Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

by William Manchee

or abduction."

  It occurred to me that many of the alien husbands would probably have fallen in love with their Earth wives and would have insisted that they be protected post extraction. I wondered if an alien husband had ever refused to be extracted. Surely it must be difficult to live with a woman four or five years, have children with her, and then up and leave without even a word of explanation.

  I nodded. "All right. What is this lady's name? Where can I find her?"

  "Her name is Charlotte Wenzel. She's being questioned at the Plano Police Station right now. Sooner or later they'll indict her. You should contact her immediately."

  My heart sank. What were the odds I'd have a conflict on the first case they wanted to assign me?

  "I can't handle that case," I said.

  "Why not?" Mo asked.

  "Bart Williams, my partner's husband, works for the Collin County District Attorney's office. I overheard him say he was prosecuting that case. It would be a conflict of interest."

  "You have to do it," Kulchz said. "You're the only one we have to represent her."

  "I'm sorry."

  "They have other prosecutors," Mo pointed out. "If you take the case, they'll just assign another prosecutor."

  "True. But I couldn't do that to Paula. This is a big case for Bart. He's been waiting a long ti—"

  "Do I have to remind you we've got Peter?" Kulchz said angrily.

  A cold chill swept over me. I glared at Kulchz. What a bastard he was. "Okay. Okay. So, if they do indict her, where do I get the money to post the bond?" I asked.

  "How much do you think you'll need?"

  "Well, if she's charged with murder, it could easily be two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

  Kulchz nodded. "We'll provide you whatever it takes to get Mrs. Wenzel off. Just let Mo know what you need."

  Mo stood up. "I'll take you back to your office so you can get started."

  I got up and said, "What about Peter? Can I talk to him?"

  Kulchz stood up abruptly. "No, just do as you’re told and he'll be fine. When Ms. Wenzel is cleared and the investigation is over, you can come back here and see some more video of him."

  "That's it?" I said angrily.

  Mo took my arm and guided me to the door. I looked back, but Kulchz had already turned his attention to other matters. On the way back to Dallas I thought of Peter. He did look well. Was that really him or just some computer image? I wanted to believe it was him. I had to believe it. The alternative was unbearable. When Mo dropped me off a block away from my office building, he gave me a briefcase and said the contents should tide me over for a while.

  When I got back to my office, I closed the door and opened the briefcase. It was stuffed with money—hundred dollar bills in nice neat packages. It didn't take long to count three-hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The expected bond money plus a hundred grand as a retainer, I figured. Paula would be proud and shocked that I'd gotten a decent retainer from a client—not bad, had the circumstances been different. I was eager to tell her the news but when I checked her office, she wasn't there.

 

  2

  The Investigation

  Paula Waters

  I was beginning to wonder if the firm of Turner & Waters was going to survive. Stan had been devastated by Peter's death and it was nearly six weeks before he even bothered showing up for work. Even then he was listless and had little enthusiasm for the daily routine. Luckily, after the Cheryl Windsor trial, I didn't have much going on, so I was able to cover Stan's civil cases. He did just about everything from wills to adoptions. No one could ever accuse him of specializing. He said it was because he was so hungry when he first started practice that he had to take everything that came in the door just to survive. He'd bragged that he'd never refused a case and that if he didn't know how to do something, he'd learn.

  I'd certainly learned a lot in the last few weeks. I'd reviewed oil and gas leases, drafted no competition agreements, appeared at a couple of bankruptcy hearings, and even attended a homeowner's association meeting, which I hope I never have to do again. They spent three hours arguing about dog poop, barking dogs, and woodpeckers attacking their carports. What a waste of time! Fortunately Jodie, our legal assistant, had become proficient in most of these matters and did most of the paperwork, but it was still a relief to have Stan back so I could concentrate on what I loved the most: criminal defense.

  The press hounded us for months about the disappearance of our client Cheryl Windsor during her murder case. The case had been declared a mistrial and without a defendant it was not likely to be retried. Eventually the crowd of reporters dwindled outside our offices until one day it was gone. The only reporter that wouldn't leave us alone was Alex Garcia of the Globe Inquirer. During Cheryl Windsor's trial he had infiltrated our team as a bodyguard and seduced me into a fraudulent affair that nearly cost me my marriage. The scandal following the disclosure of our relationship didn't deter him from continuing to cover the story. In fact, when the trial was over it became his obsession to find out what happened the day Cheryl Windsor vanished from the witness stand in mid-sentence.

  The lull at the office gave me more time to spend with my husband, Bart. He was an assistant district attorney at the Collin County District Attorney's Office up in McKinney, Texas. This was just in the nick of time as our marriage had been through some rough spots and might have fallen apart had I not had time to work on repairing it. Bart had just been assigned the Gabriel Wenzel murder case and was very excited about it. It was his first high profile case and he was under a lot of pressure to do well. Usually I was the one who got all the media attention, but I was glad Bart was finally getting some well-deserved publicity.

  Bart had called and asked me to join him for lunch. Not having a lot to do, I eagerly accepted the invitation. We met at Chili's in Plano which was midway between our two offices. He was pacing in front of the restaurant when I walked up. I saw that he wasn't smiling, which disturbed me because he rarely got upset over anything. After we'd been seated, I asked him what was wrong.

  “You don’t know?” he snickered.

  “Know what?”

  “Stan is defending Charlotte Wenzel.”

  “Huh?” I said incredulously.

  “Yeah. I couldn't believe it either."

  “That can’t be.”

  "Don't you know what goes on in your own law firm? You're a partner for godsakes!"

  "Honey. I'm as shocked as you about this. Stan didn't mention it to me. I can't imagine him taking on a case without consulting me. I'm so sorry."

  "Now, Ralston's taken me off the case and given it to Gary Shepard."

  "Oh, God! I can’t belief this. Let me go talk to Stan. Maybe he didn’t realize—”

  “Yes he did. We’ve discussed the case with him.”

  “I know. You’re right,” I replied angrily. “What was he thinking? I need to talk to him. There has to be some rational explanation. This isn’t like Stan. Tell me exactly what happened. I don’t want to misstate the facts when I give him a piece of my mind. ”

  Bart took a deep breath. "You knew Ralston hired a new chief prosecutor?" He said. “I think I mentioned it to you.”

  "This Gary Shepard guy?" I asked.

  "Yes. He’s out of Houston. He's been the number one felony prosecutor for the Houston DA's office for the last six years. Ralston’s been courting him for a while. I guess he made him an offer he couldn't refuse—a big pay raise and a fat expense allowance."

  I shook my head in disgust. "He should have given you some of that money. You haven’t had a pay increase since you’ve been there."

  "Yeah, tell me about it. . . . Anyway, I asked Ralston why he needed to go outside the office to get a chief prosecutor. He said he had to have someone he knew would be effective. He was worried about getting reelected. He’d promised the voters in the last election that he'd improve the conviction rate if he was elected. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened."

 
"Well, you and I know the voters have a short memory. As long as he's a Republican he'll get reelected. This is Collin County for godsakes."

  "He's worried about the primaries. Joe Sharp has been talking about running against him."

  "Joe Sharp? He's a criminal defense attorney. The republicans won’t elect him."

  "Ralston's not so sure about that. Anyway he's acting very paranoid these days."

  "He'd better be careful. If Gary Shepard's so good, he might take a run at his job once he gets the lay of the land up here."

  "Yeah, wouldn't that be ironic," Bart replied.

  "Anyway, I've been working with Detective Will Kramer on the Wenzel case. He was looking at the wife as the prime suspect. When Gabriel Wenzel and his children disappeared an anonymous informant came forward and claimed that Charlotte Wenzel had contacted him about killing her husband. He claimed to have refused her, but wanted us to know she might have found someone else. Based on that informant he had obtained a search warrant for the Wenzel home and he invited me to come along. They live in Canyon Creek.”

  "That's a ritzy address," Paula noted.

  "Yes. They obviously aren't hurting for money. Kramer was already there when I arrived. He gave me the nickel tour and said they hadn't found any evidence of foul play but had found a nice two million dollar life insurance policy."

  "Oh, wonderful. Was the ink still wet?"

  "Probably. She took it out just a few weeks ago. She gets two hundred thousand dollars for each kiddo too."

  "Who's the beneficiary?" I asked.

  "Mrs. Wenzel, of