“You’re making a big mistake.”
“No, Mr. Pope, you are. If you come after me, do not think for one moment that I won’t come right back at you.”
CHAPTER 43
I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Mike Greene said as he carried two duffel bags loaded with Karl Burdett’s files in the Pope and Marsh cases into Amanda’s condo shortly after seven in the evening. Amanda gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
“You’re a prince,” she said as she picked up one of the bags and carried it into the living room. Amanda’s romance with Mike Greene had been rocky at times, but that had always been her fault, especially when she’d been traumatized by the events in the Cardoni case. What made her love Mike was his consistency. He was always there for her and he never judged her, even when she was at her worst.
“I would have been over earlier but I had to wait until everyone left, so no one would see me smuggling this stuff out,” he told Amanda as he hauled his bag to the couch and opened it.
“I’ll go through these files and you go through yours,” Amanda said as she sat on the floor. “Then let’s switch.”
“I assume you made coffee,” Mike said as he started pulling folders out of his bag, “because we have to get through this tonight so I can get the files back to the office in the morning before anyone gets in.”
“Fresh coffee and doughnuts are on the counter. I even bought some maple bars,” she added, naming Mike’s favorite guilty pleasure.
“It’s going to take more than a maple bar to get back in my good graces,” he grumbled.
“I’ll see what I can do, if we’re not too tired,” Amanda promised as she stacked manila folders in front of her.
IT WAS TEN o’clock and several cups of coffee later when Amanda and Mike got ready to swap.
“Did you find anything in your files or Burdett’s notes that was helpful?” Mike asked.
“No,” she said, disappointed, “though I did find something that I don’t understand.”
Amanda carried a folder to the couch and sat next to Mike. He opened it.
“This looks like a master file,” Mike said. “It has copies of the pleadings, correspondence.”
“That’s what I figured, but what’s this?” she said, pointing to a line on a log sheet that was stapled to the left inside cover. “A lot of the entries were made twelve years ago, but look at this entry.” Amanda pointed at the numbers and letter: 1253X. “It was made yesterday. Do you know what it means?”
“Sure. Washington County wanted to have a copy of the file to work on while we were looking at Karl’s original file. That’s a record of the number of pages that were copied. The file is a little more than twelve hundred pages long.”
“Okay, that’s what I figured. But look at this entry,” Amanda said, pointing to an earlier, recent entry that read 1209X.
“That probably refers to another copy of the file,” Mike said.
“Yeah, but see the date and time the copies were made? That’s the afternoon of the day I visited Hillsboro and told Burdett that Charlie was returning to Oregon to face the charges against him.”
“I don’t see where you’re going. I usually make a copy of my file so I can break it up when I make files for individual witnesses.”
“If the office had a duplicate file when you asked them to make a copy, why did they need another one?”
Mike’s brow furrowed.
“On the day I told him Charlie was returning to face trial, I think Karl made a copy of his complete file for someone who is not in the DA’s office.”
“Who would want something like that?”
“Remember I told you how upset Burdett was when the sniper took his shot at Charlie?”
“Yeah.”
“I think Burdett might have been killed because he put two and two together and came up with Arnold Pope as the man behind the assassination attempt on Charlie and the murders at Sally Pope’s house.”
“That’s some stretch, Amanda.”
“With Gary Hass out of the picture, who other than Senior would want Charlie dead? Revenge is an obvious motive for the attack at the courthouse. Arnold Pope Sr. could order Burdett to make a copy of the case file and expect to be obeyed. He could order Burdett to set free the man he held responsible for his son’s murder so he would be out of jail, where an assassin could take a shot at him.”
Mike frowned.
“I’m certain Sally Pope was used to lure Charlie out of his hotel so he could be killed after the first attempt at the courthouse failed,” Amanda went on. “If Charlie’s mysterious savior hadn’t appeared on the scene, Sally and Charlie would have died. Pope is the only person I can think of who would want both of them dead.”
As she spoke, an image of Nathan Tuazama flashed through her brain, but she decided to keep that information confidential. Besides, Tuazama wouldn’t kill Charlie before he had the diamonds.
“It’s a stretch, Amanda, and you haven’t given me any hard evidence to work with.”
“You’re right about the proof part but you have to admit my idea makes sense. When Agent Cordova told Burdett that Gary Hass couldn’t have been the sniper, I think Burdett realized that Pope was behind the attempt on Charlie at the courthouse. What if he confronted Pope? What if Pope became worried that Burdett would tell someone his theory? Pope could have had the same person who murdered Sally take care of Burdett.”
“That’s a lot of what ifs.”
“What about Kevin?”
“Sally’s son?”
“Why isn’t he dead, Mike? Arnold Pope Sr. is obsessed with getting custody of his grandson. The person who killed Sally also killed her personal assistant and her dog but he never hurt Kevin. I think Kevin is alive because Arnold Pope ordered the killer to make certain that he survived unharmed.”
“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” Mike said.
Amanda thought of something else, the photograph of Karl Burdett and Tony Rose carrying hunting rifles that she’d seen in the DA’s office.
“Are you ready to switch files?” Mike asked.
“Yeah,” she answered, still distracted by her epiphany. She decided that she would keep this idea to herself until she talked it over with Kate.
“Why don’t we just trade places?” Mike said.
“Good idea.”
Mike sat on the floor and Amanda went to the couch. At 11:25, she was going through a stack of photographs when she came across the original of the photograph of Charlie Marsh and his entourage at the Dunthorpe mansion, which Kate had told her was missing. She picked it up and studied it. She had met Mickey Keys and Charlie but it was interesting to see what Delmar Epps looked like. As she studied Epps, her eyes strayed to his waist. The bodyguard was wearing a loose jacket. He was in mid-stride and the movement of his body had brought the fabric out and back. Amanda brought the photo to eye level. Yes, she could make out the butt of a revolver. Then she saw something else in the photograph. Her breath caught in her chest and she knew why the photograph was missing and who had taken it. When Mike wasn’t looking, Amanda slipped the photograph under the cushion on the couch.
CHAPTER 44
Mike and Amanda got to bed a little before one, too exhausted for the second night in a row to do anything but sleep. The couple kept changes of clothes at each other’s condos and Mike was showered and shaved at five in the morning so he could get into his office with the files without being seen.
Amanda tried to go back to sleep after Mike left but questions raised by last night’s revelations bombarded her. Was Arnold Pope the mastermind behind these murders? Was Tony Rose the sniper? And there was the photograph from the Dunthorpe seminar. Charlie could help her there, so Amanda showered, dressed, and headed for the hospital.
When she arrived, Charlie was sitting up in bed.
“Have you heard about Karl Burdett?”
“It was on the news but they didn’t say anything except that he’d been shot and you found him. How did t
hat happen?”
Amanda told Charlie about the phone call.
“Do you have any idea why Burdett wanted to see you?” Charlie asked when Amanda finished her recap of the night’s events.
“He didn’t say.”
“But he said it was about me, about the case?”
Amanda nodded.
“What’s going to happen now that Burdett is dead?”
“You’re still under indictment. An interim DA will be appointed—probably Wanda Simmons, the chief criminal deputy—and someone will be assigned to prosecute the case.”
“They’ll still go after me after all that’s happened?”
“Werner Rollins did retract his testimony, so they don’t have any direct evidence that you shot Pope. I’ll try to convince the DA that enough questions have been raised to warrant a dismissal.”
“What about all these people who’ve been trying to kill me? Shouldn’t that make them think they’ve got the wrong man?”
“You’re on trial for a murder that happened twelve years ago. There’s no hard evidence that the current rash of murders has anything to do with the congressman’s murder.”
“Come on. It’s obvious.”
“The only thing that’s obvious is that someone is after you. That could be because they think you murdered Arnold Pope Jr. and they want revenge.”
“You mean Arnie’s father?”
Amanda nodded. “I think there’s a good possibility that he hired someone to kill you.”
“Who?”
“I don’t want to say right now, but I’ve seen the list of witnesses Pope is calling at the guardianship contest, so I might know more after the hearing.”
“You think there’s a tie-in between Senior’s attempt to get custody of Kevin, Junior’s murder, and the attempts on my life?”
“I think it’s possible, but I’m open to suggestions. Besides Senior, can you think of someone else who might want you dead?”
Charlie looked nervous. “No. I mean there’s Tuazama, but—like I said—I don’t think he’d kill me until he got the diamonds.”
“So, you can’t think of anyone else?”
“No.”
Amanda opened her attaché case and took out a manila envelope. Inside the envelope was the photograph she’d stolen from Karl Burdett’s file. She took it out and laid it on top of the blanket on Charlie’s bed.
CHAPTER 45
The Honorable Maria Gomez took the bench and the parties in the case of In re Kevin Pope stood until she was seated. Judge Gomez was in her mid-forties. The wiry six-foot jurist had played on the LPGA tour until she gave up golf for law school. Then she’d brought her competitive drive to the legal profession, where she’d been one of the top domestic-relations lawyers in Oregon before the current governor elevated her to the bench. She was a no-nonsense judge who liked to move cases along and she disliked lawyers who were unprepared or wasted her time.
Sitting at one counsel table next to Arnold Pope Sr. was Andrew Curry, a stoop-shouldered, balding attorney with a skeletal build. Curry was nicknamed “the Vampire” because of the ruthless way he practiced law and a bloodless complexion that was the result of long hours spent indoors working on ways to win divorce and custody battles for his clients. Curry wore the nickname with pride. Nobody liked him but everybody recommended him to a spouse who wanted an ex destroyed, destitute, and demoralized.
Frank Jaffe sat across the aisle from Pope and Curry, and Amanda sat next to her father so they could confer. Liam O’Connell was next to Amanda. Kevin was not present, because custody hearings were often wars of character assassination and the accusations of biased witnesses were best left unheard by the child who would have to live with one of the maligned parties.
“Let me see if I understand the background of this case, Mr. Jaffe,” Judge Gomez said. “Sally Pope was Kevin Pope’s mother and Arnold Pope Jr. was his father. Mr. Pope passed away twelve years ago and Mrs. Pope raised her son until her recent death. Mr. O’Connell lived with Mrs. Pope and Kevin for approximately five years before her death. In her will, Mrs. Pope named Mr. O’Connell as Kevin’s guardian and Mr. O’Connell filed a petition requesting me to appoint him Kevin’s guardian.”
“That’s correct, Your Honor,” Frank Jaffe said. “I also want to make sure that you know that it was Mrs. Pope’s specific wish—which she spelled out in her will—that Arnold Pope Sr. never be allowed to be Kevin’s guardian. She was adamant while alive, and in her will, that Mr. Pope Sr. should never have contact with her son.”
“I’m aware of that and I will consider Mrs. Pope’s wishes very seriously when I make my decision. But I’m not bound by them. My main concern is the best interests of the child, Kevin Pope.”
The judge turned her attention to Senior and his attorney. “Mr. Curry, your client filed objections to Mr. O’Connell’s petition seeking guardianship and today I’m going to decide who will be appointed Kevin’s temporary guardian until a full-fledged hearing can be held. Is that correct?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Then it seems to me that Mr. Pope has the burden of proof, since the will asks the court to appoint Mr. O’Connell as Kevin’s guardian.”
Curry stood so rapidly that Judge Gomez had the impression that she had missed part of the transition from seat to feet. It was like watching a film from which several of the frames had been removed.
“Your Honor, I respectfully disagree with your holding. We believe that Mr. O’Connell should bear the burden of convincing this court that he should be appointed Kevin’s guardian. Oregon law recognizes that grandparents have substantial interests in their grandchildren. A sexual partner with no blood ties to the child should not be granted superior rights to a grandparent.
“Furthermore, we take issue with Mr. Jaffe’s position that Mrs. Pope’s rabid and unjustified dislike of my client should play any part in the court’s decision.”
“I appreciate your position, Mr. Curry. I may be wrong on the issue of who bears the burden. If I am, the appellate court will straighten me out. But you brought this petition challenging the will, so I’m holding that you have the burden of convincing me that Mr. O’Connell should not be appointed Kevin’s temporary guardian. Are you ready with your first witness?”
BEFORE THE NOON recess, a child psychiatrist, who had been hired by Senior, testified that he would make an excellent guardian for Kevin. Then Curry called several prominent Oregonians, including one of Oregon’s United States senators, who testified to their belief that Arnold Pope Sr. loved his late son and his grandson and would make an excellent guardian for Kevin. During cross-examination, Frank Jaffe established that each witness was biased by a financial or personal relationship with Senior. He also got them to admit that they knew nothing about Liam O’Connell’s fitness to raise the boy.
As soon as court reconvened after lunch, Judge Gomez told Curry to call his next witness. Tony Rose straightened the jacket of his charcoal black pinstripe suit, adjusted his maroon silk tie, and walked to the witness stand looking every bit the successful business executive.
“Mr. Rose, what is your profession?” Curry asked after the witness was sworn.
“I’m the president of Mercury Enterprises. We manufacture sporting equipment.”
“Your company also sponsors the Mercury training program for our Olympic athletes, does it not?”
“Yes, sir. There are several American athletes who have earned Olympic medals after taking advantage of our training facilities.”
“Can you please tell the judge a little about the activities of Mercury worldwide?”
“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Curry,” Judge Gomez said. “I’m well aware of who Mr. Rose is and what Mercury does. I doubt that there’s a person in Oregon, or the United States for that matter, who can’t identify the Mercury logo.”
“Very well, Your Honor. Mr. Rose, are you acquainted with Arnold Pope Sr.?”
“I am.”
“How long have you known him?
”
“More than ten years.”
“What is Mr. Pope’s reputation in the business community of this state?”
“Well, if I might, I think ‘state’ is too narrow. I would say that his reputation for integrity is something people across the nation are aware of.”
“Have you ever had occasion to discuss Arnold Pope Jr. with him?”
“Yes, sir. He was devastated by the loss of his son. He still is.”
“Has he ever discussed his grandson, Kevin Pope, with you?”
“Yes, sir. I am hard pressed to say what has affected him more, the death of his son or Sally Pope’s decision to cut off all contact between Mr. Pope and his grandson.”
“Do you think Mr. Pope would make a suitable guardian for his grandson?”
“Unquestionably. He loves the boy very much and would be able to give him all the advantages of his name and position.”
“Your witness, Mr. Jaffe,” Curry said.
“Your Honor, my co-counsel will handle the cross-examination of this witness.”
“Very well, Miss Jaffe,” Judge Gomez said.
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Amanda replied before turning her attention to Tony Rose.
“Mr. Rose, your company’s brochure, television commercials, and magazine and Internet ads portray you as a sportsman. Is that accurate?”
“Yes.”
“You were a top high school tennis player before you joined the army?”
“Yes.”
“And you were good enough to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I championships as a senior at Ohio State?”
“That’s true.”
“Then you played professionally for two years before becoming the club pro at the Westmont Country Club?”
“Also true.”
“There are television commercials for Mercury Enterprises that show you volleying with Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Gary Posner.”
“Yes, but I don’t do nearly as well when the cameras aren’t rolling,” Rose answered. Judge Gomez smiled and several spectators laughed.
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