William Bernhardt - Deadly Justice

Mike smiled thinly. “Taking a personal interest in his public image. The press has not been kind to the Tulsa P.D. since this wave of murders started. The heat has been on Blackwell, even to the point of the city council calling for his resignation. I think Blackwell decided it might help if he put on a show of aggressively investigating these murders. Healthy fodder for the six o’clock news.”

“Yeah, but does his involvement mean a speedier solution to the murders?”

Mike bent over and lit his pipe. “Rather the opposite, I’d say.” He took a few swift puffs, then removed the pipe stem from his lips. “Blackwell doesn’t have many resources available to assign to this unrelated murder. It would be much simpler for him if this minor distraction were solved quickly. And the best way to bring an investigation to a hasty close is to bear down on the most obvious suspect. And that suspect, Ben, is you.”

“Can you define bearing down ?”

“Taking you in for questioning, locking you up on suspicion, maybe even planting leaks of dubious veracity to convict you in the press. And, of course, pounding on you till you crack. That’s the gist of it.”

“Oh.” Ben tried to smile. “Thanks for the colorful details.”

“My pleasure.”

Ben saw Joni and Jami Singleton, the teenage twins who lived with their family in one of the upstairs rooms of his boardinghouse. They were both peeking around the corner of the building.

“Hiya, Joni,” Ben said, wiggling his fingers.

Joni cautiously stepped out of the shadows, with Jami close behind.

“Don’t worry, I’m unarmed. Hi there, Jami.”

“It’s not you I was worried about, Benjamin,” Jami said, eyeing Mike and the other police officers. “What’s happening? You helping the cops solve another case?”

Mike arched an eyebrow.

“Well,” Ben replied, “this time it seems I’m Suspect Number One.”

“Oh?” Jami fluffed her long black hair with the palm of her hand. “What’s the charge?”

“Murder.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“In the first degree,” Mike added. “Maybe.”

“Wow!” Joni said, echoing her sister. This development obviously increased their estimation of Ben many times over. “Was it, like, a crime of passion?”

“I don’t know,” Ben said. “I didn’t do it.”

She folded her hands across her chest, clearly disappointed. Then she noticed the police officers swarming around. “Oh, I get it. Of course—you’re innocent.” She winked. “That’s your story and you’re sticking to it. You were probably framed.”

“As a matter of fact—”

Chief Blackwell swaggered back to Ben, interrupting their conversation. “Are you ready to be grilled, Kincaid?”

“Well, since you put it like that…”

“Good. Let’s get started.”

“Don’t you want to wait till the Action News team arrives?”

Blackwell straightened and patted down his hair. “You think TV people are com—” He stopped. “Oh, I see. You’re a wiseass.”

“Guilty as charged.”

“Morelli already gave me the line you fed him about what happened at the Apollo offices.”

“The line ? I told him the truth.”

“Yeah? Then maybe you can explain how someone got that stiff out of that high rise?”

“Sorry. I can’t.”

“I lifted that body, and let me tell you—it wasn’t light. According to you, you were only gone three or four minutes.”

“True.”

“So where did he go?”

“I don’t know.”

“What was he doing in your office?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did he get in your car?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did he get in the alley behind your apartment?”

“I don’t know.”

Blackwell made a loud growling noise. “Goddamn it. You lawyers are all alike. Always got a slick answer for everything.”

Ben and Mike exchanged a glance.

“Maybe you think you can bullshit your old college roomie, but I’m not buying it, kid.”

“I’m not asking you to buy anything, Chief. Just don’t lock me up because I’m the most convenient suspect. I’m more valuable to you on the outside.”

Blackwell cocked his head to one side. “How so?”

“Since Hamel was killed in the office building, the key suspects are his colleagues in the legal department at Apollo. Where I work.” He leaned, in close to Blackwell. “Leave me free, and I can check out these people, see if I can turn up any leads.”

“You?”

“I’ve investigated crimes before. Ask Mike. I used to work at the D.A.’s office. It’s clear you don’t have enough free men to staff this case. Let me take up the slack. And if I don’t come up with anything, you can still lock me away and throw away the key. You haven’t lost anything.”

Blackwell appeared to be considering. “You’ve got access to the office where Hamel worked?”

“Yes.”

“And access to all his co-workers?”

“Yes again.”

“Hmm. It is better having someone on the inside than having some cop march through taking statements. No one ever wants to tell us anything. And this would be a lot simpler than trying to plant someone undercover. All right, I’ll give you a try. You have one week to see what you can find out. I expect you to report in with Morelli every day. Every day . Understand?”

“Perfectly.”

He laid a finger on Ben’s chest. “If you don’t have another suspect for us, with solid evidence, by this time next week, my boys’ll be hauling you into the station for questioning. Very lengthy questioning. Could go on for days. And if we don’t hear what we want, we could become very grumpy.”

“Got it,” Ben said.

“Good,” Blackwell said gruffly. “Remember, one week. Period. No extensions.” He spun on his heel and almost slammed into Mrs. Marmelstein.

“Mrs. Marmelstein,” Ben said. “What are you doing out here so early in the morning?”

“I brought you a fruitcake,” she said. She held the comestible chest-high. “I thought that if you men are going to stand out in the chill all morning long, you should at least have something to eat.”

Ben saw a pained expression cross Blackwell’s face, then a similar expression on Mike’s, then on those of the other officers, all of whom appeared to be subtly inching away.

Didn’t anybody like fruitcake?

14

BEN TOSSED HIS FILES into his briefcase and hurried toward the conference room where the depositions were to be taken. Fortunately he had prepared yesterday; he had certainly had no time to prepare this morning. After finding a corpse in his backyard and narrowly escaping a trip to the big house, he was lucky to make it to the office at all.

Ben mentally reviewed his plans and goals. A deposition allows an attorney to ask the opposing party questions while a court reporter takes down everything the witness says. Objections can be made, but since there is no judge present to rule on them, the objections are made for the record , to be ruled upon later if necessary. The witness answers the question regardless of any objections made, unless specifically instructed not to answer by his or her attorney.

It was supposed to be a simple, unemotional fact-finding exercise. Ben hoped that proved true.

He certainly didn’t plan to protract matters any longer than necessary. He would ask the essential questions to elicit the plaintiffs’ version of what happened and gather any other information that might help defend Apollo against the design defect claim. Then he would close the deposition as gracefully and painlessly as possible. At least, that was the plan.

“Morning, Ben,” Rob said, as Ben entered the conference room. “You’re late.”