by Una Tiers
“And? Was Judge Dorothy involved?” I had never mentioned the rather large breasts in the pictures from the reception.
“No, we think she was in St. Louis. Judge Peur was spending time with King when he was trying to help her with the probate law. If they had meals together, she would have had to notice he was particularly careful about ordering food and asking about ingredients.”
“Ah.”
“And she had been to the Water Club reception several times and may have noticed that the menu was about the same each year. She also could have made one of the calls asking about the desserts. Desserts are where nuts are most likely to be found. Just like we saw in Chinatown. And she was probably the last person to see him alive.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“She was supposed to drive Judge Curie home, but she told him she had a date with a king. She immediately said it was a joke. So I interviewed her again and she had a glass like the monogrammed ones in your office in her office. And when I asked her about driving and ride sharing, she said she drove Judge Curie home.”
“No, I drove him home.”
“I know, and that’s why we started to look at her a little closer.”
“Let me ask you, why would Judge King eat strawberries if he was sick?”
“Why we don’t know. He had been at the reception a number of times and may have asked if the strawberries were plain chocolate or not. Judge Dorothy said he loved chocolates but always checked there was no peanut or other nut added to it.”
“But do you know whether or not he ate the strawberries with peanut butter?”
“Remember the stomach contents matched the reception with the exception of the peanuts.”
“I remember.”
“We didn’t consider he had some of the same food after the reception. That threw us off track. And he had two of the epinephrine pens, he had one with him. We guess the other was at the office. We didn’t find one at the apartment.”
“So you’re charging Peur with murder?”
“Yes. Because her acts resulted in his death. And, she could have called for help if she wanted to save him. But she didn’t.”
“Let me see if I’m following your explanation. Requin threw the will contest in Peur’s favor. That gave her plenty of money to pay him to help her get a judge’s seat.”
“That or money to pay to fix the trial and either more money or a reason to blackmail him to get her on the bench.”
“And he in fact got her into the probate department in a newly created position as a associate judge in training?”
“Go on,” he encouraged me.
“But, when the FBI approached Judge King about corruption, he was certain there was no corruption. And to prove his point, he tried to get Peur ready to take on a calendar of her own.”
“Right.”
“But, she still had troubles and a lot of complaints. So he would not be able to vote to renew her contract.”
“So when Requin and Peur realized that King either figured it out or was close to figuring it out, Requin baked a cake with peanuts in it and bought tainted strawberries as a backup plan. The cheesecake made Judge King sick but he had his medicine and only left the reception feeling sick but not so sick to head to the emergency room.” David summarized things again.
I paused. “That’s why Judge Curie needed a ride, Peur ditched him.”
“The club said the judges stayed late and ordered more coffee. They weren’t happy with staying any later because of the storm.”
“Right Fiona, and after Montreel dropped King off, Peur appears and brings him peanut butter chocolate covered strawberries. She likely said they were from the reception.”
“Why would she take the chance to pick up his keys and wallet from the hospital?”
“I don’t know, maybe she thought she could use the keys for his house to look for notes,” David guessed. “She had the keys late Monday, the day they found his body. She could have been there before and not made a mess.”
“Do you think you have enough to convict them both?”
“A deal is pretty likely. We’re dealing with two judges.”
“So do you have any proof that money changed hands between Peur and Requin?”
“We don’t. We’ll try to trace the money when it left Peur’s account. She had to deposit the inheritance and may have been sloppy. I don’t think we will find a huge deposit in Requin’s accounts.”
“Maybe you could look in his safe deposit box for cash.”
He kept looking at me sideways in the car. “We might do that,” he said.
“David, were Requin and Peur working together to…” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence.
“The word is murder Fiona. And no, we think they acted independently in a horrible coincidence. That’s what threw us off, we thought it was one person acting alone.”
I pondered things.
“Will you be able to complete the probate estate now Fiona?”
“Yes, I hope we will. There’s a lot of paperwork, we may have to get one of the kids appointed as administrator because the aunt is sick. And the condominium hasn’t sold yet.”
“I talked to Rosie this afternoon, her Aunt should be home in another couple of days.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes. After the announcement of the murder, she was afraid someone would come after her and she went to stay in the suburbs with family.”
“Why didn’t they tell me?”
“They should have. They didn’t tell us. Bob is known to not be able to keep a secret and the daughters wanted to deflect attention away from her by taking over the administration. They felt living in New York should keep them out of harm’s way.”
“That’s why they didn’t want me to visit her in the hospital.”
“You would have done that? I got the impression you didn’t get along with her.”
“No for some reason she doesn’t like me. Wait until she hears that we, the estate owes taxes. She’ll blame me.”
“I think I have the key to that too. We had a nice long talk with Bob about a lot of things. He had a part time job as a night watchman at the county morgue. He apparently can’t manage on his salary from the city. He’s also prohibited from having an outside job.
So he used his father’s social security number on the job application and never had the nerve to tell him. He thought the IRS wouldn’t dare bother a judge.”
“You didn’t find eighty some thousand dollars anyplace did you?”
“It was the payoff of the mortgage on the condominium.”
“No, I don’t think so, I did a manual title search and saw a mortgage on the property.”
“We found the deed in his paperwork at the condominium.”
“But why didn’t you tell me? And when were you in the condo?”
“As long as you were busy with financial loop holes you weren’t asking questions that might put you in danger.”
“And we found the answer to the empty bracket in the Judge’s hallway.”
“What was there?” I asked.
“It was a picture of the three children, Bob took it and destroyed it. He said he hated the picture.”
“What charges will be tried first?”
“The murder charges against Peur are the first on the table.”
“On the table?”
“We assume they will try to rat one another out. But there are charges for bribing to set the outcome of the case and for getting Judge Peur on the bench. There is a lot to pressure them with to avoid trials. That would be a zoo.”
“So you never found the notes King made about the corruption?”
“You had them.”
“In the estate paperwork? No.”
“No. When Claude picked up the Abraham Lincoln picture when you went to check out the paint, he noticed a lump on the back. It was taped over with brown grocery store paper. It didn’t look like a professional framing job.”
“I forgot
my picture in his car.”
“He deliberately took it with him. We’ll return it to you when we can.”
“The poor guy didn’t have a chance.”
“Judge King, no, he didn’t. Now our investigation is complete. Anyway, I appreciate the background information that you provided. Not to mention the photographs, the guest list, the baking store information, the picture of Lincoln...”
He was saying good-bye. This was not how I wanted to evening to end.
We were in front of my Aunt’s house, and there was a man standing at the top of her steps wearing a Dick Tracy hat. David pushed me down on the front seat as he bolted out.
“Stay down.”
Laying on the seat I heard feet slapping against the pavement and shouting and later some pretty blue lights flashing.
When someone tapped on the window I almost flew through the roof.
The shadow with the hat causing all the fuss was Bob. He wanted to talk about the case. The hat was his fathers. I am uncertain how he found my address.
When everyone was gone, including the neighbors, I knew they would have a lot to tell my Aunt when she returned. They would not only talk about my moving stuff out of the house but also about the police visit.
At her kitchen table, over wine, David explained that Peur was arrested early in the afternoon and that Requin never returned to court after lunch. While we chatted, we ate our leftovers from dinner.
“You thought Requin would come here?”
“I didn’t want to take any chances. That’s why I picked you up from work.”
My heart went ‘kerplunk,’ this was the final petal in the he loves me not bouquet.
“Can I call anyone to stay with you?” he asked.
“I have a lot of wine if you want to guard me.”
“Trying to keep me awake all night?”
I didn’t answer.
That’s about all that you reader, need to know.
The next morning I woke up, grateful for a good night’s rest. I felt safe again. I suppose I will think about Laslo King for a very long time. Sometimes the bad guys win.
Naturally I had more questions to ask David but I couldn’t bring myself to wake him, he was sleeping with a smile on his face.
Endnotes
This book is not legal advice, but a humorous way to look at the system. Chicago isn’t any more or less corrupt than anyplace else. We just get better news coverage.
Thanks for reading my book.
Wait, there’s more.
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Best,
Una Tiers
You can contact us at [email protected] we also take message for Fiona.