“My wife’s wristwatch.”
“Not surprising. She constructs her personality, a piece here, a part there, a wristwatch here, a face there. She demands to be whole.”
“There must be a prayer to say.” I was Catholic. It was all I had left in my tank.
“Part of the reason we wanted you to come here, Monsieur Gresham, was to see for yourself.”
Marcel released the back of my neck.
He said, “I saw this one time before in Nigeria. A shaman wearing another man’s face stitched to his own. It happens, Michael.”
It happens. That was as good as I was going to get.
Marcel clapped his hands—I looked up. Anything to bring me along, away from the photographs.
Marcel asked, “But now Jennifer is about to meet her end here in Paris. Will your court send her to prison or a hospital?”
Marcel had changed the subject. For my benefit. Who had friends like that? I rejoined the living and listened to Docteur Seurat tell Jennifer’s fortune.
“France is very quick to acknowledge mental disorders and excuse criminal liability. Likely, a hospital for our Doctor Ipswich. Wouldn’t you say that’s where a sick person belongs, gentlemen? Now, what about that wristwatch? I can probably get it back for you, eh?”
It was like coming up for air when we were back outside that building. I was undone, so Marcel made small talk, trying to calm me.
“What about supper?” he asked, totally out of sync with the world I now knew existed. “Duck à l'orange for yours truly. Wasn’t it braised how you liked your bird? The canard?”
Then it all came up.
76
Michael
Marcel and I testified at Jennifer’s trial for the murder of Karrol. French law allowed testimony of prior bad acts. So my testimony consisted largely of recounting the testimony in Jennifer's criminal trial in Chicago for the murder of Joe. Much to the prosecution’s chagrin, I was only able to say Jennifer was found not guilty.
“But did she do it?” the prosecutor asked me.
I could only repeat, “She was found not guilty.”’
“But what is your opinion? You do have an opinion?”
I thought hard about that. Then, “I have no opinion.”
Marcel testified about his inspection of Elise’s flat and discovering the body bags.
The prosecution for the death of Karrol, the Egyptian woman, proceeded to conclusion.
In the end, Jennifer’s mental condition sent her to a hospital. If she were ever found to have recovered, she would go to prison. At the time of sentencing, Marcel and I had returned to Chicago and were back at work in my law practice.
On the plane ride home, I wondered, Did she do it? Did she murder Joe?
77
Michael
A week after our return, I was paid a visit by Amanda Siegfried, a Chicago PD detective assigned to an insurance fraud case instituted against the absent Jennifer.
"Mr. Gresham," she began, "we are preparing to go to trial against Jennifer Ipswich in absentia."
"And what are the charges to be brought against her in her absence?” I asked.
"Jennifer Ipswich has been charged with insurance fraud. We have proven from a very thorough examination of the scene of the theft of the Qing Dynasty vase that Elise Ipswich had committed that burglary. We placed her there by a pair of blue nitrile gloves found in the hallway outside the medical offices, stuffed in a trash container. The gloves were turned inside out, and fingerprints lifted and compared to the fingerprints of Elise Ipswich. We also have CCTV of a woman wearing a face mask and a hoodie with a tiny icon on the back that matches the icon used in its advertising by LVP Partners."
"But how do you connect Jennifer to that theft?"
"You might not believe this, but the Qing Dynasty vase was found at Jennifer's hotel room in Paris the day she went to the funeral. It was inside a small locked safe simple to open. Along with one million dollars in cash.”
“She said the vase was stolen, but now she had it back?”
“Yes, Jennifer had the vase in her possession after the insurance claim had been made for its theft."
“She let Elise steal her vase, got the insurance money, and gave Elise the insurance money. Now they’re even.”
“Nicely summed up. Exactly so. Except Elise never got the money. Jennifer took it with her when she fled to Europe after the shootout.”
I said, “To say that I am amazed would be a gross understatement. But then, I'm sure you also know about the conspiracy to commit murder Jennifer faced in Paris. The two women had worked as one."
"Quite so. It also seems they had settled their differences about the property left behind by Joseph Ipswich."
"How so?”
"Jennifer’s cell phone provider turned over to us a series of text messages, in French, between Jennifer and Elise in which it was established Elise would consider her one half paid to her upon receipt of the Qing Dynasty insurance money. All was well between them at the time they murdered the Egyptian girl. Quite a client you had, Mr. Gresham."
"Yes, indeed." Now I understood completely. It was all about the Qing Dynasty vase. Jennifer just wouldn’t let it go. A woman—albeit not a very nice one—had died over that vase.
"And how is your wife doing by now? I assume she came through this well?"
"Yes, except now she requires official photo IDs from new patients."
78
Michael
I received notice Jennifer’s house was being sold Friday at an auction sale. I asked Marcel, did he want to attend? Maybe drop in and find what the cops had missed?
A look crossed his face just as I said that. A look that said everything and nothing. Then he clicked through the police report on his laptop, found the name he was after, and dialed a number. “Police department,” he said, his hand over the ringing phone. Then it was answered. He asked for Officer Bryant James of the third shift. Minutes later, a voice said hello. Marcel introduced himself. “You’re the officer who helped search the Doctor Jennifer Ipswich home. You remember that?” Pause. “You do? All right. Please tell me about the search. What did you do in the living room?” Reply barely heard by me. “What about the bedrooms?” Again, a long reply. “What about the kitchen?” More words, not as long this time. “And the appliances? The refrigerator? Everything opened? All right, Officer James, thank you so much.”
“What?” I didn’t expect that he had found anything. Not in that time.
“Oh, Sweet Jesus,” he said. “Be back in one hour, Boss!”
Sure enough, one hour later, he returned to my office.
He told me he went to her house, “let myself in.” He gained entry and went directly to the refrigerator. He held his breath as he opened the refrigerator freezer.
The ice cubes were still there.
He dished them into a plastic bag from a kitchen drawer.
Then he snuck back outside and hopped into his truck, and headed back south to Chicago.
Along the way, he stopped at Chicago Forensic Laboratory, a collection of ingenious chemists, botanists, serologists, and others just like them, all under one roof, all offering their professional services to industry and legal cases. Marcel pulled into their lot and found Inder Singh, a gentleman from India who sometimes did our work. He was both an organic chemist and biologist and knew everything there was to know about how to kill with substances. Marcel transferred his ice cubes to him.
“And this house where the ice came from? Its address, please?”
Marcel gave him the address of Jennifer’s house.
A week later, Dr. Singh’s report arrived, and Marcel came dashing into my office with it, a splash of yellow highlighter over these words:
Delphinium species are found throughout the United States and Canada, where they are also grown as ornamentals. They produce aconite.
Aconitum plants grow to 3 to 4 feet. The leaves are palmately divided into five lobes, which are divided into narrow segm
ents. Flowers, which are dark blue to purple or purple and white, are composed of five petal-like sepals, one of which covers the flower's top. The latter forms a hoodlike structure over the flower, hence the name. These plants, although perennial, dry up and appear dead soon after the onset of summer heat.
All parts of Aconitum plants are toxic, with toxicity greatest in roots and decreasing through flowers, leaves, and the lowest toxicity in stems.
FINDINGS:
The delphinium plant was found growing all along the subject’s slump block fence in the rear of the house. The plants were exactly as I have described. Photographs available.
The ice cubes: positive for aconite.
“She was almost perfect,” Marcel said almost in a whisper. “But she forgot the ice cubes.”
“So, she has the means of killing. Did she ever give Joe any of those ice cubes?”
He slyly smiled and slumped further down in the client chair he occupied on the other side of my desk.
“That,” he said, “we’ll never know. Because he—”
“—Because he was cremated by the widow.”
There was a long, thoughtful pause. I knew where this was going. We both reached the same conclusion at about the same moment: I had set a killer free to kill again.
“I’m out for the rest of the day,” said my friend.
“Yeah. I guess me too.”
We went our separate ways and never spoke of it again.
79
Michael
Following a trial in absentia, Jennifer was found guilty of insurance fraud after thirty minutes of jury deliberation.
The finding of guilt and the sentence of five years imprisonment was meaningless given the hold the French had on Jennifer. But now, the insurance company that had paid the $2.3 million loss was entitled to reimbursement by its insurance company, Great Reef Reinsurance Company of Australia. No doubt both insurance companies now had losses to be written off on their tax returns. Such was the nature of big business. Hey, I knew better than to ever worry about insurance companies.
Amanda Siegfried sent me a clipping a few weeks later. The vase had been sold in New York for an undisclosed amount to an anonymous buyer. The seller? Great Reef Reinsurance Company of Australia. Amanda had written on the clipping, Happy?
Happy? Happy the insurance company got its money back? Didn’t they always?
The whole business had exhausted me. Jennifer’s medical partners came to me about dissolving the medical partnership. I was unable to help them with that because I no longer represented Jennifer. The Illinois Medical Society interviewed me. They pulled her license. Finally, after all of that, I thought I was done with the Jennifer Ipswich case. Now I could move ahead, having done what I could for a very sick woman. It was a welcome relief to put her in the rearview mirror and say farewell.
But then, one evening, I was sitting in front of my TV watching Brian Williams’s news show on MSNBC when the cell phone in my pocket chimed. A text message had arrived. I pulled out the cell phone and read:
Love you, Hunk. Your Verona.
Did I dare show the screen to Verona, who was sitting right beside me, doing a crossword puzzle and half-listening to the news? Her cell phone was over on the kitchen counter in its charging cradle.
I decided not. She had been through enough over all this.
I turned my cell phone off. Tomorrow I would change the number.
It bothered me the rest of that night, however. And at one point, I got up and went and closed the curtains.
“I felt a chill,” I explained to Verona. “Just a small chill.”
* * *
THE END
Afterword
If you enjoyed this book, you can catch fan-favorite Michael Gresham again in the Michael Gresham series--where law and order are the focus of the stories. Start with Book 1: The Lawyer. Please see next page for link.
Also by John Ellsworth
MICHAEL GRESHAM SERIES
Michael Gresham Collectors’ Edition
The Lawyer
Secrets Girls Keep
The Law Partners
Carlos the Ant
Sakharov the Bear
Annie’s Verdict
Dead Lawyer on Aisle 11
30 Days of Justis
The Fifth Justice
Girl, Under Oath
THADDEUS MURFEE PREQUEL
A Young Lawyer’s Story
THADDEUS MURFEE SERIES
The Defendants
Beyond a Reasonable Death
Attorney at Large
Chase, the Bad Baby
Defending Turquoise
The Mental Case
The Girl Who Wrote The New York Times Bestseller
The Trial Lawyer
The Near Death Experience
Flagstaff Station
The Crime
La Jolla Law
The Post office
The Contract Lawyer
SISTERS IN LAW SERIES
Frat Party: Sisters In Law
Hellfire: Sisters In Law
HISTORICAL THRILLERS
The Point Of Light
Lies She Never Told Me
Unspeakable Prayers
No Trivial Pursuit
God Save the Spy
Red, White, and Spy (preorder)
LETTIE PORTMAN
The District Attorney
Justice in Time (preorder)
About the Author
* * *
John’s first published book, The Defendants, was published as John’s very first work in 2014. Thirty-five books later came Girl, Under Oath. “It’s my favorite book. I got to hit the gas.”
Website and email:
ellsworthbooks.com
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
Thank you for making this book what it is, Corinne DeMaagd, editor; no wonder you’re so busy. Your tireless, dedicated efforts gave this book the life it now contains. Words are not enough to thank you.
Thanks to Deb Ellsworth for speaking truth and listening to me talk about the book. Incredible help acknowledged and received.
As always, thanks to Max, Toby, and Nina for good company, for dozing beside me in my chair as I wrote this book, and for your endless barking at the world outside, as necessary.
Thanks to proofreaders: Ann Grubbs, Debra Ellsworth, and the ARC team.
Cover design by Nathan Wampler—you’re always spot on and ever the best. I can’t say enough good things about your art. [email protected]
Blessings, all.
Free Book for Email Signup
FREE BOOK SIGNUP!
Girl, Under Oath (Michael Gresham Series) Page 25