William Bernhardt - Murder One

“Christina, I already promised you—”

“Do you think I don’t know that woman is in your office? As we speak?”

“Christina, we’ve got a trial to prep. I have a million things to do—”

“Yeah, and she can’t help you do any of them. She probably won’t even take the stand. Since when did you have clients lurking around while you prepared a case?”

Ben squirmed a bit. “She’s very unhappy right now, Christina. And … lonely. She has nowhere to go. She feels more comfortable being here.”

“I’ll just bet she does.” She grabbed Ben by the shoulders. “You just remember what I said. If I get the slightest idea you’re playing smoochy-goochums with our client, I’m out of here. I mean it. I’d rather go back to Raven, Tucker & Tubb than put up with that.”

“Understood. And I will. I mean—I won’t.”

“Good.” She marched off to her interior office.

Jones emerged from the storage room just in time to see Christina stomp past him. “Is this how Christina celebrates?”

“Apparently so.”

Jones nodded. “I’ll keep the champagne on ice.”

Paula rushed out of one of the back offices. She wrapped her arms around Jones, practically clubbing him with the papers clutched in her hands.

“Puddin’, look what I found!” She was bouncing up and down with excitement.

Ben raised an eyebrow. “I assume it’s either the winning Lotto ticket or an invitation to visit Buckingham Palace.”

“No, silly. A new research file.”

“And that’s exciting?”

Jones shrugged. “It’s a librarian thing.” He took the papers out of her hands and scanned them. “Hey, this is hot stuff.”

Ben couldn’t resist any longer. He scrambled behind them. “What is it?”

“Joe McNaughton’s employment file.”

“I thought those were confidential.”

The corner of Jones’s mouth turned up. “Nothing is confidential when my honey-pie starts hacking. She can get anything. FBI files. Department of Defense secrets. She even hacked out the secret formula for Coca-Cola.”

“You’re joking.”

Paula winked. “Come over to my house sometime. I’ve got my own still in the garage.”

“Look at this,” Jones said, pointing to a line on the top page. “Something happened to McNaughton about a year and a half ago.”

“Something? Like what?”

“I don’t know. But up till then he was rocketing through the ranks. Then all at once, he gets bucked back down to patrolman, no explanation given.”

“But when he died—”

“And that’s even more interesting. He only remains a patrolman for about two months. Then he gets promoted again—back to Sergeant!”

Ben squinted. “That makes no sense at all.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it’s what happened. See for yourself. The promotion was formalized with a new employment contract. Witnessed by a Sergeant Bailey.”

“Paula, can you follow up on this?” Ben asked. “Find out where this Bailey is at?”

“Of course. If you promise to never again end a sentence with at. ”

Ben dipped his chin. “I’ll ask Loving to see what he can ferret out, too. This might have nothing to do with our case. But I’d still be happier if I knew what was going on with McNaughton before his death.”

Paula scurried away just as quickly as she had come. Ben grabbed some papers from his in box and started down the corridor—when he saw an attractive, dark-haired woman making her way through the front office doors.

He recognized her immediately. And he felt the short hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.

The woman seemed elegant and composed—almost too much so, as if she were making a concerted effort to keep something bottled up inside. “Excuse me,” she said. “I’m Andrea McNaughton. Joe McNaughton’s widow.”

“I know. I remember.” A stupid response, but at the moment, Ben’s brain didn’t seem to be functioning properly. He couldn’t believe this woman had actually come to his office.

“I came to see Christina McCall. Is she in?”

“Uh … yes. Yes she is. May I ask …?”

“She visited me not long ago. Asked me some questions. I tried to tell her everything I knew, but I remembered something after she left. Something that … could possibly be important. If she’s available …”

Ben shook himself out of his stupor. “I’ll get her.”

Before he could so much as move, however, a woman emerged from one of the interior offices. Unfortunately, it was not Christina.

“ You! ” Keri ran forward, her eyes wide with disbelief—and anger. “What are you doing here?”

Ben tried to calm her. “Relax, Keri. She just wants to talk to Christina.”

“To Christina? Why?”

“It has to do with the—”

“I thought you people were on my side,” Keri said. “I thought I could trust you.”

“You can, Keri. Take it easy.”

Keri whipped her platinum blond hair behind her slender neck. “I want this woman out of here. Now!”

Andrea’s face tightened, but she said nothing.

Ben tried to intervene. “Keri, be reasonable.”

“Reasonable? This woman ruined my life!”

“Now wait a minute.” Andrea’s jaw clenched. Her eyes became small piercing points of light. “If you want to talk about who ruined lives—”

“I don’t want to talk to you at all!”

“You stole my husband!” Andrea fired back at her. “First you took his love, then you took his life!”

“Ladies, please,” Ben said, but to no avail.

“For your information,” Keri said, “I didn’t take anything. He gave me his love. He gave it to me because you evidently didn’t want it.”

“You little bitch.” Andrea’s nostrils flared. “Don’t presume that you know anything—”

“Why else would he have needed me? He wouldn’t’ve come to me in the first place if you were giving him what he wanted.”

“That isn’t true!” Andrea shouted, her voice choking. “I loved Joe. And he loved me till he met you. Till you forced yourself on him like the cheap whore you are!”

“That isn’t what happened!”

“Like hell!”

“I’ll bet Joe hated you! That’s why he came to me. And it made you so crazy that you killed him yourself!”

Andrea sprang at her like a panther after its prey. Keri rocketed backward. Andrea slammed her against the wall so hard it knocked off a framed diploma. Although she was much smaller than Andrea, Keri fought back with considerable strength. She pounded the woman on the sides of her neck. Andrea’s hands clenched around Keri’s throat.

Ben raced behind Andrea and tried to break them up. He wrapped his arms around Andrea’s waist. He managed to pull her back somewhat, but Andrea lurched forward again. She and Keri tumbled down to the carpet on top of one another, dragging Ben with them.

“Jones!” Ben shouted. “I need help!”

Although he looked distinctly uneager, Jones climbed out from behind his desk. Meanwhile, Andrea had Keri pinned to the floor, straddling her. Her hands were pressed down on Keri’s head, twisting it sideways and mashing her face into the carpet. Keri began flailing her arms, pummeling Andrea on the chest and legs. Andrea removed one of her hands from Keri’s face and drove it hard into her ribs. Keri screamed.

Ben wrapped his arms under Andrea’s and finally managed to haul her off Keri. As soon as he had Andrea under control, however, Keri lunged at her, taking the opportunity to return the blow to the ribs. Andrea cried out in pain.

“Jones!” Ben shouted. “Get her under control!”

Jones tried, but Keri was moving too fast for him. Even as Ben tried to pull Andrea away, Keri followed them, swinging and jabbing every chance she got. Andrea tried to defend herself with her feet. Jones finally managed to wrap his arms around Keri, pinning her in a full nelson, but the instant Keri’s arms were immobilized, Andrea hit her with a sharp kick to the gut.