s three grounds for a death sentence… off the top of my head.”

“I mean… Hailey… if you had told me you were going out to Alton Turner’s house and I had seen the cigarettes with lipstick on them… maybe I’d have figured it out.” Finch wouldn’t stop.

“You would not have figured it out. You couldn’t. Stop beating yourself up. With her dragging around an oxygen tank, all hunched over like she was near death, crying, gasping for breath every other minute and really loudly in front of the jury…”

“Then there was the fake COPD episode when the state surprise-called her to the stand…” Finch chimed in to defend himself.

“I thought it was a fake asthma attack. Who said COPD? I’m sure they said asthma in court…” Billings cut in.

“ Whatever it was, it was fake! She had to fake it to get out of court and down to Gator World before dark! That’s my point! You couldn’t have guessed it with all that acting going on…” Hailey managed to get a few words in.

“And with the training in nursing, I mean, the tank, the syringe, the GHB, and she knew where to get ’em and she knew how to use ’em.” Finch was trying again to justify how he’d missed the whole charade that played out right under his nose.

“Right… an oxygen tank with a loaded.22 stashed under it. I bet they don’t teach that at nursing school. This lady’s no softie.” Billings again.

“And she’s no lady, either,” Finch snapped.

They headed to the elevator bank at the parking deck and stepped on together. “Hey… do you think she’s the one who killed Julie? Hailey, do you remember where you left your car?”

“Next to the top, seventh floor. Chase, doesn’t it seem like a year ago that I parked the car? But I know it’s only been thirty-six hours. Crazy, right?”

“You did it again, Hailey.”

Hailey looked at Billings as he hit the button for the seventh floor. “I did what?”

“You slipped up and called me ‘Chase.’ ” He looked at her with a big smile on his face.

“And plus, she kept throwing those evil glares at us in court. Why didn’t that register? ” Finch was so deep in his own self-torture, he didn’t even notice what Hailey and Billings were saying.