Just Cause

by Susan Page Davis

  “You’re full of surprises. I had no idea you’d been married.”

  Laurel looked away, unsure of what to say.

  Judy gazed at her compassionately. “You’re not the only one with a gruesome past. I made a poor choice, and the guy turned out to be a real heel. He left me after fifteen years of marriage.”

  “Oh, Judy, I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “I was miserable at the time, but since then I’ve learned I can have a life again. And God—” her eyes grew softer. “God showed me He could take me as I was and make something worthwhile.”

  Laurel nodded gravely. “I hope someday I can have a life again. But until this mess is settled, everything is sort of dangling.”

  “So, I take it you didn’t kill him?”

  “No,” Laurel said with a faint smile. “Dan is hoping to find some new evidence, but ...” She glanced toward him, then dropped her gaze. “I don’t have a lot of expectations right now.”

  “You wouldn’t kill him.” Judy picked up her coffee cup. “Now I felt like killing Paul, but I restrained myself. His new wife can do that if she wants to.”

  Dan smiled and sipped his coffee. Judy was coming through for Laurel, as he’d hoped she would. Soon Laurel would realize what a relief it was to have another woman who sympathized, someone from whom she didn’t have to conceal the past.

  “I was wondering if you’d be interested in looking at the autopsy report from the homicide,” he said. “I don’t have much experience in medicine, and it’s pretty technical.”

  Judy’s brows went up. “I’d be honored. That is, if Laurel doesn’t mind.”

  Tears welled in Laurel’s eyes and spilled over. “I can’t believe you want to get involved in this. First Dan, now you.”

  “I love mysteries. Bring it on.”

  Dan got up to retrieve the briefcase.

  For two hours they sat at the table, going over the data he had collected. Judy read the autopsy report with interest and explained some of the medical terms, but she found nothing that contradicted the court testimony given by the medical examiner. The time of death was placed at between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., the last hour before Laurel said she had arrived home.

  The story caught Judy’s interest, and she read the clippings and police reports avidly. Laurel hesitated, but then she, too, began to examine the papers.

  “It’s like it happened to somebody else,” she said at last. “They were so sure I did it, and no one would listen to me. Reading this stuff, I’m beginning to understand why. If I hadn’t been there, I’d probably believe I did it, too.”

  “There’s got to be more,” Dan insisted. “We’ve got your statement to the police, but there had to be other witnesses they questioned. I mean, it says right here—” He held up the thick court transcript and pointed. “The officers questioned all the close neighbors and came up with nothing. I want to see the original reports they made when they did that questioning.”

  He tossed the transcript onto the table and stood up to pace. “I wonder what would happen if I called this investigator with the Maine State Police, Lieutenant Dryer. I don’t want to stir things up if it won’t help, but I want to know if they’re still looking for clues, or if they’ve stuffed this thing in a file cabinet and forgotten about it.”

  “You could talk to my lawyer,” Laurel suggested.

  “Good idea,” Dan said. “Has he communicated with you recently?”

  “I called him Sunday night to give him the phone number here. He would have told me if there was anything new.”

  “Did you tell the court where you are?”

  She nodded. “I called Mr. Webster Monday morning.”

  “Laurel will have to talk to the attorney and authorize him to discuss the case with you,” Judy pointed out.

  “Are you willing to do that?” Dan asked.

  Laurel shrugged. “Sure. But I doubt it will do any good.”

  “It would be a start,” Dan said.

  Laurel glanced at her watch. “I have to leave for work now. I could call him tomorrow.”

  “Great. Call me when you’ve talked to him.” Dan began to gather up the papers. “By the way, your car was sold today. I’ll pick up your check tomorrow.”

  “Should I buy another one?”

  He shook his head. “Better wait and see what develops.”

  “I don’t mind if you use mine in the evenings a little longer,” Judy said.

  “Thanks so much,” Laurel told her. “For everything, Judy. I didn’t know how you’d react when you heard the whole story.”

  Judy smiled. “You kind of threw me in the ocean with my clothes on, but if there’s any way I can help, just tell me.”

  Laurel nodded soberly.

  “They should let you work at home soon, anyway,” Judy said. “I spoke to the CEO about it yesterday.”

  “I haven’t heard it yet if they are.”

  Judy scowled. “I’ll have to throw my weight around.”

  “Well, do it discreetly,” Dan said. “Come on, Laurel. I’ll walk you to the car.”

  They went out into the garage, and Laurel stopped next to Judy’s car.

  “Thank you, Dan.”

  “We’ve got to find something, that’s all.” He stroked her glossy hair.

  “If God wills,” she whispered.

  “How could He want you to go to prison?”

  “I don’t know, but it has happened to innocent people before.”

  Dan shuddered. “I don’t want to stir things up and make them decide to send you back to trial unless we find something positive.”

  “I know. But anything would be better than just waiting. I can’t go on indefinitely, knowing they could call me any day. I can’t move on with my life, Dan. Do you understand?”

  He took a deep, ragged breath. She was pleading with him to realize she couldn’t love him, couldn’t share a life with him, knowing it might be shattered in an instant. He held her gaze, but the ache in his chest intensified. “You’ve agreed to let me try to help you.”

  “I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t fair.”

  “It’s too late, sweetheart.” He pulled her against him, and just for a moment she let him hold her. Then she pushed away and got in the car. He stood looking after her as she drove away.

  Chapter 8

  “This Ryan is a private investigator?” Jim Hight asked, puzzled.

  “No, he’s a police officer.” Laurel tried to be patient as she explained her situation to the attorney over the phone.

  “In Ohio,” Jim said.

  “Yes.”

  “Ohio cops have no jurisdiction here, Laurel.”

  “I know that. And he knows that. He just wants to go over the records and see if anything was overlooked during the original investigation.”

  “I did everything I could.”

  “I know you did. I’m not suggesting otherwise,” Laurel said softly.

  “Why don’t you let sleeping dogs lie? If some cop starts poking around, someone in Augusta might remember that the prime suspect in this case is walking free.”

  Laurel held her ground. “Jim, a few months ago you told me you believed I was innocent. I want to be done with this. I want a new life, and I can’t have that unless the case is resolved.”

  He sighed. “You probably won’t have to wait much longer. They can’t put this off forever, and I expect to hear from the court any day. Does this guy have a private investigator’s license in Ohio?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, if he had one and you hired him as a P.I., it might be useful. He could do some work on this end, get at some records and things.”

  “He can’t just get them as a police officer?”

  “If for some reason the Ohio police were investigating you, yes, but there’s no reason for that. Is there?”

  “Of course not,” she snapped.

  “Okay. I’ll give Ryan what we have, but I doubt he’ll get very far with the state police. If he’s
not officially investigating … you see what I mean? I’m surprised he’s already got as much data as you tell me he’s got.”

  Not truly satisfied, Laurel called Dan at the police station.

  “Don’t be upset,” he counseled. “I’ve been praying all morning that he’d just be willing to talk to me. It’s a start.”

  “What about the private investigator thing?”

  “One thing it would do is allow me to get authorization to look at records without going through the police department. That might raise fewer red flags for the Maine prosecutor. I’ll ask Lt. Powers about it. I’m sure I could get a license, but it would take time. Maybe he could cut through some red tape for me.”

  “You think Jim is right, that you’d have more access as a P.I. than as a police officer?”

  “Not more access, but you know I’m not supposed to dig into this as a cop unless it’s official. As a P.I., I’d be less visible. And don’t want to draw attention to your case at this point.”

  *****

  Dan had several conversations with Jim Hight over the next few days, and the lawyer sent him a packet of photocopied documents. There wasn’t much there that Dan didn’t know already, and Hight seemed a little disgruntled that Laurel had turned to him for support. Dan called him again on his lunch hour Friday.

  “We put on a good defense,” Hight said stiffly, his pride clearly ruffled.

  “I read the transcript.”

  “You think we could have done more?”

  “I don’t know,” Dan admitted. “I wasn’t there. It seems to me you made all the pertinent points, based on what you had to work with. But I can’t help wondering if there was more that you never got a chance to work with.”

  “Such as?”

  “Interviews with neighbors. Clues. Anything that would point to someone else. Once they settled on Laurel as their target, the prosecution ignored everything else.”

  “And just what is everything else?” Hight asked. “I followed up every single lead.”

  “What were some of them?” Dan asked.

  “It’s all in what I sent you. A kid at the golf course said Bob took a call that morning during the golf match. I spent some time on that. Turns out his father called him about something connected with work.”

  “Yes, I saw that.”

  “The golf game ended early, so I interviewed Bob’s golf buddy. The guy had a headache, so they called it an early day.”

  “There’s got to be something else,” Dan insisted.

  “If there is, it never got to my office. I had the trial postponed last year, and again this spring, hoping for a break, but …”

  Dan sighed.

  “Look, if you can turn up something new, I’d love to hear it,” Hight said. “I believe in Laurel, but she made it difficult to defend her. She was pretty shell-shocked when it happened. I still believe that was because she loved her husband. Jail was tough on her, too. I don’t have anything new that will help her case, though.”

  “I have to try,” Dan said resolutely.

  “Well, if it’s that way, of course. I’ll do anything I can on this end.”

  Dan felt slightly better about Laurel’s choice of lawyers, but he knew it was up to him alone to find the crucial evidence they needed.

  *****

  By the weekend Laurel had accepted Dan’s tenacity. He had attended the string quartet’s two rehearsals, but had warned the others that he needed a hiatus from their rigorous schedule after Saturday’s benefit concert.

  “He committed to the concert with the rest of us a long time ago,” Judy said as she and Laurel cleaned up the kitchen Friday evening. “We’ll be helping raise money for the community college’s music program. But I’d say Dan’s found a critical cause now.”

  “I don’t want to take him away from his music,” Laurel said.

  Judy smiled. “I don’t think you have a choice. He’s decided to put all his energy into your case, so the quartet will have to work around that.”

  “Can I go to the concert?” Laurel didn’t want to miss the chance to hear Dan play. When Judy got her violin out in the evenings, she imagined Dan playing his instrument with the quartet. It was a part of him she was separate from, and she wanted to know that side of him.

  “If Dan thinks it’s safe,” Judy said. “I’d love for you to meet the others.” She poured the soap into the dishwasher. “Dan seems to be spending all his lunch hours and evenings on your case.”

  “Sometimes I feel helpless,” Laurel said. “I want to help him find something, so I answer his questions and read through reams of reports. But I don’t know what we’re looking for, and I think after a while he’ll do what my lawyer did and give up looking.”

  “Be patient. It’s a labor of love for him.”

  Laurel grasped Judy’s arm. “I can’t encourage him too much right now. If nothing comes of all his hard work, I can’t allow him to get too attached.” She picked up the dishcloth and scrubbed at the counter that was already clean. Judy watched her in silence. At last Laurel tossed the cloth into the sink. “It would be so easy.”

  “What would?”

  “To love him. But I can’t.”

  “I would laugh at you, but this isn’t funny.”

  Laurel bit her lip as tears filled her eyes. “No, it’s not funny at all.”

  Judy drew her into a hug. “It’s all right.”

  “No. It’s not fair to him.” Laurel sobbed, and Judy gave her a squeeze.

  “Dan is a wonderful man. I know you want to protect him.”

  “Is that unreasonable?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Laurel straightened and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. “Thanks.”

  “There’s just one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You can try to hold off on commitment because of your situation, but don’t kid yourself. You must know, Dan’s already committed.”

  *****

  “This thing about you and Bob fighting,” Dan said on Saturday morning. “We need to talk about it.”

  They sat in lawn chairs on Judy’s patio. Dan had scouted the neighborhood first, to be sure no strangers lurked about. Laurel felt lazy in the warm sunshine. She kicked off her sandals and stretched out in the chaise lounge. Judy sat nearby, leafing through a medical journal while Dan pulled files out of his briefcase.

  “What do you want to know?” Little white clouds scudded about high in the sky. Laurel would rather think about anything other than the Hatcher family.

  “You said you didn’t fight a lot.”

  “No.”

  “But you did fight some, about his family.”

  Laurel sighed. “Not at first. But toward the end, Bob wasn’t happy about something at work, and he wouldn’t tell me about it. He always told me everything before that.” She shot a glance at Dan.

  “How did you meet Bob?” Dan asked.

  Judy laid the medical journal on her lap and made no pretense of disinterest.

  “At school,” Laurel said.

  “Tell me more.”

  It’s for the investigation, she told herself. He has to know everything, even if it has no bearing on the case.

  “We met through a Christian organization on campus. They held Bible studies and sponsored activities.” She looked over at Dan, and he gestured for her to continue. “Bob started coming to the Bible study with his roommate. He asked the group to pray for him because he had to decide whether to go to work for his father after graduation, or cut loose from the family business. I put him on my prayer list and kept praying for him for weeks.”

  “So, it wasn’t love at first sight?” Dan asked lightly.

  “No. But I kept noticing him at the Bible study. He kept coming, and he seemed sincere. I could see that he was interested in me, but I tried not to encourage him. Until one day—”

  “What?”

  The memories of those days came back with clarity that hurt. “His friend told
me Bob wanted to take me to a play, but was too shy to ask me. Then I ...”

  “Quit not encouraging him?” Judy asked with one raised eyebrow.

  “Well, yes.”

  “Was Bob Hatcher an honest man?” Dan asked.

  “What?” She tried to suppress the annoyance his question raised.

  “It may be important to the case. Was Bob honest? And was he a true Christian?”

  “No doubt about that. He went against his family and everything he’d been taught.”

  “Tell me about that.” Dan’s voice was gentler.

  She thought back to that time, trying to be objective. “Well, the Hatchers aren’t billionaires, but they own Hatcher & Brody Construction, and it’s a thriving business.”

  “What do they build?” Judy asked.

  “Big bridges, a couple of dams, some substantial buildings, even some highway sections. Right now they’re building a prison in upstate New York.”

  “But they weren’t religious,” Dan said.

  “No, definitely not. And when Bob started going to church and talking about the Lord, his mother was furious. To her, religion is a social accessory.”

  “What about his father?”

  “Wayne was easier to get along with. He ignored spiritual matters. Whatever made Bob happy was okay with him, as long as Bob stayed with Hatcher & Brody and brought projects in under bid.”

  “So Bob decided to go into the firm when he graduated.” Dan shuffled the papers in one file. “He earned an engineering degree from the University of Maine.”

  “Right.”

  “When did you meet the family?”

  “That summer. When school got out, Bob took me home for a weekend. His mother hated me from the start.”

  “Why?”

  Laurel squirmed a little. “I don’t want to say jealousy, but I think it was difficult for her to lose her son’s attention to another woman. Of course, I wasn’t in their social class, and my folks were dead. Renata sort of looked down her nose at me, like Bob had brought home a filthy little orphan.”

  “And Wayne?”

  Laurel shrugged. “We got along better, but I was never really part of the family, except in Bob’s eyes.”