Fresh-Baked 07 - Wedding Cake Killer

by Washburn, Livia J

  Phyllis didn’t think there was anything nice about Eve having to go to court.

  Juliette called that evening to remind them to be at the courthouse at eight thirty the next morning, as if they would forget anything that important, Phyllis thought. Maybe after the arraignment she could sit down with the lawyer and fill her in on everything that she and Tess had found out. Juliette needed the information about the other possible suspects in order to start formulating a defense for Eve.

  *

  Even though the weather had improved, there was still a chilly wind blowing as the four of them climbed the courthouse steps the next morning shortly before eight thirty. Juliette was waiting for them just inside the lobby, looking as trim and efficient as ever.

  “Let’s sit down,” she said as she nodded toward a couple of benches along one wall. “I’ll go over everything that’s going to happen this morning.”

  Eve sat next to Juliette, with Carolyn on her other side. Phyllis and Sam took the other bench, which was close enough for them to hear everything Juliette said.

  “There are a number of cases being arraigned this morning, but yours should be one of the first. It wouldn’t surprise me if Sullivan managed to get it first in line. He won’t want the press sitting around getting bored with the tedium of going through other cases. And trust me, it is tedious.”

  Carolyn said, “I still don’t understand how the man thinks that persecuting someone like Eve will help him get reelected.”

  “A murder conviction is a murder conviction, no matter who the defendant is,” Juliette said. “And by next November, a lot of the voters won’t remember the details of the case. They’ll just remember that Sullivan won. That’s what he’s counting on, anyway.”

  It would certainly be nice to mess up those plans of District Attorney Sullivan’s, Phyllis thought.

  “The proceedings this morning shouldn’t take long,” Juliette went on. “The clerk will read the charge, and the judge will ask how you plead.”

  “Not guilty, of course,” Eve said.

  Juliette nodded. “That’s right. The clerk will enter your plea, and the judge will bind the case over for a grand jury hearing next month. Sullivan will want to get to this one as soon as he can.” She paused. “There’s one more thing. It’s possible he’ll ask the judge to revoke bail. I think the odds of him doing that are small, and even if he does, the odds of the judge granting the request are even smaller. But I don’t want you to be surprised if it does happen.”

  “I haven’t gone on the lam so far,” Eve said. “I don’t think I’m likely to now.”

  Juliette smiled. “If it comes up, I may ask you to repeat that for the judge.”

  “Will it be the same one who did the bail hearing?”

  “No, we’ll be in Judge Schumacher’s court this morning. She can be pretty tough, but she follows the law.”

  “She?” Carolyn said.

  “Don’t think that’ll make any difference in how she rules,” Juliette warned.

  “But being a woman, she might understand what sort of man Roy really was,” Carolyn persisted.

  Juliette shook her head. “I wouldn’t even play the gender card. Trust me on this.”

  “I do, dear,” Eve said. “My fate is in your hands.”

  “No pressure there,” Sam said.

  “It’s going to be all right,” Juliette said. “We’ll just take everything one step at a time.”

  It was close enough now to nine o’clock to go upstairs. They took the elevator to the second floor this time, and Juliette led them down the hall to the courtroom. The corridor was fairly crowded. For the most part, it was easy to separate the lawyers in their conservative suits from the more casually dressed defendants they were there to represent.

  There were also several reporters on hand. When they started toward Eve, Juliette shook her head, held up a hand, and said, “No comment.” She ushered Eve past them through the doors of the courtroom.

  When they went inside, Phyllis saw that Timothy Sullivan way Sullivs already at the prosecution table with one of his assistants. There was no way he was going to let an underling handle any of this case, she thought. That was an indication that Eve’s case would be the first on the docket.

  Phyllis would have been willing to bet that Sullivan hadn’t told the reporters, “No comment,” when they asked him about the case.

  Phyllis, Sam, and Carolyn took seats in the second row of spectator benches while Eve and Juliette went to the defense table. Juliette gave Sullivan a polite smile and a perfunctory nod. He returned the nod but not the smile. Eve didn’t look at him.

  Phyllis expected Judge Schumacher to be a few minutes late, as Judge Hemmerson had been at the bail hearing. However, when the clock on the wall indicated that it was exactly nine o’clock, a door at the side of the room opened and the clerk came in, followed by the bailiff. The bailiff looked back over his shoulder as if checking to make sure he should go ahead, then told those in the courtroom, “All rise.”

  The judge was a middle-aged woman with graying blond hair. When she had taken her seat behind the bench, the bailiff told everyone else to be seated, too. When the hubbub from that had quieted down, Judge Schumacher said, “Good morning. The clerk will read the first case.”

  From her desk, the clerk gave a case number, then said, “The State of Texas versus Eve Porter.”

  “Is Eve Porter here?” the judge asked … even though she probably knew good and well who Eve was and could see her there at the defense table a dozen feet away, Phyllis thought.

  Eve and Juliette both stood up. “Juliette Yorke representing Mrs. Porter, Your Honor.”

  Judge Schumacher nodded to the clerk and said, “Read the charge.”

  The clerk said, “In the matter of the State of Texas versus Eve Porter, the defendant is charged with murder in the second degree, a felony.”

  “How do you plead to this charge, Mrs. Porter?” the judge asked.

  Phyllis saw that Eve’s hands were trembling just a little. It must have been quite an ordeal for her, having to stand up there and listen to the clerk read the charge. Juliette must have noticed the trembling, too. She put a hand lightly on Eve’s arm.

  Then Eve lifted her head, squared her shoulders, and said in the same sort of loud, clear voice she had used for years in her classroom, “Not guilty, Your Honor.”

  At that moment, Phyllis was extremely proud of her.

  “Very well,” the judge said. “Your plea will be entered, and your case will go before the grand jury in its next scheduled session. Mr. Sullivan, do you have anything?”

  This was the moment where things might take a bad turn, Phyllis recalled. The district attorney could ask that Eve’s bail be revoked, and even though Juliette thought that was unlikely, the mere possibility of it was enough to make Phyllis worry. The way Carolyn had her hands clasped tightly together in her lap told Phyllis that she was worried, too. Even Sam’s customary nonchalant demeanor had vanished as he sat stiff and straight on the hard wooden bench.

  Sullivan took his time getting tome getti his feet. He had to know that all eyes in the room were on him, and he probably enjoyed the feeling. He leaned slightly forward, rested his fingertips on the table, and shook his head.

  “Nothing, Your Honor.”

  Schumacher nodded. “Very well. We’ll move on to the next case.”

  Phyllis managed not to heave an audible sigh of relief. Eve was still free on bail, and that wasn’t going to change. She could continue living at the house while Phyllis, Sam, and Tess Coburn continued working to clear her name. Even though this court appearance hadn’t been pleasant, it hadn’t been too bad, either, and now some of the pressure was off for a while.

  As much as the pressure could be off while Eve was still facing a murder charge, Phyllis reminded herself.

  Eve and Juliette left the defense table and came through the gate in the railing to join them as Phyllis, Sam, and Carolyn got to their feet.

  “
Is that it?” Carolyn asked.

  “That’s it,” Juliette said. “We can all go now.”

  They left the courtroom and stepped out into the crowded hallway. “Now what?” Eve asked.

  “Now we keep working on your defense,” Juliette said. “There’s a chance the grand jury will decline to indict you on the charge, but I seriously doubt that’s going to happen unless we can come up with some new evidence between now and then.”

  That was where she came in, Phyllis told herself, because the authorities certainly weren’t going to continue investigating. They had already done their job, at least to their way of thinking.

  Once again telling the reporters that she and her client had no comment, Juliette began leading the way through the crowd. It thinned out the farther away they got from the courtroom. They headed for the elevators, which were beyond the landing where the staircase with its brass banisters led up from the first floor.

  A couple of sheriff’s deputies stood near that landing, blocking their path, and as the group approached, Timothy Sullivan appeared f

  rom somewhere and joined the deputies. Phyllis frowned as she saw Sullivan speak to the deputies and nod toward them.

  Neither of the uniformed men looked happy about being here, and that made the concern Phyllis suddenly felt increase even more. Then Sullivan stepped out in front of the deputies to confront Phyllis and the others as they came to a stop.

  “What’s going on here?” Juliette asked.

  Sullivan ignored her. He said, “Mrs. Newsom, I have to ask you to go with these officers.”

  Phyllis’s heart thudded heavily in her chest, and she seemed to hear the blood roaring in her head. Despite that, she was able to maintain a calm tone as she asked, “Why should I do that?”

  The district attorney couldn’t keep a smile off his face as he said, “Because you’re under arrest.”

  Ҁ://

  Chapter 30

  Even though Phyllis had a pretty good idea, in those brief few seconds before Sullivan spoke, of what the district attorney was going to say, his words still came as a shock to her. She stood there in silence while Carolyn exclaimed, “Under arrest!” loudly enough to make everyone in the hallway stop talking and turn to look at them.

  Juliette moved in front of Phyllis, shielding her from Sullivan and the deputies, and asked sharply, “What are the charges?”

  “Obstruction of justice and interfering with an investigation, to start with,” Sullivan said. “More charges may be forthcoming once we’ve looked further into the matter.”

  “Into what matter?”

  Sullivan turned his narrow-eyed gaze on her. “Are you representing Mrs. Newsom, counselor?”

  Juliette looked back at Phyllis, who gave her a curt nod. Phyllis didn’t really trust herself to speak right now, so she was very glad Juliette was here.

  “I am,” Juliette told Sullivan.

  “Then I suggest when you have a chance to talk to your client again, you ask her what she’s been doing to get herself arrested.” Sullivan motioned to the deputies. “Take her into custody.”

  Both men looked like they would rather be anywhere else in the world right now, but they had no choice except to do as the district attorney ordered them. One of them, a beefy young man who looked vaguely familiar, said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’ll have to come along with us.”

  “Chuck Murphy?” Phyllis asked. The name had popped into her head.

  The deputy winced. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You were in my class, what, fifteen years ago?”

  “Seventeen, ma’am.”

  “That’s enough,” Sullivan said. “This isn’t a junior high reunion. Arrest her.”

  “We’re trying to, … sir,” Chuck said.

  “This is crazy,” Sam said. “Phyllis hasn’t broken any laws.”

  Sullivan sniffed in disdain. “That’ll be up to a judge and jury to decide.”

  Eve said, “And it’ll be up to the public to decide whether you’re a decent district attorney, dear, or just a bully who likes to terrorize innocent old ladies.”

  Sullivan’s face darkened. “You can’t—”

  “A citizen still has a right to express an opinion,” Juliette interrupted him. She nodded toward the reporters who stood nearby, writing furiously in their notebooks. “And the public has a right to know what their elected officials are doing.”

  “You must’ve wanted a spectacle, mister,” Sam said in a hard voice. “Well, you’ve got one.”

  “Get her out of here,” Sullivan snapped at Chuck Murphy and the other deputy.

  From somewhere, Phyllis mustered up the strength to put a smile on her face as she told the deputies, loud enough for the reporters to hear every word, “DonNew , “Dont worry, gentlemen. I won’t put up a fight.”

  Sam let out a bray of laughter. Most of the other people looking on in the hallway joined in. That made Sullivan flush even more. He turned on his heel and stalked away.

  “Go with the deputies, Mrs. Newsom,” Juliette said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Go ahead now, dear,” Eve told her. “We’re done here, aren’t we?”

  Juliette nodded. “I’ll be at the jail before you are,” she promised Phyllis.

  “And we’ll be right behind her,” Carolyn added. “We’ll have you bailed out in no time.”

  Phyllis hoped that was the case. She had no desire to spend any more time behind bars than necessary.

  Chuck gestured toward the stairs. “If you’ll come with us … or we can use the elevator …”

  “The stairs are fine,” Phyllis said. “Aren’t you supposed to handcuff me?”

  Chuck winced again. “I think we can dispense with that.” He looked at the other deputy. “Don’t you agree, Carl?”

  Carl shrugged his acceptance of the decision.

  “Are you sure?” Phyllis asked. “I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble.”

  “You didn’t seem to feel that way when you were sending me to the principal’s office every other week,” Chuck said, but the grin on his face told Phyllis that he didn’t hold a grudge against her for that.

  “That’s because you were only capable of behaving yourself for a week at a time,” she told him. “You were too fond of making the other students in class laugh and not interested enough in your schoolwork.”

  “Yeah, that’s the truth. I’ve, uh, gotten to be less of a troublemaker since then.”

  “I should hope so.”

  “And your son, Mike, is a buddy of mine, so I wish they’d given this job to somebody else!”

  “I don’t,” Phyllis said. “I’m glad that if someone had to arrest me, it was you, Deputy Murphy.”

  They had reached the bottom of the stairs. The reporters were following them. District Attorney Sullivan had disappeared somewhere, probably to his office, until the hullabaloo of Phyllis’s arrest died down. She wasn’t sure how he had expected everything to play out, but obviously it hadn’t gone exactly the way he’d intended.

  Now that she’d had a chance to calm down and think it over, Phyllis had a pretty good idea why Sullivan had had her arrested. Pete Delaney must have contacted the district attorney and told him that she and Sam had been out at the bed-and-breakfast asking questions about Roy’s murder. Sullivan had passed the word through Sheriff Haney and Mike that he wasn’t going to stand for any more amateur investigations.

  Phyllis doubted that he could make the charges against her stick. He might even drop them before things went any further. He’d just wanted this arrest to send a message to her.

  Well, she had gotten that message loud and clear, she thought as the two deputies took her outside, put her in the backseat of a sheriff’s department car, and started toward the jail with Carl behind the wheel and Chuck in the passenger seat. But she wasn’t scared anymore, as she instinctively had been at first, and she wasn’t intimidated, either.

  Instead she was angry for the most part, and a little relieved
that Sullivan hadn’t had Sam arrested, too. After all, he had been with her at the bed-and-breakfast, and Sullivan could have brought the same charges against him.

  But she was the one the district attorney wanted to teach a lesson to. Sam didn’t really mean anything to him.

  As she was being booked, fingerprinted, and photographed, Chuck said, “You’re sure taking this well, Mrs. Newsom.”

  “It’s nothing to worry about,” she assured him. “I’m going to be fine. This is all a misunderstanding, and I’m sure my lawyer will straighten it all out very quickly.”

  “I hope so. Because you know, Mrs. N., being locked up in jail … it’s not quite the same as being in detention, you know.”

  “It’s all right,” Phyllis told him.

  She clung to that belief … until the door of her cell clanged shut and the electronic lock slammed into place with a loud thunk! Her heart started to pound again, and the anxious feeling inside her grew stronger, and as the long minutes passed, the crazy thought came to her that she ought to be singing that song convicts always sang in the movies …

  Nobody knows … the trouble I’ve seen …

  *

  “Mom?” Mike said.

  Phyllis gave a little shake of her head. “What?”

  “You looked like you drifted off there for a second. You were saying that you couldn’t let Eve go to prison for a murder she didn’t commit, and then you seemed like you were somewhere else a million miles away.”

  “I was just thinking about everything that’s happened,” she said. “You know there’s no real reason for me to be here, don’t you? Other than the fact that I annoyed the district attorney, that is.”

  “You did exactly what we all told you not to. You got in the middle of an official investigation—”

  “No, I didn’t,” Phyllis broke in. “How could I? The investigation was over. Eve had already been charged with murder. No one was even asking questions anymore except me, so how could I have interfered with anyone?”

  Mike scrubbed a hand wearily over his face and sighed before he admitted, “You’ve got a point there. I’m not sure the district attorney intends to go forward with those charges—”