Cas and Doug gave the old barn door a hard shove and leveled their weapons, Doug holding his flashlight. The two men stood gaping, stunned by the sudden light and the fall of the door.
"FREEZE! POLICE!" Cas's voice bounced off the stones and bare walls as the two culprits stood squinting at them.
Two more flashlights moved in to help light the scene as Rhodes and Shirley came in.
Darrell and Troy Spruce stood still and unbelieving, the shadows around them making the old cellar seem full of deputies as shadows shifted in the light.
Rhodes read Judge Spruce and Darrell their rights while Doug moved to cuff their hands behind them.
"Just a minute!" Cas reached to take the bracelet from Darrell before Doug handcuffed him. He put it carefully in his shirt pocket.
"This is all a terrible mistake!" Troy Spruce began as soon as he found his voice. "As soon as I can see my attorney, he'll get this straightened out."
He stood up straighter and raised his eyebrows at Cas. "This is my property, you know. We are on my property."
It sounded lame. Even Darrell seemed to find no comfort in it. He waited miserable and dejected beside his father as Rhodes directed them to the Spruce's Lincoln and got in beside them. Shirley got in front to drive, looking to Cas for further directions.
"You go first. I'll be right behind you. Good work."
Cas and Doug walked to the back of the barn to get the car. "I hear that on all the television shows," Cas grinned, "And she deserved it."
Doug laughed, proud of his cousin.
It was late when they got back. There was no one around to wonder about it as Shirley parked the Lincoln and waited for Cas to pull in beside them.
"This is really going to be a surprise to the town of Maryvale in the morning," Shirley marveled.
When they marched their prisoners in Gladys was shocked and it was hard for Raines to keep from showing his pleasure openly.
"I want to make a phone call," was Judge Spruce's first request.
Cas nodded. "Use the phone in my office."
Cas removed the handcuffs from Troy Spruce's wrists but did not close the door for him to make his call.
Gladys concentrated on her filing, trying to keep busy and not stare at the judge through the open door.
His face showed his disappointment at what he was hearing form Laurence Fields.
Cas was listening on another phone behind Gladys. He had picked it up to call Connie, but it was not connected to an outside line. He simply held it, not wanting the judge to know he was hearing his troubles.
"The shoe's on the other foot now," Cas thought. He remembered all the times prisoners had had to wait while their attorneys hunted Troy Spruce up to set bail.
Judge Spruce came out of the office, giving Cas a curt, "Thank you," for the use of his phone. Not that it looked like it had done much for his disposition.
Raines escorted Darrell and his father to their 'guest of the county' quarters.
"Gladys, you're about through here, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir. I've been having a hard time keeping my mind on what I'm doing since you got back anyway. There's going to be a lot of shocked and surprised people in this town in the morning."
"I'm sure of that. This is all we can do for now. I'm also sure Laurence Fields will be here first thing in the morning. Let's go home and get some rest."
Cas closed the door behind Gladys. He glanced down the hall where Darrell and the judge were lodged.
"I hope Darrell is as miserable and uncomfortable as he looked following Raines, him and the judge too. Troy Spruce was past due being reminded the law is for everyone, including judges."
He took time to go back to Raines who was on duty to thank him for his help and give him a pat on the back that let him know he was a good man who was appreciated and would be missed when his retirement came through.
Before leaving, Cas took the bracelet from his pocket, thinking sadly of Denise and how little of life she had to enjoy. He took the fragile memento into the restroom, washed it and dried it before replacing it in the safe.
He glanced at the phone. He decided not to call home, hoping Connie had managed to get to sleep. "Sanctuary, here I come," He breathed to himself as he left for home.
Chapter 22
Attorney Laurence Fields came to see his clients at a little after nine the next morning. Cas heard his voice and looked up from his work.
"Come into my office first, will you?" He called through the open door.
Fields smiled at Gladys and went in, closing the door behind him. "I don't think this would be a good time to refuse," he grinned at Cas.
"Probably won't change much." Cas warned him. "I assume you're here to rescue the Spruce clan?"
"Yes, I located the judge who is to come for the inquest first, and got him to set bail."
"Which is surprisingly low, no doubt?"
"Well, certainly. But not considering he's a county judge, remember. And I have to earn my money, don't I?" He shrugged. "And a county judge is not likely to run which is one of the main things to consider setting bail."
Cas didn't bother arguing with any of that legal logic and got to the point.
"You're familiar with the Davis case, aren't you?"
"I'm sure everyone in Maryvale is. Denise Davis was killed by a stab wound to the heart."
"Then you are also aware Judge Spruce excused himself from the case because he was close to the victim. Denise was the daughter of his office manager and secretary, Muriel Davis."
"Yes, I'm aware of that. I also know the inquest has not been set, if that's what you were going to tell me next." Fields smiled and there was a few seconds of silence between them.
"There's something you're leading up to," he studied Cas's face. "You surely don't think the judge and his son are guilty of this murder, do you?"
"Yes and no."
Fields raised his eyebrows.
"It could have been a terrible accident." Cas continued, "I can't get them to talk about it. It looks like they're more willing to hang than tell the truth about what actually happened."
Fields listened; he'd known Cas a long time.
Cas leaned forward, his lips a grim line. "And make no mistake about it, if they don't start talking there will be a conviction. Or at least, Darrell will be convicted. I've got enough evidence now to put Darrell at the scene where it happened. The scene where she was killed is on the judge's property, out where the cabin is. They both lied about where Darrell was the night Denise died. I have witnesses who knock his alibi about being home in the sand. Then last night my deputies and I caught them both red handed trying to retrieve evidence from the scene of the crime."
"God!" Fields exploded, knowing Cas was telling him the truth. "I haven't talked to them yet. What do they say about it?"
"Nothing. They've categorically denied everything, even where there is undisputed proof. The first thing they tried to cover up was he was out that night and had no alibi for the time Denise was killed. Then they claimed they, the judge and his wife, were at home and could support his claim that he was at home at the time. Even objected to my questioning him along with the other students who knew her. His alibi was about all he had going for him against the other evidence I had, and it didn't hold up about the time they got home that night. I talked to the people who saw the judge and his wife at the club that night, the ones who waited on them. The musicians playing in the bar, too. I have written statements and a recorded statement that they left there late enough that Darrell would have had more than enough time to meet Denise and to get back before they got home. He has no alibi. We have casts of the tracks their little utility truck made at the scene where Denise's body was found, and as I said, we caught them red handed last night. That's what they're doing here."
"And they lied on record, about the alibi, both of them?"
"Yes. I took statements which they signed. I don't think they gave it much thought, the way they acted."
Cas glanced at the casts on the credenza. "There is so much evidence against Darrell, and the judge trying to cover up for him is so obvious, if there is no other version of what happened, Darrell is as good as convicted."
"I appreciate your telling me this." Fields shot him a grateful look. "You think there's a chance this could have been an accident, then? Not murder?"
"I think, with what I've learned in my investigation, there's at least a chance it might have been an accident. Yes."
Cas rose to see Laurence Fields to the door. "Maybe they will talk to you. I don't have any choice but to charge him if they don't."
"I'll see what they have to say." Fields walked with Cas to the cells, thinking about what he had heard. Before they got close enough to be heard in the cell, he shook his head. "I can't see why they would refuse to tell what happened. Not with what's facing them."
Cas shrugged. "I can make an educated guess, but it's for them to tell you. Here we are." He closed the cell door behind Fields and left them alone.
After their conference and the necessary paperwork Darrell and the judge walked out with their attorney ignoring Cas, who looked after them through the still open door of his office.
Fields turned to Cas, his hand on the outer door. "I'm taking them home. We will meet in my office this afternoon."
Cas nodded, not commenting.
"Cas," Gladys said, not too sure how to put it. "Did Darrell, was it Darrell who did this?"
"We don't have proof of exactly what happened yet but the evidence we have points that way. The most damning thing is we caught them trying to retrieve evidence from the scene of the crime last night."
"Oh. I wondered when I saw them both. The judge must have been trying to help him, to cover up for Darrell. Is that it?"
"Right now it seems that way, but that's between us, Gladys. Until it's been through the courts and decided there is to be no information given out on anything to do with this. Not even that they were here."
"Of course. I understand." Gladys was a little miffed he thought he had to explain that to her. "I was surprised when you brought the judge in with him, that's all."
The call Cas was waiting for came at about three-twenty that afternoon. It was Laurence Fields.
"Cas," he asked quietly enough that Cas knew he was not alone. "Could you come to my office? My clients and I would like to talk to you, if you can get away."
"Did they ask you to call?"
"Yes. They want to make new statements in regard to the case, about the death of Denise Davis."
"All right. I'll let my people here know where to reach me and be there as soon as I can."
At the law office, Field's secretary announced Cas and Laurence Fields came to meet him at the office door. Judge Spruce and Darrell sat near Field's desk and did not look up when he placed a chair near them for Cas.
Cas avoided looking directly at either Darrell or the judge, but he had seen traces of tears on both averted faces. He fervently hoped the tears meant they had both told the truth at last. He sat down and waited for Fields to speak.
"Sheriff Larkin, this statement has been written out and signed by Darrell Spruce. I'll ask him to tell you what it says in his own words before I have it typed up."
Cas turned his attention expectantly to Darrell.
"I... I," Darrell's voice was barely audible. "On the night this happened," he kept his eyes down as he spoke. "I was home reading when my parents decided to go to the club to have dinner. Mother had been to a garden club meeting and didn't have time to cook. After they left I had trouble getting my mind back on my reading. I decided to call Denise."
"She answered the phone?" Cas had been wondering about the phone call.
"Yes, sir. Her mother got her a phone line for her birthday. I called her on her phone."
"I see." Cas nodded.
"We talked for a while and I made arrangements to meet her a block over from her house. She had been to a couple of the meetings of the club we had organized, and I wanted to invite her to go to the big meeting with me."
"The big meeting. You mean the one where there would be people from Marble and other counties. The one you called an orgy?" Cas pinned him down.
"Yes. That one."
"Wasn't this supposed to be a wild party, with perhaps, sex involved too?"
Darrell kept his eyes down. "We, the group talked about it, yes." He hesitated slightly. "I was going to ask her to be my partner."
"What makes you think she wouldn't be shocked at being asked to attend something like that?" Cas kept his eyes on Darrell.
"I didn't know. But," he didn't look at the judge. "We'd been out on the sly a few times. Our parents didn't want us to date. And when I picked her up, we went by a fast food window for sandwiches and Cokes before I took her to the meeting place to talk."
The silence when he paused emphasized the seriousness of the statement he held in his hand. He never looked at anything but it and the carpet between his feet.
"I put a couple of my mom's tranquilizers in her Coke, so she wouldn't get excited or anything," he continued and mumbled something else.
"What was that? I didn't catch it," Cas demanded.
"I thought the tranquilizer would take effect by the time we got out there, and being at the meeting place, too, I thought she might say she would go and be my partner."
Darrell was the picture of misery. The judge stirred in his chair, but didn't speak, bowing his head to study the carpet as Darrell did.
"He's suffering for Darrell, and his own guilty conscience is working on him too," Cas thought. "It's taking a lot of the starch out of him, having to keep quiet and let Darrell take his lumps."
"You mean go with you and be your partner for sex, too?" Cas pressed.
"Yes. That's what I was hoping."
"All right. What happened next?"
"We finished our food, we drank our Cokes on the way out. We started talking about the big meeting we were going to have. We were sitting on the bench beside the altar."
"The table with the candles on it?"
"That's right. Then I asked her to go to the meeting and be my partner. She looked surprised and asked me, 'for sex too?'"
"And then?"
"I said yes, if everybody else was doing it, why not us?"
"Did she accept?"
"No." Darrell looked up at the window, taking a deep breath that sounded painful. It rasped slightly.
"She giggled. I thought she was just playing with me, you know, teasing. So I asked again. She got up off the bench, and she was laughing!"
"Laughing." Cas repeated the word, remembering Hannah telling him Denise felt no fear, that she was laughing when she saw them.
"Yes," Darrell nodded. "Laughing hard, like she'd heard something really funny. I got up too. I asked her why, what was so funny? And she said—she said...." Darrell turned then to look at the judge, the picture of misery.
Judge Spruce nodded for him to continue.
"She said, 'because I'm your sister! The judge is my father too!' I know I looked shocked, I was! I didn't know whether to believe her or not and she kept on laughing! I reached for the knife on the altar to threaten her. To make her stop laughing like that. But just as I got the knife up in front of me, she turned her ankle and swayed. But she caught herself, and she looked like she really hurt. She looked down. She couldn't stand on her ankle. She couldn't get her balance. She fell against me! She fell on the knife. Hard, all her weight on it. Then in a second, she just sort of-relaxed. I thought she must have fainted, and I eased her down to keep her from falling on the stone floor."
Darrell's haunted eyes saw nothing in the room, only the dark scenes which had been tormenting him. He went on as if having started he couldn't stop talking, relieving himself of the painful pictures in his mind.
"But when I bent down, she wasn't breathing. I thought she had just got the wind knocked out of her and I shook her a little. But she didn't come to. And I held the metal part of my key ring up a
s I'd seen someone do on television, and there was no moisture, no breath. No breath and no heartbeat or at least I couldn't find any. I didn't want to think, I couldn't believe, it was so quick! I couldn't believe she was, that she was gone." A slight chill shook him.
Darrell's face was haggard and pale. He dashed sudden tears from his eyes, but continued in anguished tones.
"And the knife! It was in so deep, the way she fell on it. Or I, maybe it was because I was so scared, I couldn't get it out. I left it there and took her back to the car. It was hard to do. She was heavy! I was afraid, I didn't mean to hurt her. I didn't know what to do. Then I thought I'd put her in the river behind The Roadhouse. I... I tried to carry her there. But out there in the dark, before I got to the water, I had to put her down. I couldn't make it. And I knew my parents would be coming back. I panicked, I left her there and ran back to the car."
"Don't you mean the truck?" Cas corrected gently. "You ran back to the little utility truck."
"Yes. The truck, we went in the truck. I went back to the truck and got home as fast as I could. My mom and dad came in a little while after I got back."
Cas addressed his next question to the judge. "How long have you known about this?"
"Darrell asked me about it the next day. If she, if Denise was his sister. Then I asked him why he thought so, and all this came out. I told him yes, she was his sister. But all that happened a long time ago, that there was nothing between me and Muriel now. And that Muriel was making her own living for her and Denise. I also told him this was the reason we hadn't wanted them to date or to spend much time together."
The judge avoided Cas's eyes, but his voice was strong. "I'm glad she knew I was her father," he told the indifferent beige carpet defiantly. He looked up. "I gave her that bracelet she wore for her birthday."
"I had a sister," Darrell said, regret softening his low voice. "And I didn't even know it."
"I'm sorry, Darrell." The judge spoke to him as if they were alone. What secrets did they have now? "I'm so sorry. About everything."
Cas watched the drama being played out before him. He turned to Fields as he got up.
The Devil in Maryvale Page 24