“My exact sentiments. I was wondering if you could find out where she’s filming or posing or conducting photo shoots, or whatever it is one does. Obviously, this is a subject I don’t know a lot about, which I’m sure my husband would say is a good thing.”
“Kat, my wife has read every book in your Lusty Series, and based on what she says, I think you know a lot more than you’re admitting to.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve been told I have a very active imagination.”
“Okay, I’ll leave it at that. Back to our porn queen. I know someone who owns a porn film studio. Don’t even ask. We’ve been best friends since we were kids, but we just went different ways. He’s helped me a lot in the past. Let me see what I can find out from him, and I’ll get back to you, probably first thing in the morning.”
“Good night, Dave, and enjoy your daughter and the YouTube show,” she said as she ended the call.
CHAPTER 24
Kat walked back into the dining room where Blaine was finishing up the last of the garlic bread. She sat down across from him and told him about the gun. “What would that indicate to you?” she asked.
“Same thing Dave said. That’s a very small pistol. It’s only about six inches in length and weighs about seventeen ounces, so it would be very unusual for a man to have one. I’m not saying a man wouldn’t, but it would be unusual. That’s a woman’s gun, because it’s so small and can fit easily into a purse or a pocket. Plus, women’s hands are generally smaller than a man’s, so the gun is easy for them to hold.”
“Does that mean you’re leaning towards a woman being the murderer?”
“On the face of it, yes, but criminals are very clever.” Blaine finished his glass of wine. “Using a gun like that could just be a ploy on the part of the murderer to make law enforcement think a woman did it.”
“That’s probably true. I also asked Dave to find out what he could about how and where Rebecca has nude photographs of herself taken. I’ll be curious to see what he finds out.”
“Kat, there’s a whole underground economy connected with the porn industry, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a warehouse not far from the sorority house where she could be privately photographed. I hate to eat and run, but I really need to look at my files and prepare for tomorrow. Ryan and I did a lot this evening, but I still have a couple more hours worth of work. I promise when this is over, I’ll do the dishes for a week,” he said grinning as he stood up.
Kat rolled her eyes and laughed. “I’ll definitely hold you to it. Go. I’ll take care of everything down here. I’ll let the dogs out as well and lock up. Do what you need to do.”
“Thanks.”
She did the dishes, let the dogs out, and was just getting ready to go up to her office and work on her book when her cell phone rang. “This is Kat,” she said.
“Hi, Kat, it’s Hannah. Sorry to bother you so late, but I found something that I think you might want to know about. It could have something to do with Judge Dickerson’s murder.”
“Well, you definitely have my attention with that statement, and no need to apologize. I was just doing the last of the things that needed to be done before I went upstairs for the night. Thought I’d work on my latest novel for a little while. What do you have for me?”
“I had a little time tonight, and thought I’d use it to clean out my purse. You know how things have a tendency to stay in there for months and even years?”
“I sure do. And I probably need to do the same.”
“Here’s the thing. At the very bottom of my purse I found an envelope with the return address of Mothers Against Pornography Addiction. It had a postmark from several months ago. I must have stuck it in my purse intending to throw it away, since that’s what Judge Dickerson always did, and it just migrated to the bottom of it. The thing I found interesting is that the handwriting is quite different from the one I gave you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Years ago, I took a course in handwriting analysis. I was fascinated by the differences in people’s handwriting and ever since then, I’ve been interested in the subject, even though I’ve never done anything with it. Kat, I make no claims to being some handwriting analysis expert, but I’d bet everything I own that the envelope I gave you was written by a different person than the one I have. I didn’t pay much attention to it when I gave it to you, but now that I think about it, I’m sure of it.”
“I have no idea what to think of that, Hannah. What I would like to do is pick up the letter first thing in the morning. I can take it to Dave, he’s the guy I’m working with in Nick’s private investigation firm, and see if his company has someone who can take a look at both of them. Would that be okay with you?”
“Sure, why don’t you come to the courthouse and pick it up? With the trial underway now, I’ll be in there about 8:00, so I can get a few things done before it gets started. Is that too early for you?”
“No, I’ll meet you there at 8:00. How do you like the new interim judge?”
“He’s really, really nice to work with. I’m sorry he’s retired, because I’d love to work for him permanently. I understand that a number of attorneys are thinking of running for the judge’s seat. Since I’ll be working for one of them, naturally I’m curious about what will happen.”
“Don’t blame you. See you in the morning.”
She looked at the clock on the stove and decided it wasn’t too late to call Dave. He answered his phone on the first ring. “Dave, it’s Kat. I hope I’m not calling you too late, but I figured you’d probably be watching the YouTube video. Am I right?”
He laughed. “Kat, I’ve seen it so many times I think I could do the dance, but I wouldn’t be anywhere close to being as adorable as my daughter is in it. An old man doing ballet might turn out to be a YouTube hit, but for all the wrong reasons. So, what can I do for you?”
She told him about her conversation with Hannah and then said, “Do you have someone who does handwriting analysis?”
“As a matter of fact, one of the people who works with me in the firm is a handwriting expert. You said you were going to pick up the envelope from Hannah at 8:00 in the morning. I’ll be in early working on a couple of things. Why don’t you swing by our office when you leave the courthouse, drop the letter off, and I should know something within an hour or so.”
“Thanks, Dave. If the last one was written by someone different, what do you make of it?”
“I think I’ve mentioned that I just tell you what I find out. How you interpret that information is up to you. See you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Dave. Good night.”
CHAPTER 25
“Good luck today. I’ll be sending you lots of positive thoughts,” Kat said the following morning as Blaine walked towards the door leading to the garage. He and Ryan were meeting in Blaine’s office before the trial resumed at 9:00.
“Thanks. I’ll call you sometime and let you know about dinner. Ryan and I will probably spend an hour or two after we get out of court today preparing for tomorrow. I’m so glad I have Ryan as my assistant, or I’d be even more lost than I am. See you tonight.”
At 7:45 Kat got in her car and drove to the courthouse. When she got in the courthouse, she saw Hannah down the hall unlocking the door to the courtroom where she worked. After Kat followed her in, Hannah said, “Here you go, Kat.” She handed her an envelope. “I hope this helps. Why don’t you get the one I gave you earlier? You know, the one that accidently spilled out of my purse, and we can compare it to the one I found yesterday buried in the bottom of my purse. We can spend a couple of minutes amateur sleuthing and see if there’s any difference between the two.”
They both looked at the handwriting on the outside of the two envelopes for a moment, and Kat immediately said, “You’re absolutely right. There’s a marked difference in the handwriting, but I don’t understand what the significance is, or if there even is any. I’m sure an expert can confirm our susp
icions. Thanks, Hannah, and tell Blaine hi for me, or actually, don’t. I don’t want to be the cause of possibly breaking his concentration,” she said laughing. “I’ll let you know what the expert says.”
“Please do.”
Kat had just gotten in her car and started towards Dave’s office when the Bluetooth in her car rang, indicating she had a phone call. She looked at the number, but didn’t recognize it. “Hello, this is Kat Denham,” she said.
“Kat, this is…” the woman said sobbing. “This is Nancy Malone.”
“Nancy, are you all right? You sound like you’re crying.”
“I’ll be okay. Give me a minute,” she said in a tearful voice. Kat didn’t know why Nancy had called her but thought if she was this emotional, it might be a good idea to pull over to the side of the road so she could give her full attention to the call.
“Kat, I looked you up when I got home, and I found out you’re married to Blaine Evans, the district attorney. I also found out that you’re an author, but I have a feeling the reason you wanted to talk to me had something to do with your husband being a possible suspect in Judge Dickerson’s murder. Is that true?”
“Yes and no. Of course I’m concerned about Blaine and the fact that the press has made references that he could be a suspect, but I’m also doing some research for a book I’m writing. Why?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone and then Nancy said, “I don’t know where to go with this. When we talked yesterday you mentioned Judge Dickerson was killed by a gunshot. Do you know any more about that?”
“I found out that a Ruger LC9s pistol was probably the gun used to kill the judge. The police have tentatively determined that was the type of gun used by the killer based on some distinctive characteristics of that type of gun. It has something to do with the type of entry wound it leaves on a victim. I noticed you became upset yesterday when I told you he’d been shot. Would you like to tell me more about that?”
Nancy continued sobbing and said in a halting voice between sobs, “Oh, no, I knew it, I just knew it.”
“Nancy, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What did you know?”
“I know I’m living in a nightmare that’s only going to get worse. It’s bad enough my daughter is a computer porn queen, but murder, I can’t believe it.”
“Nancy, please, what are you talking about?”
“I’m afraid Rebecca killed the judge.”
“Why would you say that? There’s no evidence to indicate she did it.”
“There is now. You see, I bought a Ruger LC9s several years ago for protection. I’ve always kept it by my bed in my nightstand. A couple of nights ago I noticed the drawer to the nightstand wasn’t quite closed all the way, but I didn’t think much about it. When you mentioned the judge had been murdered with a gun, I went home and opened the drawer. The gun was gone.”
“Nancy, I still don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”
“What I’m saying is I’m afraid Rebecca murdered the judge using the gun she took out of my nightstand.”
Kat was quiet, digesting what Nancy had just said. “Why would she do something like that?”
“I told her I’d disinherit her if I ever found out she’d posed for any more porn sites. I told you I’d hired someone to hack her email account, and I found out that the judge had threatened to get in touch with me and expose the fact that she was still posing for porn sites if she didn’t agree to meet with him. I imagine he saw me on television. I’ve openly said I would disinherit her if she was still posing on porn sites, so that’s probably how he knew to hold that threat over her head.”
“I suppose that could be a motive for Rebecca to commit murder, but as my husband would say, it doesn’t quite put the smoking gun in her hand.”
“Let me finish. You see, she’d gotten a traffic ticket, and I know she was planning on going to the courthouse late on the afternoon of the murder to pay the fine. She would have been there around the time of the argument between the judge, your husband, and the other attorney. I read about in the paper. Like several people who were in the courthouse that afternoon, she probably overheard it.”
“I see. Nancy, something just occurred to me. When was the last time you wrote the judge asking him not to contact Rebecca?”
“Let me think. Probably around five or six months ago. Why?”
“The judge received a letter with a return address of Mothers Against Pornography Addiction about a week ago. Are you telling me you didn’t send it?”
“No, I did not.”
“Nancy, let me ask you a question. Why did you call me?”
She started crying even harder and then said, “I’ve raised a bad seed, Kat. It’s time for me to be honest about it. All my life I’ve made excuses for Rebecca. When she was in elementary school and junior high I can’t tell you how many times I had to meet with the principal because of something Rebecca had been accused of doing. She was so smart she was always able to get out of whatever it was, but in my heart of hearts, I think I’ve always known that she did those things. A lot of people have suffered because of things she’s done.”
“You really think Rebecca murdered the judge, don’t you?” Kat asked.
“I do. You see, she knew how much I think of your husband, and that I supported him when he ran for district attorney. She always wanted to be the center of attention, no matter where she was or who she was around. I remember her being very angry with me for running a phone bank and calling voters requesting they vote for your husband.”
“Nancy, things are starting to come together for me. If she was in the courthouse the afternoon the judge was murdered, there’s a good chance she would have overheard the argument between the judge and Blaine, just like you surmised. If she was jealous of the time you spent on Blaine’s campaign, she might have seen having him become a suspect would be a way to get back at you as well as deflect any scrutiny she might get if she murdered the judge.”
“In her mind, which now I have to say is probably twisted, I would agree.”
“I’m also thinking it was very convenient that a newswoman was at the courthouse almost immediately following the discovery of his body as well as someone calling the newspaper. All of which pointed to Blaine being guilty. Wait a second, a thought just occurred to me.”
“What?”
“The judge’s court clerk studied handwriting, and she was the one who realized the handwriting on the envelope of the letter you wrote to the judge was not the same as the one he received last week. As a matter of fact, I was driving to a handwriting expert when you called. Would you happen to have something with Rebecca’s handwriting on it?”
“I’m sure I can find something.”
“Could I stop by and pick it up? I’d like the expert to look at it as well as the handwriting on the two envelopes. It would save me a trip if I took it to him now.”
“Yes. Here’s my address.”
Kat jotted it down and said, “I’m on my way. See you in a few minutes.”
CHAPTER 26
When Kat pulled up in front of the address Nancy had given her she was immediately struck with how well-groomed the brick house and yard were. Fall plants bloomed next to the sidewalk and under the windows. A bright yellow and orange fall wreath was prominently displayed on the door. The yard had recently been mowed and even though the trees were shedding their leaves in anticipation of winter, there wasn’t a stray leaf in Nancy Malone’s yard.
She knocked on the door and Nancy opened it immediately. She was nowhere near as put-together as she had been the day before when the two of them had met at Starbucks. Her hair was standing on end and smudged traces of yesterday’s makeup made her eyes look like a panda. “Please, come in. Do you have time for a cup of coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”
“No, the man who’s helping me get information is expecting me. Were you able to find a sample of Rebecca’s handwriting?”
“Yes, it’s a list of perso
nal items she asked me to get for her. She said she was running low on a number of things at the sorority house like Kleenex and things of that nature. Kat, I’d like to apologize for my drama during our phone call this morning. I’m not usually like that, but I think for the first time I’ve realized what my daughter is really like, and unfortunately, I’ve concluded she’s a scheming manipulating monster. I wish I could say I had nothing to do with the way she’s turned out, but I’m sure that isn’t true. I suppose we all have to bear some responsibility for how our children turn out. Obviously, I’ve failed miserably.”
Kat walked over to the distressed woman and put her hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “Nancy, there’s a saying I read years ago about a man in the 16th century who was watching a group of prisoners pass in front of him and he said, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ It’s always stayed with me, and I believe it’s pretty appropriate in this situation. I think what you’re going through with Rebecca is something that I could have gone through as well, but for whatever reason, my daughter chose a different path. Quite frankly, I’m not so sure I had a lot to do with it.”
“Thanks, but I’ll probably spend the rest of my life thinking about what I could have done to prevent Judge Dickerson’s death.”
“Nancy, we don’t know for sure that Rebecca is the one who murdered him.”
“You may not be sure, but I am. I know it in my bones, and I’ll help you however I can. Maybe I couldn’t have prevented his death, but I might be able to prevent someone else’s.”
“Why would you say that? There’s nothing so far to indicate that even if she is the murderer, she’s planning on murdering someone else.”
“When you’ve spent over twenty years with someone and your blinders are taken off, you finally admit a lot of things to yourself. That’s what I’ve been doing all night and this morning. She needs to be stopped before someone else becomes a victim. Something isn’t right with her. Please, tell me what I can do. At least maybe I can atone for the sins of my daughter.”
Murdered at the Courthouse Page 12