MARY CLARK - Piece of My Heart

“Based on skin cells?”

“They’ve got a hardened criminal’s DNA on the murder weapon, and no explanation for how it got there. I don’t want to get into the middle here, but Leo might not be objective when it comes to this. My focus is on finding your son, Marcy, not something that happened in the West Village eighteen years ago. Think about it: Leo Farley thinks Gunther’s behind Johnny’s disappearance because he’s convinced the man’s the type of sociopath who would kidnap a child to help his case. But if he’s actually innocent and his case is legit?”

Marcy now saw the connection between the new information Langland was providing and her belief that Gunther had nothing to do with Johnny’s disappearance. “Then the last thing he’d do is go out and commit a major new crime when a court is about to exonerate him.”

Langland leaned back in her chair, her point made.

“So you think I should ask Laurie not to pursue this,” Marcy said.

“Laurie and Leo can do whatever they would like. I just don’t think it’s going to help us find Johnny, I’m sorry to say. I don’t want you to have false hopes. And on that note, it’s now tomorrow. I think it’s time to set up the press conference we talked about yesterday.”

When Marcy returned to her hotel suite, she held three hundred fresh copies of the FindJohnny.com fliers. Her husband immediately rose from the sofa when she entered. Alex and Laurie were there as well.

“Thank God,” Andrew said, greeting her with a long hug. “We were getting worried about you.”

“The print shop took forever.” Another lie.

“I was texting you.”

“I’m not getting a signal out here,” she said. That was not a lie. According to Laurie, cell phone service in the Hamptons was notoriously glitchy. “I’m sorry I scared you. Where are the girls?”

“Leo volunteered to take them out to the lighthouse in Montauk. Giving them the appearance of normalcy like the experts say. I hope that’s okay with you. That’s why I was texting. Also, I don’t want to push, but I was thinking about that press conference. I think we should do it.”

“You read my mind,” she said, feeling guilty that she had already asked Detective Langland to set it up.

Chapter 24

Fifteen minutes later, Laurie hung up the phone on the desk in Alex’s hotel room. She was working from his room because Timmy was still sleeping in their room next door. From a chair in the corner, Alex looked at her expectantly.

“Well, that was the easiest ‘yes’ I’ve ever gotten from Brett Young,” she announced.

“It sounded like it was going well from this end.” Alex’s blue-green eyes sparkled with approval, and she realized how much she still missed working with him on the show. “He’s on board?”

“More than on board. He told me he’s behind me a hundred percent and to use the studio resources however I can to get the answers we need.”

“Maybe your stubborn, self-centered grump of a boss has a heart after all.”

“Or maybe he wants this wrapped up in time to spike our ratings before the next fiscal quarter. He was nearly panting at the thought of budding cultural icon Darren Gunther on camera, investigated by the daughter of the cop who landed him behind bars. Regardless of his intentions, what matters is that he’s giving me the green light.”

“But you’re still worried about the perception of a conflict of interest.”

“Not really. If there’s any chance Gunther’s involved in Johnny’s disappearance, I’ve got to try to find that out. It’s just a hunch for now, but I’m in a better position to act on that than the police. I can always pull the plug on the show if I have to. Brett will be furious, but Johnny’s the top priority. Now I have to pray that Gunther’s narcissistic enough to take the bait.”

“Only one way to find out.” Alex handed her his iPad. The browser on the screen was pulled up to the website of Tracy Mahoney, Esq., the criminal defense attorney who had recently agreed to represent Darren Gunther free of charge in his wrongful conviction claim. “Her number’s right there at the bottom. If I recall correctly, it forwards directly to her cell if she’s not in the office.”

As it turned out, Mahoney was in her office, and her secretary put Laurie’s call through when she explained who she was and that she was calling regarding Darren Gunther.

“Ms. Moran, what a surprising call! Or is your name Mrs. Buckley by now?”

Even though Laurie tried to keep her private life private, she wasn’t surprised that news of her engagement to Alex had spread like wildfire in the local attorney circles where Alex was a well-known fixture.

“First of all, call me Laurie. And we’re not quite to the altar yet, but I’ll be keeping my name in any case.” It was a decision she had finally made after weeks of uncharacteristic vacillation. She was young when she married Greg, less established in her career. She had taken Greg’s name because she wanted the entire family to share a surname, and it wasn’t a bad idea as a journalist for her to have a separate name from her well-known law enforcement father. Plus, she thought Laurie Moran had a nice ring to it. Now that was her name, and one she shared with Timmy and his father. When she broke the news to Alex, he told her he was surprised she had even considered the alternative.

“Good for you,” Mahoney said. “I did the same, but my husband’s last name is Macy, so that was an easy decision. Tracy Macy, can you even imagine? Besides, at this point, shouldn’t the men be taking our names? Women, we get the job done, right?”

Alex had already filled Laurie in on what he knew about Tracy. According to him, she had an easygoing manner and a sharp sense of humor. But beneath the breezy demeanor, she was also one of what he called the “true believers” of the defense bar, who fundamentally believed that the criminal justice system was broken at its core. Whereas Laurie recognized that even the best police departments had room for improvement, Tracy Mahoney was once quoted as comparing the NYPD to the Mafia. Alex said she was a skilled trial attorney, enough so that she could have earned a small fortune defending corporations and white-collar criminals. Instead, she took a few high-paying cases a year so she could afford to represent the rest of her clients pro bono to correct what she viewed as injustices. Gunther’s case was supposedly one of her passion projects, but Laurie knew that he could be looking at a huge payout if he succeeded in his wrongful conviction case, and his lawyer would be entitled to take a healthy percentage of the award.

“Well, I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me get my job done, Tracy. I’m calling about Darren Gunther.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you’ve got a direct personal connection to the case.”

Laurie wasn’t entirely surprised that the attorney already knew she was Leo’s daughter. “I’m calling in my professional capacity, however. We’d like to give your client a chance to tell his side of the story to a national audience on our next Under Suspicion special. Are you familiar with our show?”

“Absolutely. I’m probably one of your top fans. I’m all for any show that points a spotlight on the failures of our so-called justice system.”

“That’s not exactly how I think of our program.”

“Why not? You’ve shown time and again that you and your team are able to get to the truth years after the police dropped the ball. You’ve not only caught more than your fair share of murderers, but also in the process, you’ve exonerated innocent people who for years lived under a cloud of suspicion. If you ask me, that makes you one of the good guys.”