Don't Slay the Dragon (The Chronicles of Elizabeth Marshall Book 1)

by Rachel Lucas

  “Do you really think that drug worked on her?” He questioned. “You said before that she was very skilled at making the doctors believe she was integrated.”

  “I know. I’m still really worried about that. I need to get back down and visit with her again. I have to see for myself if she really has improved or it it’s just the best performance I’ve seen from her to date.”

  “Would you mind if I came with you next time?” His question surprised me. I had always considered this work I was doing with and for Lisbeth to be something I needed to bear alone. I had never had anyone actually volunteer to go with me. Not even my family.

  My first gut instinct was to go into protective mode where Logan was concerned. It seemed ridiculous for me, a tiny little thing, to be protecting this big, muscular, armed police detective. But I had experience with Lisbeth and the family members. I knew, mostly, what they were capable of. Logan really didn’t know first-hand what it was like. He would be fresh meat.

  Besides, I didn’t even know if Dr. Ross would allow it. He was so strict about who had access to her and who didn’t. Of course, if the medication had worked as he had claimed and she really was integrated, what better way to prove it than to invite in an unknown.

  But did I want to take that risk with Logan? I’d been worried enough about him during the shootout he’d been involved in. This time, I would be responsible for walking him into danger. I was so torn yet grateful for his offer.

  “It might be a good idea,” I reluctantly agreed. “If the drug worked, you should be fine, and I’m sure Dr. Ross would love having one more bit of proof that he has succeeded. But if he’s wrong, if Lisbeth or Sophie is really lying to us all, your presence might just tip her over the edge. I don’t know….” I was hesitant again, not sure I wanted to risk Logan, “if one of the others is there, Vesper, Slayer, Myst, the danger you could be in….”

  I couldn’t finish.

  “Why don’t you try to get Dr. Ross’ clearance first,” he seemed to understand my hesitation and was careful enough not to push me any further.

  “Ok,” I smiled in relief, “but you do know that automatic weapons aren’t allowed in the State Mental hospital, don’t you?”

  He patted the holster under his leather jacket and smiled in return.

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of lined yellow legal paper. “Do you remember my friend Jessica down at the county?”

  I nodded. Jessica was trying to examine the first picture of the Black Dragon we had found in Barbara’s closet. That seemed so long ago now.

  “She had found words hidden in the wings and body of the dragon,” he reminded me. He slipped the paper across the table towards me. Several words were written out in his bold handwriting. “Well, she called me today. She’s been working overtime on processing the scene of the shootout, but she’s managed to squeeze in a little time to keep working on the Dragon. Honestly, I think she’s intrigued. She’s managed to make out a few more words.”

  The first three words were ones I already knew about.

  Look. Under. Answers.

  Below that were a few more.

  Metal. Find. Safe. Help.

  “I know it’s not much. Does it bring anything to mind?” He encouraged.

  “Not really,” I said in confusion. “It’s almost as though she’s trying to say something, like she’s leaving clues for someone.” I read through the words again, hoping something would click, but it didn’t.

  “Don’t worry. Jessica’s husband just retired as the Deputy Sherriff and I think he’s driving her crazy with his boredom. She’ll keep working on it, if just to give her something to keep her busy if nothing else.” Logan gathered the papers back into the folder.

  It was getting late. Logan had mentioned he had an early day tomorrow. He was helping the local high school resource officer with a presentation at the school in the morning. My first class started at eight, so I needed to be going too. I was just reaching for my purse when my cell phone rang. Normally, I would just let it go to voicemail. I almost did until I saw who was calling.

  “Sorry, Logan, I should check this.” I apologized as I hit the “answer” button. He nodded that he didn’t mind.

  “Hello, Ms. Stewart? This is Mark Jacobs.”

  Chapter Fifty

  He always did that, announcing himself as though I didn’t have caller ID and wouldn’t recognize his voice. He charged forward without giving me a chance to reply. The excitement was evident in his voice.

  “I hope you don’t mind me calling so late. I just wanted to be the first to tell you. I just got the results from the county forensics lab today.” So did I, I thought, but it probably wouldn’t be wise to let him know I had other sources. “And I really think we have some good evidence to help Elizabeth Marshall.”

  “You do?” I asked, trying to sound surprised. I couldn’t help wondering just how much Mark really knew and what his take might be on our latest theory.

  Logan had paid the bill and we had taken the elevator to the ground level. I continued listening to the attorney as we walked through the lobby of the building and stood at the street curb waiting for the parking valet to bring Logan’s car around.

  “Yes.” Mark sounded slightly out of breath and in a rush to share what information he had with me. “The investigators are still trying to piece together what really happened, but it seems as though they’re disproving most the circumstantial evidence against Elizabeth.”

  That seemed about right. I wondered what more he knew or suspected.

  “What do they think really happened then?” I asked, wanting to see his take on the situation.

  “Well, they have some pretty strange theories,” I heard the hesitation in his voice. I didn’t blame him. I probably knew more about the evidence than he did and I was still having a hard time believing what direction it was all pointing.

  “Like what?” I encouraged. As I spoke to Mark, Logan and I climbed into his car and he started working his way through the busy city, around the TRAX trains and heading for the freeway entrance.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but some of the evidence almost seems to point towards Barbara possibly killing herself.” His disbelief at the notion was obvious in his voice. “I really don’t know if that’s even possible. She was stabbed thirteen times after all.” I knew what he meant. It would seem so improbable if I hadn’t just seen most of the evidence suggesting that first hand.

  “That does seem pretty extreme,” I tried to sympathize. “But if the evidence is suggesting that Elizabeth might not have killed her, then what’s the next step?”

  I was almost afraid to ask, mentally bracing myself for the months, perhaps years of legal red tape it might take to get the right people in the right places to believe Lisbeth was completely innocent. I had heard of countless cases that were tied up in the legal system for years trying to prove the innocence of a person that was at first thought guilty.

  “Well, first of all, I need to put all of this together and make some sense of it. Then I need to prepare a brief that proves her case.” He suddenly sounded exhausted by the thought of all that work. “Then we’ll see where I need to go from there.”

  Some of the misgivings I’d had about him when I first met him were starting to come back. Did he even know the process he needed to go through to have the charges against her re-examined? If he had been this inexperienced at trying a murder case, how could I possibly trust him to take this new evidence and get it to the right people in the legal system to matter?

  I was beginning to feel a sense of hopelessness at the thought of this dragging on for years.

  “It all has to be done very carefully. If I don’t-“ he paused and I heard a small beep in the phone. “Ms. Stewart, could you please hold for one moment. I have another call coming in.”

  “Of course,” I had hardly answered when I heard him switch to the other call.

  Logan looked at me in
question.

  “I’m on hold. He had another call,” I explained. Logan seemed to be following along with our conversation.

  “It sounds as though we still have a long road ahead,” I tried not to sound pessimistic but the process before us felt daunting.

  “Ok, Ms. Stewart, I’m back.” Mark announced at the other end. His tone was more up-beat, as though he had more purpose now. “I apologize for that but it was a very important call. I have some great news,” he paused for a moment to catch his breath. “That was my boss, the county attorney. He just got the forensic results too, and he’s ready to move on it.”

  “Move on it?” I asked, confused, what did that mean?

  “We have an appointment with the DA tomorrow morning at 11 o’clock. She’s agreed to review the case.”

  Chapter Fifty-One

  On the way home that night, we were so distracted by the call from Mark and the possible impact it might have that Logan just gave me a warm hug, a quick kiss on the lips and a promise for another date soon. I was too distracted myself to be more than just a bit disappointed.

  The next day I had back to back European History and Calculus classes that did a lot to divert my attention. I would be so happy when I could get my generals over with and be able to concentrate on my major.

  I made it to work at the law firm just as the other receptionist, Jamie, was gathering her books. She was another student at the University with me. Tough barely twenty she was smart and attractive. We were fortunate enough to be able to share this job. I had morning classes and worked in the afternoon while she worked mornings and had afternoon classes. It was the perfect fit.

  She filled me in on which attorney was in court and which was out to lunch. There were four attorneys in all, three men and one woman. There were also two paralegals/administrative assistants. Their specialty was family law, divorce, custody cases, estate planning and wills. I wish any of them had had experience in criminal law. It would have been helpful to get a second opinion on how Lisbeth’s case was being handled, but I felt as though I was too new to the firm to start asking questions about my own situation.

  Jamie had just left and I was pulling up my Outlook to check the upcoming schedules for the attorneys in case a call came in for an appointment. The large screen TV in the waiting area droned on. It was usually turned on to local or national news, depending on what was going on at any given day. I usually didn’t pay it much attention except for occasional background noise.

  “Coming up on the news at four, we have a story breaking right now and we’re the first to bring it to you. You might remember last fall, we brought you the tragic story of a mother in Riverview that was violently murdered in her home. Her only daughter was the main suspect. Later, the authorities found and arrested the daughter only to have her sent to the State Mental Hospital for psychological evaluation. It seemed as though the evidence against her was overwhelming, but we’re just finding out that there has been some new evidence discovered in the case. Stay tuned for more information that we’ll bring you only at four with a live press conference from the District Attorney.”

  I completely froze at my desk, grateful that I was alone in the office. Why were they holding a news conference already? In the back of my mind I had been wondering if I dared get my hopes up that this was good news, if I should get my hopes up. Since the call from Mark, when I wasn’t completely absorbed by school, I kept vacillating between hope that we could prove Lisbeth’s innocence, dread if for any reason we were wrong about it, and fear of the unknown future before her.

  When my cell phone rang and I saw Logan’s number, I answered it on the second ring.

  “Hey, I can’t talk long. I just wanted to prepare you.” His deep voice was immediately reassuring. “They’re about to announce a news conference.”

  “I know,” I sighed, “it was just on the news. Full coverage at four. Do you have any idea what it’s about? ”

  ”I’m not sure,” I noticed a bit of frustration in his voice, “but my Police Chief has asked me and Hammond to be there for it. We’ve on our way to the courthouse now for a de-briefing before the news conference. I think the DA might be releasing some of the evidence we were talking about last night.”

  “Why would they do that? I don’t know if it’s enough to run to the media with. It’s not as though the story has been in the news recently.” I was confused, but I didn’t usually get a behind-the-scenes look at a news event like this.

  I went over the new evidence in my mind. In many ways, it opened up more questions than it did answers. It would probably take considerable time to delve into and even begin to understand what was going on in Barbara’s mind What kind of motivation may have driven her to such an act, if indeed she really had killed herself? And to run to the media with this. So soon?

  “Politics. Publicity.” You could tell this wasn’t the part of his job he liked. “I hate to say it, but you know how the media works. They haven’t had anything of interest to cover since the shootout. They’ve covered that until there’s nothing else to say. It was great to see all the community support, but the local media has reached the point of acting like paparazzi. The last officer that was released from the hospital had to be taken out through the service entrance of the hospital in the middle of the night just to avoid the reporters. Now, there’s not much to cover about the shootout until the trial. The media is always looking for the next big story. And District Attorney Diane Castillo never passes up the opportunity for a good photo op.”

  He had a good point. Even though it was a small jurisdiction, everything time there was a crime with high media value or an important trial, DA Castillo was one of the first to hold a news conference or be available for a comment with a reporter. She was relatively young for a DA, in her mid-thirties, and was very ambitious in her career.

  “Do you think this might just be some kind of publicity stunt by the DA?” I asked.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” he answered. “It wouldn’t be the first time she took a small crime or trial and turned it into breaking news.” You could tell he didn’t have a very high opinion of her. “I guess I’ll find out soon enough. We’re just pulling up to the courthouse now and I have to get into this meeting. I’ll call you as soon as I can after the news conference.”

  “Okay, thanks Logan.”

  The call disconnected and I sat there in the empty reception area of the small law firm, the TV droning in the background. I wasn’t certain if the empty office was a good thing or not. My mind was racing with what the news conference might be about. There was no telling what the DA had on her agenda.

  In some ways, I felt as though Lisbeth, and myself as an extension, were simply puppets in this whole drama. As though we were just characters on some TV crime show, where all the evidence is neatly tied up and the suspect in question is found guilty or innocent within an hour. Reality is never so quick and clean.

  I knew I needed a distraction. The attorneys didn’t mind if Jamie and I did any of our studying at work, as long and the phones were always being answered and any clients coming through the doors were attended to. So I pulled out my calculus book to work on my next assignment but had a hard time concentrating on the formulas with my mind so distracted with other things. It didn’t help matters that every other commercial on the TV they had a promo for the four o’clock news and the upcoming news conference.

  I had been trying to complete this one equation for more than twenty minutes before I just gave up, slammed the book shut, and put it back into my book bag.

  Usually my time here sped by. The phone rang frequently, clients would come in and out for their appointments, the attorneys would be in and out and it was often a busy office. Today, though, seemed to drag on. The phone hardly rang, two of the attorneys were in court, one had the day off, and the last one was closed up in his office doing litigation over the phone. I had little to do than wait for the phone to ring and watch the clock until it reached four.

&
nbsp; I was on the phone making an appointment for a client requesting a divorce consultation when the news reporter came on the TV, announcing the “Breaking News” and the news conference about to begin.

  The camera cut away to a podium with several microphones attached to it. Every news organization in the state was represented there. I didn’t think it was coincidence that they had given enough notice on the news conference for every news station, newspaper and radio station around to have a reporter there.

  District Attorney Diane Castillo’s name was printed across the screen. She walked up to the podium, dressed in a dark red suit, her black hair cut in an expensive bob. An order man stood behind her. I recognized him as the County Attorney, Dan White. To his side were Logan and Detective Hammond, dressed not in their usual casual attire but their formal police uniforms. I’d never seen Logan in uniform. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he felt a bit stiff and uncomfortable in it. I could barely make out Mark Jacobs off to the side before the camera moved in for a close up of the DA.

  “Thank you for coming today.” Her lips were as dark as her suit as she spoke into the closest microphone. She paused for effect. You could tell she was adept at being in front of the cameras. “We’ve invited you all here today to make an announcement.” She scanned the crowd, taking in all the waiting reporters, confident on being the center of attention.

  I finished with my call, my total focus on the TV screen. She paused for effect again. She seemed to relish dragging this out.

  “Thanks to a very thorough investigation, we’ve been able to uncover new evidence in the death of Barbara Marshall. We’ve examined the case extensively and have determined at this time that we are going to drop all charges against her daughter Elizabeth Marshall.”